i have muscles!!!!!

within the past few days, i've started to notice barely perceptible visual changes in my body as a result of lifting weights. the level of asking my fiancé, "am i crazy or do i look a bit different here?" 

well last night, i felt the first physical changes i can feel when i touch and squeeze my body—i have actual muscles in my arms now!!!! right below my shoulder joint, my arm feels so much more solid than it ever has before. it's a bit shocking, there's literally more of me there than there was before. my fiancé half-joked that that's where all the milk we drank has gone! 

which makes me breathe a bit of a sigh of relief that i've been able to build any muscle at the rate i'm consuming calories—which is to say, a lower rate than is optimal according to the program we're following (called starting strength). it's genuinely a skill to eat more, and i am building it along with my muscles. 

seeing and feeling changes in my body, even just a month in, gives me so much more motivation to keep going. i'm excited to see what other changes are ahead!