Yummm!!!

Hey all! I will finish my update from last night ....... I had my usual lunch of chicken, brown rice and green beans..i know it might seem like that gets boring but it really doesn't and its so satisfying that I wouldn't give it up. It is amazing how much food you can eat for such a small amount of calories....4-5 oz of chicken, a 1/2 cup of brown rice and basically however many green beans you want to eat....its under 300 calories and sometimes i can barely finish it. (but i always do because im gluttonous like that :)) Anyways...had a protein shake mid afternoon with a piece of apple.....then more chicken, rice and GB for dinner..and another protein shake a few hours later.....It was my friends birthday dinner last night and i resisted all temptations...even though they were giving me shit all night and ordered me a bowl of lemons just so that i looked like i was eating haha...they did however make me take ONE bite of cake....they literally grabbed my face and made me do it...haha but it was a small bite so i'm not too worried about it.


This morning for breakfast i had the BEST oatmeal ever!!! 1/2 cup of rolled oats that i microwaved because not only am i a glutton, i am lazy too :) Then i added in some of my protein powder..(amazing) some blueberries and a few black berries! SO GOOD. Better than anything quaker could make!

Off to the gym now!

Practice!

Although my competition diet doesn't officially start until Jan. 1...you may have noticed that I have been trying to eat as clean as possibly as sort of a way to practice...the competition diet is not an easy one because you have only a small selection of foods that i can eat. I also have to eat several times a day which i am not used to either. If i'm going to screw it up..it's going to have to happen before jan. 1, so i have been "practicing" I have to say, I really like eating clean. It minimizes those cravings you get when you eat comfort food. You know when you eat a bowl of macaroni and cheese...and when you finish off that huge bowl that makes you pretty stuffed...you decide you need something sweet to top it off....When i eat clean foods like chicken, brown rice, vegetables, sweet potatoes, egg whites, oatmeal etc....I don't get those cravings or those urges to eat that stuff. I feel satisfied and I am ready to move on with my day...so competition or not..i like this way of eating.

As a practice..usually i make my egg whites with about a 1/2 oz. of reduced fat mozzarella cheese, but for competition diet, the cheese is a NO-GO...so i decided to try it today without the cheese....still tastes great to me :) I also had some oatmeal and 2 apples. I'm off to the gym now.....another part of my training will include an hour and a half of cardio everyday. That is going to be rough considering I usually only do about 45 minutes...but i can split it up if i need to, so that should make it easier.

Anyways...i need you guys to root me on through this approximately 12 weeks of competition diet and intense training. I will start showing you guys progress pictures and stuff, but the motivation reallllyyy helps.

My show is on March 28th...wish me luck!!

Post Workout

So i was feeling like i was getting a cold last night..and woke up early today feeling sick as well. I had planned on meeting my friend at the gym to run, but was thinking about resting it up.

Well I am very glad that i went to meet her! Not only did i run 6.2 miles, but I felt great while doing it....It took me about 59 minutes (6.0-6.5mph pace) and I really was feeling good, even though i was sick. I then did a leg workout: squats, reverse lunges, prone(lying) ham curls and the squat press machine...16 sets total. I am feeling so much better both physically and sick-wise. I've always said...working out makes me feel better when im sick and people think im crazy but im telling you it works!! I don't necessarily recomend this and it may not work for everyone, but weight training especially..even if you go light...i feel makes you just feel a little bit better..rest however is extremely important as welll though and you need much more rest and WATER when you are sick.

I had a protein shake and some blueberries post-workout. If anyone is looking for a GOOD TASTING PROTEIN POWDER....i was referred to one and it really does taste great. It is the Isopure low carb or no carb (depending on the flavor)powder...i bought the cookies and cream flavor, but you can also get it in dutch chocolate which is supposed to be really tasty as well. I haven't tried the other flavors, but i would guess they are probably pretty good as well!

