And Then There Were Two...: Fit Fridays

TGIF everyone! I am so thankful the weekend is here. Spring Forward really kicked my butt and I haven't slept well all week. When I do finally fall asleep I feel like I've been tossing and turning all night. It's driving MrHoppy crazy. I hope staying up later than usual tonight (since it's the weekend) will ensure that I fall asleep easily and having a cocktail (since it's the weekend) will ensure that I sleep well. ;)

Added warning - this post got really long but I thought it was useful information for anyone that might be doing what I was!

Last Saturday night my BIL (who is really MrHoppy's cousin - I call him that because they are like brothers and grew up next door to each other) came over to hang out and spend the night since they were going dirt biking on Sunday. He is a successful personal trainer and MAT certified and I've worked with him in the last year on my sciatic issues so he always asks how I'm doing. We got to talking about fitness and more importantly: posture.

Posture? How is that important? Well it is apparently a huge issue for me. Not that I have bad posture, my posture is just incorrect. And it could be causing my lower back issues and also a weakened core. I'll try to explain as best I can and then explain what I'm doing differently to change it.

Apparently I walk and stand with my hips tilted slightly back, almost tucked in if that makes sense? I was shocked when he told me this. How embarassing right? But he assured me it's only because he's trained to see these things that he noticed. This form then causes my head to jut forward slightly putting strain on my lower back and neck.
Hmmm... How do I fix it? We stood there forever while he showed me how I'm supposed to stand. He said it's really common in women who are... ahhem... well endowed, because our bewbies are heavy and a lot of times when we are younger don't want to draw attention to them. OK, makes sense so far.

Then he showed me his back when he's standing. A natural curve in the lower back because his hips line up with his shoulders, which line up with his head. Then we looked at me. Not lined up at all and no natural curve to my spine. Wowza...

So since Saturday I have been very conscious of my hips. It really starts there. It feels awkward to be tilting them forward and sticking my boo-tay out but that is correct form. Once my hips are where they are supposed to be I have to be sure my shoulders are lined up with them. And that instead of pushing my chin forward I am holding it back so my ears are above my shoulders. And when I walk I am supposed to be pushing with my glutes instead of plopping each foot down. Also driving is a huge "head forward" time so I put my seat straight up(and feel like a total dork) but it's helping me keep my head aligned.

:::sigh::: who has to lean how to walk, stand and sit again when they are 30? This girl. I think it's helping though.

Anyway, on to my progress this week! Aside from all of the above of course :) I'll keep it short

Fitness: I workd out everyday this week. It went really well. I have been noticing the back of my upper arms aren't as tight as I would like so I've been doing a lot of push ups and other arm and back exercises.

Nutrition: We ate really healthy this week. Didn't go out and cooked balanced meals. Thank you MrHoppy for taking me seriously and not inviting me to happy hour or out to dinner! We didn't eat our ONCE last weekend either. This is progress!

Weight: On Tuesday I was down to 117.5 which was exciting. Today I was 118.5 and I'm OK with it. My BIL talked to me about my weight as well last weekend and he said I shouldn't expect to lose much with the lifting I've been doing. He said he can tell I'm building muscle and that I am toning. Hooray!