Motivation Meditation

Motivation is a funny thing. Everyone wants to know how to get it. When they are talking with me, it is in reference to working out or eating healthy. But motivation isn't something that you go get. When it comes to fitness, it really can't be given to you...unless I buy a gun and start threatening clients with their lives just to get them in the gym.

Recently I heard that a friend had gained some unwanted pounds. I offered to have her come to the studio and train with me (of course) and I'd help her get rid of that extra weight. Her response was pretty simple: "I am hard to motivate." Ever since then I have been pondering the idea of motivation.

The woman who claimed to be hard to motivate is a former business owner. To start your own business, one has to be MOTIVATED. She got out of her business because she was ready to do something else. She was MOTIVATED to do something new. She is MOTIVATED to participate in agility training with her dogs. Clearly, she is not hard to motivate. She simply isn't interested in working out.

mo-ti-vate (moh-tuh-veyt) - v. 1. to provide with a motive or motives; incite; impel

mo-tive (moh-tiv) - n. 1. something that causes a person to act in a certain way, do a certain thing, etc; incentive

She, and many others, are looking for someone (a personal trainer, perhaps) to cause her to act in a certain way: training, choosing the right foods...yada, yada, yada. I tend to believe that the MOTIVATION has to begin internally. Making a personal change is not an easy process. Doctors, family members, friends can tell you all day long that you need to quit smoking/start working out/eat healthier foods/etc, but you aren't going to pay attention to it until you believe it yourself.

KNOWING and BELIEVING are two different things altogether. We all KNOW we should be active daily. But the capability to honestly see/feel/believe that the reward is greater than the risk is different in each person.

In my example, she doesn't like the extra 8 pounds, but she is willing to put up with the 8 pounds rather than put forth effort to lose it, at least for the time being. Her point of taking action might be when she has an extra 12 pounds, or even 20 pounds.

We are all MOTIVATED to do the things we enjoy doing. We find personal satisfaction in different things. I enjoy sitting in a classroom learning about how the body functions and I enjoy Leg Day in the gym. I am more MOTIVATED to train with weights than to go for a run, because I enjoy it more.

The secret to being MOTIVATED to be active and/or lose weight is to find what you enjoy about it. You may not like working out, but you do like fitting in your favorite size 8 jeans. The end justifies the mean. Once you develop good habits, and begin noticing how differently you feel (stronger, leaner, can run farther or faster, emotions are more stable, clothes are more flattering....), you may find that you actually enjoy working out.

Motivation for fitness and health has to come from within. Until you find it, I guess I'll start practicing at the gun range that is on my way home from school.

"You will never leave where you are, until you decide where you'd rather be." Dexter Yager

Protein-Meringue Puffs

Within just a few minutes of posting a mention of these puffs on Facebook, I had several requests for the recipe. Here goes:

1 VPX ZeroImpact High Protein Meal Replacement Bar (I chose Pumpkin Supreme)

4 egg whites or 1/4 c. liquid egg whites

1/2 tsp vanilla (or almond) extract

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 c sucralose (I used Splenda)

1 tsp poppy seeds (optional)

Let the egg whites sit at room temp for about 30 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Unwrap the VPX protein bar & cut into 16 squares. Gently roll into 16 balls.

Combine poppy seeds with sucralose.

In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the egg whites, vanilla and cream of tartar to soft peaks (tips curl). Add sucralose-poppy seed mixture 1 tsp at a time until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight) and sucralose is nearly dissolved (about 7 minutes).

Spoon the meringue in teaspoonfuls on the parchment paper and create a dent in the center of each. Place one ball of the protein bar in the dent of each meringue shell. Cover the protein balls completely with the remaining meringue (this will prevent them from drying in the oven).

Bake puffs for 35 minutes. Turn off oven and allow the puffs to remain in the oven, door closed, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and allow the puffs to cool on a wire rack; cool completely.

Enjoy!

Nutrition Profile (approximately): Calories 36, Total Fat 2g, Total Carbs 2g, Protein 2.5g

Negative Nelly - Go Sit Down!

I Hate Negativity

It really burns me up. Tans my hide. Irks me. Raises my ire. More so, it confuses me. That is more to the truth. I don't understand negativity. I'm not talking about a little here and there -- we all have our moments when we aren't on our "best behavior." Sometimes we are "in a mood." What I'm talking about is when someone has the consistent display of negativity that overrides all other moods. I don't get it.

You know the person: there is always an excuse for why they are down-in-the-dumps, yet rarely do they ever say "I'm just in a bad mood today." Generally, they blame the bad mood on something external; something that is "not their fault." Either they don't feel well, or some jerk cut them off on the road, or their boss or teacher or somebody hates them. No matter what day it is, though, I find it is the same people time after time that display these negative moods. It's the same people who not only keep a permanent scowl on their faces, but also refuse to respond when you offer a salutation.

Maybe they enjoy the attention they get from being negative: others asking if they can help, or even marvelling at how well the Negative Nelly is coping, you know, in spite of all those negative events that always happen to her. Maybe it makes him or her feel strong in some sense. I don't know....I am confused.

