Weighing In on Weight Classes

Not me, but no less awesome.

Today I (unexpectedly) nailed a new Personal Record in the Clean. (In case ya'll are wondering, this is exactly why I have a coach. He forges ahead on days when I'm just expecting a 'usual' training sessions and keeps me on track as an athlete. Trust me, as Trainer Girl, sometimes it seems like a huge challenge to make time for care and feeding of Oly Girl.) As if he has some innate sense that we are in "PR territory", we're staring down the May meet excitedly. Only about 6 months until the meet? Sweet.

With all that in mind, the body weight issue has come up.  The way Olympic Weight Lifting works, any woman over 75 kilos is considered an "ultra heavy weight". Now, in US terms, that means any woman over 165 pounds (regardless of height) is in the highest weight class, whether she is 350 lbs or 166lbs.  Hardly seems fair, right? Especially to a leggy girl like me, measuring about 5 foot 8 inches, and weighing in at an average of 185-190lbs (84-86 kilos).

We have had 'the talk' of whether it's 'worth it' or not for me to attempt to cut weight in an effort to be in the 75 kilo (or below) weight classes.

The answer is a settled on "No."

Surprising, huh? Just this week, a friend came up to me in the gym commenting on how much weight I've lost, and she sees me all the time. The scale tells a different story. I've lost inches and gained strength, but my 'weight' doesn't tend to change often.

So far, the body fat has fallen off where it needs too, but even when I was 10 years younger and STARVING myself (long before I discovered the magic of the barbell), my lowest weight was 170lbs (and I was STILL bigger than I am now, for the record).  So trying to drop another 20 lbs, despite being at my fittest ever (and getting fitter/stronger by the day) doesn't seem to make any sense.

Me on a liquid based diet. Weight? 175. Those jeans were SUPER TIGHT around the waist.

Now, that does NOT mean I'm giving myself free license to gain as much weight as I can 'just because' I won't be below 75 kilos.  I won't be burying my face in Christmas Cookies or kicking my Paleo-style of living out the door any time soon. It fuels me and keeps me working right, so why on earth would I ditch it and go back to things that didn't work?! (Like, in my case, counting EVERYTHING, or going back to pre-packaged foods.)   The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and expecting different results.

With that in mind, I still have a 'shit ton of weight' (Trainer Guy's words) to move. BUT as of yesterday week, I had 117 lbs to add to my lifting total. As of today, I have 115.  And, as Greg Everett says, Every Kilo Counts!