That's all for now...getting ready for work, then going to eat some chicken, brown rice and veggies!

Early wake up!

Sorry i haven't posted in a few days I have been super busy!

This morning I woke up at about 430 am. I am kind of sick so i just couldn't sleep anymore. I met with a figure competitor yesterady to get some advice on my training and food plan. I'm getting really excited! She said she thinks I will be able to get ready for the show(it is in March), so that was good news!

I have been eating well for the past few days and although I'm sick, i feel good...even though that sounds kinda weird haha. When I get sick, i like to still do a little bit of strength training and some cardio if i feel up to it. It is probably psychological but when I workout, I sweat and i feel like i'm sweating out all the bad germs that got me sick in the first place.

This morning for breakfast I had a little bit of tomato soup to make my throat feel better, some strawberries and my usual egg white breakfast. I'm supposed to meet a friend at the gym to do some running this morning, so I am going to try to do it but if im not feeeling well I don't want to push it, i just need to get better as soon as possible.

Merry Christmas!

Hope everybody is having a wonderful holiday! I am only somewhat enjoying myself. Today is my dad's birthday, my older brother is in town, and somehow my entire family feels the need to be difficult. Why is it so hard to get myfamily together and enjoy themselves? Everyone has to complain about something and it gets frustrating!

Annyways.....I decided not to go nuts with food just because its the holidays. I am in a good feeling mode this week and if I don't feel like splurging, then why waste the calories? So here is a recap of today...

Woke up very early for some reason and decided to start my day. I had my usual egg whites and oatmeal. I also decided that my christmas treat today was going to be a slice of bread with some low sugar jelly on it. Haha i know i'm a lame-o. I headed off to the gym and had an AWESOME workout.

I did back and triceps...about 16 sets of back exercises and 13 sets of tricep exercises. And i worked hard! The gym was pretty ghostly this morning which meant no distractions! I pushed it and im proud of it.

It didn't stop there though, because I still had cardio to do. I decided today was going to be a "whatever i feel like for 45 minutes" That ended up being a mixture of running at variuos speeds (6.0mph-7.0mph) and incline walking at between 3.3mph-3.6mph at a 10-15% incline. I was sweating like crazy and felt like jello when I got off. To me thats a good workout :-D

Lunch was the usual..chicken, brown rice and vegetables ..and an apple.

I had some afternoon snacks (oatmeal, some nuts, and a bar) not too long ago...so dinner will be pretty small

I'll leave you with this.....

How can you not love that face?!?!?! My 9 month old baby (Already 70 pounds!!!!)

For your enjoyment.

Hahaha.

85 dollars at CVS...check!

Yes...it is possible to spend $85 at CVS buying absolutely nothing. I am living proof of that. I got a little blanket..some lotions..hair products and nail polish. I guess it's possible.

WORKOUT

Anyways I am going to give a more structured view of my workouts from now on!

I will typically write the exercise, then i will write the weight by how many reps i did so it will look like this...

Dumb Bell Squats: 50x15, 60x15, 60x15, 60x15

That shows I did four sets.

Moving on..

Today was supposed to be a back and tricep workout..but my back is still somewhat sore from my last back workout, so i decided to swap workouts and do a quad/calf workout.

DB Squats: 50x15, 60x15, 60x15, 60x15
DB Walking Lunges: 10x15(per leg), 15x15, 15x15
Squat Press Machine: 200x15, 220x15, 250x10
Leg Extensions(w/ a hold at the top of each rep): 50x10, 50x10
Seated Calf Raise: 25x20, 35x18, 35x15
Calf Raise Machine: 110x15, 110x18

NOTE: I rarely do calf exercises, so I wasn't sure exactly what the right weight was for me to do that is why you can see that I should be doing more weight considering I got 15 reps on the first set and 18 reps on the second set on the calf raise machine.

