Natural Breast Enhancement Forums

So, finally time for a Measurement Update!

I have noticed that even my butt measurement fluctuates from follicular to luteal phase (yes, butts experience luteal swelling, too!), so instead of looking at the nice large number of the luteal phase and then getting disappointed every time my follicular phase comes around, for the sake of keeping myself motivated I will measure only once a month, and for the sake of accuracy that will be during the follicular phase.

Here are my measurements for this Follicular Phase, and I have now been working out my lower body for 9 weeks:

Underbust/Bust: 29"/36" (more about this in my other thread, tomorrow)
Waist: 25.5"
Hip/Butt: 40"

In summary, I have gained some pretty significant muscle mass on my bum, and (as to be expected) I got soooo much attention for it a couple weeks ago when I went out. I hardly ever go out but, when I do, I make sure to wear a dress with at least 4% elastane or spandex to show off the curves. I will post some pics in my next post of some recent photos.

I don't know if it is from my intense lower body exercises catching up with me or if it is a result from something from my new boobie program, but I have been falling asleep like crazy and am not able to stay awake for more than 2-3 hours at a time while I am home. I have been slacking significantly on my upper body exercises due to my new sleeping problem. Considering that I have had sleeping problems in the past (but THE OPPOSITE- I used to never let myself sleep and I would only sleep for 2-3 hours every night), I also do not do a whole lot to fight off this new sleeping problem, either. I assume that if my body calls for it, it must need it. Which, is the reason why I tend to assume that it is a result of my intense lower body workouts because, if a person works out hard enough, their muscles will need to recover. Just as the sleepiest human beings are children whose bodies are always growing at exponential rates, so is mine on a certain level more than most adults. However, it is getting progressively worse for some reason which I cannot explain, especially in the last three weeks. Maybe my herbs from my bust program are exacerbating it? I don't know. All I know is that I continue to take my multi-vitamin, Vitamin B complex, zinc... and protein should be keeping up my metabolism. It could have possibly been exacerbated by a few days in the past two weeks in which I had longs days away from my place, in which I had little access to good foods and only had access to processed "to-go" foods. Sometimes these were even snacks Yes, I knew it was wrong, but I knew that if I was not consuming calories, that my body would start burning off my muscle as fuel and, well, I can't have that after all the work I put into building it. So I knew I was risking putting some fat on. This probably is the reason for my half-inch gain in the waist. However, this can easily be lost again and am not too worried. I just need to get out of this sleep-slump I've gotten myself into. But here is something that just occurred to me... this past week I have been drinking a lot more fluids: green tea and my MSM drink, mostly, but the point is I have increased my water weight. Maybe THAT'S the cause of the thicker waist... but I don't understand why the green tea isn't helping me stay awake Oh well, it is a good source of antioxidants. Also, I have been struggling with this grad school application process (mostly because of the sleep issue) and, once I am finally done, I will finally start my waist exercise program.

I will post an up-date this weekend on my lower-body program, as I have made changes to the weights I have been lifting quite a bit.

Timarie, green tea will not keep you awake. Black tea or more coffee will do that. I also had a personal experience with Maca. I used to take some before bed time, well I could not go to bed-sleep for a long time after my Maca. So I stopped taking Maca at late evenings, and it helped me to go to sleep sooner. I think it gives so much energy to the body that you can not sleep immediately. Just a thought.

Wishing you a normal sleeping pattern. POM

(18-10-2013, 09:18 PM)pom19 Wrote: [ -> ]Timarie, green tea will not keep you awake. Black tea or more coffee will do that. I also had a personal experience with Maca. I used to take some before bed time, well I could not go to bed-sleep for a long time after my Maca. So I stopped taking Maca at late evenings, and it helped me to go to sleep sooner. I think it gives so much energy to the body that you can not sleep immediately. Just a thought.

Wishing you a normal sleeping pattern. POM

Thanks for your input Pom!

A couple things, though. 1- I don't take maca. Are you suggesting that I do for the sake of staying awake? 2- I am taking green tea for it's low doses of caffeine but mostly for it's well-known reputation for a healthy metabolism, which can potentially result in more energy (even though I already have a high metabolism. I don't get it!). 3- No way on God's green earth will I drink ANY black tea, coffee, or anything with a high dose of caffeine on any day other than my lower-body workout day. I say this because I get NO sleep (see above, I mentioned that I have had sleeping problems in the reverse and I actually was not even on any caffeine at all at the time) when I have any caffeine throughout the day. Honestly I'd rather get too much sleep than too little sleep, which is why I am not fighting this full-force (because if I did, I would have "fixed" this problem once it started. My default problem is sleeping too little, so I can easily go right back to that if I wanted to). I am trying to work myself slowly to a happy medium, instead of wildly swinging the pendulum to the other side of sleeping issues again- which is what caffeine would do for me. I currently only drink a pre-workout drink before my lower body workouts once a week and literally get NO SLEEP that night It is amazing for helping me kick ass in my workouts (I don't think I could lift the weights I lift without it), but it keeps me running until the following afternoon! Yes, I am not even sleepy the following day until after work. So, caffeine is not what I am looking for unless it is in very, very small doses. But I suspect that my issue is more complicated than that.

