Friday, September 25, 2009

Well, my week is going great! I have lost 3 pounds so far through my clean eating and crazy workouts. So, I'm at 23 days to lose 17 more pounds before my first competition of the season. Went on Wednesday to get fitted for my new bikini which is exciting! As I wrote last post, I've decided not to do Figure at my first show (Oct. 17th) cause I don't think I'll be hard enough at that point for Figure. I was planning on just competing in Sports Athletic Model, but then I found the perfect evening gown for the Fitness Model Division at the Neutron show... I didn't do Fitness Model last time because you have to give a minute-long speech on your personal fitness philosophy and that freaked me out. So many of my friends and students like to point out that I talk on and on to them and in class every day and so it should be easy to give a little 60 second speech, but when it comes to formal speaking (and into a mic, and being judged on it) that freaks me out. But since I loved the gown so much, I'm going to feel the fear and do it anyways! I'd better start working on the speech now so I can feel a bit more comfortable about it!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

So, I'm very behind to be ready for my first competition of the season which is Oct. 17th. Some people think I'm crazy to think I'll be doing it even though I have about 19 pounds to lose in 24 days. But I will be doing it no matter what! I may not be able to do figure (which is sad!) as I may not be cut enough by my first comp. for figure, but will definitely do sports athletic model division! I am on a strict diet and am doing 2 grueling cardio sessions a day, plus heavy weight training! I feel great all ready being on track! I believe I can do it, so I will! I know that if I say I won't do this competition and I'll just start with a later one in November or something, I'll just put off the diet more and why do that? I'm going to get my new bikini made today which will inspire me further! Talk soon!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Change of plans... I'm not going to do the bikini competition at the end of September, but I plan to do 3 competitions through October and November now! Why the change? Well, let's not kid anyone - one main reason is I didn't pull my diet together soon enough to be ready so soon! I enjoyed eating fun things all summer long (which wasn't my plan)... I just couldn't seem to get the eating under control and I gained 15 pounds right after my last competition because of it. Now, I had planned on putting about 8 - 10 pounds back on - I didn't want to stay at my competition weight through real life - I wanted a bit more butt, boobs, and cheeks back, but I didn't plan for quite this much. A lot of people are ready with excuses for me like "well, when you go so low carb and deprive yourself for so long, of course it will come piling back on as soon as you touch normal food" and such, but if you had seen how I ate for a month straight, you'd see why I gained so much. I believe you have to be real with yourself (and hopefully with others too!) I'm not proud of it, but I ate SOOOOOOOOO much, and SOOOOOOOOO much bad stuff at that! It's very simple to me, you eat lots of bad stuff, you put on fat, you eat lots of good-for-you stuff, you get lean and feel awesome. I do think I really needed the bad to totally appreciate the good! At this point I'm sick and tired of feeling gross from eating too much sugar and white carbs every day, I'm really ready for my pre-competition clean diet - I crave it! So, I'm a little late (almost 5 weeks out from my first competition), but I'm ready to go 110% now. If I had started earlier I might not have felt that way and I think you really need to feel it in your heart to have great results. I don't like doing anything in life half-heartedly! The other reasons for backing out of the idea of doing the bikini competiiton are that I really want to BRING IT for Figure in October and November and I thought September might throw me off for the later competitions, also, I just don't get the new bikini division and don't really see myself in that way... I LOVE a nice muscular body and I'm not quite sure I'd fit in with the bikini babes! We'll see where it goes as it is a new division and no one really knows what their looking for yet!

This morning I did a good Back and Bicep weight workout and will run to and from the studio tonight (which will equal about an hour of running). I don't usually use any supplements other than multivitamins sometimes, but today I started trying out CLA as I've heard so much good stuff from friends about it. So far, it just made me feel a bit sick to my stomach when I took it before breakfast :< I'll keep you posted on what I find it does for me as I go! I'm starting to think about my figure routine for the Neutron show on Oct. 17, as well as my new bikini (which I think will be green with lots of bling of course!), and my Sports Athletic Model themewear for Neutron as I plan on competing in both Figure and Sports Athletic Model again in that competition!

