Starting over

6 months ago I hit a brick wall. My body wasn't recovering my exhaustion was no longer manageable, and my moods were erratic. I've known for years something wasn't right. One ND said adrenal fatigue, one doctor laughed and said of course I was tired (ignoring all other symptoms) because I have 5 kids (who are all older and mostly self sufficient) and another doctor that said I should go see psych because I'm being emotional.

It was frustrating to know something was wrong but to not be taken seriously. I gave up and just tried to cope the best I could, but coping was no longer working.  I could no longer muster enough energy to go to the gym, eating well flew out the window, and forget even mundane normal tasks, just getting off the couch to pee was sometimes too much some days.

Then a few weeks ago I happened to be working my Jamberry booth at a vendor event when I met Ginger, trained in Chinese medicine and pulse diagnosis. Just for the novelty of it I let her check my pulse and she blew my mind. She ran down the list of almost every single symptom I've been suffering from, just by simply feeling my pulse. I made an appointment with her at the acupuncture clinic she works at for a full assessment. On my second visit the acupuncturist asked if a doctor had ever suggested fibromyalgia to me. I just kind of laughed and said no, they all assured me I was crazy and it's all in my head. She went over the symptoms and how she felt this was what was most definitely what was wrong. Now I could go through the horrible process of dealing with the military doctors to get an "official" diagnosis but I don't see the point as I won't take the pharma drugs that would be prescribed, the side effects simply aren't worth it, nor do I have any plans to file for disability.

I've now been on Chinese herbals for two weeks. As the fog of fatigue starts to clear, the symptoms I didn't notice before due to being overshadowed by the fatigue are starting to become clearly. Mostly the constant pain. I'm learning new coping techniques. It it's definitely a struggle. I still find many mundane activities to be a struggle but I at least have the energy to mostly push my way through and do things.

Yesterday I hit the gym. I was scared. My body ached so bad but I knew I needed to just walk through those doors and move my muscles. I started easy on the elliptical, which at first I thought might actually kill me. My quads were screaming but I shushed them by blaring some Backstreet Boys and pushing through. 15 minutes later I was feeling better and had a bit of endorphin kick, so I hit the weight room. My gosh it was magical! I seriously missed feeling that cold iron bar and squatting. I don't even care that I had to lower my weights, the fact I finished a workout was success enough for me!

And yes, today I am sore but I'm sore in the best way possible! I'm not sure what I will do today. Cleaning needs to happen but I'm feeling much more like curling up here on the couch with Supernatural and some knitting and maybe some hot tea. Maybe after my husband gets home we will do some yoga together just so I can stretch the muscles and be ready for weights again tomorrow :)

After a long break...

Sometimes life gets busy. I started a new business that I never actually intended to be a business. Kids wanted to do things like soccer and dance. Mom got overwhelmed and let the things she was passionate about fall to the wayside. Namely her eating and work outs. Losing out on the amazing home gym set up I was going to buy really hit me hard. I had quit my local gym to help save up for the down payment, everything was set in motion, and then I needed over $1200 of work to my truck. Bye bye down payment and first months payment :(

After that I just couldn't seem to get my ish together. I went back to really old habits, eating only 1 maybe 2 meals a day, at night, usually really crappy meals. My husband and I started to enjoy a weekly beer, that turned into a beer twice a week, that turned into a beer almost every night. This was extremely unusual for us as we rarely, if ever, drank. Looking back I realize we were both dealing with depression over him being back on a sub and is impending deployment, once he was gone I quit the self destructive drinking every night. I keep attempting to get back to a decent meal plan but I am a terrible planner and have been doing weekend long events that make it hard to stick to my plan. On top of that I began having a lot of anxiety attacks. Since the meal plan following felt to be too much I again let it go.

Now here I am. I've rejoined my local gym, I have a workout plan, I have a meal plan. And I have the next two weeks mostly event free. I'm aiming for two weeks of compliance but will take it day by day, meal by meal. Today I am resting after a busy weekend but tomorrow I will meal prep. I've even cheated a bit and ordered meals from premade paleo. I figure one meal a day already taken care of will be a big help, as well it's something I can grab and go for the days I do have something going on away from the house. Time to get some order and balance back into my life, and time to get rid of this gross beer guy I've acquired ;)

Hooping hits the mainstream!

Hooping - my first love when it comes to fitness. I could wax on and on about how I first discovered hooping (a knitting friend put me on to it) but really it's kind of boring. Not hooping, hooping is not boring! It's fun, it's addicting, and the whole family can do it! Seriously a fitness thing that everyone can do together? Yeah, I was all over that! The first thing I did? I went to Home Depot and I bought all the things. Wait let me expand on that, I bought all the things needed to make my own hoops. Why? Because I am cheap, and crafty, and I knew I could make enough hoops for my entire family for the same price as a hoop bought offline. Now these first hoops they were nothing fancy at all, but they worked. We all fell in love with hooping but we were all struggling with learning to be well more coordinated and do some tricks. Hooping has tricks? Damn right!

You know what happens when you are like a skateboarder and you watch youtube videos to learn a new trick? First thing you do is grab your board, hit the skate park and try. And fall flat on your ass too I betchya. Same thing with hooping tricks, except instead of falling on my ass I whacked myself in the back of the head over, and over, and over and . . . well you get the drift. I wanted to learn more, do more and there were no local classes, no local teachers, nothing. What does a hoopy girl do then when she can't find what she is looking for? Simple, she goes and gets herself certified to be a teacher of course!

I logged on to Hoopnotica and searched for teacher trainings, lo and behold one was coming to Seattle. I signed up, paid my fees, and waited. My teacher was the ever amazing and beautiful Pamela Crawford. I got to learn not only how advance in my hoop skills but also how to help others find themselves in the hoop.

Since becoming a certified instructor I've taught several classes, and continued with my education. I am currently certified in HoopnoticaDance in all 4 levels and level 1 of HoopFit. Admittedly since last summer I really have not done much with my hooping venture. Mostly because I live in a small town and it's been very hard going to get the hoop craze started out here. I'll admit after 2 years of trying I really just became discouraged and so I let it fall to the wayside.

Monday, however, Hoopnotica was featured on GMA <-- click link to see the video (we have also been on Kathie Lee & Hooda and Ellen and various other daytime TV shows) which has really brought hooping and Hoopnotica in the limelight. I am hopeful that with this latest influx of interest that hooping will gain some attention here in my neck of the woods and I will be at the forefront helping others to find joy and happiness with exercise, to laugh like a kid, to enjoy fitness, to find themselves in the hoop!

PS if you live in or around Olympia, Tacoma, Bremerton, Silverdale, Lacey WA and you are interested in taking a class or you run/operate a dance studio, gym etc and would like to have me teach classes in your facility just drop me a line at jenncoulter at gmail dot com :-)

Geek + Physique

The boys spent the weekend geeking out for National Table Top Day. Wait, what you don't know what tabletop is? SHUN! No just kidding! Maybe. Tabletop was created by Felicia Day & Wil Wheaton as part of their youtube channel Geek & Sundry. Tabeltop features board (and sometimes card) games, generally of the geeky variety of course. They all sit around a table and play the game. It's hilarious but also insightful. We enjoy learning about games that would interest our family and we get to learn how the game works. So Saturday was a huge national event and gamers all over the globe gathered to play games in their homes, at bookstores, at comic book shops etc. The boys had a blast and my husband got to meet some local "celebrity" radio dudes that he likes, which was likely the highlight of his day. And then Sunday just rounded out the geekend with Doctor Who premiere and The Walking Dead finale.

