Tag: nutrition

More than Before

MPiccoloLeave a comment
May 26th 2012
May 26th 2012

I’ve posted a “Before”  picture on here previously but this picture above is really one that needs to be discussed.

It’s been a little over a year since this picture was taken.  In case it’s not obvious, I was a bridesmaid in my best friends wedding.  (I cropped her out for her privacy, but trust me when I say she was the most gorgeous bride….like, ever).

It’s so strange to look at this picture, NOW.

I don’t recognize myself.

But I don’t get sad as I look at this picture.  There’s no shame.  There’s no embarrassment.  Life was actually pretty good.

It’s just strange because I don’t want to forget how I felt when this picture was taken.  I want to remember that I did not look BAD.  This might be my BEFORE, but it could easily become my AFTER when this competition is over.

I’ll be honest, I hope it’s not.  I love the way I look now, but I was content looking the way I look in that picture.  I was satisfied.  I ate what I wanted when I wanted.  There was freedom to do that back then.

I celebrated birthdays with cake and ice cream and maybe some drinks.  I ate burgers and fries once in awhile.  I had pizza, I loved string cheese like it was going out of style.

I ate Peanut butter and Jelly for weeks at a time when I was feeling lazy.  I had salads with dressing that wasn’t measured out.  I went to baseball games and had hot dogs.

I went to the movies and had popcorn with butter and Buncha Crunch, my most favorite theater snack.

Yeah, I had veggies but only occasionally.

Yeah, I drank water, but only when I worked out.

Yeah I worked out, but only cardio and just SOME weight training for fear of breaking my foot again.

I was coasting….maintaining….perfectly content to just keep living my life that way.

But there was an obvious downside to this freedom:

I had zero self control.  There was no need to analyze every single piece of food that entered my mouth.  Who was keeping track?  Certainly not I.

I didn’t have the willpower to NOT eat everything that was put in front of me.  Any why shouldn’t I? There were no pics to send to any coach.

I hardly cooked my own food.  There was no reason to fuel myself properly for the workouts I wasn’t doing.

I never got enough sleep.  There were no early morning lifting sessions to be rested for.

I wasn’t doing any heavy weight training.  There was no motivation to get in shape.

Was it damaging me?  Maybe not.  Was it healthy?  Eh, not really.  Am I better off now than I was BEFORE?  Absolutely.

Although this experience is far from over, the physical changes are already obvious and that’s all great.

It’s the mental and behavioral changes that should matter most.

Here’s to 11 and a half weeks until my AFTER.

-Michelle

It never gets easier, but it does get better.

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It Never Gets Easier

Truer words have never been spoken, especially when it comes to a large obstacle to overcome.

After being on a nutrition/cardio plan from my online coach for almost 3 months, I will say that it has most definitely not been easy.  But it most definitely has gotten better.  So today I celebrate the small victories:

  • I’m getting better at prepping my food; it’s actually a process I enjoy.  I guess I’m strange like that but I really like ORGANIZING everything, especially because most other things in my life are very DISorganized.
  • Getting better at posting and looking at the progress pics.  This was the hardest thing to get past.  At first I really did not like the idea of even having a blog let alone posting pics of myself in the state that I was in.  But after sucking it up, it doesn’t seem so bad.  And I wouldn’t say it’s better because I look better; it’s gotten better because I’m more comfortable with putting myself out there. Big difference.
  • Getting better at enjoying the process and not obsessing over “What time is it?? Is it time for me to eat?”  Case in point, I’m “overdue” to eat my next meal by 10 minutes.  And I’m sitting here typing all this out NOT worrying about it.
  • Getting better at managing my time.  When you are on a set schedule to eat and workout, you really find time management to be a key asset.  I’m probably better at planning out my day better than I have before.  And I refuse to let social media be the time waster that it can be.  I’ve definitely cut back on that, although if you follow me on twitter you know I still have some work to do in THAT area…. 🙂 But Facebook is getting easier and easier to avoid.
  • Getting better with patience with people who do not have the same fitness goals as myself.  Also getting better at becoming patient with people who have ZERO health and fitness goals.  This is a big one for me because I want to help everyone.  But I’m learning to accept that not everyone wants the help.  However, I will say the people who HAVE reached out to me for help are very grateful for the advice and do see me as doing something positive and inspiring.  So if I’m able to help at least ONE person, then it’s worth it.

