Challenge Smashed!

Okay, here it is, all that juicy before and after info from the Six-Week Challenge! This post is a mash-up of what I put together for the end of my challenge thread on the NF forums. I know a couple of you four readers are into numbers, so you should get a kick out of this. Everybody else can skip to the end if mathy things make their brains ache. For the record, I would normally be skipping to the end here.

First off, the goal tally!

New Jeans—Not only do they fit, they are LOOSE! I'll have to grab the next size soon!
Blog Posts—All done! Most of them were even towards the beginning of the week where I prefer them.
Strength Training—All workouts completed. I'll include lift progress below.
Bike Rides—Mileage worked out to 66.26 as of this Wednesday (goal was 60).
Deadlift Progress—Goal completed in Week 2, hehehe. DLs continued throughout the challenge.

Good stuff! Now for the lift progress from the beginning of the challenge to today. They're not big numbers. I had no muscles to speak of when we started with the weights and the lifting and the running our butts off. But they're a start, and they're progress.

Squats—Start, BW, 3 sets of 9 reps. Current, 85 lb, 4 sets of 5 reps.

Bench Press—Start, 45 lb, 4 sets of 5 reps. Current, 60 lb, 4 sets of 5 reps.

Inv Row/Low Lat Pull—Start, 15 lb, 4 sets of 5 reps. Current, 35 lb, 4 sets of 8 reps.

Deadlifts—Start, 65 lb, 4 sets of 5 reps. Current, 95 lb, 4 sets of 5 reps.

Overhead Press—Start, 20 lb, 4 sets of 5 reps. Current 35 lb, 4 sets of 7 reps.

Lat Pull-Down—Start, 50 lb, 4 sets of 5 reps. Current, 90 lb, 4 sets of 6 reps.

Back Extensions—Start, BW, 3 sets of 10 reps. Current, 10 lb, 3 sets of 12 reps.

Calf Raises—Start, BW, 3 sets of 10 reps. Current, 40 lb, 3 sets of 12 reps.

Shoulder Shrugs—Start, 20 lb, 3 sets of 10 reps. Current, 40 lb, 3 sets of 12 reps.

We do squats, benches, and rows on one day, then deadlifts, overhead presses, and lat pull-downs the next, alternating the two over a three-day lift week. Back extensions, calf raises, and shoulder shrugs go in at the end of every session, followed by cardio. As a result, I almost have delts now. Bonus!

Speaking of cardio, today I ran five intervals in a 15-minute program, which was AFTER I had spent 20 minutes crushing the elliptical. Suck it, you evil death machines!

And now for the measurements, to be followed by the even more terrifying photos. Yes, photos! *echoing doom voice*

Weight—Starting, 167.6. Current, 164.2.

Neck—Starting, 14 in. Current, 13.75 in.

Waist—Starting, 36.75 in. Current, 34.75 in.

Hips—Starting, 44.5 in. Current, 43.75 in.

Forearm—Starting, 9.25 in. Current, 9.25 in.

Bicep—Starting, 12 in. Current, 11.75 in.

Thigh—Starting, 24.5 in. Current, 24 in.

Calf—Starting, 15 in. Current, 14.5 in.

Definitely got some improvement here, but I can see they're telling the truth about fat not leaving the areas you want in the order you want. Stupid hip fat. If I could beat it with a rake, I would.

And now for the pics. I can't tell you how freaked out I am to do this, but I feel it's part of the challenge, so RAWR. (Favorite hat included in today's photos to simulate bravery and to cover up my hair, which was AFU.)

Front!

 

Side!

Guns!

 

Legs!

Helper Cats!

Clearly I have a long way to go, but feeling a sense of increased velocity towards that final goal is priceless. Balance, happiness, badass. I should probably add patience in there somewhere, though, because I'm seriously lacking when it comes to wanting my chunky belleh to disappear.

Many thanks to Brian for taking the pictures and putting them together for me to post. He was with me every step of the way on this challenge, and it would have sucked without him. So much love!

So, there we have it. Over the past six weeks I've not lost a ton of weight, but I am on schedule. I've also gained a whole lotta muscle and still managed to go from XL to L in most of my clothes (and even M in some of them). What does this mean? Moar shopping, of course. I'll take it!