I've recently been making some changes as far as my future plan for continuing to improve my physique and getting back on stage. Right now I am looking to compete in the fall and ditching the spring/summer circuit. I have even more exciting news to add to that but for now that news is being kept hush hush ;) I am however hoping to continue to raise funds through various avenues such as my new Jamberry Nails business, doing demos for Allmax nutrition, becoming a Team Physiq Athlete affiliate, and also through donations to my Go Fund Me website.

And hey if you do go check out the Team Physiq apparel be sure to use code TEAM10 to get 10% off anything you order!

Roller coaster weeeeeeeeee

Since March 7 I've gone back and forth on competing March 30. Here it is 10 days out and the final decision has been made, no I am not going to compete. I am stressed out, with the vehicle issues (I swear to Goddess we can't seem to get away from them), starting another certification training, finances in general, my body being an asshole . . . well I thought it wise to remove the stress I could remove and that was prepping for a show I wasn't feeling ready for.

The other stresser I am removing is my diet. I have loved following CNS, in fact it's been the easiest "diet" to follow and I certainly plan t return to it or rather CBL once competition season is over. For now though I am at a stage where the lower body stubborn fat is not budging, and the weight is not moving. I struggled with the idea of dropping my calories lower (if I based my macros on Kiefers rec of 1gr protein per lb of goal weight and .5 fat ratio I would be eating 1000) and being able to maintain my current training plan. I knew the combination of cardio, weights and low cals could set me up for metabolic damage and that is just not something I am willing to put myself through. So I am going back to a more typical 5 meal a day all macros included type plan, while still IFing of course because let's face it that is definitely my true love.

I am 44 days out from E-Cup and I am excited to see what is going to happen with my physique with the diet change and the updated workout plan. I am so close to being where I want to be and I know it's going to happen :)

Speed Bumps and A Big Decision

Mentally I had a very rough week when I tried to implement a "peak" week plan to practice prior to a photoshoot. This happened in conjunction with PMS and my brain went nuckin futs, almost literally. And then I had the regular occurrence of dealing with my adrenal fatigue, which always happens during PMS week, although usually it's only 1-2 days, this time it was 3, maybe 4. The fatigue on top of trying to follow a strict plan just made me crazy. I ended up having a crappy carb nite that followed up with a second carb nite. I did feel better after the second one, and back to the gym I went.

Friday, back in the gym, and I was in a hurry. My coach, Tanji Johnson, was competing at the Arnold later that afternoon and I did not want to miss the broadcast. Skipping my usual back workout I picked compound moves to target a few key spots. I should mention that earlier in the week I had seen a MT to have my psoas muscles released, something that I need as mine are tight and were preventing me from being loose enough in the hip flexors to pose the way I need to. What I didn't know at the time was that she was only able to release my left side. This is important and will come in to play further on in this story.

Ok so during my workout I did push ups and pull ups for warm ups, some bent over rows, and single arm rows and then I went to the rack to do rack pulls. Rack pulls are probably one of my most favorite back exercises. I feel like Major Badass when doing them. I've been lowering my weights on most pulls just due to being in a deficit and thereby weaker, even though some lifts (or rather pushes) I have managed to increase weights on, the heavier lifts I have consistently decreased on. My normal rack pulls are usually in the 175-185 range, maybe more. Friday, I was pulling 155. 3 sets of 6-8 reps. I knew on the last set I was only getting 6 reps, mostly due to grip. I don't wear gloves and I won't use straps so that I can increase my grip, and the gym was out of chalk, again. On that very last pull, I am not sure if I didn't reset correctly, I twisted somehow or what, but as soon as I lifted up I felt the right lower back muscle pull and I nearly dropped the bar. In fact I would have dropped the bar had I been doing regular deadlifts or trusted that the pins would hold the weight if I just released the bar.

When I got home I immediately started icing and taking anti-inflammatorys. I had to be well enough at least to walk around Comic Con the next day! I wasn't really but I did it anyways, and the next day too. And both of these days were off plan eating. I did feel that imbibing in the carbs was fine since my body needed to heal and recover from my tweaked back. My coach won the Fitness Int'l at the Arnold, I walked around comic con and I took time off from the gym.

7 days later I've been to the gym once since I hurt my back. I've had a lot of time to ponder things and really hyper focus on myself. During this time I received an email that Precision Nutrition was opening up their certification course again. They only do this twice a year and only let in a limited number of people. ARG! I want to take this nutrition course SO bad. But $900 is a lot, and we just don't have it. Then, I got another email saying that for the first time ever they were taking payment plans, with a down payment of $399. The exact amount set aside to compete at the end of this month at the Vancouver.

Here is where the big decision comes in. Do I back out of a competition I have been prepping for to take a course I have been dying to get into for a year now, or wait until the next time they open up and still compete. I honestly haven't been feeling ready to compete this month. Maybe physique wise I am almost there but mentally I am not there yet. I was pushing myself regardless over a sense of obligation and feeling pressure, mostly from myself. I had to think hard about this decision. On the one hand I have been prepping for weeks for this show but I had not yet monetarily (or I guess really, mentally) committed to competing this month, on the other I have been getting myself ready, suits and jewelry and hair and posing and all that jazz. But competing, what does it offer me? It's a hobby, an accomplishment, but really it doesn't offer me much once I am off that stage. Taking this nutrition course offers me a lot. I am always in pursuit of more information to better serve my clients as well as myself. I know that this course is thorough, something my NASM course wasn't. Taking this course would give me more knowledge, more accreditation. Getting this certification will help my business, my business will help my family. These are things competing won't do, so in the end that big decision wasn't so big after all. It's really a no brainer.

Here I am then, no longer competing at the Vancouver Natural and I am now officially enrolled in the precision Nutrition course. And I was accepted into the ISSA CES program, which I won't be able to start until the summer quarter since I have all this GI Bill nonsense to go through.

Oh wait I said that the whole having my psoas released was important, I forgot to say WHY! I saw my regular MT today and she told me that she had spoken to the other MT and was told she was only able to release my left psoas so my right was still tight and I have been walking around out of balance, one released loose psoas and one unreleased tight psoas. It makes perfect sense why/how I tweaked my back and on the right side since that is the side that is still tight. I do wish the MT had told me she was only able to release one side as I would have avoiding doing any big compound moves such as squats, deads, and rack pulls. Now though I need to go back to see her so she can get the right side to release so I am not walking around with this muscle imbalance. FRAK! Next visit I will be sure to ask at the end of the session if both were released so I will know how to proceed with my training. Big lesson learned. Speed bumps man, they can really throw you off.

Boo to day 2!

Oh man day 2, you really sucked! I was so over the top fatigued, major brain fog, super cranky. I decided to do a small carb nite, a practice run of the carb nite plan for day before my photoshoot/comp. I am glad I did as I discovered a few things but on the flip side I am really ticked off!

