JessFit

Yes, you SHOULD be kind to yourself and approach this in the best way for you!

You will NOT be letting me down. You're doing this for YOU. I am just a cheerleader. Relax, eat close-ish to the times they suggest, and stop stressing. I basically ate chicken or whey every meal to keep it simple, I batch cooked and used microwave bags of veggies. I kept it pretty chill. Please, diets are never fun, but don't let it massively stress you out either. You've got this.

Yes, the spotting started about 7 days before the period and got heavier the closer I got. The period has recently started.

Honestly, it seems like you're totally overthinking and stressing yourself out over a diet and your body reacts accordingly. I know it is easier said than done, but if you can get in a better headspace to not stress over it, it might be easier. I overthink a lot, so I get how impossible that seems, but clearly stressing over it isn't helping you at all. I use coconut oil on my lips when they're in bad shape, maybe that will help if you're not against coconut oil.

I LOVE THIS DANCE SO MUCH! You guys are fantastic! Wooooooo

Off topic for fitness, but relevant to previous convos... my coworker had to bring her daughter to a huge conference this past weekend. She is a single mom with no family in the area, so the 4 year old goes with her everywhere. Her daughter is the child of the mermaid dress, cowboy boots, and bat wing hoodie combo. The mermaid dress was worn for most of this conference... I think it is adorable! I work for a stem cell and gene therapy research lab, and this was a huge international research conference and everyone there was super in to her mermaid dress! I'm super serious, mermaid dresses are now the Little Black Dress of the under 10 year old crowd and I'm loving it.

Yay for good dancing time and a good date! This is super exciting. Are there vids of you dancing that we can peruse? Maybe youtube or something? I miss ballroom dancing.

Ugh, yes. It is so frustrating how prevalent these bodies are in the media. It is inescapable and I don't know how to change or even mitigate that. I should be thrilled with my body rn and yet there are times where I just see chub and cellulite when I look in the mirror. I've tried really hard to focus on the cool things my body can do instead of how it looks and that has helped, but there are still many moments when the focus is more negative. I'm not sure what your body looks like, but I am sure that you're an interesting, very cool person whose body is capable of some badassery. I admire you, I think you kick ass, and I have zero clue what you look like.

Hi, my name is Jessica, my hormones got the better of me last night and I snapped and ate ALL the things. Maybe not ALL of them, but enough chocolate that I felt sick. Stupid period. In the grand scheme of PMS binging, I would say it was a really small binge. From the perspective of being on a cut, it felt giant. So much chocolate. I'm trying not to beat myself up. 3 days of not perfect eating happened, today I will pop back on to track and see out the remaining 8 days of this cut with much better accuracy. Goals: 1: Lifting sessions 8/12 2: Pull-up/Chin-up work 13/15 3: Greater than 95% compliance with the Renaissance Periodization diet. 97.45%/95% Weight: 147.8/148 4: Recovery and mobility. 8/15 5: Skincare 13/20 6: Projects half done 3/5

Hope the run goes well today. Sometimes getting personal stuff done and out of your mental space is necessary for productivity in other places.

I love the colors you use for tracking. It makes it so easy to see.

Hope it feels better quickly!

Seconded!

I'm not super worried about it being something drastic, but I'm wondering if this is common after serious weight loss. I've never responded this way just due to stress before, the weight loss is the real oddity in my life, I've never lost weight like this before.

2 Reasons 1. I'm stubborn and set myself for 10 weeks. Pure stubbornness to see out the next 9 days exists. 2. When you finish a cut you gain a bit, always. My carbs have been cut in the last 2 weeks on this program. Upping my carbs will mean a bit more water retention and eating more will mean more food in my digestive tract which will all mean that I'll sit a couple lbs heavier. If I see out the cut and lose a bit more over the next 9 days, then this goal weight will actually be maintenance weight as opposed to end of cut weight.

Hey all, I've lost about 22lbs in the last 10-12 weeks. I've also been sick with a cold the last week, I lift regularly, and I'm in the process of buying a condo. I'm set to start my period this coming Wednesday. I've been spotting pretty heavily since this past Wednesday. I am 31, I have never spotted like this before. I know that spotting can be a symptom of many things, from stress (hello condo buying) to body changes (hi weight loss) to pregnancy (not likely, I'd be almost 1/2 way through my pregnancy by now if I'd gotten pregnant the last time) to cancer (and of course I'm talking worst case scenario). I accept that a number of the factors in my environment could be causing this but since I've actually never spotted pre-period before, I'm stressing out. The main question is: Has anyone else ever dealt with such a drastic period change accompanying weight loss? Is this normal after weight loss?

I love puns! ALL THE PUNS

Accept that there is a learning curve and you're not going to be perfect straight off the bat. The diet is suited to athletes of all kinds, but it works for everyone, and I admit that I put in low level for workouts because my powerlifting isn't terribly intense. Ham/pork is higher in fat, so I haven't been able to eat it at all on this cut, but then I started with fairly low levels of fat allowed.