 

On a side note:  Happy Valentines Day!  Echoing the words of some other bloggers, I will say I LOVE ALL MY FOLLOWERS! 🙂  Thanks for “Liking” “Retweeting” and “Following” my little journey, your support is appreciated and LOVED in return!

 

-Michelle

The Buddy System…plus pics

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workout-gym-exercise-bored-confession-ecards-someecards

This made me laugh because I know there are people out there that could CARE LESS about what I did today for my workout. And guess what? That’s exactly why I rarely post what workouts I do.

However, there are other women (mainly) that DO want to know what I’m doing in the gym and vice versa for me…which is why I joined a couple forums (yes, they still exist in internet-land) specifically for potential figure competitors and current competitors as well.  What a great way to get information and share and VENT about this whole process!

For those who are interested the two forums are SiouxCountry and Precision Nutrition.  The latter is more of a nutrition message board but you have to purchase the program in order to enjoy the forum.  You can still look at the blog and the articles I believe as a non-paying member.

What I’ve been doing lately is taking my meal plan from my coach and just making the tiniest modifications to it.  My main modification? Adding more veggies.  That’s the only thing I feel is truly lacking.

I also got a text from one of my friends who would like to workout with me.  This is a first! I don’t think I’ve worked out WITH or alongside someone in….ummm…ever?  Unfortunately my schedule is kinda goofy so looks like Sundays are our only options.  It’ll be nice to workout with someone for once instead of alone.  Most days I enjoy being in my own zone doing my own thing but once in a while I get a yearning for some sort of contact from someone.  Social media and electronic forms of communication get old after awhile.

As for pics, I was an idiot and took updated pics but neglected to take the FRONT of myself.  Just side and back.  I blame the fact that it was literally first thing in the morning.

So I thought I would just post the side as a BEFORE from October and an AFTER from yesterday.  You can definitely see some baby abs forming. 🙂 And this is also for those peeps who thought “I can’t believe you had 16lbs and 20inches to lose!”  Well, yeah you can see where most of it was storing itself.  Pics really do help to see the difference!

October Side
October Side
Side Jan 29th
Side Jan 29th

I’ll be sure to post better, full body shots next week.

Until next time!

-Michelle

Random Tweet: “Stop the presses! Faster Pussycat House of Pain is playing on WMMS. I’m rockin out in my car…#notashamed“

Hurry up and Wait

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ImageThere’s a little saying in the production world where I used to work that if you were on the crew you would say to one another as a joke: “Hurry up and wait.”  I have no idea where this saying came from, perhaps it’s applicable to your job. 

The reason behind it is the rush of trying to get things done, only to have to wait for certain things to happen first.  When I worked as a production coordinator, you would hurry up and get everyone in place ready to shoot a scene, only to have to wait for someone else to make things happen.   Maybe the actor that was hired is still in wardrobe or makeup, maybe the lighting still isn’t quite right, maybe the teleprompter won’t start up (that last one is from personal experience).  Talk about a panic attack as everyone sits there and just waits and stares at you to solve the problem so they can get through the day.  Glad those days are behind me!

I thought of this saying today as I was frantically emailing and messaging various people online asking all kinds of questions about my figure competition goal.  I recently opened up and sent some pictures of myself to a very well known trainer who told me I was way too thin to even think about competing this year.  Granted she made it clear it was her own opinion and she is just looking at pictures of me but it threw me off a little bit. 

I did ask for her advice so I brought that on myself.  And I knew she would be honest.  After thinking about it for awhile I realized she’s only saying I need to train 3 months longer than I had originally planned.  No big deal right? 