My carb nite went like this -

• non fat latte
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/3 bag marshmallows
• homemade bacon cheeseburger
• mashed sweet potatoes with butter & brown sugar
• 7oz cheesecake

This totaled about 250gr of carbs, 400 less than I ate last carb nite. First thing I noticed was extreme bloating, painful even! I am not sure exactly what caused it but sweet potato is the only thing I haven't had in months, it just seems weird that would be the item to cause bloating. It went down after about 30-45 min thank goodness! I also found it hard to eat the cheesecake, I mean what?! I had planned on eating 4 mini cheesecakes but ended up only eating 2 and even sharing those 2 with Pixie.

Woke up this morning up 2lbs instead of my normal .5-1lb increase from a carb nite, and I was not lean and tight like normal after a carb nite. I feel like man that was a total waste! Up more weight, not lean and tight, and still no bump in energy. GRRRRRR! On the other hand now I know doing a small "cleaner" carb nite does not work for me, and it's better I found out now rather than waking up the morning of my photoshoot or competition and seeing what I saw in the mirror this morning. Maybe when I am a little leaner a CN like this would work but frankly I don't want to take any chances. I will stick to my 600gr carb dirty dirty carb nites from now on, those are what gets me results so that is what I am going to do. As they say don't fix what ain't broke.

Day 1 is done

Relearning some discipline is not easy. I've enjoyed the freedom that following CNS offered. Having results without having to think too much about what or how much I was eating, just making sure I was getting enough of protein and fat. This week is all about weighing and measuring everything! It definitely caused some mental mind games yesterday. I was hungry all. day. long. Even though I ate more meals and I am pretty sure didn't eat less food overall, it was more the whole oh this is all that you get until your next meal thing happening. Crazy how things like that can really mess with you.

Then of course there is the water issue. I know from last year that water loading doesn't work, at least not loading with as much water as I was. This time I am only drinking 6 liters but since water is not my favorite beverage I really have to get creative. I tried making flavored water with lemons limes and mint but ick. There is just enough flavor to make me gag. So I set up a reward system. Every liter of water I could have a cup of coffee. I got all 6 liters in and only needed 3 reward cups!

Today is going to be kind of busy. I know the distraction will be good to keep me from being hungry, water intake is my biggest worry. Then again I am going in for my biweekly massage and that tends to always make me very thirsty so maybe it won't be an issue after all.

All I know is I am very glad that day 1 is over and that it should be easier from here on out.

Peak week trial run

33 days until the Vancouver Natural! 7 days from my first photoshoot, 6 days from my first Comic Con! So much excitement I can barely contain myself. Or well I might have trouble if I wasn't so damn exhausted. I seriously detest PMS week, not because I am cranky or might have cravings, nope, it's because that's when I simply can't control my adrenal fatigue symptoms and always seems to fall on the busiest of weeks for me making life miserable. On the plus side this type of fatigue only lasts 1-3 days so it's not to terribly limiting but I do usually find I need to take that time off from the gym so I can function normally in day to day activities.

To really impact that though, I am doing a trial run of my "peak week" plan. Now peaking for bikini really doesn't mean much of anything. I remove a few food items from my meal plan and increase water intake for several days then start to slowly drop it down a bit until show (or in this case photoshoot) day. I did decrease the calories a bit as well as I will not do cardio during peak week. I discovered during my last prep the combo or waterloading and cardio did not work for me. Knowing what does and doesn't work is always  trial and error so it's beneficial to have this test run for the photoshoot and then I can make tweaks as needed for my actual "peak week". My carb nite will change a bit as well this week, much cleaner and lower intake of carbs. I've had great success with the higher carb intake carb nites so I am really interested to see how this one will turn out!

Speaking of carb nite, my last one was crazy! I ate over 4000 calories and hit 645gr of carbs! Now I did over do it by 3 bites of a cookie, which left me tossing some cookies a few hours later. Luckily it wasn't too bad and I was fine after. I did suffer one hell of a carb hangover and I blame myself for not drinking enough water. I strive for 6 liters during carb nite but I am fairly certain I only drank 3 liters, definitely not enough. My carbs looked like this (minus the banana I started with and um well I ate the candy corn too fast to take a pic lol). Oh and I was only up less than a 1lb again!

Now since I am doing this whole peak week trial thing I did decide to do some food prep. The only thing I didn't prep were my eggs because well I like those cooked fresh. It took me about 2 hours total, thanks to my awesome George Foreman grill! I drafted up my plan this morning and it looks good, I am eating more meals than normal but I think it will be fine since the meals are smaller for this week. Now I just have to be disciplined on drinking my water and all should be fine! Speaking of water, time to chug a lug another liter *groan* And here is a look at what my food prep looked like, which is never complete without my Harley bug perching on my shoulders :)

Ish is getting real!

38 days to show time. It's crunch time, which really just means taking out some of the fattier meats from my plan. Bye bye bacon, you were a good friend and I will miss you but never fear we will see each other again! So what does my diet look like right now? Basically whole eggs, egg whites, chicken breast, ground turkey, protein powder(s), coconut oil, olive oil, MCT oil, almonds, avocado, blueberries, bananas, and unlimited veggies. I am also having a carb nite every 5-7 days depending on how I feel, if I am feeling super depleted day 4 I carb up on day 5, if I can hang until day 7 then that's what I do. My last 2 carb nites looked like this

Now pic 2 only shows dinner, previous to this I had movie theater popcorn, soda, twizzlers, sour patch kids, and a soft pretzel. After this I had several fruity pebbles treats and a donut.




After 3 weeks back on carb nite after that not so fun trip into carb backloading, I went from this to that

Over 2" gone and looking leaner and tighter. I compared my 4 week out pics from last comp season to this one and I am amazed at the difference. While my upper body is leaning out quickly, because I am not losing my muscle mass I look much fuller! That and the lack of that damn glute underbutt line is making my physique look so much more improved. I am really enjoying this prep, I don't feel hungry, I don't feel deprived, and I have no desire to cheat. Of course the weekly carb loads help take care of those cravings and cheat feelings since I get to indulge in pretty much whatever I want. My next carb nite I am aiming for over 500 gr of carbs which will be my highest carb count to date. Food on my list include 2 ripe bananas, candy corn, tapioca pudding, 6 belgian waffles with syrup, froyo, and 1-2 cherry fruit pies, oh and some Berger's cookies a friend sent so I might actually hit 600gr of carbs LOL Perhaps if I am feeling generous I will post my last comp 4 week out pics compared to this comp 4 week out pics. 

Say what? Rewind, back up, start again!

First things first, I really fraking hated doing the CBL/CNS hybrid which really just turned into straight up CBL. When I say hate I mean with a firey burning passion. I felt like crap, I had no benefits of ketosis so eating ultra low carb during the day was just worthless. I was not recovering well from my workouts despite the 3-4 times a week of carb backloads. My energy was shot and I just felt blah. I took several days off from the backloads and then Friday night ate a huge ass bacon double cheeseburger from jack in the box. I got instantly hot and had to ride with my window down in 35 degree temps. Yep, smoking hot. I hadn't planned on that cheat meal since Sunday I knew I'd be eating like a pig at a Superbowl party. Whatevs my body obviously needed it so I went with it. Then Saturday I had this insane craving for a box of chocolates. Like I would have cried if I didn't get it right then and there. Bless my husband for getting it for me. I ate it all. And then had a blast eating at the party the next day.  --Yea just look at that burger OMG so worth it ;p

Monday however I was pissed at myself for eating like that all weekend. I knew I was going to do another reorientation phase and get back on CNS so I didn't stay mad at myself very long. Surprise I had my energy back, I felt better, my brain was clear, and I was recovering just fine from my workouts. Yesterday created my first love/hate relationship with CNS. I felt the signs of ketosis, I felt the symptoms of being glycogen depleted. It was AWESOME! It also sucked when I was near death and about to bonk hard on my HIITs. I decreased my protein intake and upped my fat intake for the day, it seemed to be what my body was really needed. I kept the fat clean, pretty much stuck with coconut oil. I woke up this morning feeling well rested, which never happens, full of energy and just generally fantastic. We shall see how the rest of the day goes as I have team posing, plyos and some shake ya booty steady state cardio on my plate.

