On again, Off Again

Here's a post after a long hiatus!
Rule number 1: don't beat yourself down if you don't achieve your goals as successfully as you intended. BUT get back on track as soon as you realize you're off! The good news is that some great changes are in store for me...but they probably won't happen on this blogspot. Stay tuned for more info....

Rule number 2: Turn it into a Lesson!

On Again Off Again refers to more than just my dedication to this blog. It also refers to INTERVAL TRAINING!

Of course, interval training doesn't mean exercising one week and resting for 2 weeks. It refers to much smaller intervals that happen within a single training session.

Intervals are GREAT for:

• Burning a lot of calories in a shorter time frame


• Improving your performance in either speed or endurance or both!


• Putting a spark in your workout when you've become bored with it


• Keeping your mind focused on how your body is responding to the workout (rather than what song is next on your iPod)

So how do you do interval training?

You may have to experiment with the times, based on your own fitness level, but I recommend that everyone start out with a 1:2 ratio. This means for every 1 (time period) you WORK, you will rest for 2 (time period).

For example, let's say you like to run. You can run at a steady pace for a whole hour, no problem. Well, what you'll do instead of running at a steady pace, you'll SPRINT (run as fast as you can) for 30 seconds. After that 30 seconds, you'll walk for one full minute. Note the 1:2 ratio. Repeat this 10 times. Ultimately, you will sprint for 5 minutes, with a full minute of recovery in between each sprint.

Don't worry if the first 2 or three seem easy, it will get tougher. If after 5 repetitions it still seems easy, then try decreasing your rest time so that you have a 1:1 ratio (or you could increase the Work time accordingly).

Your body will tell you if you need more rest vs. more work. But be sure you are still challenging yourself. You should feel comfortably uncomfortable. It should be difficult, and you should be all out fatigued at the end of your work period, but your recovery period should be long enough to allow you to be able to do it again!

Imagine you are someone who wants to improve their time to run a mile. Intervals are a great way to do so! After warming up a bit, start running at your goal pace. Maintain that pace as long as you can and take note of that time. Walk for your recovery, but walk 2x the time you ran at your goal pace (remember 1:2 ratio). At the end of the recovery period, begin running at the goal pace again. Repeat this interval several times, and for several training days. After 3 training days at this interval, reduce your recovery period so that you have a 1:1 ratio. Train with this ratio for several days...you might need more than 3 at this interval or you might not. When you feel ready for another challenge, INCREASE your work time to double, but MAINTAIN the same recovery period. Now, you have an interval that is 2:1. Try it on for size. If it is too difficult, increase the recovery time, but keep the work time the same.

Continue in this manner, slowly increasing work and decreasing recovery until ultimately you are running the full mile at your goal pace!

At that point, be ready with your next goal!

Of course, this doesn't apply only to running. Lately, I've been using the stair mill at the gym. I hate the stair mill. Using intervals, I have worked up to running -- yes, running on the stair mill -- at level 20 (I don't think it goes higher on this particular model) for one minute and one minute of rest. That really gets my heart rate up and gets me burning lots of calories!

Tell me what you plan on doing with Interval Training!

Morning of the Show

Good morning, Dear Readers!

It is 5 am on the morning of the contest and I lie in bed awake. Since 3:30. I woke up in a major sweat - which is reasonable considering I had to sleep fully covered to try to protect my spray tan. A Mystic tan, this ain't. And following my severe sweating, it can hardly be called a tan at all. "Mess" comes to mind. I am told there will be people backstage to fix it. I sure hope so..... Surely I'm not the first person this has happened to.

Flashback to yesterday: It was a whirlwind! I started the day the same way all self-respecting women do: with a PROFESSIONAL hair-styling and a PROFESSIONAL make-up application. This was in preparation for my PROFESSIONAL photo shoot. Let me tell you, that alone makes me want to be a PROFESSIONAL movie star. Why have I not done that before? Oh yeah - I have to pay THEM. Fair enough.

