Check in – December 15/15 

Hello beautiful people

It’s the last check-in of the year and I honestly can’t believe it. So much has changed in 2015. I’ve learned more about myself this year than I ever imagined. I chased the goal of becoming a more “muscular” me. I’m proud to say that I am where I am because I worked extremely hard.

In honor of this, here is a little throwback picture of me! :

And here is where I’m at today:

Currently me

Sorry for the grainy picture. Getting good natural lighting has been a challenge, as it has been pretty overcast in Calgary for the last week! Overcast or snow. That’s all we’re getting here!

Improvements: I’m getting bigger everywhere except my waist. Yay. Finally in a place where I am able to lean out physically. I haven’t consciously started that process yet, but my body has done a little natural work towards that on its own.

Current Focus: My joints have been hurting a lot lately during workouts. I really want to work on form and stretching, and perhaps start taking some joint support to try and combat this. I’ve been focusing on on leg growth for the past few months and I’m happy with my progress. I would love to build a beautiful back for the summer, so I may start focusing more on that moving forward… but I will still be putting the work in on these stems!

Eating: For the last week I have cut back on dairy and eliminated gluten. This is all a part of the process of trying different ways of living and seeing how my body responds. I can tell already that my anxiety has been much better. I suspect it’s the gluten and not the dairy. However, I had been on a complete dairy binge at the beginning of the month, and because dairy is addictive I decided to scale it back a notch.

Feeling like: I’m finally gaining control of my body again. I just want to increase the momentum within me right now. I’ve taken on some extra responsibilities lately, and of course I have to sacrifice something in its place. Sometimes that’s sleep. Sometimes that’s time with loved ones. Sometimes a workout gets lost. I never let that hold me back. I never let that make me feel bad, because I still make every workout count!

Looking back on this year, what improvements are you guys proud of (outside or inside) ?