I'm off to train someone from my 12-week program soon, so I'll be signing off now! I will post again tomorrow hopefully!

Hi there!
Haven't posted for a while, eh? I have been all over the place diet and training-wise over the past three weeks (post competition). I know this is fairly normal for most competitors after having been so strict leading up to the show, but I personally do not want to go down this route again! It just doesn't give you a feeling of health... and isn't health and fitness what fitness competitions should be about? I'm a very extreme person as it is and i would hate to think I'd have to stop competing because it totally played right into my personality flaw of extreme, often very unbalanced thinking (i either love you or hate you, i'm either totally into something, or totally not, or i'm either really superhealthy or binging on sweets!) Anyways, so I've now picked myself up out of my Haagen Dasz and nachos and have gotten back on track at the gym and running outside! I knew I wanted to compete at the end of October with Neutron and UFE, and those are only 11 and 12 weeks off, but i decided i wanted to compete sooner as well on Sept. 26 with CBBF to keep me on the straight and narrow! I'm going to try out the new Bikini division (which I'm still a little unsure of), but I'm not as big as most of the Figure girls and I don't want to be any bigger personally so it's hard to decide what to compete in now... I think I'm too muscular for Bikini, yet too small for Figure... hmmmm.... gosh, by the end of this year I'll have competed in every division except Bodybuilding and I'll have tried most of the associations who put on competitions here in Canada - it will make for a great article soon. Anyways, back to the balance issue (which I also want to write and article on), my goal is to live a balanced healthy life that I will be proud for my son to grow up and learn from, stay within 8 pounds of my competition weight year-round, and just look and feel great inside and out (my goal is to look like a fit bikini babe always - not just when I'm doing a competition)! I'll keep you posted on how it's all going!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Well, I haven't posted since my last competition (last Saturday) - so let me now update you all on how that went! I competed in Open Figure at IDFA's Toronto Classic on July 11. It was awesome to do a competition in Toronto so all my friends and family could be there for it and my studio peeps definitely made an awesome cheering squad!!! I had originally planned to compete in the Novice Figure division with Gina & Camille (my 2 friends I was training for this with), but I got a second placing in Figure at the Neutron show 2 weeks before, so at the last minute I had to enter Open Figure instead of Novice. This was scary to me as I didn't feel I had enough muscle to compete in IDFA as it was, never mind in Open! It was a small group, but gosh, did these women have muscle!!! I was shocked to hear my name called out in the top five and was so excited and thoroughly excited to take home the fifth place medal that night. The day and night was really long and our division was last in the show! We were only out there a few minutes to do our quarter turns after waiting nervously backstage for about 4 hours each show! By the time I got out on stage I was a wreck and I felt like everyone could see me shaking through my poses (people told me they couldn't so that was good). I was so nervous about my trembling that I may have screwed up a bit on my quarter turns! It was hard to only have those few minutes to impress the judges. At the Neutron show I competed in two different categories, it was a smaller show, and there were so many different opportunities to come on stage and strut your stuff (quarter turns, T-walks, routines, posing, etc.) that you ended up a bit more relaxed there, but having everything count on a few minutes of quarter turns at IDFA was harrowing!!! It was an awesome experience and placing 2nd in Neutron and 5th in IDFA just spurs me on to want to place higher in October when I compete again! I'm waiting to see the judge's reports to see what I need to improve on, checking out the pictures, dreaming up my next bikini (I'm thinking blue or green with tons of crystals!) and now, after a week of eating bad and taking a bit of a break from the gym, I'm ready to get back at it all!