The make-up artist also has a blog that can be followed at www.3vanities.blogspot.com. She and 2 others manage it and they blog about style and fashion tips for the non-celebrities out there. You know, the "commoners." So I immediately became a follower. She did a fantastic job, and when I become famous, I will hire her for my everyday makeup. That way The Enquirer will not have any unflattering photos to publish.

On to the photo shoot, where Sandra Lynch, http://www.sandralynchphotography.com/, was actively taking shots at a group of other competitors from the gym I attend. Sandy is awesome at capturing the ripples of each muscle, and I cannot wait to see the images we built together. I took some shots in my posing suit as well as a couple of other fun and sexy outfits. Each of the competitors helped each other with posing and fixing our outfits or moving hair out of the way. It was a very collaborative effort and I am happy to have shared it with those beautiful women (thank you, Heather, Ty, and Kay). It is easy to get used to star treatment! But where was my limo....?

I could have used a limo from there on out. From the photo shoot, I ran home to pack my bag for the road trip to Plano, which is a 30 minute drive according to Google Maps, but in reality, a 2.5 hour drive in traffic with highway closures. Figures.

En route to Plano, I drop by The Cake Ball Company (www.thecakeballcompany.com) to pick up my evening snack of, you guessed it, Cake Balls. Little doughy balls of deliciousness in a variety of cake flavors. I chose Wedding Cake, German Chocolate (my personal favorite), Strawberry, Brownie, Red Velvet, and Chocolate Toffee. Mind you, I'm sharing these with my trainer. And incidentally, we got to enjoy them last night. The sugar is necessary to fill the muscles and make them look "swole up" for the contest the following day. Let me tell you, I tried only a few of them and they were phenomenal. They ship around the country. I'm just saying.

I had to wait until AFTER weigh-in to have the cake balls because I wanted to be sure I stayed in the Lightweight category. Weigh-In consisted of a meeting for all the competitors, then measuring everyone to be sure we'd be placed properly. By weight for bodybuilders and by height for Fitness, Figure, and Bikini competitors. The Officials check all the ladies' suits to be sure they are "classy" enough, as if string bikinis sewn of velvet or spandex and loaded with sparkling crystals could be considered classy. But that's neither here nor there.

They measured the height of all Fitness, Figure, & Bikini ladies. That took care of about half the room. Then they called for the Male Bodybuilders. That took care of about 90% of the remaining people. Thus leaving about 6 Female Bodybuilders.

I managed to stay in my Lightweight class, weighing in at 119.6 with a cut-off of 124 being the max. CAKE BALL TIME!! There was only one other Lightweight competitor, so I guess that means I'm guaranteed a trophy of some sort. Either first or second place....Right? Right??? How embarrassing it will be if I don't place....

Time for me to start contest day, so I'll leave you with this to chew on:

The tanning experience is really the most eventful of the entire day and will receive a blog entry of its own. That's the only way I can give it its due respect. Yes. I'll call it "respect." Let's just say that if you go in as a modest person, you don't leave as one.

Welcome Back Carbs!

Today, I got the pleasure of reintroducing carbs to my diet. The purpose of doing losing the carbs, as you probably know, is to shed the last bit of fat that I can so that the muscles will show through easily. The hope is to achieve the "ripped" look.

I was surprised that I could go ahead and have carbs a few days prior to the contest. In fact, I had more carbs before 7:30 AM than I have in the past 7 days put together! The point of reintroducing them now is to let my muscles start to swell again and look full. Of course at the contest, I want to look as full as possible, but also as lean as possible.

On today's menu I got to enjoy oats and bananas and an apple! In fact, I discovered that putting instant espresso powder in my oats makes a very tasty meal, with a little pick-me-up too! Adding cinnamon (my favorite spice) gives it a little Mexican flavor, reminiscent of Mexican hot chocolate (but without the chocolate).

