My sister-in-law and I started our summer soul camp about a month ago. For my fitness plan, I measured my body at the chest, waist, and hips on May 24th, and measured again on June 22nd. I’ve noticed that my jeans and shorts are fitting better, and I can see more muscle tone in my legs and core.
May 24th Measurements
- Chest: 32.5 inches
- Waist: 26.75 inches
- Hips: 36.25 inches
June 22nd Measurements
- Chest: 31.5 inches
- Waist: 26 inches
- Hips: 36 inches
My Plan
When I started, I was doing the MAPS Advanced 15 but switched to the MAPS Performance a few weeks ago. I’m on the third week of Performance this week.
- keto diet
- running 2 miles daily
- strength training – MAPS Performance
- daily movement: walking, gardening, dog walks
- insidetracker – analysis of biomarkers from blood draw
Strength Training
June 12th
- Back squat: 80 lbs.
- Bench press: 75 lbs.
- Deadlift: 105 lbs.
June 26th
- Back squat: 100 lbs.
- Bench press: 80 lbs.
- Deadlift: 110 lbs.
- Trap bar squat: 124 lbs.
As I said, I switched to the MAPS Performance program which I love for a variety of reasons. There’s a slightly greater emphasis on legs, though I decided to add in 2 leg days this week. I’m frustrated with my leg progress, though I understand that legs being made up of larger muscles will take longer to become muscular. I decided to add a second session of strength training Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week to see how I feel at the end of the week.
I’ve been watching a documentary on Arnold Schwarzenegger on Netflix, and spent some time reading articles on TNation about the new findings about women and strength training. Essentially, women who have a higher metabolism eat more and train more. When women bump up their protein intake while strength training, they can lose weight even though they’re eating more calories. Women can lift more than they think they can, and lower rep ranges can work well for women. In addition, women recover faster while training.
Keto Diet
When I started the camp, I was still eating the no knead bread that I make every other day. I haven’t noticed any inflammation from eating the bread. However, I decided to stop eating the bread this past Sunday in order to join with my husband in not eating bread for a while. Other than the bread, I’ve been focused on eating 100 grams of protein daily along with drinking 60 ounces of water. Some days, I do great, and some days not so great. This week, I’m pushing myself to eat more food, however, I’m doing an unintended intermittent fasting. I say that because instead of eating a piece of bread around 4:30 am or so, I drink my morning smoothie (collagen, whey protein, MCT oil, and greens) around 9:30 or 10 am. My last meal of the day is usually done around 7:00 pm, giving me 15 hours of fasting. I’m curious to see how this plays out.
Running
When we started the summer soul camp, I switched from running about 3 to 5 miles 5 to 6 days a week to 2 miles 5 to 6 days a week. While I love running, I was feeling burned out between my strength training workouts and running. Last week, I started running 3 miles daily, though I play around with how I do the miles. Some days, I run in my development which has some nice hills. On other days, I will do several short sessions on the treadmill throughout the day to get my mileage in.
Bloodwork
Unfortunately, my husband and I have not gotten our bloodwork done yet. We wanted to do it together though it’s been hard to schedule.
2 dogs and a house 
Leave a comment