Lean Bodies - Noel Clark

This is probably the hardest and easiest part of contest prep. Yeah, I know, doesn’t make much sense. When you only have 10 more days you think ” I can do anything for 10 days, this is going to be a cake walk” BUT you are also ‘feeling it’ the most right about now. Maybe a little tired, a little achy, a little hungry and some…a little crabby (but not me of course LOL ). I think my emotions go back and forth from these two things a lot during the last bit of a prep. When I get tempted to eat something or just don’t really feel like going to the gym, you can psych yourself up knowing that you only have a few more days! Again though, these are a hard ‘few more days’.

In the end, you suck it up because you are so close to your goal. It is very close and I am REALLY excited!

FACE EACH DAY WITH THE EXPECTATION OF ACHIEVING GOOD, RATHER THAN THE DREAD OF FALLING SHORT

So how many people’s houses look like this:

Now multiply that times 3 and you have my house! And as everyone knows by now..I love candy. So now what? How do you NOT eat it? I was thinking about this when my Sister in Law called and I could hear my 2 year old niece in the background asking for a Kit Kat for breakfast. And she was MAD because mommy was saying no! Why no? Well, you don’t eat that for breakfast, you don’t eat it for lunch either, but you can have a piece at some point–get that I said A PIECE. Not 6 pieces or 12 pieces or 20 pieces. Why? Because it isn’t good for you. That is what we tell our kids right? “You can’t have all that junk girls, it isn’t good for you.” Maybe we should take our own advice. Have a piece every now and then, but not a ton. IT ISN’T GOOD FOR YOU. Start looking at this ‘healthy’ eating differently. Doesn’t mean you can’t have ANY it means you can’t look like this:

(great shot by Isaac Hinds)

Well Halloween is on us and if you know me at all by this point, you know that I absolutely love to bake. Being in the middle of competition prep is definitely the hardest time to bake without tasting but it can be done. And I think this goes for anyone that is trying to hit weight loss goals and is around the holidays when there are tempting treats everywhere we turn. I know that for me, the girls all have Halloween parties at school plus the trick or treating that they will do. So it is inevitable that you will be faced with temptations. I think there are several things that you can do to stick to your plan and be prepared for these treats that will spring up all over the place. You have to plan ahead. I think this is where we seem to fall short. Meal prep to me is so critical to staying on plan. When you are STARVING and you do not have meals prepped…you reach for whatever is there and if your house is anything like mine, we have candy dishes and school treats all over right now. That is another thing I do when I have to bake for the girls. I make sure that it is after a meal not right before when I am so hungry that that batter or frosting looks even more yummy. You can also use all the other tricks that I think I have said before like chewing gum while baking or brushing your teeth so that if you did want to have a lick it just wouldn’t taste right. I just think it is important to realize that you do have “life” going on around you and you can’t expect everyone else to change to fit your goals. You have to be able to adapt and stay strong to what you have set out for yourself. As Erik has said many times…’it is simple, not easy’.

Here is one of the yummies I am making this year

This is one of the most asked topics during my prep for a show. “What is your diet like? “You probably don’t get to eat ANYTHING.” “Do you get ANY carbs?” ” How soon do you cut out fruit?” “Do you only eat Sweet Potato and Oats?” “How much Fish are you eating?”

I am not sure why it is so hard for people to understand that my diet is very similar to what I would normally eat…just less–until I get refeeds or all day cheats I never cut out fruit or any other food groups for that matter. I do eat oats but only because I think I could eat those for every single meal MMMMMMMMMM. But I eat so many other things: white potato, sweet potato, LOVE blueberries, and then of course Post Workout carbs can be almost anything (almost). This isn’t unusual either. When Erik or I have a client, we aren’t cutting out any of these things for other people either.

As for the fish question LOL. I eat NO fish NONE….I hate fish–tilapia, tuna, salmon…you name it…I am NOT EATING FISH. BLECH. I have read over and over and over how many figure girls eat 2, 3 and 4 meals of fish for prep (even breakfast-you have got to be joking). Now don’t get me wrong, if you love fish then woohoo, but not me. I would rather eat dog food. LOL You do NOT have to eat fish to get contest lean. I know that is going to be one of Erik’s ‘rants’ on contest prep myths.

Then of course there is the option of the weekly cheat/free meal. This is an option most clients get–prepping or not. THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS. But if there was something that I really wanted that wasn’t on plan, then I would just take a free meal. Do I have to be mindful of portions–well duh-yes. But who says you have to stuff yourself until your sick? I usually opt not to take them just because I tend to just wait for the refeeds or all day cheats. YUM!!

That is about it. My diet is well rounded-chicken, beef, fruits, oats, potatoes, almonds, peanut butter, CHEESE, fish oils and Protein powder. Why these things? Because those are what I like, not because that is the only way to do it. Could I have fish, Pork tenderloin, bread, bagels, tortilla, pancakes, walnuts, pecans, nut butters, cottage cheese …among many other things–YEP. Those are all options as well, but I stick with what I like best I just hope people realize that there isn’t just one set way to do this.

Well, it is now 7 weeks out from Nationals and I am really getting excited. I am definitely in the groove with the diet and training and feeling really great about where I am. There are going to be so many people coming to this show in support of me that I just can’t wait….nervous-YES! but very very excited. So…today is a free day for me! Erik was sweet enough to send me KETCHUP CHIPS YUM!!! Never in a million years would I have ever thought I would like these LOL. And I will definitely have a nice juicy burger today.