For my lunch, I had 4 ounces of 96% lean ground beef (seasoned with garlic powder and black pepper, and browned), and I actually mixed a chopped Granny Smith apple into it. Much to my surprise, I REALLY enjoyed the apple and beef together. I'm thinking that adding a little shredded fat free cheddar would make it even better! It's amazing what strange things you find yourself eating (and enjoying) when faced with so few options.

Tomorrow & Friday will be more of the same - which I am looking forward to. Saturday will include rice cakes and peanut butter & honey, as well as lean meat (of course) and protein bars and sweet potatoes.

I'm working on practicing posing these days. I have two routines to learn. The morning routine is without music and just takes me through a standard set of mandatory poses. The evening routine is to music of my choosing. It is less formal, not having mandatory poses, but more formal in the sense that my suit is flashier (with Swarovski crystals) and I get to wear lots of sparkly jewelry that is not allowed in the morning.

So far, my posing coach still makes adjustments to my poses, but there are fewer corrections than I started with! At least I'm making improvements, but I wouldn't say I feel totally comfortable with it yet either.

So what am I doing writing this now.....? I have some rehearsing to do!

How Are You Succeeding?

As you know, I'm new to this blogging stuff, and I just this minute realized that a few of you have posted comments! Wow! I had no idea! So please forgive my lack of responsiveness....

Since we are nearing mid-2010...can you believe it...let's check in on our Goals and how well we are meeting them. And let's be sure to put a positive spin on it. Rather than focusing on what you "failed" at and what slipped through the cracks, talk about what you did well, and then expand on how you can improve upon that.

- I have succeeded in keeping my blog going, and I can improve by spending less time worrying about preparation for it. I will spend that time by following Nike's advice and "Just Do It." I realized that I wanted it to be so perfectly planned out, that I never thought an idea was good enough or interesting enough to discuss. While I DO want it to be interesting to my readers, I also want them to have something to read!

- I have succeeded in training a minimum of 6 days weekly to prepare for my 1st bodybuilding show -- which happens to take place 6 days from today! I can thank Coach Adam and my family for helping me achieve this goal. Without them, it would have been impossible to have come this far. To improve upon it, I simply need to stay the course. My real goal included a specific number of contests in which to participate: 3. It just so happens, I'm enjoying this enough to actually WANT to keep going. There is another in August and September. I will discuss it with the family and Coach Adam before deciding which is next.

Where are YOU in achieving your goals? Now that I know people might respond, I'll be looking for your mid-year status report!

RECIPES
A dear follower friend has asked a few times for more snack ideas and I have unintentionally neglected her! To be honest, I wanted the ideas to be perfect and fabulous, yet nothing seemed amazing enough to post. Following my own improvement advice above, I'm just going to put some of my regulars out here!

Baked Cinnamon Apple (1 serving, can certainly be increased to desired amount)
- peel and dice a large Granny Smith apple
- squeeze 1/4 fresh lemon over it, or use a tsp bottled lemon juice
- sprinkle 1/4 tsp cinnamon over apple
- sprinkle 1/4 tsp Splenda (or other sweetener) over apple
- toss to coat
- bake in toaster oven set to 375 until apple pieces are easily pierced with a fork (try 10 mins first and see how they are...increase time as needed).
For larger quantities, bake in a regular oven (and use more of everything). Adjust seasonings to meet your family's tastes!

Desserty Cottage Cheese (1 serving)
- 1/2 c. Low Fat or Non Fat Cottage Cheese
- 1 tsp Splenda
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Combine ingredients and enjoy! I love this one.

Actually cottage cheese is quite versatile! It offers a decent helping of protein with very little fat (if you go the Low or Fat Free route). I love to mix a serving of yogurt with it (choose one of the low cal, low fat yogurts) - Boston Cream Pie being my favorite combo; you could even put the cinnamon apples in the cottage cheese. Fresh berries in cottage cheese is another tasty choice. Basically, I believe that cottage cheese should be a staple grocery item.