This Sunday I start my studio's newest, most exciting endeavor, flow's 12-week body transformation program! I am so ready to throw all my heart and soul into helping ten people change their lives forever! We are gonna be one sexy studio by October! Maybe a few of them will want to compete with me once they're done the 12-week transformation! This program will also spur me back onto the healthy path so I don't put all the weight I took off back on by continuing to eat Haagen Dasz and Big Macs (which have been my staples this week after competition)! I can't wait!

Other exciting news is one of my articles on starting your own competition training crew was published in Dubai's Physique Magazine this month! Check it out at http://www.mayada.ca/meagfitness/starting%20your%20own%20competition%20training%20crew.htm

Monday, July 6, 2009

Just 5 more days until my big IDFA Figure competition!!! And I'm SOOOOOO excited! I just got my stage shots from the Neutron show (taken by pro photographer, Dave Robinet) just in time to learn from them for this next competition... what have I learnt from seeing them?

- I hated my hair - must figure something different out to do with it for this Saturday... maybe straight this time?

- My quarter turn to the back still needs work... need to pop those shoulders up more (and evenly), get rid of my shoulder blade wings, and make sure all of my hair is pulled off my back to really showcase those back muscles I've been working so hard on!

- I think my face was a little dark, so am trying to get a great make-up artist to do my face this time (I can't be trusted!)

It was also great to just see me up there and realize I don't look as bad as I imagined myself! My husband told me I looked great up there alongside all the other fit girls, but I thought he was just being nice. I still see lots of areas to work on, but I have a little more confidence after seeing myself up there and (mostly) liking what I see!!!

I was down in the gym twice this morning already (cardio and legs/butt/calves). I will run to the studio later to get together with my fitness girls and practise our walking and posing for this Saturday! YAY!!!

Friday, July 3, 2009

My prep for my competition next Saturday is going well, plus I have a fun beach photo shoot this coming Wednesday with my fitness girls, Camille and Gina and our favourite photographer, Samira! Just found some adorable new bikinis at H & M for that.

Today I thought I'd post about something that is really irritating me lately... and that is people saying they feel sorry for me cause I'm not eating junk lately and saying they can't wait till I can eat again, etc. So, I was trying to explain to some of my students last night that there's no need to feel sorry for me... I'm having a totally awesome time creating the body of my dreams! Yes, it means I miss out on some goodies along the way, but what your life is is all about what your priorities are. Right now, my main priorities in life have to do with my baby, my career, and my fitness. Some people's priorities in life right now might be enjoying yummy food and drinks while socializing with friends or trying the newest restaurants with their significant other and that's fine (I've been there too - how do you think I gained so much excess weight during my pregnancy?), I'm not judging these people and saying "gee, I feel sorry for you - too bad you can't take off that last ten pounds!" right? that would be awfully mean! And so I just want to get it out there that no one has to feel sorry for me, I am feeling better than I've ever felt in my life, better than I'd feel eating a big old cupcake every few days. Plus, if you know me well, you know I do indulge in a cheat meal (or day) at least every week - it keeps me sane! As for the comment of "I can't wait till you can eat again" - First of all, I do eat... I eat a lot... 5 - 6 meals a day of nutrient-rich veggies and power-packed proteins, I never find myself hungry, and I usually have lots of energy from this type of healthy eating, I know what people are referring to really is when will I be with them indulging in all those yummy fatty foods like nachos, burgers, beer, and sweets? This lifestyle I've started with clean eating and hardcore work-outs isn't going to just go away after my last competition of the season next week... at least I hope it won't! I didn't just put all these months of effort into developing such a healthy regimen just to throw it out the window because I've gotten through some competitions. Life isn't about competitions, to me it's about feeling terrific in your own skin, feeling confident about your body, and living a healthy lifestyle (especially now that I have a child who will be watching my eating habits and learning!) So, next time you see me eating my cottage cheese and brocoli, don't feel bad for me, know that it's all worth it to me to feel great and live my dreams! And if you really wanna see me down some nachos and beer - come out with us after the competition this Saturday (ha ha)!!!