Oh and tomorrow? Carb nite, The Walking Dead, and our 2nd son's 16th birthday. Yea that's gonna be an epic fking carb nite. So far the plan is get up and do my HIITs first thing, then late afternoon hit the gym to work back and bi's, pwo will be my usual shake, but to start off the carb nite I'll have sweetarts (1st ingredient is dextrose, winning!) and sour patch kids. After that the husband and I will head to the mall to enjoy a huge soft pretzel and latte (or breve in my case mmmm love those!). After that we will head home and pick up a couple of take n' bake pizzas from papa murphys for dinner. Now here is where it really starts to get awesome, dinner of course being the pizza, then dessert will be red velvet cake and ice cream while we watch The Walking Dead. Originally I was going to make this kick ass zombie cake but that was thwarted thanks to Party City being closed down, jerks. Bedtime snack will be 2 Reese's hearts for Nate, and 1 Reese's egg for me as well as a donut or some other danish/pastry. I am so excited I could pee myself right now. Just holding out for this carb nite feels like it is killing me because I am so depleted now even my brain is starting to act stupid. Only at night so I guess I can deal with that. Anyways, that's where I am, had a successful re-reorientation, feeling totally ketogenic and glycogen depleted, seriously craving my carb nite.

Oh. Right. Blogging.

Yeah sometimes I forget I have one of these things when my life gets all . . . lifey. I mean really how dare my life get in the way of my life?! The nerve!

New training plan, it's very challenging and exhausting in a good way but definitely keeping me busy! New meal plan which has be showing some nice results in a short time frame but missing the way I felt doing CNS alone. I can't help but like the results from the hybrid so I'l be sticking to it. Training with my coach was a vast improvement this week from last week. In fact I was doing so well we ended up doing a double training so I hit delts hard and then heavy legs, whoa! Amazingly enough I had very little DOMs and I am not sure if I am happy or sad about that fact!

And then we had real life teenage drama. 99.9% of the time I gush at how great my teen boys are, how great it is to have teens, how much I love how responsible and mature (and even immature) they are, how I managed to raise teenagers that aren't like me when I was a teenager. Wait. Stop. Back that train up. I did raise a teenager just like me. My exact carbon copy in nearly every way. Right down to be very good at hiding his shenanigans. Of course I *knew* he was hiding his activities but until there was some concrete proof there really wasn't much I could do. I'm not going all Vanilla Sky on my kids and accusing them of crimes of the future, or even crimes of the present that I can't see. This meant of course that my CCC (shor for carbon copy child) continued to get bolder and more careless in his unsavory activities until BOOM, busted. The husband went a little explodey while I kept my calm. Extreme punishment was metted out, such as the permanent loss of his cell phone and xbox live account, temporary loss of his computer except for school use (supervised) grounded to the house likely for the rest of the school year, banned from hanging out with the friends that were encouraging said antics, and extra chores around the house which may increase if there is indeed a fine for his activities. I must say CCC is taking his sentencing very well, he has shown great maturity even in the face of his immaturity. Thankfully he gets that from someone else, because I as a teenager would definitely not have been so mature about it all.

This weekend however has been amazing!! My Buffy (autocorrect for BFF lol) Sarah is in town for ALA conference, some kind of librarian thing, but this meant we actually finally got to meet! We have been best friends for goodness almost 2 years now and business partners for 11 months (wow I can't believe Fit-Moms will be a year old in about 2 weeks!). We are like 2 peas in a pod. You know how sometimes meeting someone in person for the first time can be a bit awkward or whatever? Nope, not for us! Now aren't we just the cutest? I cannot even wait for tomorrow when we get to hang out for a whole day instead of a very rushed evening in which she was exhausted from flying and all. Sorry Seattle, the Buffys are on the loose ;)

Switching gears

I have really enjoyed carb nite, but last night was a bit of an eye opener. I was on day 5 and knew I had hit ketosis so had a carb nite planned for after my personal training session with Coach Tanji. I bonked during the first exercise, 4 sets on the leg press and I was toast. Dizzy and nauseous, to the point we couldn't even just practice posing because I couldn't stand up.

Since I needed to sit and recover we spent some time talking. Where my head was at for this upcoming show, what and how much I was eating. While I want to be dropping body fat it's clear that I cannot do the level of training I need to be doing for my legs (upper body I am fine, I don't bonk but those are much smaller muscle groups than the legs) following carb nite. So starting today I am switching over to more calories and doing carb back loading.

Yes I am a little freaked out putting my calories up to 2200-2300 when I am 9 weeks out and knowing I am a slow loser. However I would rather continue adding on muscle and looking amazing at my show in May than to risk losing what muscle I have built, bonking on the important workouts and just looking flat at this show in March that I consider really to just be my practice show to get comfortable being back on stage.

I will say I have felt amazing on carb nite, and the results have been pretty good too! Check out this photo collage from the past 12 hours, pic 1 is 4pm before my workout and before starting carb nite, pic 2 is after eating all of my carbs (bag of sour gummi worms, 2 poptarts, 10-12 pieces of sushi, fruit tart), and pic 3 is this morning in which I was down 1.2lb! Yeah :) Here is to switching gears and trying CBL for the next 5 weeks before I go back to dropping calories.

Ain't nobody got time for that!

9.5 weeks out from my show and yes I am getting a bit nervous. Not about being on stage again but about my physique. I am such a slow loser and it's showing. I guess I shouldn't complain too much I am dropping some inches and that's progress, but of course the inches aren't dropping off my hardest place to lose, bah! I know the drill, fat loss is top down and the lower body is last to go. I do have time yet I feel very much like I don't. Last comp I was nearly stage ready lean at 7 weeks out, definitely feeling the pressure this time!

I had decided to set up my carb nites to fall every 5th night so as to coincide with my personal training sessions with Tanji, however since I seem to not experience those symptoms of keto I am switching gears and going back to a 7 day spacing.

I did find this past carb nite to be much better. I truly enjoyed my latte with whip and as much of the apple crumb muffin as I could stomach. Dinner was a bit harder, I had to make myself finish my spaghetti, however I had NO problem shoveling in 2 slices of cheesecake! Later Nate and I went to bed with our individual pints of Ben & Jerry's, only we found we only needed to open one pint, which we split and couldn't finish. That has never happened before, seriously. I passed out almost immediately after eating my ice cream only to wake an hour or so later. I ate a handful of chocolate covered pretzels to finish off the night and promptly went back to sleep.

