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:
Ok so I have been on a kick to check out some new stuff for the pantry to replace the HFCS that we have EVERYWHERE and get the girls STAMP of Approval. I went to several Farmer’s Markets and even the Kroger ‘healthy’ section to check prices. I am amazed at all that was out there. In case you were unaware, there is a replacement for everything…ritz bitz, gold fish, cereals..you name it. Now, I have some of the pickiest kids ever and they are loving it. Slowly but surely I will have it totally out of my house. I am not going to freak when they are out and have something with this in it, but not having it as an option at home is going to be a great start for all of us. They loved the PB Puffins, Archer Farms Organic Strawberry Fruit Strips, 365 Organic Quak’n Bites (like gold fish) and Trader Joe’s Mini Peanut butter sandwich crackers. Funny story, Scott took the girls out of town on Sunday and they had to stop and get gas. While inside Jamison (my 4 year old) asked if she could have a pack of crackers and Scott said sure. So they are standing in line and she yells out ” oh, dad does this have High Fructose Corn Syrup?” Scott said the lady behind him looked shocked and then laughed and said ” That is awesome” My oldest is getting a kick out of finding things in our pantry that have it. LOL
On a similar topic, we have been pulling artificial sweeteners out as well. Several of our clients from LBC have dropped the splenda, diet drinks, and Crystal light flavor packs out and are noticing significant drops in their weight. This is something worth trying for yourself to see how sensitive your body may be to these items.
What is this? It is derived from cornstarch, usually a combination of 55 percent fructose and 45 percent sucrose. Treated with an enzyme that converts glucose to fructose, which results in a sweeter product. Used in soft drinks, baked goods, jelly, syrups, fruits and desserts.
Now do you realize 1. how bad this is for us and 2. how many products that you have in your pantry that probably contain this? I have been doing a lot of reading this past week on HFCS. No it isn’t new, but I was just shocked to find out all of the foods that it is in. I think that when it comes to me eating certain things, I tend to overlook some of the negative health habits, but now that I see how much of this is in my kids stuff….well, there really is no turning back. I am now revamping my pantry and I can tell you, the girls aren’t to excited. LOL.
In case you are unaware: Fructose is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar. It has been linked to diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolic Syndrome. Fructose also contains no enzymes, vitamins or minerals, and it leeches micronutrients from your body. Unbound fructose, found in large quantities in HFCS, can interfere with your heart’s use of minerals such as magnesium, copper and chromium.
(this was taken from our forum..www.leanbodiesfitness.com) To add even more fuel to the fire, HFCS is almost always made from genetically modified corn, which is fraught with its own well documented side effects and health concerns.
GMO corn will radically increase your risk of developing corn food allergies. You can bet dimes to dollars on this one and become very wealthy if someone is crazy enough to disagree with you and take you up on this bet.
The problem with corn allergies are that once you have a corn allergy from GMO corn you will have an allergy to even healthy organic corn products.
On top of that, if you read through the Organic Consumers Association article linked to above, you get a feel for just how bad corn crops are for your waistline and the environment. On average, Americans eat over 14 tablespoons of sugar every day, and a growing portion of that is in the form of corn syrup. Aside from contributing to obesity, the more than 76 million acres of corn grown each year in the United States is hurting the land. Each year:
* Corn crops are sprayed with 162 million pounds of chemical pesticides
* Producing, packaging and transporting these pesticides contributes nearly 3 billion pounds of greenhouse gases to the environment each year
* About 18 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers are used on corn crops every year, contributing 35 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions
After reading all of this plus so much more, I have decided to take this out of my kids diet. I know that all things in moderation are ok, but I am just not going to have it as an option in the house. From what I have read and seen there are a tons of alternatives in the whole foods sections. Now I just need to hunt down the ones that my girls will eat. If you don’t realize how much of this is in your pantry..check out this list http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php/2005/06/09/foods_and_products_containing_high_fruct
And here is the latest commercial trying to reassure us that HFCS is fine.
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 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.
This past week has been a rough one. I jacked up neck and back and shoulder pretty badly. UGH. Now I HATE Doctors. I avoid them at all costs, but I have to say that I would go to my ART doc anytime! So basically what ART does to help treat injuries:
Injuries to soft tissue (ligaments, muscles, nerves) due to acute trauma or overuse result in inflammation and swelling in the area. This inflammation and swelling causes an increase in tension and internal pressure on surrounding structures. In order to stabilize the area, the body lays down scar tissue cross fibers. Scar tissue:
Restricts motion between muscle layers and nerves
Decreases circulation
Increases internal pressure and tension on the structures in the area
With nerve restriction, pain, numbness, and tingling can occur
Shortens muscles which tends to make them weak
This altered tissue tension and texture leads to pain, faulty mechanics, and a frustrating decrease in performance. A.R.T. removes scar tissue thereby eliminating pain and restoring normal muscle and nerve function
I am telling you they are the greatest. And mine especially. He has done everything possible to keep me in the gym and I have bruises to show for it LOL. I also had some Acupuncture done. I am feeling a ton better–not 100% but getting there! So just in case you are in the Atlanta area…look him up Dr Stephen LaScala at the Soft Tissue and Chiropractic clinic! He was actually referred to me from Erik’s ART Anthony Lombardi–I have also been to see him, but he is in Erik’s neck of the woods.
This topic seems to get brought up a lot on the forum and just with other people that I speak to that are into fitness and getting in shape. The biggest question is why is it that our friends and even our family seem so against us eating the right way. OR even worse…Sticking to a plan and trying to get LEAN. I don’t get it and I haven’t seen it change over time either. One of the most difficult things for people to understand is when you bring your own food over to their house. Why is this such a bad or rude thing to do. I mean, if you tell them ahead of time so they don’t go out of their way to prepare something, why is this not ok? They wouldn’t say anything if you had some food allergy and couldn’t eat a certain type of food-nope-only if you pack your chicken and your salad or sweet potato. Another big one is “You weigh your food?????” Do they not realize that it takes two seconds to do this? I would think that these people would want to support you through this process. you know, build you up, not make you feel weird, or wrong, or OBSESSIVE. (i hate that one).
I think one of the good things I read tonight talked about inner strength. A friend of mine, Jennie Hamilton said, ”REGARDLESS however -while support from others is important to a certain degree nothing compares to the drive/passion that should come from within. That’s what’s always drove me. This is MY choice. Living for someone else, living for things with no meaning to you doesn’t yield happiness or allow your full potential to thrive. Sure it may not be easy, but it just makes you stronger.” I thought that about said it all. That is what you think about when friends and family doubt you or use words that aren’t uplifting…that is what you need to remember–mental toughness.
Most often I talk about my journey through this fitness industry. The ups and downs of competing and training and dieting and bulking, but I want to talk about a client of mine: Cara Richman. She has been with me several months now and has just really made some great changes. She started out doing both Olympic lifting AND Cross-fit. Two very different goals. Overall, she wanted to shed some bodyfat. Wait till you see the progress that she has made. I think one of the things that I like about Cara is that she has a great attitude about all of this and it has rubbed off on many people. She has become a huge contributor to our forum www.leanbodiesfitness.com as well as getting her husband and several friends to get fit! Cara started this weight loss journey on her own and once down about 14lbs, hired me to help out. Overall Cara has dropped about 23 1/4 inches and come down from 135 lbs. to 107 lbs. Her plans are to finish off the ‘diet’ phase in the next couple of months and then go into the fall with the focus on adding some nice muscle. I think there might be a little bit of the figure competition bug in her for next year :) She definitely has the drive to get it done. Congrats to you Cara, your hard work has definitely paid off in many ways!
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!
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. 