Training is going great. I am throwing around weights that are PRs for me. I hit my 70lb One Arm DB Snatch that I was after. My Rack pulls are up to 335. My pull-ups are coming along nicely ever since I have been using my bands instead of the Assisted machine. If you get a chance and have chins or pullups in your training, you should get a set of mini bands. They will make a world of difference for you! Here is a great place to order them if you are interested: http://www.ironwoodyfitness.com/index.html
Here are a couple of 7 weeks out shots.

Prep is going well. Training is always good I hit a PR today in the gym with DB Snatches-70lb! Things seem to be coming along like usual–leaning out from the top down. I have seen some nice measurement changes the past several weeks but minimal scale change. This is a good thing (I tell myself over and over and over ) I am predicting a typical big scale drop soon. That seems to be what happens with me during my prep. I think I am just living for all day cheats again LOL. Man, I think I am spoiled.

This show is going to be a ton of fun-especially since it is here in Atlanta. This will be the first show that my girls will get to see me in, as well as other family members and a ton of friends. This will be the most in-house support I have ever had–sooooo exciting. That just makes me work that much harder!

8 weeks! You can do ANYTHING for 8 weeks. Especially since I still haven’t even started Cardio yet :shhh:

I have been slacking on the blogging lately.  Life has taken over…. lol

Contest prep is definitely underway.  I am just under 10 weeks away from Nationals here in Atlanta.  Am I nervous…yes :)  Just plugging away and trying to get the weight and measurements to drop.  I feel like each prep at about this time, everything seems un-reachable.  So I am going to just try to do what I am suppose to do and come out on the other side….hopefully with a better mindset.

Life has been crazy busy…having my girls playing soccer this year has kept us on the move constantly.  I some how am now helping to coach my older daughter’s team.  This is something I swore I wouldn’t do….but I am actually enjoying it.  We had our first game last weekend and it was a tie.  I definitely can count that as cardio and am surprised that I had a voice the next day LOL.

I will have more to share soon ….promise.

Here is a Back shot from about a week ago:

I am sure Erik is going to do a write up on this in his blog eventually, but I thought that I would write about it as well.  Ok, so during contest prep I have come to find out that salad ( a filler and something that keeps off hunger for me)  tends to upset my stomach.  So we have come to remove it totally just during prep time.  Now with taking out the greens a question came up from Erik about wondering what my PH was and maybe that needs to be addressed.  Having a higher protein intake and veggies going down…where does that leave me?  Having a more acidic environment in your body can have some very negative effects like:

• Cardiovascular damage, including the constriction of blood vessels and the reduction of oxygen.
• Weight gain, obesity and diabetes.
• Bladder and kidney conditions, including kidney stones.
• Immune deficiency.
• Acceleration of free radical damage, possibly contributing to cancerous mutations.
• Hormone concerns.
• Premature aging.
• Osteoporosis; weak, brittle bones, hip fractures and bone spurs.
• Joint pain, aching muscles and lactic acid buildup.
• Low energy and chronic fatigue.
• Slow digestion and elimination.
• Yeast/fungal overgrowth.

 It is very easy to test your PH level on ph strips, both orally or with your urine.  There are many things that you can do if you test strips come back on the acidic side.  You can alter your diet a bit to include things like greens+, adding uncooked spinach or green veggies into your diet.  Another thing that you can do is take out sweeteners like splenda or sweet n low and replace them with Stevia which is an alkaline.  Also, eliminating sodas…(that is NOT happening with me LOL ) because they are extremely acidic.  You can check out the chart bellow for more foods and where they fall on the acidic/alkaline chart. 

so I took my ph today and am actually going to do it first thing in the morning to see if it is different because I was pleasantly surprised to see that my PH was in the normal range.  I think it surprised Erik as well.  But I still think this is a good thing to check out for yourself if you can.  The PH strips can be either ordered online or found at a local pharmacy.  

A friend from our forum www.leanbodiesfitness.com was talking to me the other day about having a family and being involved in this type of lifestyle.  She brought up some really great points about how she has read several things lately about people saying they need to take a ‘break’ from this dieting to just be “normal” and have family dinners and not be so restrictive.  Her point to me (hopefully I am expressing this right) was that she didn’t understand this concept.  Why can’t THIS lifestyle and even competing, be incorporated into your family instead of being viewed as something that has to take away from your family.  I totally agreed with her.  I think that if you are dieting down-whether for a show or for just personal satisfaction-you need to find a way to make this a part of your entire life…not just something separate that you can’t incorporate with your family.  Why can’t you have dinner with your family.  Can’t you incorporate similar foods that you are having to eat with your family meal.  I mean, do your children not eat chicken, beef, pork…..whatever and other similar things that might be on your ‘diet’?  Does it mean you can’t make Mac N cheese for them and just not partake in it?  I think that they can learn good eating habits by watching you.  In my house, the girls know that at breakfast we can have pancakes but we are getting eggs too.  They even like some of the recipes that AmyP puts together LOL.  I think that it is also important to see that mommy or daddy workout!  In my house, this is just like anything else that needs to get done…lifting.  My oldest daughter is at an age now where she is asking more about food and what it does in the body.  Again, these are awesome situations to teach them the ‘healthy’ way to look at food.  I don’t think that dieting down needs to separate you from your family.  It is just like anything else…there has to be balance.

Ok it is time to get serious. I have my head in the game now. I feel like I have just been so preoccupied with other things lately -that this show and this show prep hasn’t seemed like a priority. Well, it is now LOL. I have to bring an even better package to this show than I did to Jr Nationals. PLUS, this is in my hometown and I have a lot friends and family coming. Some of which have never even seen me compete and don’t know much about this ‘figure’ stuff anyway. LOL. So here are some starting pics. I have some work to do but Erik and I both KNOW we can get there. I think that is one of the cool things — he and I have been working together for a while now and KNOW how my body tends to work.  Off we go!