See the problem with being surrounded by other trainers and being a trainer myself as well as having a fair amount of knowledge about nutrition, I am constantly researching what the best method is for training for this competition.  At the same time I’m getting all kinds of advice.  So with this advice and research, the self-doubt kicks in. 

All of a sudden I thought to myself “Maybe I’m doing too much cardio.  Maybe I should do what that woman is doing…maybe I should eat like that guy is telling people.  Shouldn’t I be seeing muscle gains by now?  How come I’m not losing the fat quicker?  How long is this going to take?!”

I worked my brain into a frenzy.  But worst of all, I didn’t trust my coach.  I hired this man for a reason and I realized I need to stick with the plan.  There is no rushing this process.  It’s going to take time.  A year?  Well, maybe.  But after I got some great advice from two competitors that I contacted, I understand that I can still do my show as intended in October this year as a “warm-up.”  Then, if I choose to, do another show as the “real deal” in the Spring of 2014.

I also took a step back this week to remind myself why I started this whole thing:  For myself; to change my body; to see how far I could take this body and my fitness level and to essentially show off all my hard work.  I’m not doing this for a trophy, for a prize, for anything more than to say “I did this.”  So back to the drawing board, although I never really left the board.  I just took a temporary leave to get my mind straight.

Now that it’s on straight, I can say this:

“It doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as you do not stop.”

I’m not stopping.  I will keep going.  I can do this.

-Michelle

“My food is my fuel…my food is my fuel…”

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This mantra has been on repeat in my head all day today.  Why? Because today started meal plan #2 from Coach Davies. 

Before I go into what Coach has in store for me this month let me just boast that today, FINALLY, I was able to break through my plateau.  I weighed myself this morning after not getting on the scale for a week, to find that I’m down to 125lbs. What a relief! 

I was somewhat concerned I would never see it budge ever again.  And although I am well aware that it’s not really about the scale at all, I do like to at least know what kind of a range I’m in right now.  Plus, today was the weigh out for my little bet I had going with my friend Craig.  I proudly exclaimed on Facebook that he owes me $20…

Yes Virginia, it IS possible to lose weight over the holidays:  9lbs down from Thanksgiving until today.  The only rule we set out from this bet was that I would not do any diet pills (as if) weight loss shakes or anything like that.  I promise I stood by these rules. 

I can also add that a FB friend of mine from high school,  ALSO took on the challenge of losing weight during the holidays and she lost 5lbs too!  So yes, it can happen. 

I tallied up the amount of cookies I had from Thanksgiving until Christmas Day and it totaled 20.  I can even remember exactly what I ate (is this normal?)

Thanksgiving: 2 Chocolate chip cookies

The Dessert Party on December 9th: Already posted about this but just to repeat: 1 triple layer cookie, a piece of angel food cake, a small bite of pumpkin pie (really don’t need to count this do I?) 1 of those sugary icing deliciousness cookies.

Christmas Day (for us was Sunday the 23rd): 6 chocolate balls, 3 buckeyes (This is Ohio ya know) 1 homemade cut out cookie.

Christmas Eve: 4 cookies at work of various types, 1 sugar cookie at dinner.

So for anyone who thinks I just avoided all sugar, you are sorely mistaken.  I definitely enjoyed my fill. 

I would say this may have been part of the reason I plateaued almost the whole month of December.   Maybe not, but I think it’s interesting that all of a sudden I lose 2lbs the second I stop eating the junk? Hmmmm…

As for my meal plans and getting back on track (although I didn’t really get off track, did I?) last month my Coach had me eating alot of egg whites, chicken, and flank steak.  This month, even MORE egg whites, Imageasparagus, Imagetilapia Image

or cod (yum!) and green beans, Image

among other things.  Besides the meal plan becoming more of a challenge, the workouts are much more intense as well.  Sprints, plyometrics, walking backwards on the treadmill and stairmaster (I have yet to master this. I am convinced I will fall and make myself look like an idiot.)

