Derby Butt

Those of you who have known me for a while know that before my adventures in roller derby, I was doing an adventure in weight loss.  In the past 20 months or so, I've lost 95-ish pounds.  A lot.  At this point, I'm used to getting smaller, watching the scale go down, and having to buy smaller and smaller clothes, even if that's not happening as quickly as it did in the beginning.

Since starting roller derby, my priorities have shifted a bit.  Instead of keeping myself on a strict 1,500 calorie diet, I'm having to fuel my workouts by eating more.  I've been doing tons of strength training, less of my usual cardio (running or elliptical) and more skating.  I think it's working, because I feel stronger and slimmer, but the scale shows I'm gaining weight.  I'm probably the only girl out there who has gained weight since we started boot camp (ok, it's only 3 pounds...).  My pants, while they aren't complaining, are fitting me differently.  My thighs have always been the barrier between me and smaller jeans, and that's not changing.  Yes, they're getting rock hard, but they sure as hell aren't getting any smaller. 

I've given up the dream of my calves ever fitting into regular knee-high leather boots.  When I find the perfect pair, they will be wider for the more "athletic" calves.  That's right, my calves will not be getting any smaller either.

On to the derby butt...



Derby girls have the most amazing butts.  All of them, no matter what size they are.  Perfect, round, and muscular.  It's a sight to behold.  While mine is just in the beginning stages, it is definitely changing.  Squats, lunges, skating low, and I believe just striding, do wonders for the butt.  But no, my butt does not seem to be getting any smaller.

As positive as all of these changes are, it does require that I change my measure of success.  I'm adding muscle, so the scale is likely to rebel right now.  My thighs seem to have stopped shrinking, so size 6 jeans may not be in my immediate future.  Perhaps as my body adjusts to the abuse I'm putting it through, I'll get smaller in the right places, but for now my focus is elsewhere--balance, strength, crossovers, wall sits, planks squats.  It's probably a good thing too.  People who have lost a large amount of weight know that reaching their goal weight can be a disorienting feeling of "Now what?  Is that it?"  I hope to gradually glide into my happy weight/body composition and know that I've already moved on to bigger and badder things.