Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Happy holidays everyone! I haven't done one bit of Christmas shopping yet - aaaahhhh! Man, this sure is the time of year when things get a little crazy for everyone especially diet-wise I find! I recently found myself thinking 'there's just 2 more weeks of holidays, I may as well let myself eat anything I want throughout the holidays and start fresh in January', I realize this is the way most people think about the whole month of December... it's a free-for-all diet-wise and you have the holidays to blame for it. Yes, there are more parties, more chocolate hanging around, more baked goods coming your way, more heavy family dinners, more hectic days of shopping which can = mall food... but then I really thought about what would be happening over the next 2 weeks... there are 2 days when I might like to forget total healthy eating and have a few drinks, mashed potatoes, cake, etc. - Christmas Day at my mom's and New Year's Eve. That's just one cheat meal per week which is my norm even when being really clean leading up to a competition. So, why would I allow myself to be bad for the whole two weeks? I guess we trick ourselves into thinking it's the holidays that make you break your clean eating, when really we're just searching for a reason to let loose! So, I had a bit of a rocky weekend, but yesterday I started back on strong. I think that's another important tip to eating right and losing or maintaining weight, is to never give up or lose faith in yourself. I mess up so frequently by eating sweets, etc. but I always believe I can pick up and continue on anew the next day (or even better, the next hour!) Once people screw up too big or too many times, they often lose faith in themselves to eat right and live a healthy lifestyle and they do the worst thing and give up... resign to a life of abusing your body and not seeing and feeling your full potential. Remember, "if you believe it, you can achieve it!" - keep the faith and everything will work out in good time. And think about your day today... is there really a good reason to eat goodies all day today just because we're coming close to Christmas? Probably not! So grab some halthy eats that will really fuel you for all your holiday busy-ness and make you feel great!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Back from my vacation to Punta Cana! It was awesome and a totally new (and challenging) experience going on vacation with a baby! So, back to real life now which I don't mean in a bad way (the way many people do after a vacay)- I am so excited to get back to work! I was inspired in many ways over the past week away and have come back to T.O. with even more ideas of things I wanna do (business-wise, artistically, competitions, and life stuff!) So, there will be lots of new, fresh things going on around the studio in the new year!

Right now one of my personal projects is staying sugar free always (and I started seriously today)! I've told a few people my plan and they've told me the holidays are a bad time to start... I actually had this thought too, but changed my mind. The way I'm looking at it is:

1) I believe that there's no time like the present to make a change in your life for the better (you don't need to wait until a Monday, a new month, or the new year to start bettering yourself)- do it now - don't waste another minute! So, I'm taking my own advice here!

2) There will always be something... right now it's Christmas, soon it will be New Year's Eve, then Easter, then someone's birthday, then... you get the picture! I hope I can learn to enjoy holidays and social events without food being my main focus... it sounds easy, but is quite hard usually and this phenomenon really kinda irks me. Of course food will always be an integral part of social gatherings, but I don't feel it should take precedence over connecting with family and friends, laughing, dancing, having fun! Just because I'm not stuffing my face with gingerbread and shortbread cookies (which, yes, I usually do around this time of year!) it doesn't mean I'm not having fun and celebrating Christmas. People wouldn't pressure a recovering coke addict to just have one snort for the holidays (I hope)- so don't hand me a cookie (ha ha)!

3) I'm a specialist in getting super-fit in a hurry for events or competitions, but often have trouble staying that way year-round (mainly because of my love of/addiction to sweets) so I'm really looking at cutting refined sugar and carbs as a new lifestyle not a diet or a temporary situation. I'm actually taking it even further and thinking I have an addiction to sweets and refined carbs so I need to stay off them (just like an alcoholic or a smoker). I have found that whenever I cut them out of my diet (like when I'm dieting for competitions) that I feel awesome and have great energy and pep, I drop weight effortlessly, and as soon as they're out of my system I don't physically crave them anymore so I think the trick for me is to never eat them and then things won't spiral into a big week-long sweet/carb splurge as they can with me sometimes!

There are a few books written on this topic - I actually bought one to read while away (called Sugar Shock), but only got a chance to get about 4 pages into the book because I was running after Zak the whole time so there wasn't much relaxing on the beach reading this time! I have no idea how this sugar-free-for-life idea will work out, but I'm having very positive thoughts about it and feel super-determined! I will be blogging often here about how my little experiment is going so check back often for updates!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Well, I have been a little off-and-on lately... I eat really great and clean one day, then totally go crazy with sweets and carbs the next. But it's all stopping now. It's amazing to me how huge an effect food can have on not only your body and health, but also your moods! So, today I have vowed to be healthy from now on seriously! Why feel gross all the time when you can feel awesome and on-top-of-the-world just by eating healthy foods. My workouts have been frequent (pretty much every day) but not quite as intense as usual. I'm trying not to do weights until January when I have an exact plan on how to decrease my lower body muscle and make the tweaks necessary for a totally symmetrical competition body! But, I find it really hard to stay away from the heavy metal in the gym. Cardio can be so boring when that's all you're doing. So, I'm trying to keep myself interested by doing plyometrics, intervals and other brain-intensive sweat sessions lately! I leave for my vacation in Dominican Republic this Sunday which is totally exciting (it's been a long time since I had a stress-free resort vacation) Woo-hoo!