Here is one that feels very decadent:
Ginger Pears (4 servings)
- Crush 2 gingersnaps into each of 4 dishes
- Dice 2 large fresh pears and divide evenly over the gingersnaps (you can use canned pears, but unless fresh pears are unavailable, I don't know why you'd want to)
- mix 1 cup vanilla yogurt with 1 tsp cinnamon (can you tell I like cinnamon?) or pumpkin pie spice (or chai spice...whatever spice you like, actually)
- divide the yogurt mixture evenly over the 4 dishes
- Top with a few more gingersnap crumbs if desired and chill about 30 mins to 1 hour or until serving.

This one is easy and delicious for breakfast (or anytime, really)
- 1/2 cup of regular oats (please avoid the instant kind)
- 6 egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
(you can also add mashed banana or other fruit or sweeteners, or chopped nuts)
Blend with a hand blender, and cook on the griddle like pancakes. It's very runny, so be sure your griddle is HOT and pour carefully.

Other easy snacks:
- low fat string cheese (can dip it in sugar free pudding...)

- low carb tortilla rolled with turkey or roast chicken, lettuce (okay, it's a sandwich)

- mix Canadian Bacon in your egg whites & scramble or make an omelette with diced mushrooms and onions -- this is currently my favorite breakfast

- grill canadian bacon and serve with chunks of canteloupe or pineapple

- oatmeal mixed in yogurt, or oatmeal with the above cinnamon apples (add in a scoop of vanilla protein powder to make the meal similar to apple pie a la mode - but healthier!)

- Smoothies are always great and versatile! Mix up the fruits, mix up the protein powder flavors, even mix up the liquid you use for endless possibilites.
- vanilla protein + orange juice + bananas + unsweetened shredded coconut = tropical shake
- chocolate protein + water + brewed coffee = mocha shake
- chocolate protein + water + peppermint extract (just a touch) = mint chocolate shake
- vanilla protein + oats + water + vanilla extract + blueberries = blueberry muffin shake
- vanilla protein + canned pumpkin + pumpkin pie spice + water = you guessed it!

I could go on and on with smoothies. If you don't have a hand blender, you must remedy the situation right away. Do not pass Go, Do not collect $100. Seriously. I'm not joking here. I recommend the Cuisinart Smart Stick. It even comes with chopper and whisk attachments!

So let me know --
1) How are your goals coming along?
2) What is your favorite healthy snack?

One Meal at a Time

Over the course of the past few months I've eaten uncountable number of meals that consisted only of fish or chicken plus green veggies. So many people where I worked would comment on it: "Fish AGAIN?" or "How can you eat just that?" or "Have some of this cake -- you can spare it."

Well, yeah, I can spare it, but that's not the point. The point is to achieve a goal. For me, the goal is to get up on stage with the best physique I can muster. In order to be able to achieve that goal, I have to eat a certain way. Food is fuel, not entertainment. Not emotional support. Not a social event.

I have been known to carry my dry salad & chicken & broccoli to sporting events just so I'll have something to eat other than the standard stadium fare. Other members of my group scoffed & laughed and thought I was being ridiculous. That's okay. In fact, it just made me more proud of my decision to do what it took to meet my goal.

I know that when I get on that stage, even if I don't place well when compared to the others, I did the best I could. I ate the right way. I burned the right number of calories. I didn't give up.

Sure, I've had moments of weakness. I binged once or twice, but those "binges" included fruit. Yes, berries. A granola bar. A NutriGrain bar. Or a Sugar Free 60-calorie pudding cup. I didn't binge on ice cream. Or a bag of Cheez-Its, even though we had those in the house. You can say it is because I have amazing will power, but that's not entirely true.

I made a conscious decision to binge. I weighed the options in front of me. Cookies? Yes, that would be delicious, but it's all sugar, no health benefit whatsoever. The granola bar was a comparable cheat -- sweet, crunchy, but consisting of oats and nuts (in addition to the honey sweetener). I calculated how long I'd have to work out to burn that extra 200 calories -- or I saved other calories earlier in the day.

The will power is more about eating consiously than it is about "power." There have been many times when I wanted a cheat snack, looked in the pantry & freezer, weighed all my options: calories vs. satiating-abilities, only to choose NOT to have a cheat snack.