Depending on your goals, I recommend 12-15 reps for most people, however if you are trying to build muscle, I recommend 8-12 reps of an exercise. For me, I have pretty muscular legs as it is, so I usually go for the 12-15 reps, while in my upper body workouts, I am for 8-12 reps.

Cardio today was 40 minutes on the elliptical(my legs were worn out so I didn't even want to try for an incline walk today.)

Let me know if you have any questions...comments are always welcome too!

DIET

For breakfast today I had 4 egg whites with some bell peppers and a little bit of reduced fat mozzarella cheese. I also had a bowl of oatmeal and 2 apples. (All pre-workout)

After my workout it was lunch time and I had about 3.5 oz chicken breast, 3/4 cup of brown rice, and about a cup of mixed vegetables. I followed it up with an apple and a protein drink.

Off to work now, and plan on having a few almonds mid-afternoon, and a dinner that resembles my lunch! Protein shake before bed!


I feel great!!! :-)

whey protein

I have decided just now that im eating my whey protein with my oatmeal because i really hate protein powder and water. I get it down, but not easily. Yuckky. I would loveeeeeeee any ideas of other ways to use protein powder because i really just don't like it in water.

Haha on another note..i got all of my holiday shopping done...with the exception of one gift...and also got my hair done today!

I have to work tomorrow and the day after christmas :-( but oh well.

By the way...if anyone read my post about the negative workout i did...i am STILL sore from it..my back and biceps especially..which my biceps rarely get sore and if they ever do, it lasts maybe a few hours....its been like three days! I highly recomend it. I plan on doing another one as soon as i recover from this one haha.

Had an awesome shoulder workout today.

If you guys would like me to post my workout schedules, i can do that and also if anyone needs some help with putting together a strength workout, i would be more than happy to do so! I have trained people before so this is something that i am very capable of doing ...and its free!

Tastes so good.

Eating clean tastes so good! And is so damn easy.

Today for lunch I had 3 oz. chicken (cooked in the microwave for about 2 minutes), a 1/2 cup of brown rice (90 seconds in the microwave), about 1/4 cup of green beans (zapped in the microwave), and a TBSP of fresh salsa. (pictured above)

totally filling, totally delicious, totally easy...and did i mention that is about 220 calories... and 25 grams of protein.

I love it!! if you have other easy clean recipes..send them to me!! I love eating clean, but don't have much patience for cooking!

Glares

As i attended our office holiday party today...I noticed that when i was offered food and i politely declined...i felt as if i got a glare or perhaps a cold shoulder from people.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? This even happens to me at some family gatherings..I will say "No thank you, im not hungry" or im okay thanks!...im always very polite about it and thankful for the offer..but still I feel that people kind of get angry with me just because i don't want to eat!


Anyone feel my drift?

What a daY!

I am just now getting around to my post because I haven't had a chance all day! Here's how my day went.

Woke up at around 745 am. I ate a big big breakfast because i was STARVING. I had my usual egg whites and diced bell pepper omelet, 2 apples, and a clif bar. Okay so not that big, but i just needed those carbs badly I could feel it.

Then i headed to the gym and did a HAMMY workout. It was good and my legs were definitely dead by the end. Finished that off with 35 minutes of elliptical, then raced home to get ready for work.

I barely had a lunch, but i had a little bit...and here is my feat for the day...we had a huge office holiday party with desserts, lasagna, the whole shabang...and i didn't give in! It helps when you tell someone your training for a competition because they don't really try to push food on you as much as when you say your on a diet. For dinner i had chicken, black beans, and salsa on a bed of lettuce, and an apple.

It was a good day!

Sunday Evening

The weekend went by too fast! I had a great workout today and got in 45 minutes of cardio after my strength training. I shopped with my dad and brother today for a little while and then I went to the gym in my apartment complex and did another 20 minutes of low intensity incline walking. I wanted to munch so i decided to workout instead...and it worked! Afterwards i made some chicken with a little bit of fresh salsa on top and green beans. Not very exciting, but it was still good to me! (Im getting used to the limited diet.) I would have taken a picture but i ate it before i thought about it.