Monday, November 9, 2009

So, my last competition of 2009 was this past weekend. I competed in both Fitness Model and Open Figure categories at IDFA's Canadian Classic. It was a totally awesome experience with quite large and impressive groups of ladies competing! I definitely didn't take enough time to prep for this competition and I knew going in that I wasn't really lean anough (I actually almost pulled out of the Figure category at the last minute because of this, but didn't and was glad I didn't). I was really happy to see such large groups as that always means there's more of a variety of types of bodies so it's not like I'd be the only one without razor-sharp muscles and six-pack abs. I was definitely relying heavily on the 5 inch heels and a super dark tan to bring my physique up a bit! So, when I got my spray tan the night before I got 3 coats instead of my usual 2, and I felt dark enough this time which was awesome! I had decided not to wear my figure bikini for the Fitness Model round and had spent the 2 days before the competition buying, and altering a bikini I had found at a shop on Yonge St. I was a little worried about it and had to totally pin and tape myself into it all to make it secure and look ok, but in the end I really loved the look of it and I got so many comments on that bikini! It was good to have very different looks for the two very different categories. The Fitness Model category was new for IDFA (they usually just have Figure and Bodybuilding), so no one really knew what to expect in terms of what exactly they were looking for in bikinis, poses, and physiques. It seemed they picked quite a similar look to Figure in the end which I think some people may have been a little surprised by as why have the 2 separate categories if there's no difference? I don't know... I felt really off and like I had back-tracked in my progress from my competitions in June and July (which didn't feel good). But my mom snapped some photos of me and even videotaped my little walk in Fitness Model in the daytime prelims. So, in between shows I looked at those and I felt quite a bit better! My body wasn't exactly how I'd like it to look for competition, but it also wasn't as bad as I had thought! I think I should aim for about 10 pounds lighter for my next competitions. Just a bit less chub on my lower body. Today I was looking at pics from the Neutron competition in October and the pics from this competition (which was 3 weeks later) and I see a big difference between them (I did lean out a bit) so that's cool! I really should be competing at the end of November so I could get the right look as I'm so close, but I feel a little overtrained and dieted out at this point, so I'm going to relax and start training smart in January for all the competitions I plan to do in June and July!!! I'm working on formulating my plan to make my body more symmetrical since a lot of the feedback I get is about my lower body overpowering my upper body. I don't particularly want to increase my muscles in my upper body (other thana bit more back/V-taper), so I think I will try to decrease the muscles in my quads and abs (I want a waist!) and then of course, the main thing will be leaning out enough that the fat leaves my problem areas (lower abs and legs). Not being totally ready for these past 2 competitions really has inspired and motivated me to be extra ready and looking my very best at the next ones I compete in! I ate some bad stuff this weekend and felt totally ill from it all. After my pizza and sweets after the competition on Saturday, I had a really dizzy/drugged-feeling day yesterday that was not very pleasant. So, today I started my day right with cottage cheese! I'm not saying I'm gonna be totally clean all week, but I'm also not going to cheat all week as I thought I would allow myself to do after these comps and going so hardcore for the past 2 weeks. Why would I (or anyone else) ever want to feel so bloated, low energy and gross? To keep me on track, I also have my vacation to Dominican Republic at the end of November where I'll be living in a bikini so that should be good! Talk soon!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Well, it's now the week of my next competition (it's this Saturday!) I'm feeling a little behind (as usual), but I'm just going to come in the best I can with a few days of insanity right now! I talked two more of my students into training with me to compete with me this Saturday and that's really been fun! I'm not the type who needs someone to motivate me to get to the gym and workout and I usually workout on my own, but since training intensely with them as well as my husband recently, I see doing it with someone can really help me exercise more intensely and push my body to new levels! When I go to the gym on my own, I often read a magazine while doing 45-minutes to an hour of steady cardio or do some weights, but lately, with my gym-pals, I've been doing hardcore weights, crazy intervals on the treadmill, and outdoor runs with stair work, etc. It's awesome! My legs aren't leaning out the way they were in June/July (I think I just need more time) and I really am wondering if I should do another competition this season after this Saturday just so I could really look the way I want to look for a competition this season... there's one Nov. 14th, as well as the 21st, but they're both out of towm... Toronto really needs more competitions! Hardly any are held here, things are all in Hamilton, London, Ottawa, etc. I know they're not far, but you have to be there for registration and drug-testing the day before too, so it makes it a little more inconvenient and expensive (especially when Zak, my baby, is involved!) I'm leaning to no, but we'll see how I feel after the IDFA competition! I'm going to be wearing different bikinis for Figure and Fitness Model categories, so today I'm going to go on the hunt for my Fitness Model bikini!