The next day I was looking tight in the abs and only up 1.5lbs. Of course this was also the day I was meeting a client at a posing clinic that IFBB bikini pro Ruthie Harrison was putting on. I so didn't feel lean and tight once we arrived. The majority of the girls literally already looked stage ready. It did put a damper on my confidence for sure. I have had to have a lot of mental pick me ups this past week. So much going on and you know what? Ain't nobody got time for that!

Oh look, here is a pic of us at the posing clinic, that's me in the purple sports bra, Ruthie is the goofy one on the floor giving the thumbs up ;) Hmm I think I need to start tanning again, I'm practically Casper!

Take two!

After evaluating my calender I decided tonight would be my 2nd carb nite, this ensures that my next 2 carb nites fall directly after a personal training session with my coach. She has a way of killing me and we will be targeting an area I need to build up, my delts. This makes those days perfect for carbing up on and then follow up the day after with a heavy legs session!

My 1st carb nite was disappointing as I said and I started it too early during the day. This time I have taken a different strategy. To help finish glycogen depleting I did HIITs yesterday and today. Honestly I haven't felt depleted even during the reorientation phase so I almost feel like I haven't "earned" a carb nite, getting over that feeling fast though ;) I am about to head back out to the gym for a heavy shoulder workout, DLB style. That's Dana Linn Bailey for those that don't know, and she is pretty much one of my biggest physqiue hero's. So my workout will look like this -
warm up 2x15 push press
3x12 face pulls, super heavy
3x10-12 rev pec dec
drop set DB lat raise - 3 sets of 20-20-20 starting with light weight and working up
3x10-12 1-1-2 front raise

post workout will be a protein shake and banana before I hop into the tanning bed while I wait for the husband to finish his workout.

Now begins carb nite!!
1- decaf latte with whip and a lemon poppyseed muffin top
2- dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic toast, and cheesecake for dessert
3- pint of B&J ice cream
4- choc covered pretzels before hitting the sack

There will be protein in there too, I just haven't decided what my protein source(s) will be, probably chicken breast since it's easy lol

Oh and remember yesterday's post about the kids eating what I eat? Here's an example of how I make my meal plans work with them. I made pulled pork for dinner. Now since I am doing CNS I could have the pork and some sort of fat (I opted for cheddar cheese). To make this kid friendly I made theirs into pork, cheddar, apple slices paninis with a side of green beans and extra apple slices.

But what do your kids eat?

I get this question a lot! It's also a common concern among my clients as to what they will feed their spouse/children for dinner while they are on a "diet". PS I hate the word diet since it has such a negative implication attached to it. We are ALL on a diet, a diet is simply the food you eat. I don't put my clients on a diet, I give them a guideline of what to eat and the portions to eat them in, and I give them the tools to learn how to make a lifestyle change. I believe the number 1 reason diets fail is because when it's over the person goes right back to the lifestyle/habits that lead to them needing to diet in the first place, whereas a lifestyle change there is no end date. You just do it, right Nike? That's not really here nor there but does offer some background to this common question.

What do my kids eat? The same things I eat, in portions meant for them. We do not buy junky snacks, we do not cater to what they think they want, we cater to their health! Some people feel our children are deprived because they don't get soda or cookies or twinkies or whatever but they aren't and they do get those things IN MODERATION. That is the key word there. We have a pizza night once a month in which we enjoy pizza, cookies, soda. Or we will have our geeky weekend movie marathons in which I'll bake treats that fit the theme of the movies we are watching (Harry Potter is a family favorite, the kids love butter beer!). As for snacks, we always have a huge bowl on the counter full of fruit options, potatoes are always handy as the teenagers love to make roasted potatoes as afterschool snacks, and we keep popcorn kernels for air popping. They can also fix a tortilla wrap with ground turkey/beef and cheese if they are really hungry and need something more filling to tied them over to dinner.

They prefer healthy, whole foods to junky foods. They know which foods will help them grow, keep them healthy, give them energy. Just like they know which foods will make them feel yucky. The kids have oatmeal for breakfast, sometimes with eggs, sometimes with turkey sausage, sometimes just the oatmeal. Lunch they pack themselves and includes a protein, a carb, a fat and sometimes a healthy(ish) snack. A typical lunch for my 7yo is tuna fish in pita pockets, slice of real cheese, mandarin orange, and possibly whole grain goldfish or organic 100% fruit rolls. My 10yo loves making chicken salad, she cops up lettuce, fresh veggies and chicken breast for her salads, sometimes she will take a salad dressing for it and sometimes not, then of course a fruit (banana, apple, or mandarin orange) and sometimes one of the same treat snacks as the 7yo. My 12 yo you can almost always predit his will be a tunafish sandwich, a banana, and if available one of the treat snacks. They rarely pack something different, this is what they enjoy and they don't get bored eating it.

But ohemgee what about dinner? Easy! Remember my basic grocery list? We fix meals off that! It's really amazing how many ways you can cook chicken and so many options for veggies and complex carb to go with it, even spaghetti can be healthified! We make the sauce from scratch using canned tomatoes and tomato paste, sauteed/roasted veggies, and spices, lean ground beef and whole wheat or brown rice noodles, voila!

There is always the concern that well my kid is a picky eat or my kid will only eat xyz. I'm going to be blunt here, your kids will eat what you put in front of them, they will eat what you model eating. It may take some time but they will eat, they are not going to starve themselves, kids are kind of smart that way. Take for instance when i first married my husband he got custody of his son from his previous marriage and his son would pretty much only eat pizza out of the box or hamburger helper and the only thing he would drink was Sunny D. He was 3, and like most 3 year olds, stubborn. Ha, I am stubborn too ;) I won't say it was easy, I won't say I didn't consider throwing my hands up and just letting him eat that stuff but I knew if I held my ground he would start eating more variety. Now he is still picky about some things, I mean who isn't, but by far he is the one of the least picky of all of our children. Our pickiest is definitely the youngest and that stems from sensory issues and food allergies so we do make exceptions for her, still she eats 90% of what everyone else eats.

My husband and I both model healthy eating. We eat clean whole foods most of the time, allowing for treats in moderation. We both hit the gym several times a week. We use helpful language when it comes to talking about food, teaching them rather than forcing them. For younger kids using language cues can be amazingly helpful. Dr Sears classifies foods that help you be strong and healthy as "grow foods" and also puts foods into a stop light category. Green light foods can be eaten all the time, yellow light foods eaten often but not unlimited like green light foods, and red light foods are the ones to eat rarely or never. Some of our clients have found using this type of language and classification the biggest helper in transitioning their children to a healthier, cleaner eating lifestyle and teaching about what foods without putting a good or bad label on them. I personally don't like to classify foods as good or bad either, it's kind of like sticking a big red button on the "bad" foods and saying don't touch. I bet you will touch that red button right? Right we can't help it. So no foods are 100% off limits but there are foods that are better to eat in abundance and foods best left to moderation.

How do you handle food in your home? Do you keep healthy snacks at the ready or do you buy convenience snacks in packages? Do you eat the same dinner as your children or make several different dinners to meet the personal wants of everyone?

PS I forgot to add this handy link to an article called clean eating for kids, it has some tips for the transition.