The mantra “My food is my fuel” came into my brain after reading a woman’s FB post recently.  Her name is Amy Jo Horvath and she’s a National Physique Committee competitor.  Here’s her FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/AmyJoHorvathNpcFigureCompetitor

She’s also a mom and wife and is in full contest prep mode.  This means she basically has to find time to train and eat clean still be a full time mommy and wife.  I must say, at least on the surface of her FB page, she is on top of it! 

A few weeks ago she posted how she had to eat her prepared food in her car.  She ended the post with “Food is fuel!”  It stuck with me as I downed cold Cream of Rice and egg whites this morning, literally fork in right hand, driving with the left.  This wasn’t as difficult as it sounds (although I do not suggest doing it). 

The second meal of the day proved more challenging to stomach: Tuna, egg white and diced asparagus.  Perhaps it was the lack of flavor…perhaps just the sloppiness of trying to get tuna and asparagus on the fork…but it was by far the hardest part of my day.  (I know how silly that sounds considering the hardest part of the day for most people is probably way worse)

But THAT’s when the mantra kicked in.  And in the end I ate it all.  I didn’t puke, I didn’t feel sick…lo and behold I actually felt full and energetic. 

Wow, who would have thought?  Good food = good things. What a concept!

The only downside to this new meal plan?  It’s true what they say about asparagus. I will let the reader figure that one out.

Time to get sleep…because as awesome as food is, it’s equally important to rest and recover for the day that comes tomorrow.

-Michelle

Random tweet: I burned 97,611 calories in 2012.  But sadly, I didn’t log all my workouts. So it’s probably more. #random #exercise #workoutfreak

 

Breaking through the plateau

MPiccolo2 Comments

Of course this was going to happen…Of course.  It was inevitable after losing so much weight that I would hit a standstill.  The weight loss plateau has reared it’s ugly head in my direction.

Stuck at 127 with absolutely not a budge in two weeks.

Now I know it’s the holidays.  And most people who are trying to lose weight would be happy to see themselves maintaining during such a difficult time of the year.  I shouldn’t complain.   But it’s still a disappointing.

I am becoming one of my own clients.  I’m doing all the wrong things like weighing myself after dinner (WHAT!? Duh!), stressing out about a measly little pound, freaking out and envisioning the scale frozen on 127 forever.

This won’t happen.  I will start to lose again but the first step is to figure out what the hell I’m doing wrong.

A few possibilities:

1.  I’m doing too much:  I have only allowed myself 1 day off since starting this journey.  That’s more then 3 months of non-stop exercising.  Not good.  That could lead to overtraining which can lead to all sorts of metabolic issues if I don’t address it.

2. I’m not doing enough:  Even with all this working out, it’s possible I’m not doing enough of the QUALITY workouts.  Possibly  too much steady state and not enough High Intensity?  Too many full body workouts and not enough splits?

3.  I’m doing the same thing over and over:  Don’t we all know the definition of insanity?  Although my strength training program has been different each week, it has always been full body.  So it might be time to change it to split routines.  Also the diet has been the same for 3 weeks so it’s quite possibly my coach will change that up next week.

Those are the three main reasons why I we all hit a weight loss rut.   In keeping with my previous post about looking at the positives and staying optimistic, I’m going to attempt to have some fun while trying to figure out exactly what is holding me back.

In the meantime, I’m still planning my regular meal plan for this week despite celebrating Christmas (tomorrow actually), traveling on a plane Wednesday and Thursday and working a nice long day on Christmas Eve starting at 6am and ending after I get finished with Christmas Eve dinner.  I have my work cut out for me this week.

But in the end, now is not the time to worry or care about staying perfect; it’s time to enjoy spending time with loved ones and friends.  I will be enjoying the hell out of my food and hanging with my family.  And I will not give this plateau a second thought! I might even eat a piece of (gasp!) bread.  Yes real life starch! (what’s starch? It’s been so long since I’ve had any I forgot what the hell it is.)