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Just got a second e-mail from the promoters of the competition that went crazy last Saturday. I feel a bit more resolved because this e-mail had some meat (it wasn't just apologies with no real answers). So, they will be putting whatever results they can up (as of pre-judging) and competitors can choose to either be reimbursed their entry fees or to finish up with the evening show at an upcoming neutron competition in June and get the full results then. That will be a little crazy, but I'm going for that option! At least then I'm locked into competing for sure in June! I ordered my photos from the pro photographer from Saturday today too so those will be fun to see! I had a few cheat meals right after Saturdays competition and I'm starting to really feel that my body absolutely HATES junk now! This is awesome as it means I've really upped my healthiness! I felt absolutely ill after eating pizza and potatoe wedges Saturday night and was in a gross haze Monday morning after all my bad stuff throughout the weekend (and still feel a little bloated from it all!) So, I just need to remember how bad my old favourite foods made me feel so I don't think I should eat them! I'm getting so excited about my upcoming IDFA competition where I'll be competing in both Figure and Fitness Model divisions - yay!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Well, what an experience that competition was!!! All was normal through Friday at registration and drug-testing, then we drove out back out to Oshawa early Saturday morning to be at the historic Regent Theatre in time for the Athlete's Meeting before pre-judging. When we got there, everyone was working hard to clean the theatre up and get some heat on in the big theatre. The theatre had been closed for some time and wasn't in working condition exactly yet I guess. We hung out and finally had a bit of a meeting before being shown to some not very big, lit-up, or warm change areas. Not prime, but we made it work! After a bit of a delay the daytime pre-judging show started! There were a few categories before my first bikini/physique round so I took my time changing into my bikini (it was freezing!) My first round was Sports Athletic Bikini/Physique. There were four competitors in this category. First we each walk out and do our model T-Walk, then our quarter turns together for comparison. I felt WAY more confident with my walk and posing than I had at my first Neutron show in June as I kinda knew what to expect this time and I hope I slowed down my walk a bit this time (as that was a big point in my judge's report from last time and from my husband!) We changed into our Sports Athletic Sports Wear (mine was a neon pink and yellow 80's aerobics theme that I loved!) Again we did the T-Walk and quarter turns in these costumes. Then a quick change back into bikinis for Fitness Model category. There were six competitors in this category. The other part of the Fitness Model category (aside from bikini/physique) is the evening gown and speech part (the part I was most terrified about), but that happens only in the evening show. Soon after we had changed out of our bikinis and piled on the layers to try to warm up, the show was over. Me and my pal Gina rushed off to eat lunch at her sister's house who conveniently lives in Oshawa! It was awesome of her to have us over to thaw out and eat - we were hungry and cold! Soon we were on our way back to the theatre for the athlete's meeting before the evening show. By now my husband and baby had arrived in Oshawa to watch the evening show. It was past the time the show was supposed to start and we were still waiting in the audience for the athlete's meeting to start, something was wrong! I had taken this time to spend some time with my boys and catch up when all of a sudden there was an official announcement throughout the theatre saying we'd all have to leave the theatre because Neutron hadn't paid! The competition promoter got up on the stage and said "no, the show will go on, we won't be shut down!", etc. I thought it was all a joke at the start - it seemed so surreal! Anyways this went on and on with the promoter talking about how the venue wasn't in the proper shape for a show (no heat, dirty, etc.) but that we should stay and not be intimidated, etc., the mayor of Oshawa spoke about something or other, then the theatre shut off the power in the theatre (no lights or sound) People were still saying stuff, it was all chaos, then the theatre started trying to blast us out with loud heavy metal music (a tactic usually used for more sinister reasons like evacuateing cults, etc.) Finally all the athletes were told to meet in the lobby, once we were all there, we were told to meet at Denny's on the other side of town! We waited there for about an hour before the promoter got there, and once he got there he said dinner was on him and that he would fully reimburse everyone and make it all up to us. Really, I think they should've just finished it all off and given out the awards at Denny's or some other location if he couldn't make an agreement with the theatre. Yes, the theatre was a mess and no heat, etc. But I think the promoter just made it all worse by taking it this far and letting so many people down (competitors, audience, etc.) Maybe he could've settled his issues with the theatre after the evening show (not before). But, it is what it is. I'm happy about the way I competed in the day show, I was relieved I didn't have to do my speech for the evening show, but a little sad that my husband didn't get a chance to see me compete and that we didn't get any results. Luckily I will be competing again soon on November 7 at IDFA in Toronto and I want to bring an even better package... I have 3 weeks to refine what I've got, get tighter, leaner, and better! I can't wait! What a very crazy Saturday night I had - it really was like being in some crazy movie!