Achieving a goal of weight loss requires discipline. Discipline to go to the gym when your legs are too tired to do anything. When you feel too weak to put on your gym shoes. Get there knowing that doing something is better than doing nothing. And often once you get there, you will do more than you first thought you could.

When it comes time to eat, you choose what will best serve your goal. Ask yourself, does this meal help me achieve my goals? If not, how can I modify it? I went to Macaroni Grill just this week. A restaurant meal 2 weeks before a contest? An ITALIAN restaurant meal 2 weeks before a contest?? Yes. I knew I could specifically request that the food be prepared a certain way. And it is MY body and MY goal, so I'm not afraid to ask for it. Plus, Macaroni Grill has the Mediterranean Grill menu items which are lower in calories and fat than most of their other menu items. I ordered the Shrimp Spiedini, which is the lowest calorie meal they have. Yet, I still modified it: no oils, no butter, steamed veggies. I stressed to my server, Chris, that it was very important for me to follow this diet. Chris understood and he explained that spices are already included on the shrimp and the standard veggies have olive oil so that they don't stick to the pan. Chris became a PARTNER with me in meeting my goals because he understood it was important to me. I let him know the spices were okay, and please replace the standard veggies with just steamed -- not grilled.

One meal at a time. Make those decisions. Don't be embarrassed to request special meals. When a special meal preparation is impossible (such as at a stadium) bring your own food. They WILL let you bring it in. If they try to give you grief, ask if they sell grilled chicken with no oils or butter and steamed broccoli. Chances are, they don't. If you tell them you are on a special diet (which you are), then they can't deny you sustenance. I guarantee you are NOT the first person to walk through those gates who has special needs.

It is YOUR body. They are YOUR goals. You ARE special and you are worth the effort. If you don't achieve your goals, you have no one to blame but yourself. Eat consciously. Schedule your workouts and never cancel. If you have trouble with that, hire a trainer. For me, Having Coach Adam has been a complete blessing. I don't want to make him waste his time waiting for me. He never lets me down -- how could I let him down? He is ALWAYS there when he says he will be. I don't want to be one of "those" people who cancels or shows up late. I don't want to be the client he dreads or doesn't trust to do as told.

Sacrificing cookies and crackers and ice cream and birthday cake is not easy. But I also realize that this process is temporary. When I am done with the contest, I can slack a bit and enjoy those things (in moderation) again. They will still be available. Face it, these are the United States of America. I can get those items on every corner. They are not in scarce supply. So there is no need for me to feel obligated to eat it tonight.

Let me know your struggles. What is your most tempting treat? How do you avoid giving in to those temptations -- or do you avoid it at all?

My biggest temptation just might be German Chocolate Cake. Or the On The Border brownie. Yum. How do I say no? I weigh my options. And I realize there will be an opportunity down the road to enjoy that yummy dish.

Two Week Countdown

I was reminded yesterday by my mom that I haven't posted anything to this blog since March. I didn't realize it had been quite that long!

I weighed in this morning at 123 pounds, and my goal is to get under 119 so that I can be a "lightweight" in bodybuilding. I'm told that about 5 or 6 pounds will be water weight that I'll shed the last day...let's hope. I really don't want to go up against those "middleweight" women.

Today is Saturday and I awoke at 3:30 unable to fall back asleep due to all the excitement in my head. I still have so many things to prepare:
- Posing to practice
- Music to edit for the evening routine
- Outfits to find & buy for a photo shoot
- Contest suit to try on (that ordeal is another story...)
- meals to prepare...

Speaking of meals to prepare. What is it I'm eating these days? Well, meat & veggies (of the green variety) and every 4th day I get to have an apple and what equates to one medium sized sweet potato and 1/2 cup of oats. That 4th day is my Carb Day -- which happens to be TODAY! To be honest, it's nice mainly because it puts some variety in the meal. I'm actually feeling okay with so few carbs. At least now I am. When I first switched to this diet, it was really challenging for the first week and a half. I sneaked an extra carb in once, I think.