Im going to read a little bit and then off to bed!

Finally photos!

I was out kinda late last night but still woke up at the usual 830AM this morning. Damn bio clock! Anyways..for breakfast I had 2 apples, and an egg omelet(pictured above) of 4 egg whites, mixed bell peppers and about a half ounce of skim mozzarella cheese. Also a protein shake. (I like to eat a big breakfast, it helps get me through my workouts and also not over eat later in the day).

A Positive about Negatives

So yesterday I was reading my new issue of Oxygen magazine (my bible) and there was a great article on doing Negative exercises. I will occasionally do chin - negatives but have never actually done an entire work out of negatives so i decided to try ti today. LOVE IT! It really gives you a burnt out complete failure feeling in your muscles. I did chin negatives, lat pull down negatives, some tricep exercises negatives and then i did some normal exercises as well. But i have to say I am going to incorporate this into my workouts weekly because it really made my muscles burn! It feels great to try new things and have them work well. So after I did my back and tricep workout..for cardio I played an hour of Sabaki Ball. (www.sabakiball.com) It is a GREAT cardio workout because you are consistently running and jumping for three 20 minute periods. I love it! I am off to go shopping for gifts with my sister. Ill update more later!

Good Advice

I got some good advice as well as some inspiration from a fellow blogger Corrine! I am going to get a coach to help me through this competition that has experience because I just don't think I have the knowledge to do it alone. My diet is going pretty well, (not counting the last few days..but i figured out why i was being so lazy..i needed rest!) but it needs to be PERFECT if i want to do this competition and have a chance. I got 12 hours of sleep last night. that is UNHEARD of for me...which means i need to be getting more sleep. That is going to be one of my goals is to make sure i am getting enough sleep and stay well-rested.

Dorky little me, I get excited about new supplements! I take natural supplements..not fat burners and all that stuff..it makes me jittery and i don't like them. I went to Hi-health after my workout today and got some Acai Berry in a pill form. I have been reading so much about the Acai berry and of course i had to try it. (I am my own guinea pig :)) I keep adding things to my list of supplements and vitamins its getting a little intense.

Every morning I wake up and take a fish oil, flaxseed oil, green tea complex, B-12, Multivitamin, and now i am going to start taking Acaii berry as well. They have it in a powder form and also in a drink, but i don't like to drink anything other then water or protein shakes because they add sugars to everything.

Anyways i am very excited about my new supplement. Its funny most people get excited about new clothes and stuff...and i do too..however if you buy me a bunch of vitamins and supplements...i get WAY more excited.
I don't even know why..a lot of them don't even have much of an effect that i notice but oh well.

The next thing i am buying is wheat grass..i didn't today because i want to shop around a little and see exactly what form i should take it in.

If anyone has advice let me know!

To recap my workout i did 30 minutes on the elliptical followed by some plyometrics: burpees, jumping lunges, hip thrusts. I also did squats and squat press. I didn't get to finish out my leg workout because i need to go to work, but plan on finishing tonight or in the morning before tomorrows workout.

Breakthrough

I have to say...although the past few days haven't been the best choices--foodwise...I have made a breakthrough. I haven't felt guilty and gotten down on myself about these choices. I have definintely held myself accountable for them and taken the blame...but usually I literlaly beat myself up about it and feel an utter hatred towards myself. I have gotten so down that i just start bawling and drowning myself in sorrows. Its terribly honestly. I have thought about getting treatment for depressiion because i thought that was the problem. But i realized that when i am eating well i don't have those issues. I decided that i wanted to work on that because when you make a decision..such as eating the wrong foods....hating yourself for it isn't going to take those calories away. So i have finally come to a point where i can eat badly and not start hating myself...i can pick myself up and just know that time moves FORWARDS. i can't change today but i can always change tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on.

