This past week or so has been so killer hardcore (which is great!!!) I've kept my eats clean, my workouts insane, and have been really proud of my efforts. Only problem is that I'm not seeing my progress visibly too quickly this time. Usually as soon as I clean up my diet I drop fat instantly... but not this time! I know I've been on-and-off a bit since January, but I'm so used to it being a little easier than it is this time... I don't know what's wrong, but I'm trying to take my own advice that I give my students about not worrying so much about what the scale says and judging more from how you look in the mirror each day or week. I also tell people that sometimes you reach a sticking point and you need to just be all the more stringent in your diet and keep on trucking and then all of a sudden big changes will happen if your patient! So, I'll be staying strong in my competition prep and waiting for some terrific results to show up soon I hope! I also just started Crossfit (aiming for 2 times/week) to mix up my training a bit, shock my body, as well as learning a whole new work-out mode! It's awesome and I love the feeling of being a beginner at something rather than the expert or teacher. That always humbles me, makes me work harder, and helps me better understand beginner students who come to me! So, my first competition of the season is in less than 4 weeks - UFE Spring Bash, too soon - getting a little worried about reaching my goal weight/look for that show, but staying positive as that's the only way to be! I'm also very excited to have made the decision to compete in IDFA's Novice Classic after that on May 15. I'll be competing in the Fitness Model Division and plan to be at my very best by then!

I'm taking a cue from my usual Wednesday mornings (I teach a 7am workout class at the studio, so I decide to be even crazier and get up at 4am so I can run or walk to College & Dovercourt to squeeze in a weight workout at the YMCA before I teach). I figure if I can do this every morning or at least maybe 3 or 4 a week, I can fit in even more workout time before my family wakes up. I usually go down for when my condo gym opens (5am), but I have a new plan for the next month (as I have to go to extreme measures to get ready in time for UFE Competition - April 10)! I got up at 4am this morning to get out and running, sprints, jumping, stairs, etc. outside until the gym opens at 5, then I do my normal weight workout, plus 40 - 60 minutes cardio in gym. And my plan is to get more cardio later in the day as well by either going back to the gym when Zak naps or running to/from studio on nights I teach (like tonight). I realize I will totally be over training, but I have to lose at least 20 pounds within about 4 weeks (5 lbs/week - eek!) now so whatever does it does it! Mainly I realize it will be my consistent clean eating , but I'm ready to do whatever I can to speed the process! Priorities have been elsewhere for the past few months, but I'm taking this time to re-focus on fitness! Once I've done this competition, I plan to have a competition each month so I don't yo-yo and just stay strong at anice fit feminine 130 pounds (which is totally realistic and not an unreasonable ideal I don't think). That's what I like about my switch from Figure to Bikini or Fitness Model category... it's a more natural shape that you can totally maintain year-round if you're fit and eat right. Insanity for a month, then just maintenance!

Oh my! It has been FOREVER since I last posted here! I have been really swamped lately with dance stuff! But one big dance project has just come to an end, and even though I do have another on the go to take it's place(as usual), I feel I will have to make a bit more time for fitness-related stuff as it's a huge priority to me! I have been keeping up with the hardcore workouts, but lately have been falling off the clean eating wagon every few days and I think it has a lot to do with stress and being too busy to really visualize and daydream about my fitness goals and dreams! I was planning on competing March 27 for Fitness Star, but it's too late now to get my body the way I want it to be for that, so I will prep just for UFE April 10th. Still a real stretch, but I feel I can do it as long as I stay totally strict and strong for this month leading up to it (and I think I need that stress to make me make these changes)! Then I plan on doing a comp on May 22, IDFA in July, Neutron in August, then the big finale of the Flex Bikini Model Search at Olympia in Vegas in September (if I can talk my husband into another trip!) I am very excited about bettering my body and presentation with each competition and photo shoot I do this spring/summer!

I plan on doing my early morning muscle and cardio workouts as well as an additional cardio later in the day, and I want to add crossfit once or twice a week to mix things up! The most important element will be my eating. This month will be lots of lean protein and very minimal carbs if I want to lose at least 5 pounds/week. Then I will alter things to incorporate more carbs once at my goal. I think having so many competitions (1 per month) will help me stay focused on my healthy eating and not yo-yo so much. I'll definitely keep you posted!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I started my new life/competition training this Monday and feel AWESOME so far!!! I ended up ordering a workout and nutrition plan from the totally awesome Mike Davies - http://www.mikedaviesfitness.com (who trains all my fave fitness stars). His plans are totally whipping my butt already, and I feel a lot more accountable knowing I have to send him progress pics each month. I'm so used to being the person who pushes other people, I felt I really needed someone to do the same to me so I could push myself ahead to the next level! I am totally determined to make 2010 a magical year for me in all aspects of life (especially in fitness). My first competition of the season is almost 11 weeks away and I have a whole lot of fat to lose! One of my fitness goals is to lean out and have a pleasing feminine fit figure (rather than my previous a bit bulkier figure look), so no more figure comps for me, I will be only competing in fitness model and bikini divisions from now on. I'm also looking forward to trying out different federations like Fitness Star and UFE this spring! SO much more to say, but am finding myself swamped with stuff to do lately and a crazy, running around baby to deal with at the same time, so gotta run for now!

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!