Gotta New Plan, Stan!

After battling SERIOUS hunger alllll day yesterday (like the "painful feel sick" hunger, not the "crap I wish I could eat" hunger), I ended up feeling very weak and woozy/lightheaded around 9 or so last night. From previous experiences, that scared me, and I knew I had to get something in me. So, I turned to my trusty "help my blood sugar is dropping" snack, cereal. Don't worry - it was measured out, counted, and not an emotional spur of the moment decision such as last week was. But health first and I had to eat! After I started feeling better I thought about how last week the same thing happened. And every Wednesday. I think it is because I try to have so many lower cal days in a row and after a few days it starts affecting me physically in a bad bad way, especially considering my past hypoglycemic issues and what all happened my last attempt at prep.

In my meal plan I set Sat & Sun to be a bit higher days out of convenience and to fit in more enjoyable things on the weekends. I decided I am going to have to change that to having my high days on Wed & Sat and doing a low day on Sunday instead - which will be a bit of an inconvenience on Sunday with church and figuring out lower meals that work with my long breaks between meals on Sundays due to my schedule. But I can make that work and it will be better for me to have the week broken up a bit more. So thats the new diet plan. I will also probably do Wed as high as Sat or close to it to be on the safe side - after all, cals on those days are still at a deficit, just not as big so no harm done. We'll see what happens with my progress with the changes and increases, but better safe than sorry in my book.

Anyhoo - I also will be switching up my training schedule because I don't want to be taking Makenzie to the gym daycare as often anymore now that flu season is here and she seems to be getting sick more easily since the hospital. My split will be odd but it will still fit in my workouts and allow me to go more in the afternoons and still do cycle on days I enjoy it, etc. So that means today will be just cycle this afternoon and no weights and then I will train legs & shoulders tomorrow. I ended up doing a lot of cleaning, reading, playing with M this morning instead. Oh - and another good thing about doing my training later is I can put more of the bulk of my meals in the afternoon around training and that's when I am hungriest. It's easier for me to eat lighter in the AM but before I was trying to eat more bec of pre/post workout nutrition. So another bonus that will hopefully leave me feeling less hunger and better in general!  Enough rambling now....BBL!

Mmmmmm.....Food!

I love Saturdays and Sundays. Even though I know my diet isn't as super restrictive as most competition diets, by ANY means, I still get pretty stark raving hungry living off approximately 1300 cals/day by the end of the week. And am always always always excited for my carb-up/refeed day. I consider myself lucky that my body responds very well to carbs. If I restrict them to much, things aren't pretty and, after going moderately low all week, when I up the cals and carbs for a day each week I come out of it all renewed, refreshed, and feeling tighter and leaner to boot. Currently, on Monday-Friday I eat in the neighborhood of 1300 calories with 120-130g carbs each day. Then, on Saturday I go up to 1800 cals with 200g carbs. Ahhhhhhh......sigh of satisfaction that was. ;) And on Sunday, I drop the cals back to 1300 range but keep the carbs up a bit more again at 150g. This approach has really been working well so far to keep me satisfied, seeing progress, and having the energy to keep up some intense workouts. I also like the fact that if my progress starts to slow down (which I have every expectation it will closer and closer to show - just a fact of dieting) I have LOTS of room to tweak things and drop carbs a bit here or there, as well as tightening up food choices, etc. But until then, I will enjoy my yummies.

Saturday's Update
Macros - 206C / 46F / 134P
pre-cardio = coffee & 1sc Dymatize toffee protein powder
post-cardio = bowl of cereal (mix Kashi & Cinnamon Special K) w/ almond milk
lunch = chicken/lettuce/onion/mustard/pickles on sandwich thin, cucumber, strawberries
snack = apple, pb
dinner = sirloin, sweet potato, steamed broccoli
dessert = skinny cow icecream sandwich


Training - off
Cardio - another awesome spin class
Extra stuff - did some abs
        .......
3x15/side oblique twists
3x20 hip thrusts
3x15 stability ball cable crunch 30#
3x60sec hold bosu planks - thanks Mandy for the ab recs ;)

Sunday's Update
Macros - 146 C / 31 F / 120 P
meal 1 = kashi waffles/sf syrup, chicken sausage, eggbeater omelet
meal 2 = ground turkey/taco season/ff cheese/salsa, cucumber, strawberries
meal 3 = pumpkin cheesecake loaf inspired by Kristin's Eat Oxygen Blog :) Thanks!
meal 4 = greek yogurt & pb "icecream" (4oz yogurt mixed w/ 1T pb frozen)
meal 5 = homemade roasted veggie pizza (low carb tortilla, tom sauce, vegs, lf cheese)