I'm not sure how many calories all this is. But I get 4 oz of protein at a time (chicken or fish), 5x daily. I get 6 oz of 96% lean beef 1x daily. And with each meal I get 4 oz of green veggies. And you already heard about the changes on Carb Day.

In addition to this, I'm training (or rather, I should be training) daily and burning 700 calories each day. Those don't all have to be at the same training session...but I'm unlikely to go back for more punishment if I don't get it all done at once. At least I know my weaknesses, so I know how to mitigate failure. In fact, today, I need to burn some extra calories for a couple of days I missed due to hair appointments or meal preparations! YIKES! I plan on running to the gym, literally.

I'm not nearly as prepared as I hoped to feel at this point. the good news is that I only have one week left of corporate life, so I have no work or school for the full week leading up to the show. That will let me tie up loose ends and really give it my all. I hope that's enough!

My mantra lately has been, "Today, I will do what others will not, so that tomorrow I can do what they cannot." I don't know who gets credit for originally saying that, but it has helped me stay focused.

Well, it's time for me to get dressed for my jog to the gym. It's only 3.9 miles from my house to Coach Adam's gym. Recently I ran home from LA Fitness - Lewisville and that was more like 7 miles. Not sure I'll be doing that again anytime soon. At least I hope not!

I have a video of my posing routine, but I'm kind of a techno-dummy, so I have to figure out how to add it here....

Let the Posing Begin!

For those of you who have never seen a figure competition, it consists of walking onto the stage, standing in front of the judges and turning quarter turns to display all sides of her physique. Then the competitor walks & stands to the side of the stage while the rest of the contestants do the same quarter-turn routine. Once all competitors have had their individual moments in the spotlight, the judges will call out certain women to stand side by side for comparisons. The ladies who have not been called must wait in a relaxed* position of the stage.

It all looks pretty simple. Walk on stage. Turn around a few times. Walk to side of stage. Stand there. Come when called. Return to side of stage. Walk off stage.

Turns out it's not quite that simple. I have had the pleasure of working with my Posing Coach, Sheilahe Brown, twice now. Sheilahe is a National Level bodybuilding competitor who looks absolutely FABULOUS. And her personality is bigger than she is!

Sheilahe showed me how to properly stand for the judges in a *relaxed pose. It's just like standing any other time, except that I hold in my belly, stick out my booty, lift my chest (she didn't care when I said, "That's as high as it goes!"), hold my arms like parentheses at my sides, relax my hands, hold fingers in a "ta-da" position, push my shoulders forward (to show off the lats), tilt my torso backwards, hold my head up high, keep feet together, turn knees outward, slightly bend knees, no - straighter, no - bend them again, and smile. See what I mean? Relaxed.


Once I got that down, the hour was up. Okay not really. I haven't gotten it down. Yet.

We did actually work on other things in that hour. We worked on a proper turn - relaxing the arms, keeping eye contact, tilting shoulders properly for the side views, stepping to the side vs. stepping back, turning on toes, always keeping the belly tight and smile working! Lucky for me, the back view is just like the front Relaxed view -- so, No Sweat.

Oh wait. I forgot to mention the sweat. Let me tell you it is not easy keeping everything contracted and tight and lifted and tilted while trying to look relaxed. I think I sweat more during my posing session than in a normal training session. "Sweated"? "Swote"? shrug.


The good news is that Sheilahe didn't make any adjustments to my walk, other than keeping my torso turned toward the judges. Imagine the Egyptian paintings: feet and hips face forward, shoulders turned sideways. And keep my strut. You got it. (Insert Bangles joke here.)

I'll be working with Sheilahe more in the future - the more comfortable I get with how it should be, the easier time I'll have on stage. Any given moment at home or around town you might see me practicing the Relaxed Pose. If you see me sweating while standing still, please make sure I'm smiling. And that my chest is up. And booty is out. And....you know the drill.