Tonight i decided i wanted to take some before pictures of myself...because i have been yo-yo dieting for the past 7 months! I go from 135 to 142 up and down up and down. I am my own human carousel! I got out of the shower tonight and was thinking wow I look like shit! Then i remembered how skewed my mind is and i decided im going to take pictures every week and try to make progress that way. i am also going to still count calories but try to dwindle away from that because i have found that i try to get in as many calories as i can...even if im not hungry...if its dinner time and i still have "800 calories left" you bet i will eat all of those 800 calories even if im not that hungry. I want to start listening to my hunger cues more because lets face it...who wants to count calories for the rest of their lives? I am definitely going to monitor it as to not ruin my diet unknowingly..but i am going to try to just add them at the end of the day rather then after every single piece of food i put in my mouth.

ok enough for now!


like always..comments welcome :)

And if anyone ever has a question about nutrition and exercise..although im not certified (yet) i have been learning so much in the past two years that i feel qualified to answer many questions. If i don't know the answer or am unsure..i will always let you know..i don't want to ever give false information!

ick.

I feel yucky today. And strayed far far far from the diet today yet again. Not a good idea. I am not feeling guilty about it or anything but i know that i won't be looking like jamie eason or kristal richardson anytime soon if i keep this up. No more excuses. Especially the way Im feeling right now. Bloated, full, even water is hard to get down. I just hate feeling puffy the day after so I am trying to get in some water. Oh well, it is inevitable. My workouts have been great, so that is something positive. But usually my workouts aren't the problem with me. I have a great workout ethic. If only I could have that same attitude towards dieting.

I actually did have that attitude towards dieting back in march-juneish. I lost about 12 pounds during that time too. It was easier then though because i had a boy in my life to keep my occupied. There weren't any times where i was "bored so i'll just eat" But that is no excuse. I have been able to diet without him so I know its just my laziness.

No more of that! hold me accountable people.

On another positive note the fact that i don't feel guilt is a big step for me because usually i would be hating myself right now, but i also in the past felt like i coudln't take control. Now i feel in control and just am not using that control!

OK enough of the rant. GOodnight!

Life happens

So i got through most of the day through the rain. I made an awesome stir fry for lunch and headed to my final, only to find out that it started two hours earlier than i thoght. Luckily my teacher is going to let me take it tomorrow so that was a close call. Being it was raining, I decided that I didn't want to count calories the rest of the day. I know I am in training and that is a big no-no, but today was just a very off day. When things don't go as planned it throws me off and i got lazy, i admit. But I will just pick back up tomorrow and work extra hard this week to try and make up for it. I don't plan on having many if any other days like this (other than my scheduled cheat meal on sunday evenings.) I still have a lot of work to do to prepare for the competition and am going to seek out a coach that I can afford (hopefully) to help me with my goals. I really think it will help me train correctly so that I can build the muscle that I need to build. Right now i am fit, but i am not figure-athlete worthy.

Life goes on though and I will get through the rest of the week well, I am confident.

Comments are welcome!

How do you deal with off days regarding your diet?
What helps you to pass up on screwing up your diet for the day?

Wake up call!

This morning I was awoken by a phone call from my friend at the gym. Nothing important just wanted to chit chat haha so I thought well I might as well get up then! For breakfast I had 2 apples, a hard boiled egg, and 4 egg whites. For the egg whites I added in a little pepper jack cheese for flavor. I like to eat a big meal for breakfast because I usually go straight to the gym afterwards and need the fuel to get me through my workout! Today after the gym I am going to take my truck to the shop and get a rental(needs a few things fixed) and then I have my last final today in statistics! Wish me luck!

My workout today will consist of Chest and Abs, followed by about 40 minutes of cardio. I'll try to take some pictures!

Relaxation!