Training - Chest and Back (killed it!)
Cardio - off
Extra stuff - none
............
Circuit 1
wide grip latpulldown
12x85# / 2sets 8x100# / 6x100#dropset6x85#
incline bb bench
15x65# / 2sets 8x80# / 7x80#dropset8x65#
narrow grip latpulldown
12x75# / 2sets 8x85# / 7x85#dropset5x70#
incline db bench (weight/hand)
15x30# / 10x35# / 8x35# / 10x35#dropset5x25#


Circuit 2
underhand bb row
12x65# / 9x75# / 8x75# / 8x75#dropset7x65#
flat db flyes (weight/hand)
12x15# / 2sets8x20# / 7x20#dropset8x15#
wide grip cable row
12x55# / 3sets 8x60#
pecdeck
10x55# / 3sets 8x60#

Notes and Thoughts:

• I had fun trying new concoctions today to be able to add to my diet repertoire. Kristin's blog has lots of great ideas. And I have discovered that I do, in fact, like cottage cheese. I always used to HATE it!!!
• I bought some exfoliator at the store today so I can start getting into that habit. I have to be sure my skin is smooth for the tanner. Which leads me to my other dilemma - use Jan Tana or Extreme Tan???  I know I need to get on ordering those supplies. 
• I also need to start thinking about hair and makeup. For makeup should I go to a MAC counter and have them do a trial run for me. I know I was recommended a lot of MAC products the last time I prepped. For hair - I am clueless!
• I made an appointment for a brazilian next week. EEEEKKKK!!! It will be my first and I know a trial run before having to get it done for the show will be a good move. So I'm doing it next week. 
• I have redone my workout schedule where it leaves me without a full rest day each week - BUT I end up feeling MORE rested and refreshed. Since I enjoy splitting up my cardio and training as much as possible to get quality workouts in each time, this works well for me. It is NOT something I recommend by any means for typical living, but to get it all in these next 8 weeks and not feel overwhelmed on a daily basis I am going with it for now. I like having days where I have to worry about JUST cardio or JUST training. :)
• I'm PUMPED for the next 8 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get in My Belly!!! - My Rebel Comp Diet

I am not your typical competition prep dieter. In my opinion, having a list only 10 foods long to choose from is not the only way to go. You know what I'm talking about. The green beans, asparagus, broccoli, spinach, chicken, fish, sweet potato, oatmeal, and oils for fats competition diet. Well, I've been there, done that......and in the process completely screwed myself. Let me go back a bit here and tell you about my last attempt at a competition. 


I had an online trainer, and while the program is a good program that provides great results for people, it was not for me. AT. ALL. I have had hypoglycemia since my senior year of high school, although it is much less of an issue these days (which I attribute to my more lenient approach to my eats). Well, combine hypoglycemia with super intense cardio and training, as well as the 10-food-list diet and I was a wreck. I passed out a few times from it, including in the middle of an intense track workout at a local high school. I had serious migraines at least 2-3 times a week. I constantly felt weak and irritable and just plain sick. About 3 weeks out from my show I went to my doctor (after the track incident) and the results were not good. He basically told me to either quit or risk messing up my already sensitive blood sugar to a level in need of daily monitoring and meds. He was very concerned about the final week "hell week" I described to him with even greater restrictions on food, carbs, water, etc. I knew after that visit I couldn't go through with the show. Health was, and always will be, the most important. So I dropped out with the understanding that competing was something I would never be able to do. 


Enter some friends from a fitness forum who showed me the light and that there is a different way to prep. That fitting into your target macros the foods you want (yes still healthy, wholesome) will still give you results and still work at getting you to stage. What?! How is this possible?? Well, these friends followed this approach and had even better results with it, enjoyed their preps, and didn't have any drastic effects post show. Like I did post drop-out where I suddenly found myself battling binges and a very unhealthy relationship with food that I overcame over the past 2 years - another post for another time. I always felt bad about not fulfilling that goal in the past and it was always nagging me in the back of my head that I wanted to do a show. Now, after the enlightening experience of being able fit in what you want and as long as you see results the food still being safe thrilled me. I could do that. And I am doing that. And, yep, it's working. So when you see my competition eats don't be (too) surprised at the variety. Variety is the spice of life after all. And no goal should be pure torture to reach. 

Breakfast Pre Workout

oats w/ 15g dried fruit & 30g All The Whey protein powder

 

Post Workout - Favorite aka BIG Meal

100g Southwest Eggbeaters

Trader Joe's Mango chicken sausage

130g apple w/ 20g ff strawberry spread

coffee w/ 2oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Lunch

3.25oz ground turkey w/ 35g salsa, 2tsp taco season, 15g ff cheese

100g strawberries sliced

18g natural peanut butter

Pre-Cardio Snack - mmmm chocolate

All the Whey chocolate pp w/ 1c unsweetened choc almond milk

Cookies & Cream Luna bar (thats right!)