You are absolutely right not to swing to the other side, and you need the middle line. mentioning maca was for the middle line only. I hope you will find the right approach. You are the one to find that.

How much fenugreek are you taking now Timarie. I was extremely tired on fg. I would crash out at 5. Just something to look into.

(19-10-2013, 11:33 PM)tinytots Wrote: [ -> ]How much fenugreek are you taking now Timarie. I was extremely tired on fg. I would crash out at 5. Just something to look into.

This is a really good point and after your post, I looked into it. However, I was on Fenugreek before at this dosage (3.66grams/day) for a little over 2 cycles in the summer, and I did not have this fatigue problem. So, for me, it must be caused by something else, especially since the fatigue started before I started Fenugreek a week ago. Thanks a lot for helping me think it through and narrow down the possibilities!

(19-10-2013, 10:25 PM)pom19 Wrote: [ -> ]You are absolutely right not to swing to the other side, and you need the middle line. mentioning maca was for the middle line only. I hope you will find the right approach. You are the one to find that.

Thank you, I will definitely consider it! It makes a little more sense, too, considering that now I think I know what my fatigue is being caused by... and maca would probably reverse that problem, considering what maca is known for, BUT, I am deliberately creating the problem for the purpose of growing boobs. So I might just have to try to tough this one out OR if it doesn't get any better (if my body never gets somewhat acclimated to it), then I will lighten up my dosage of antiandrogens.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, here it is, to what a few days of thinking and brainstorming with knowledgeable friends has gotten me:

I am very convinced that my most recent fatigue that I have been experiencing at extreme degrees in the past 3 weeks is my body experiencing lower testosterone levels from my antiandrogens.

...that is, go about your days with normal (or at least lower) testosterone than I naturally have! Just dropping my T levels a bit with these moderate amounts of antiandrogens is enough to knock me out for the entire day (save the time I spend at work awake)! I guess it was my natural high T levels that used to keep me awake at night, but man, is there a happy medium?

My solution to this for now, before going and lowering and dosages in my NBE program, is that I am going to fight against the sleep when it is not the appropriate time to sleep, and I will force myself over to the gym (which I haven't done any upper body in more than 2 weeks ) which should increase my energy levels a bit as I naturally raise my testosterone levels a little. I also took a week off for my lower body since I was struggling so much, and I figured it would be a good time to take a break since I have been working out in this routine for 9 weeks. I'll take one week off, and then go back to the same routine with increased weight and then maybe in another 6-9 weeks I will change the exercises in my routine. These are all tactics to avoid muscle memory and it's ability to keep my muscles from having as good of a workout.

I expect that my body will eventually get acclimated to the lower T levels and that I should be feeling less sleepy throughout the day and, if I don't after 3 months at my current dosage, then I will decrease the amount of antiandrogens that I take and see how that helps. But for now I am going to tough it out, fight to stay awake during hours in which I should be awake, and force myself back to the gym. Easier said than done, but I really need to try or my situation will just get worse and worse...

Update!!

So, fighting the sleep problem cold-turkey is not a good idea, especially since sleep is good for me anyway. I get this feeling that, while my testosterone is dropping and my body wants to rest more, that my body is also wanting to grow more. As we grow more, our bodies need more rest. Look at babies who develop fast in a year's time. This is why they sleep so much. So, I am hoping that giving-in to this call to sleep, as my body seems to want, is the best thing I can do right now. Listening to the body is key. It wants to rest for a reason, and I am hoping that reason is micro-growth...

Beginning Waist Exercises!
So instead of pushing myself to go to the gym to do my upper body routine, I will start with an easier goal. I will start with my waist exercise routine which I have been wanting to do. This is a very easy exercise that can be done in the home without any equipment other than a broomstick, so I cannot get easily overwhelmed by the idea of needing to get ready to go to the gym and all that is involved with going there. Also, I will have no "bummer the gym is closed" excuse. I will do this only three times a week and see how I will feel as time goes by. Eventually, I should hopefully pick up enough confidence to add the upper body routine back into my exercise program again, but I don't see this happening for a while with the way I have been sleeping! I am not too worried about this though, because I appear to have not lost any of my upper body gains in this long two month plus break. Meanwhile, my waist DOES need some work!!!! So, new plan is in stone.

The Waist Exercise routine is described in post #106 and the planks are further discussed in #120. I am starting today and will do every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I will be posting my up-dated lower body workout soon, as well as updated photos! Thinking I might start a Photo Thread as well...

It's good to hear from you Timarie. I hope you will see good results from waist training.

You've made such amazing progress! I'd like to try to bulk up my bum as well, I mean it's bubble-ish shaped but flabby fat. I rather have it be a compound of fat and mostly muscle so I'm definitely going to try this and Let's see where I end up in a year and a half
One thing I'd really like to ask is if you knew anyway I could get rid of a lower belly pouch. It's slight but noticeable.

Very interesting take on the reason for your fatigue! I doubt I ever would have thought lowering T levels to be the culprit. I hope you are correct and that it fixes itself as time goes on. Keep us updated!