A delicious unvented recipe

I decided to quit writing out every damn thing I was eating, figured you guys didn't really care. And well let's be honest, my food isn't that exciting. I pretty much eat the same things everyday. I don't find it boring and I do spice it up here and there but I prefer easy to fancy and easy means I don't have to think about it!

Today though I had a craving for chicken curry, except I didn't have any canned coconut milk on hand. What does a girl with a craving do? Unvent a new way to make it!  I have to say I think I love this version way more than the usual way I make it.

Unvented Chicken Curry

• 1tbs coconut oil
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2-3 tsp curry
• 1 lg chicken breast
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced

I grilled the chicken until it was cooked on the outside but still raw inside (my George Foreman grill is amazing, my chicken is never dry!), then diced it. While the chicken was pre-cooking I sauteed the bell pepper in the coconut oil, then added the diced chicken, broth, cream, curry, and a few turns of himalayan sea salt. Brought this to a boil to finish cooking the chicken and then plated it. I took a picture of course before I devoured it but seriously the picture does not do it justice, and frankly i suck at picture taking anyways.

As for the last 2 days post carb nite, they've been eh. I'm tired but not due to the diet, it's just that time of the month and TOM and adrenal fatigue do not play well together. I did still bust out an ass popping workout yesterday and today spent a few hours purging my bedroom. Really want I want most to do is curl up in my bed with hot cocoa, knitting, and some guilty pleasure tv show or movie for the next day or two. Too bad life doesn't really allow for that luxury. I'm also not very hungry but trying to make sure I do get my macros in even if it's the bare minimum and I'm cool with that. I know I will be back to me soon!

Carb Nite Numero Uno

That was rather disappointing! Ever built up something in your head, had high expectations and then when the event or whatever happened it was just like meeeeeeeeeehhh? That would be my 1st carb nite. I planned it all out so I wouldn't have to think about it much, just grab my food and go, especially since I knew it was going to be a busy day, a busy day that had many unexpected twists at that.

Welcome to a day in the life of a fiz-eek geek on her first carb nite!

0530 - drag my lazy bum out of bed so I can have a few moments of peace before the kidlets get up and start their usual morning drama llama craziness.

0600 - send the teens out the door, check in to facebook, drink coffee with heavy whipping cream.

0630 - get the younger kids up. Oh dear Pixie "can't find any clothes" so I pull out a mountain of clothes for her to pick through. This one gives her a wedgie, this ones too short, this ones too small, this ones too cold. ARG! Xander comes in and tells me he doesn't feel well. No fever so I tell him I won't be home today to baby him so he might as well go to school.

0715 - looks like the kids might actually make it out the door without anymore drama except oh crap where is Victoria? Still in bed?! Quick get her up. Now Xander can't find his lunch he made, and instead of making a new one he decides to sit on the couch and watch tv? Really?!

0725 - 2 minutes to go before they need to leave and I finally convince Xander to make himself a new lunch. The girls head on out to catch the bus, he will just have to catch the late bus today. As he is putting his lunch into his book bag he realizes his original lunch was in there all along :facepalm:

0740 - time to bust hump to get myself out the door for group training with Tanji Johnson. I have meals to pack, carbs to think about, outfit to plan, hair and makeup to do (yes I did type that, no I don't know why it's a thing to go work out with hair and makeup did, I just play along).

0840 - on the road, eating meal 1 of ham steak (already had my fat in my coffee)
1040 - meal 2 turkey burgers and pecans
1100-1200 - training
1230 - wheeeee carb meal 1, the one I am most looking forward too! Protein shake, spotty banana, and SOUR GUMMI WORMS!!! Except, balls, the gummi worms give me cotton mouth and make me feel a bit nauseous. I ate enough to give me a bit of an insulin spike bt they were not enjoyed :sadpanda:

1400 - make it to the store, hoping to get 3 tasks done in one stop; pee, buy a latte, buy apples/oranges/sliced cheese. The universe was surely against me and so I managed 2 of 3 and no latte for me.

1440 - Home just in time to eat 2 more turkey burgers and 2 donuts. Is it bad I enjoyed the turkey burgers more than the donuts? Wow they really kind of sucked!

1500 - pop open a can of pickle potato chips. Surely these will be the carb that hits the spot right? Wrong. I ate around 10-15 chips before passing some to the 16yo as a bribe to put away dishes. When the littles arrived at 1530 I let them all share what was left.

1700 - dinner time! I am *so* excited, we are having grilled ham & cheese with tomato soup, a family favorite, especially since we don't make this very often. And another major let down. Why is this happening to me?

1900- hmm ok maybe I'll try a pb&j with a glass of calorie countdown milk. The milk was pretty good but I could have lived without the sandwich.

2000 - I have one last treat left, a dark chocolate candy bar with sea salt. Well, the salt was good at least.

All in all it was a major let down as far as taste and enjoyment went. The plus side was I didn't feel like crap eating all of that, I didn't get the usual fatigue and sometimes brain foggyness from eating a bunch of carbs, and there was no carb hangover this morning. I was up 3lbs which I expected but I definitely did not look like I was even remotely puffy or bloated. My abs looked tight and my delts looked nice and full.

Oh right I said there was a twist in the day that was shocking. While I was training I received a phone call from the high school that our 15yo was absent on Friday. Well now, I know he got on the bus and went to school that day, he definitely wasn't at home. I also knew that after school he went to a friends house for the evening. Now, skipping school is nothing new to me, I did it, a lot. It's a wonder I got as far as I did in school tbh. but this also meant that I knew the quickest way to have something like that again would be to over react. I waited until my husband got home from work so we could discuss the situation, work out a game plan as well as a reasonable punishment. The punishment had 2 parts, if when confronted he told the truth his punishment time would be vastly reduced but should he lie his punishment would be harsher and last longer. Now of course since I knew who he was with that day and I know the parents I gave them a call to find out if they had also received a phone call about their son being absent that day and if J had really been there that evening as he had said. What I found out was the mom had seen her son and J walking around about 1pm and assumed it was an early release day so didn't think anything of it and that yes J had indeed been there for the evening.

After finding out that information and agreeing on a game plan we took our son aside and asked him straight out where he was during the day on Friday. He was very honest about what he did and why. Skipping school is definitely not something that this child would ever do without a valid reason. He works hard to maintain a perfect attendance and get good grades in school. He has huge goals for his life and he knows the only way to achieve them is by busting hump in school. Knowing this and him being forthright about the skipping led to minimal punishment. We give the children a lot of freedom, a lot of space to grow and make mistakes, so they know that freedom means a huge responsibility. He lost his phone for a week, laptop for 2 weeks, and is grounded to the home for 2 weeks although that may be reevaluated again. He was fully prepared to accept the consequences of his actions and take responsibility for them. This morning we took him to school so he could explain for himself why he was absent Friday. Due to his honesty, his grades, his attendance record, and this being a first time offense it appears there will be no disciplinary action at school except for the unexcused absence now on his record.

Sometimes it's hard being a parent and having to dish out punishments to your kids. It's equally hard to be a teenager and deal with the everyday crap they have to deal with. I think this was a great lesson learned for him and hopefully it's one that won't be repeated.

Grocery Shopping made Easy

Grocery list I mean? Mine almost always has the same items on it although I do switch things up every now and then for variety. I love to cook and create new recipes and combos, I mean really there are so many ways you can fix chicken and fish! A sample grocery list of mine looks like this:

This is just the basics, there are more items I interchange or purchase depending on my mood but for the most part these are my staples. Not on the list because I buy in bulk: oatmeal, eggs, egg whites.