Dinner

4oz grilled shrimp in cajun seasoning

125g french style green beans

So there you have it. A day in the life of my eats. And for the record that all adds up to 128 Carbs / 31 Fat / 138 Protein ;) 

My Fitness History

Well, where do I begin? I grew up as an active child and teen being involved with gymnastics, cheerleading, and running and ate a balanced diet at home. I never really experienced weight struggles and was never uncomfortable with my body. Then, I went to college and my freshmen year started being less active and eating the campus food didn't help me. Yet, I still didn't feel too poorly about how I looked. My sophomore year of college I moved home for money purposes and because I was doing substitute teaching at the schools of that area. The work, commute to college, and continued habits of eating more poorly, as well as picking up a daily dessert habit, really started to wreck my appearance, health, and confidence. I had a true wake-up moment when I started my college PE class spring semester that year. Our first day of class was a fitness test and measurement/weight tracking to see what progress we made over the semester. I quickly realized I was a) not near as fit as before and b) almost 20 lbs heavier than I thought I was. Ouch! 


So, then started my fitness quest. The class was an aerobics and weights fitness class - similar to the types of things you would see in a gym fitness group schedule. It was fun and really got me motivated once I started seeing small changes in my body. After that class ended, the following summer my mom, sister, and I invested in some Tae Bo, Cathe Friedrich, and Turbo Jam DVDs that we started doing religiously 5 days/week at home. The exercise was fun and challenging but after awhile I felt like I could do more. 


In January of 2005 I discovered Tom Venuto's E-book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. I began reading it and dove headfirst into applying his techniques. Around that time I also found Oxygen magazines and was inspired by the fit bodies of those women. These 2 discoveries led me to a passion in working out at the gym and eating a relatively clean diet. I got in the best shape ever at that time....up until now of course ;)


My passion continued from there and grew until I was motivated to attempt competing in a figure show the summer of 2007. I was excited about it and hired an online training program to help me achieve this goal. I never reached that stage, however, because the training and dieting principles employed were very old school and messed with my metabolism, bloodsugar, health, sanity, and overall happiness. I had to pull out about 2.5 weeks from the show to ensure I didn't mess up my hypoglycemia. The sudden stop of prep combined with how deprived I was up until then led me down a road of binging. Once I could eat more than chicken, fish, broccoli, asparagus, oats, and sweet potato my body wanted EVERYTHING and in LARGE amounts. Seriously large. I remember moments where I would polish off 6 Krispy Kreme donuts, a dozen Lofthouse cookies, AND some cake or pie from the grocery bakery or bags of candy...yes, at once. And yes, I was sick to my stomach but couldn't STOP. I seemed to do this at least once a week and then would punish myself by trying to be "good" and overly restrictive afterwards...until the next binge. I gained about 20 lbs AGAIN at this time - putting me at around 140. Luckily with keeping up in the gym I still didn't look too terrible at that weight. 


Well, in late 2007 my husband and I started talking about starting a family and I knew I needed to get in control of myself. I finally shared with him my battle (I had kept it a secret until then, which was a HUGE mistake) and we really worked on getting me through it. I decided to turn it over to God at this time. Every day I would wake up and say a prayer of thanks to God for blessing me with health and the ability to care for myself and would decide to honor Him by eating healthfully. I didn't lose weight at this time but I really started regaining control and although it was hard - I made it through weeks and then a couple of months binge-free. Then, I found out I was pregnant in late February 2008! What a blessing! Being pregnant and then nursing totally changed my relationship with food. I had to eat for health and be an example to my baby girl. I HAD to eat more for the pregnancy and then for my milk supply and in that time I realized it is still possible to achieve fitness goals with a more moderate approach. I lost weight MORE easily and consistently during that time because I was able to stick to my diet. I wasn't overly deprived, I incorporated foods I enjoyed, and saw the progress. I learned it really is about consistently making better choices. 


Once I made some great progress post-Makenzie, that old competition bug started to bite again and I couldn't quite get it to go away. I kept trying to convince myself it wasn't for me, but I KNEW in my heart that if I didn't go for it I would always regret it. Fortunately, while pregnant, I saw some friends compete under the guidance of someone very knowledgeable who didn't enforce such strict training and dieting techniques for a comp. And they had amazing results with such an approach. I knew then, if they could do it, then so could I and I just HAD to. So in late July, early August of 2009 I set out to finally achieve the goal of my first figure competition. I decided to prep myself so I could truly listen to my body and do what worked for ME. I am currently enjoying the process and cannot wait to get to show day and see what I have achieved.