Five Things

Today I thought I would share a random assortment of information and tips with you, just things I think everyone should know:

1. Crunches - You would have to do about 250,000 crunches to lose 1 pound of fat. You will never have ab definition by relying on crunches. The key to abs surrounds is your diet. You need to eat clean – for more info on this check out Tosca Reno’s books if you haven’t already.
2. Fitness Models - Also related to those coveted abs (particularly for women) 99.9% of fitness models on magazine covers diets down before a shoot.That fabulous body does not look like that 365 days a year. Although, I am no fitness model, I will use myself as an example here. I intentionally gained about 8 pounds after my fitness show earlier this month. Why? It wouldn’t be healthy for me to maintain a body fat percentage that low AND I was water depleted the day of the competition. I was down about 3-4 pounds of water weight! I am learning to be happy without the level of muscle definition I had a few weeks ago and recognize that magazines are not a reflection of reality (which I can forget sometimes).
3. Lifting weights – if you are female, under no circumstances will you look like a body builder if you lift weights. You do not have the testosterone required to build bulky muscle. Muscle on women only makes them ‘tighter’ and ‘leaner’. Also, as a bonus, resting muscle burns more calories than resting fat which means you get to eat more. I don’t know about you but I would like to be able to eat extra food every day. I like food. I eat six meals a day and I love it!
4. The scale – The scale can be evil. Do not rely on your weight to tell you what you look like. Have you ever walked up to someone on the street and said “Excuse me, what do you weigh?”. A number means very little, especially if you have a significant amount of muscle. For instance I know a woman who is almost 4 inches shorter than I am and weighs the same as I do (140 pounds – yep I just revealed my weight – shock and big gasp haha). Guess who looks “better”? She does - She has a lot of lean muscle and a lower body fat percentage. Instead of relying on the scale, take before and after pictures, measurements, body fat percentage, the fit of your clothes, and most importantly how you feel as an indication of your progress.
5. Planning and Preparation - These are the keys to almost all success in life, and particularly in terms of health and fitness. If you want to succeed you need to plan your meals and your workouts. Prepare healthy food on the weekends so you have something nutritious to grab when things are going crazy. I like to throw a bunch of chicken breasts on the foreman grill so I can chop and add them to any meal. Get your workout clothes out the night before so all you can do when you roll out of bed is put them on. My running shoes are literally beside my bed when I go to sleep at night. My morning routine looks like this: Get up; make coffee and grab a quinoa pancake from the freezer; drink coffee and eat pancake; work out. Make exercising a non-negotiable habit and healthy food all that is easy to grab in your house.

Ok, I think that sums up my little rant of the day. Big hugs and support to everyone keeping it healthy through the holiday season.

No More Excuses

Ok, so we all like to pretend that we are some special case, like we have a really legit reason for not getting in shape, eating healthy or losing some weight. Here is the thing, if you even know me, you should realize by now that you have absolutely no excuse – zero - none. You can take whatever situation you are in and work with it to create the body and the life you have always wanted.

However, if you haven’t clued in and still want to make the excuses I am going to bust through those right now.

1.     “I don’t have time”

Umm, yes you do. You only need about 20 minutes per day to get in a workout.  I get up at 5 am every day of the week to make sure I get in at least 45 minutes of exercise on 6 of those days.

2.     “My partner/spouse/family isn’t supportive so I can’t fit exercise in or eat clean”

So what? I don’t even have a partner and I make time. I have no one to watch the kids while I take time out for me. Again, I get up at 5 am to fit in a solid workout before my children wake up. AND you can make your own food if your partner still wants to eat garbage. Live by example and forge a path instead of following their bad example.

3.     “I don’t have the money for a gym membership”

I am a sole-support parent without the babysitting or the extra cash at present for a gym membership. I got that body you see on Facebook solely training at home with almost no equipment.

4.     “I don’t know what I am doing”

Exercise: Number 1, you have GOOGLE! Seriously! You also have YOUTUBE! However, if that doesn’t work for you buy yourself a $10 Jillian Micheals DVD or a subscription to Oxygen Magazine. Both are inexpensive ways to figure it out.