The main reason I do not buy meat in bulk is 1-I hate thawing meat, I usually forget to thaw and then I have to microwave it to cook my meat for the week and 2-I haven't found that buying in bulk is actually cost effective and 3-I prefer to buy my meat from Trader Joes so that I know it's high quality. I buy what I need for the week so my meat is bought and cooked fresh. I am just funny that way I guess!

I like to keep my pantry stocked as well. I have enough spices to make any type of seasoning blend. One of the things my 12yo son likes to do is make spaghetti sauce from scratch so we keep an abundance of Italian spices on hand for him. I however love Curry so I have a couple of different powder curry's and cans of coconut milk for those moments when I just have to have chicken curry. You will also always find in my pantry Mrs. Dash seasoning blends, Pink Himalayan salt, sea salt, EVOO, coconut oil, various flours (almond, coconut, wheat, bread, gluten free. . .), non stick spray, and flavored extracts.

Do you have a basic shopping list you stick to and add or exchange items based on your mood for the week, or based on what's on sale? I find it helpful to have a basic list so even if I need to send my husband shopping I can just email this list and know he will have no problem getting everything we need.

Well, that happened

I have been so busy the last two days that I haven't had time to post or hell even write down my food for the day and take any pictures! Yesterday I took my 10yo daughter out for some girl time, she got to do a little bit of shopping and then met with my stylist to get her first "grown up" haircut and style. I admit I was very hesitant over the short a-line bob she wanted but Austin reassured me it would work great with her hair type. I have to say she looks older, more mature, and she absolutely loves the new style! I think she lost around 12-16" of hair! Once she was done it was hurry home and get dinner started so I could drive an hour up to the "city" for my massage therapy appointment. I had been looking forward to this for almost 2 weeks! My MT is amazing, seriously.

Yesterday was also day 5 of prep and CNS. I am finding I have such an abundance of energy. Before I never would have been able to feel comfortable driving an hour (at 6pm) for a 90min appt and then drive an hour back (at 9pm) before because I wouldn't have had the energy and would have needed several cups of coffee just to stay awake. Instead the only thing I needed, or wanted, was a massive ton of water. I drink somewhere in the vicinity of 6 liters. From what I have read that thirst is a sign of ketosis. Note to self never google symptoms of ketosis again, sheesh, that was almost as bad as looking up a symptom on webmd!

Today was pretty similar, minus the crazy thirst. Decided to take my 16yo son shopping since he had been asking me for a shopping trip for a few weeks. We had a blast! Usually for lunch we always go and have chinese food in the food court and today was no exception. I gave him my rice and just ate some angus steak with asparagus thing and chicken with mushrooms & zucchini. We also of course had to get coffee, I had my first breve today and holy wow was that delicious! I kind of wish I had been drinking breve's before now ;) All in all we were out shopping for 7 hours. This was so surprising to me, I can usually last 1 maybe 2 hours at the mall or doing any kind of errands and by the time I get home I am so physically and mentally wiped that I often spend the rest of the day in bed. Before getting into this fit lifestyle I would often be out for 1-2 days after grocery shopping.

The only downer of the day was a run in with a rude cashier at Old Navy when I was buying some new athletic pants. Yes I do have to buy the smallest size they carry, whatevs, their sizing is all over the place. Anyways while she was ringing me up she saw the size tag on the pants nd said with a bit of an eye roll "xs? ugh!" Wow, really? That was uncalled for! She wouldn't have rolled her eyes and said "xl? ugh!" so why is it ok to make remarks like that to someone who is an xs? I really detest rude and disparaging comments aimed at smaller people. I work HARD to maintain my body. I could easily stop exercising and stop eating healthy and become overweight but I chose to be healthy to be fit and there isn't a damn thing wrong with that so take your jealous judgmental comments and keep them to yourself!

All in all this prep and the induction phase of CNS has been a breeze. I love the food options I have, I love watching the scale drop, and most of all I love this energy I have! Now I'm going to go make some chocolate almond protein pancakes and smear some natty pb on them, mmmm yum! (kind of like these, but this isn't my pic!)

Day 1-3 of Contest Prep and CNS

Dec 31 -  Day 1 CNS & Prep

Started the morning like any other, water bottle in hand and a hot cup of coffee beside me. I was mulling over plans for Jan 2 when I would officially begin CNS (www.carbnitesolution.com) and prep for my first show this season.  As the morning progressed I started to get way too excited about starting this new venture and before I knew it I had decided to start prep today! I really didn’t need to “prep” for this prep or go out and purchase items, although that didn’t stop me from doing a tiny stock up ;) After having meal 1 we finally headed out to the gym. I had an amazingly intense shoulder pumping workout. It felt great to get in that last workout of the year and to have hit it so hard.

Once home the craziness of the evening started, trying to get in my PWO and cook the kids dinner. One of the great things about this prep is that most of the foods I fix for them I can eat too. This prep is going to be so different from my previous preps.

Today’s meals looked like this:

1.       Ham steak, 2 whole eggs, goat cheese, coffee

2.      Protein shake with banana

3.     Chicken breast in butter and topped with garlic white cheddar cheese

4.     Leg of lamb, dulce de leche coffee (omg! 1tbs dulce de leche, 2tbs heavy whipping cream mmmwah!)

5.      Bedtime snack of sugar free jell-o

I know it doesn’t read like a lot of food but it was very satisfying/filling and oh so delicious! I’m drooling thinking about tomorrow!

In the midst of all of this my hairstylist friend and client walked me through the process of back tinting my hair. I was over the bleach blonde, it wasn’t me and I didn’t feel very confident as a blonde. I’ve always had far more confidence with darker hair, plus it really highlights my eyes, not to mention darker hair is far easier to maintain. I have to say the process of back tinting is just as laborous as the process of bleaching.  The end result though is nothing short of perfection! I managed to achieve the exact shade I was wanting and spent pennies (ok I spent more than pennies but compared to what this would have cost in a salon it was pennies). It is the ultimate in rich, warm chestnutty chocolate brown. When my 10yo daughter saw it she fell instantly in love and has asked that I dye her hair the same color. So looks like she and I will be taking a trip to Sally’s tomorrow where I try to convince her she really wants fuchsia rather than brown. I went from bland to bam!

So to wrap up day 1, it’s been fun and I’ve had plenty of energy. I hear the energy lag usually hits around day 3-5 depending on when your body starts to transition from burning carbs for energy to burning fat for energy. Oh for those that don’t know what CNS is, it’s a form of keto dieting except that every 5-7 days you do a carb refeed. I am still doing IF (intermittent fasting) along with CNS as they work very well together. Excited to see what the new year brings! Happy New Year to all, good bye to 2012 and hello to 2013 J

Jan 1 2013 – Day 2 –

I hardly slept last night, ugh. I blame the coffee I drank late in the  evening so I could stay up until midnight to kiss my husband. 13 yrs of NYE kisses and the only time we have missed one is when he has been deployed. So 5 hours of restless sleep, waking several times, and some very odd dreams left me feeling a wee tad tired most of the day.