I SHALL EXPLORE THE LEVIS 529! THANK YOU! NY&Co has a huge line of "curvy" bottoms, so here is my fave skinny jean and dress pant, although they have other cuts that are not so high in the waist and/or different styles. I just search "curvy" on their website. Their curvy bootcut jean is also incredible. https://www.nyandcompany.com/high-waist-curvy-legging-ny-c-runway-super-stretch-soho-jeans/A-prod14500021/ https://www.nyandcompany.com/curvy-bootcut-pant-all-season-stretch-7th-avenue/A-prod15890026/

What are ham flakes? My first meal and last meal are a shake, a spoon full of PB or a hand full of nuts, and fruit. Its easy to gobble down on the go. That being said, you can eat up to 30 minutes on either side of your meal times without too much of an issue. Meal timing is relevant, but it is only super important if you're a high level athlete. Annie Thorisdottir is one of the RP athletes so I'm sure that is more relevant to her than to normal people like us.

My logic thus far has been, "I'm only cutting for 10 weeks, I can give anything up and be strict for 10 weeks." Hence why I'm not real thrilled with my weekend, but I've been super duper strict about compliance for almost all of the 61 days of this cut, so I'm also not hella stressed. I'm at almost 98% compliance, that is a lot of hard work that I've put in to it, I can allow my niece to share a couple of Doritos with me. I'm actually excited to get on maintenance. I don't really have a plan other than to keep following the app, because the people that created it are smart and have lots of advanced degrees in this stuff. It will be nice to work more calories in, and my carbs have gotten cut a bit near the end here so I'll enjoy those coming back when I reverse diet. I admit, I'm seriously looking forward to one epic cheat meal, but I'm so happy with what I've achieved and I feel (mentally and physically) so much better than I did 9 weeks ago, that the thought of going back to the person I was at the beginning of this is scary. That being said, the early episodes of the Screw the Scale podcast have helped me prepare for what to expect when I end the cut and how to adjust to maintenance. Firing a cannon is a blast! (If you'll excuse the pun...)

I AM HERE FOR MARSUPIAL UNITS! Most people are a blob from the side. It is just how it is. Maybe not if you're a bodybuilder with a lower than 20% BF% (as a woman) but side-blob is standard. That is why the "sexy" photos people post are with hips twisted somehow, never directly from the side. Ok, as someone whose waist to hip ratio is quite different, my rear and thighs are pretty big, so I go with "curvy" jeans because otherwise they don't fit my thighs and tush very well. NY&Company makes my favorite line of curvy pants. As I've never seen your body type, I'm not positive of that solution for you, but it is a suggestion. Not having volume in the upper back is difficult, it does mean that tanks are a good solution, knits are also a great option for a non-standard body shape because they stretch and accommodate. You're right, tops that are slightly larger are the in thing now, but it is more important to find clothes that you feel confident in. Some people prefer to wear larger clothes to "hide" bits and pieces and others hate bigger clothes because they feel like it magnifies those areas, you'll have to address what makes you feel confident.

Went home to Chicago this weekend, mostly stuck-ish to my cut but when visiting grandma it is required that you eat something or she will act like you just ran over her dog. It is also obligatory to accept the $10 bill shoved in to your hand as you leave and call when you get home even though your house is only 2 miles away. Also, difficult to stick to your cut when your 4 year old niece insists on sharing her Doritos with you and keeps shoving them in your mouth... hella extra hard because Doritos are my kryptonite and she knows I love them and is so excited to share them with me. Probably the least on track I've been in the 60 days I've done this cut, but it wasn't too terribly off. I managed to avoid the White Castles and pizza. That is really hard, because Chicago pizza is legendary and I can't get the same thing here in Iowa. Didn't get in much work toward my goals, but it was cool to see people I haven't seen since I started my cut. A couple people mentioned my weight loss and were very encouraging. I also saw a video of myself in my civil war uniform and WOW are my pants huge. They're practically falling off of me. Historically speaking, uniforms didn't fit terribly well anyway, and many soldiers lost a bunch of weight after joining thanks to the terrible food and the copious marching, but I'm going to have to invest in new pants soon. Perk to this cut, I'm now the same weight as an average civil war soldier. Also, I HIT MY GOAL WEIGHT! I'm really, really struggling not to snack rn. I've got hormones going on (and they've been wonky as heck this month), I've got 9 days left of this cut and I'm sick of it, and I've blown past 2 weight loss goals. Motivation is ebbing. I'm sticking with it because I'm stubborn and I can survive another 9 days. I don't want to cheat myself out of the full cut, but I'm also struggling with not eating all the snacks. This ends NEXT WEEK! And I can survive this, I'm sure I can... bleh. I did not make my usual Sunday gym time, but I'm putting it down as a lifting session anyway. I spent 2 days shoving around and firing a 1.5 ton cannon, which is totally a full body workout. Goals: 1: Lifting sessions 8/12 2: Pull-up/Chin-up work 12/15 3: Greater than 95% compliance with the Renaissance Periodization diet. 97.78%/95% Weight: 148.0/148 4: Recovery and mobility. 8/15 5: Skincare 12/20 6: Projects half done 3/5

Wowza on that leg press! I'm glad you're realizing how great your body is, good for you!

Cosplay looks BAMF! Super cute tiny dog is super cute and tiny. Sounds like you had a nice weekend, I hope RP goes well for you. Hugs