Merry Christmas Happy Holidays and all that jazz everyone!

-Michelle

Random song on iTunes: The Killer by The Twilight Singers (quite possibly the best song ever…ever!)

Random Tweet courtesy of some random person: When someone walks into a school w/a rope w/a spear attached throwing it & screaming “Get over here!” then let’s discuss video games.

Progress Pics

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I don’t even want to make a big deal out of this even though this is probably one of the more difficult things I have posted.  It’s not like anyone is forcing me to do this of course but if you have a goal you better make sure you note a starting point.  And with weight loss, pictures are pretty much the best route to go.

I didn’t manipulate these photos in any way EXCEPT brightness and contrast because some turned out so bright and some not so bright.  It took me a second to understand how to add text to a picture as you can see from one of the December pics.  I never figured out how to delete the text so….you are left with this.  Photoshop smart I AM NOT.

Left:  October  Center: November   Right: December

I’m at 137.5lbs in the October pics, 133lbs in the November pics and 127 in the December 10th pic.

Thanks to Danielle for stitching these all together for me!!

allbackview
Back

 

Front
Front
Side
Side

 

Weekend Challenge

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I’m going to go out on a limb and say the holidays are upon us…as in people have started to crowd the malls doing their shopping, the stores have their sales and advertisements plastered everywhere, the carols are playing on the radio and holiday parties are taking place.

Well, I can also tell you I can always tell the holidays are here because the gyms aren’t as full as they usually are.  Or as full as they should be.  I should know, I spend about 99% of my time in a gym of some sort everyday.  It’s pathetic awesome!  I hear from friends and co-workers that clients are canceling or just not showing up for their personal training sessions.  THAT’s how I know the holidays are here.

So here’s a quick little boost to those of you who are suffocating in the hustle and bustle of the holidays and you can’t quite seem to fit your workout in:

a-one-hour-workout-is-4-percent-of-your-day

This has been circulating around the internet lately and I thought it was appropriate for this time of year for all of us.

As for my weekend challenge, and in line with the holiday spirit, I’ll be attending my friend and former client Lina’s Dessert Party.  Yes that’s right a party with JUST DESSERTS.  All homemade as far as I know? And all very delicious.

I’ve searched and searched my nutrition plan from my coach and lo and behold I don’t see desserts listed.  Hmmm…

Well, looks like I need a plan.  Remember my Holiday Pledge?  I’m sure there’s a way to copy my old post in here but I am not savvy enough to figure that out so here’s the picture again:

XmasPledge

Notice #4.  I will not be anti-social.  I will attend this party because it’s been awhile since I’ve seen my friend Lina and her husband Jeff and we have a lot to catch up on.  I’m treating the desserts like part of the background.  They’ll be there but almost like I’m at a museum. I can look but not touch. Ha!  I will most likely cheat indulge in a couple of the smaller desserts without going absolutely nuts.  I’m also planning on eating just like my plan suggests with nothing changing.  Most importantly I’ll be arriving on a full stomach.  There will not be an entrée in sight (hence the point of coming after dinner anyways) so I feel as long as I have eaten my protein beforehand. I should be okay.

This will be my first real challenge since taking on this goal.  I’ll be happy to post the outcome on Sunday morning! 🙂

Also, I am definitely posting progress pics right before Christmas.  I can finally see a difference from October to now in pictures and I’m really jazzed to show them to everyone believe it or not!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

-Michelle

And the madness begins…

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I can see from my page views here that I’m flatlining  these past few days because I haven’t posted anything….and I haven’t posted because my competition training has taken over!  This is both a good and not so good thing.  Good for me but bad as far as keeping my blog going.

While I have some time, I thought I’d write a quick update on my progress as well as some funny little anecdotes that you will hopefully appreciate.

So Sunday night my Plan arrived in my inbox from my coach, Mike Davies.  It included pretty much everything you could ask for in a plan; what to eat and when to eat, how long to workout for and what specifically to do with regards to training/cardio.