I have been truly enjoying college football this year. This is the first season in many years we have had cable and I could actually watch my team (South Caroline Gamecocks). Today they played in the Outback Bowl, which wasn’t the best bowl but hey it’s still a bowl game ;) Now I always have Nate’s chili and chips and a beer during football games, it’s kind of our tradition. You can imagine weekends when both of our teams are playing (he watches NFL) that is a lot of chili and chips eating going on lol Since I am doing CNS I knew I wouldn’t be able to have the beans in the chili or our regular chips either but I had a plan! I scooped out my serving of chili (which had about 4gr of carbs from the cheese & tomatoes) before he added the beans and I baked up some La Tortilla Factory 3gr carb tortilla’s for my chips. I didn’t miss skipping the beer since I really don’t drink much anyways. The chili was awesome, as usual but I have to say those tortillas make crappy chips and it’s probably due to the high fiber content. I had planned to eat about 16gr of carbs just in this meal and ended up only having around 8-10, so I can’t complain really and I was truly full and satisfied.

After the game it was gym time and my favorite day, hammies! I had an amazing session and boy did my hammies feel the burn. I had some issues getting up and down the stairs after getting home LOL of course working legs makes me VERY hungry and yesterday was no exception. I ended up taking a mini nap at 730, woke up at 8 and by 9 I had a growly tummy. I’m also lazy and really didn’t want to get out of bed to make something to eat, whatevs I got up anyways. Once I had some food in my belly I was able to fall back to sleep and slept nearly 12 hours!

So today’s meals went like this:

1.       Coffee with heavy whipping cream (nomz!)

2.       Chili with low carb chips

3.       PWO shake with banana

4.      2 thin cut porkchops topped with pepperoni & garlic white cheddar cheese

5.       ½ of a prosciutto wrapped porkchop from the kids dinner, 1 lrg protein pancake, 1 cup sugar free jell-o.

                                                 OMG Doesn't this look amazing? Yea it really was!

Day 2 wrap up – energy was lacking due to lack of sleep but nothing that kept me from my training or cooking for the kids. Probably didn’t eat enough because frankly I just didn’t feel hungry until that last meal, I’m sure I will make up for it tomorrow.

Jan 2 – Day 3

Oh hi lack of energy. Not sure if you are diet related or AF/shark week related. Possibly it's a combination of both, so I am taking a rest day to recover. I’ve been pretty thirsty today too so chug chug chug goes the water! My first meal was so filling I still haven’t eaten anymore today, which I am sure will be made up later this evening which is just fine by me.

Interesting enough I decided to get up and dye my daughters hair, during the process I started to feel normal energy levels emerging.  When she was done I decided to do some grooming of myself and then hopped in the shower, BOOM, energy back! Came down and cooked the kids a delicious dinner and then made my own. I half considered going on to the gym but honestly 6pm is one of the worst times of the evening to go workout in our tiny gym and even more sure during the January influx. Kind of excited to see how I feel tomorrow, I hear day 4-5 is when the energy slump really happens.

                                                        She is gorgeous no matter what :D

1.      Spinach & egg omelet made with 6 egg whites, 2 whole eggs, spinach, white mushrooms, goat cheese, and cheddar cheese. Coffee with a splash of hwc.

2.      2 prosciutto wrapped pork chops, green salad with bell pepper & tomatoes, homemade dressing with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard and a sprinkle of sea salt. It was so yummy!! See my crappy iphone pic for food porn visual ;)

3.     1 cup of 4% cottage cheese, ½ scoop of Big Bitch Formula cake batter flavor protein, a sprinkle of chocolate almond frosting creations = one very very happy mouth. I had a spoonful of natural pb on the side too, mmmmm! I wasn’t sure if I would be able to fit pb into this ULC plan but today I was so very low on carbs I had plenty of wiggle room J

4.      Grilled chicken thigh

Day 3 in short, started the day low on energy, decided to make it a rest day, gained energy during the evening, was fully satisfied with  my meals and drank a ton of water. Oh and finally started that blog to put all of this nonsense on!

(note to self, word docs do not c&p well to blogger, oi!)

New Year's Resolutions

We all make them right? And the #1 resolution again this year is to lose weight. There are as many ways to lose weight as there are people in this world, shakes, pills, sprinkles, shots, prepackaged "food", food deliveries, point systems . . . and they all promise the same thing. Quick results. And hey who doesn't want quick results right? But what happens after the diet? When the pills are causing you issues, the sprinkles are causing unpleasant leakage, the shots are starving you, the prepackaged food is not enjoyable, the points no longer keeping the lbs at bay. People give up or find a new extreme quick fix. Or say they DO have fantastic results, they hit their goal weight so now what? They go back to the habits that got them in the position to need to diet in the first place, and thus starts (or continues) the yo-yo dieting lifestyle. Yes I do think yo yo dieting is a lifestyle, it's a choice made to take the quick easy way out only to return to your old habits without ever actually changing anything. And every year, every yo yo sends the scale climbing up to a higher weight than before the diet began.

So this year instead of resolving to lose weight, perhaps resolve to change your lifestyle! Start small and make 1 or 2 changes weekly. Ditch the soda for water and try to drink 2-4 liters per day. That one simple change can make a huge difference not only on how you feel but on how much you weigh! I recently had a client with a 12 cola a day habit, in her first two weeks on a meal plan from me and giving up the soda she dropped 10 lbs! Now those results are not typical, but it does show how much extra weight drinking soda can cause you to hold on to.



I personally don't do new year's resolutions as I tend to fail at keeping them. Instead I set new year's goals. My goals change each year and this year is no different. I like setting goals for myself, it gives me something to strive for and helps keep me focused and on track. I am also very specific about my goals and I think that also makes a huge difference. Try this, instead of saying "I want to lose weight" say "I will eat whole foods and exercise 3-4 times per week"





Now be ready to be bombarded with several posts about my current contest prep plan. I am trying something different this prep but I am open to changing this plan if I see I am having any negative results from it. I am planning to track every single day, what I am eating, how I am feeling, my activities etc. It will probably be pretty boring, or not. I will also be documenting my clients progress using this plan as well.

What is a [fiz-eek] geek you ask?

Lets see [fiz-eek] is the phonic spelling for physique, and I am very focused on creating a gorgeous physique, for me, for you, for everyone! Geek? Well that's pretty explanatory I would think. I am constantly geeking out on things like Doctor Who, The Guild, Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog, The Big bang Theory and such for entertainment but my more serious side likes to read about the science behind different dieting methods and training protocols. I like to know how things work and why they work. Sometimes I jam so much information in my brain that I end up having a weekly dump. No not a poop kind of dump! A brain dump, where it feels like everything I need to know or just learned about just falls right out. Mean while I tend to hold on to the most useless (and sometimes nerdy) trivia. Really, why do I know Britney Spears birthday? That is one fact of trivia that could go with the next brain dump, for real.

What can you expect to find here? EVERYTHING! Posts about my training, my contest prep (currently in prep), my food, clients food, recipes, a lot of doctor who because frankly I am obsessed, probably some knitting nonsense and anything else that flits across my little brain.

Are you a gym rat like me? It takes a lot of work to build and maintain my physique but I must say I kind of wish I was like Captain Hammer and just naturally looked awesome, but alas no. I will just have to wear my superhero cape and smash my workouts :)