Eating Habits: Buy ‘The Eat Clean Diet” by Tosca Reno. This book, or any book in her series, is literally all you need to change your eating habits and it is only $15.85! If you don’t have $15 as for it for Christmas. Here is a link on Amazon to buy it http://www.amazon.ca/Eat-Clean-Diet-Recharged-Tosca-Reno/dp/1552100677/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321109880&sr=8-1

5.     “I can’t afford healthy food”

Actually, you can. Here are some tips: Stay out of the centre aisles of the grocery store; Eggs are cheap and a great source of protein; Organic Tofu is another inexpensive protein option; Watch for sales on things like chicken breast; Buy frozen fruit and veggies to supplement the fresh fruits and veggies; and STOP buying coffee and meals out - make your own. Again, I am a sole-support parent here without a ton of cash and I make it happen.

6.     “I have health problems”

You can work around literally any health or physical problem. Talk to your doctor or physiotherapist to help you come up with a plan.

7.     “I don’t want to look stupid”

No one is going to laugh at you. All those really ripped people out there will be silently cheering you on for changing your life – that is why they may look at you, not because they are laughing at you.

8.     “I don’t like to work out”

Then you haven’t looked hard enough for something you like to do. Also, just change your attitude! Decide you are going to enjoy your workouts instead of griping about them. Furthermore, you are an adult and we have to do things we don’t like sometimes.

9.     “It hurts to work out”

DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is normal. This is just because you are not accustomed to the exercise.  This will decrease over time and when I am sore, I just like to think of it as my workout having been effective.

10. “It’s my genetics – I am destined to be fat/skinny because my whole family is fat/skinny”

This is a giant lie! In the words of Tosca Reno (and a lot of other experts) your genes make up only about 10% of what your physical body looks like. It is your eating and exercise habits that shape your body for the most part. I never want to hear this out of anyone’s mouth again.

11. “I have no energy to exercise”

This is a chicken vs. egg argument. You have no energy because you don’t exercise and you don’t exercise because you have no energy. Change your habits today. Get enough rest, cut out the refined and processed foods and decide you are going to start an exercise regime. You will have more energy than you ever dreamed possible.

Post Competition

In case you missed the BIG news, I placed 2^nd in the Bikini Tall category at the OPA Ottawa Championships. I am still a little in shock but sooo pleased with the results. This also means that I qualify for provincials in the spring and I am beyond excited about that.

Now, it is 4 days after my first competition and I feel HUGE.  As many of you are aware, fitness competitors and fitness models lean out significantly to get that great muscle definition in the couple of weeks prior to a show or a photo shoot.  However, I have found regaining those last few pounds – a totally healthy and normal thing – to be really hard psychologically. I know in my head that maintaining such a low body fat percentage is not healthy or reasonable but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish I could have six-pack abs every day of the year!!!

My other struggle has been food and by food I mean eating too much of it and not the right balance. After being on such a regimented diet leading up to the show, the idea of being able to eat whatever I want has been a little overwhelming! Tonight for instance, I ate about half a pint of ice cream… and I feel really sick. Sigh!!! However, to combat this cycle, I have created a detailed meal plan for myself for tomorrow. It is posted on my fridge and I can check the meals and snacks off as I go. I like to check things – it fills my heart with joy.

On a more positive note, my workouts this week have been amazing!!! Having more carbs in my diet has made such a difference in both my strength training and cardiovascular workouts. I feel like superwoman -- I am killing the intervals on the treadmill and pushups are my friend again. May God bless rolled oats and Ezekiel wraps for making my life such a happy place once more.

Just for your entertainment, here is the aforementioned meal plan for tomorrow:

Breakfast: ¼ cup quinoa, ¼ cup steel cut oats, 2 egg whites, ½ cup cranberries plus black coffee

Snack: 1 cup Greek Yogurt, 1 cup mixed berries, 1 T flax, 1 T hulled hemp hearts plus black coffee

Lunch: mango-chicken Ezekiel wrap, asparagus

Snack: 2 hard-boiled eggs, ½ cucumber sliced

Dinner: whole wheat chicken, spinach no-cheese Pizza (home-made), mixed salad greens with Balsamic Vinegar

Snack (If Hungry): 1 scoop protein, 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling), and cinnamon to taste

3 L of water throughout the day plus extra during cardio training