It was slightly overwhelming at first to see all these emails and instructions.  But more than apprehension, I felt excitement about finally getting on a specific plan.

Monday morning after cardio was a visit to the store to stock up on some key proteins that I was lacking, mainly flank steak and salmon.  I opted for just flank steak for now since one high priced protein is enough per week for this cheapass  low budget gal.

Without getting into every detail, I’m absolutely thrilled with this plan!  The foods I’m told to eat are already foods I like, although I had never had flank before.  I’ll be working out twice a day (cardio in the AM and weights and other cardio in the PM).

Since I just started Monday, I’m already feeling the effects.  Maybe it’s just psychological but I don’t care.  I feel a great amount of energy and I’m not starving.  I have no desire to eat anything sweet despite the fact that my Mom is making a new Christmas cookie/pastry/ everyday this week.  She offers me some but she understands why I’m saying No…for now.  Coach Mike said I can have a cheat day on Christmas as well as New Years.  Since we celebrate Christmas on the 22nd this year, I’m saving my Christmas cheat for the 26th when I’m traveling to Chicago to see my friends.  As for New Years Eve, well…this year I won’t be on crutches like last year (let’s not talk about that) I might actually go out but I’m not a huge drinker.  I’d rather EAT my cheats than drink.  So we’ll see about that.

Maybe I’m talking crazy but I don’t WANT to be able to cheat.  I think just the fact that I was told that I COULD, makes me not want to.  Why undo what I’ve worked already so hard for?

Love This!

What else has happened since my last post?  My mood has improved like, a thousand percent.  🙂

I was telling someone just the other day that I’m extremely happy lately.  Like, goofy can’t wipe this grin off my face content happy.  At first I thought it was because I’m downing Fish Oil like it’s candy once again.  And I know from past experience that stuff improves your mood.  I would also say the fact that I’m working out twice a day now and that I’m finally seeing results, is probably a huge reason for my sudden joyfulness.

I’m actually kind of upset I didn’t get myself on a real plan like this sooner.  It’s so nice to have someone telling me what to eat and when to eat it.  I never understood why my clients wouldn’t follow a meal plan.  I followed one when I had a trainer 10 years ago (wow really? unreal that I’m this old ha!) and the results were awesome!  And I didn’t even think I needed a trainer back then. (I totally did).   Maybe it helps that my goal is so lofty.  Maybe I’m celebrating way too soon.  Maybe I’m being naive about how difficult the holidays are going to be.

I’m choosing to put those maybe’s aside and all the negative thoughts and just enjoy this journey.

As for some little funny stories, here are a few:

  • I texted my friend Ronnie on day 1  (yes day 1) of this plan to say that I was sorry for ever thinking drinking egg whites out of the carton was gross and abnormal.  🙂  I haven’t gotten that desperate yet but I can completely relate to why I might have to do this.
  • I’m really appreciating the fact that I asked for a Costco membership for Christmas. 
  • I told my former co-workers at the gym I used to work at that “I’ve lost 10lbs since leaving this place!!”  Probably not the best incentive for working there, ha!
  • I’m officially a gym rat  as I now belong to 2 gyms and work at 2 other studios.
  • I’m scheduled to go on the Polar Express tonight (those who don’t have kids or are unaware of this, just google it) and I actually am already figuring out a way to pack my food on the train.  Perhaps asking for Tupperware for Christmas would have been a better gift to myself?
  • Drinking 2 gallons of water a day has been…interesting. Ha!  I feel like I’m training for my half/full marathons again!

This is all for now…More stories to come this weekend!

Happy HumpDay!!!

-Michelle

The Holiday Pledge – in color!

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So today being December 1st, it’s officially the “Holiday” season.  With that, I give you my Holiday Pledge (originally posted a few weeks ago) but this time my friend Justin made it all pretty for me. 🙂

Image

Ain’t it great?! 

If you have a pledge, feel free to share it in the comments section or just use mine! 

-Michelle