Last week I talked about getting my routine back in order and grounding myself in good habits. This week, I learned that maybe my habits aren’t quite good enough. Today I had my first BIA reading in a few weeks. Yes, I weigh myself between BIAs to make sure nothing too wonky is going on, but the scale tells so little of the whole story compared to the BIA. Today, I learned that even though my workouts have been massively intense for the last few weeks and even more so last week, I’ve actually lost muscle mass. Quite a bit of muscle mass, or “active tissue,” as it’s referred to in the BIA results. So even though I’m bumping up the weight training- using heavier weights, increasing the difficulty of the moves I do week after week, and increasing the intervals I do certain exercises – I’m still not doing something right.

After sitting down to discuss my results, it’s pretty clear that I’ve got the workout part of a healthy lifestyle nailed. That’s not the missing piece of the puzzle. Like looking at the scale without knowing the underlying composition behind the number, you can’t look exclusively at one aspect of a lifestyle- it’s a delicate and incredibly interconnected system of many aspects. And it does seem like I’ve been ignoring one very important component.

Though I know I eat better than I did this time last year, by leaps and bounds, really, I’m not eating what I need to fuel my body through the workouts I’m doing. I’ve been seriously overlooking my protein intake and relying too much on other elements of the food pyramid to get me through the day. It was also suggested that even though I’m good about starting my day with a healthy, protein-rich breakfast, I’m starting it too late. Waiting an hour instead of fueling up right after waking up is apparently almost as bad as skipping the meal entirely.

So now I’ve got a lot to think about. My first task is to start keeping a food diary, just like I did when I first started the program, in order to really examine what I’m eating during the day and if it’s working for or against me. Hopefully I’ll be able to make the positive changes I need to in order to continue to get stronger, not just smaller.

I had a second rude awakening today. I’m not sure how, but somehow I injured my back so the point of constant, throbbing pain and extreme tenderness. I had to lie down at work today and I haven’t been able to rotate more than an inch in any direction in hours, even after anti-inflammatories, pain relievers and some gentle rubbing. I don’t think I could have received a bigger signal that my body needs a break. It’s literally forcing me into one. As optimistic as I was that the pain would dissipate and I would be able to work out today, it was abundantly clear by the end of the day that it simply wasn’t an option.

So I’m going to take this opportunity to focus on the element of my fitness that I had been ignoring while I’m forced to neglect my workouts. There’s always something I can do to continue towards self-improvement, even if my body is temporarily out of commission.