Today was a looooonngggg day. I got in a really weight session. For hams and glutes I did deadlifts, ham curls, 45 degree hypers, and hip thrusts. Then for abs i did some hanging leg raises, and a few different types of crunches..some with resistance and some with out. I try not to do weighted ab exercises as often because they make my abs look big rather than just well defined. My goal with abs is to have them be more defined but I don't want them to puff out. I like to call it "ninja turtle belly" hehe. And with my small chest, i really dont need abs that are bigger then my boobs :) Just a personal preference.

I also tried to take pictures at the gym but when I went to turn on my camera, the battery was dead. Tomorrow there should be a few :)

Anyways after that I did 45 minutes of incline walk on the treadmill. I mixed it up between 8-15% incline and 3.3-4.0 mph. I am laying off of the running because I need to preserve as much muscle as I can while doing my cardio sessions!

After the work out I drank a muscle milk. I got out of the gym later than expected because I got caught up talking to people on my way out and ended up having to rush to get ready for work. Being my rush-act...I was only able to drink a protein shake and eat a hard boiled egg for lunch. I brought another Muscle milk to work to eat in the afternoon and for dinner this evening I cooked some turkey on a skillet and ate it with about a tablespoon of sugar-reduced ketchup and a side of mixed vegetables. I'm not much of a cook, so my meals are usually very simple.

I plan on laying on the couch for the rest of the evening, and I may go to a movie with some friends, but probably just going to sleep early!

HAVE A GOOD NIGHT.

Not hungry

This morning I woke up and wasn't hungry AT ALL. Probably because yesterday was my high calorie day for the week and probably stuck with me through the night. I know better than that though and still ate my 4 egg whites, an apple and drank a Muscle Milk Light. They are my new favorite drink! 160 calories, 20 grams of protein, 8g net carbs, 5 g of fat. To some that may seem like a lot but they are so filling! And i also need to get in more protein because i am a carb lover. Carbs don't build muscle by themselves though :-). I am about to head to the gym.....I am doing hamstrings/glutes and abs today. Then i will do an incline walk on the treadmill for about 40 to 45 minutes. Sometimes i really have to push myself to get there but so far i have probably only missed a handful of workouts in the past year and a half so i think thats pretty good!

I will try to start posting pictures as well but i am just getting used to this blogging thing.

Have a good morning!

EXCITED!!

Okay so this is my FIRST blog. I decided to begin this blog for a few reasons. I have now been working out consistently (with heavy weights and the correct way!) for about a year and a half. I began in August of 2007 with my personal trainer, Bret Contreras (Inventor and owner of the SKORCHER!) Since then, working out, particularly lifting has become a HUGE part of my life! I have grown to love it and cannot live with out it. In the last year and a half i have learned so much! I now read any and every article that I see about health, diet and fitness. I would say I know a lot, but there is always much much more to learn and I love to hear other peoples opinions about weight loss, muscle building, strength training, etc.

I plan to post my workouts, my meals and anything else I feel like :-)

Okay so now I will get to the point! After dabbling around with different diets for the past year, I have decided that I want to get serious and enter my first Figure Competition. This means I will be eating completely CLEAN to prepare for my competition. The date is March 28th 2009, so I only have just under four months to bulk up and lean out.

Here are my current stats:

Height: 5'7"
Weight: 134
BF %: Approx. 20% (need to retest on January 1st)

GOALS FOR COMPETITION:
Weight: 120-125
BF %: 10-12%

I need to lose about 15 pounds of fat and put on at least 5 pounds of muscle.

I began my training a week ago (although I have been lifting all year long, this is much more intense and structured and there are no more "lazy" workouts) and have been doing very well with it. I am doing a high protein, moderate fat, low carb for the time being but plan to change it up depending on how my body responds. I will also be cycling my carbs so that my body does not get used to the same diet. So there will be 5 low carb days and 2 high carb days mixed in with one of the high carb days being higher than the other.

I welcome any tips that anyone with experience has to offer. I am currently working with my old trainer who is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, but there is no replacement for actual experience so give me anything you've got!