I find so much more joy and satisfaction in making the best of a situation. Unfortunately, we will not always find ourselves in a happy circumstance. But the people who stay smiling and maintain their humor, those who don't alienate their friends or their acquaintances (or any other person they find themselves spending time with) tend to get through their circumstances more quickly than the Negative Ones. Other people DO want to help. They really do. But sometimes, after observing extended periods of consistent negative behavior, even the Positive Polly gives up on ever hearing a salutation returned.

Is that what the Negatories want? They say that misery loves company. Maybe that's what they are aiming for. I don't understand that....


I am in charge of my own emotions. I am in charge of my own motivation. I am in charge of my own actions. What others do does not change who I am. How others behave does not dictate my feelings. There is a little part of my brain that controls the emotion center and I can train it just like I can train any other part of my body. Some days I am more in control than others. Some days I can remain positive and happy in spite of turmoil inside. Other days, it is more difficult. I, however, do not see a reason to be consistently negative toward other people. No matter how I am feeling. People might see me upset, but I would not deny our common human connections. What is the point? Where is the benefit (and to whom)? I just don't get it.

As a teenager, I was a Negative Nelly (maybe we all are). I did behave poorly toward a single person. And I regret it often as an adult. I received no benefit from it. It only worked to make myself more upset and angry and miserable. It was a vicious cycle. At some point I made a decision to see the positive side. My life immediately became a happier place. Now I find myself confused as to why any grown person would choose to be miserable.

Well, you can't take me down with you. I like it up here.

Choose to see beauty. Choose to practice forgiveness toward friends and strangers. Choose the Human Connection. Choose to make your day a positive one. Choose to Live Well.

"Be kind. For everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." ~ Plato


**My apologies to anyone named Nelly who might read this. I have only personally known one Nelly, and she was not at all negative. In fact, she was extremely pleasant to be around.**

Love is like a pair of socks

Bear with me on this one. I had an epiphany while folding laundry. Please disregard the fact that I am on painkillers....

Have you ever noticed that love is like a pair of socks? I marvelled at how happy I get each time I match a pair of socks while folding the laundry. A feeling of satisfaction - not at a job well-done, but at helping one find its mate. Then I realized that real life love can be just like the socks we wear.

Think about the sock who is without its mate for as long as you can remember. I mean, you KNOW you bought the whole pair, but you haven't seen the stray in ages. Yet, somehow, this sock shows up in your laundry every week. You have checked the drawer to see if its mate is there. It isn't. So you save this sock until the laundry is entirely finished. All washed, dried, folded and even put away. Except for this sock. It is one of your favorites. Fits your foot just right. Doesn't get eaten by your shoes. But it has no partner.

Since you love the sock so much, you want to keep wearing it, but obviously it has to be worn with another sock. It would be silly to just go out with one sock off and one sock on. That would be like My Son John...or were those shoes....?(http://www3.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/literature/mothergoose/rhymes/diddlediddledumplingmysonjohn.html)

Of course you have other socks without mates. You have the ones that fit your feet very nicely and also don't get eaten by your shoes, but look quite different from this one. And you have the ones that very closely resemble this one, were probably even part of the same package when you bought them. So you do what any reasonable person would: you match this sock up with one that very closely resembles it.

Chances are no one else will ever notice. They both fit your feet well. In fact, you rather like the way your feet look with these socks on them. Your shoes are agreeable to this slightly mismatched pair. Best yet, the part around the ankles is identical, so what the public sees is a perfectly matched pair of socks taking care of your happy feet inside your happy shoes.

But inside, you know the truth. You can't see it. You can't feel it. But you know that these socks are not meant to be together. You know that your favorite sock has stripes on the sole. Its partner has no stripes. There is nothing wrong with no stripes. No stripes are just fine. You feel quite satisfied that there are no stripes and you keep matching this pair together week after week after week. They go together quite well. But not perfectly.

Every week while folding the laundry you keep your eyes peeled for that other striped sock. You don't really know why...I mean, chances are that it is never to be seen again. And you get along just fine the way things are. People tell you, "Hey, nice socks!" and you thank them, smiling happily because you ARE happy. You have comfortable socks that protect your feet nicely and make your toes appear to be shaped just right when you bend them just so. Sometimes you even pretend you are a foot model with an important photo shoot for socks. You admire your feet from many angles.

If only the socks matched exactly. You will never get a sock modeling gig with this mismatched pair!

One day you get ready to head out for a run. You reach into your sock basket and pull out a bundled wadded up pair of socks. Opening them you smile as you see your striped sock. Wait. Striped sock? You wore your striped sock just two days ago. You remember because you were modeling it while watching "America's Next Top Model" and thinking about how they should have an episode dedicated to foot modeling and how you should be featured in it - just for that one episode of course - and how you can be the foot modeling example: you and your striped sock foot. You dash over to the dirty clothes hamper and dig around. And dig around. Gads, it was just two days ago, they should be here close to the top. You start to throw clothes out of the hamper, shaking each article to ensure that no socks are clinging.

There. At the very bottom of the hamper. There it is. A striped-sole sock.

You raise it up, holding it carefully with both hands. Must. Not. Let It. Get Away. You walk to the recently unbundled pair. Yes. The original striped-sole sock is still there. You have TWO. You hold them side-by-side to really compare: striped soles? Check. Low ankle? Check. Adidas logo? check. You found the true match!

Elated, you dance with them in your hands, holding them close to your chest so they can feel your heart pounding with excitement. United! Once and for all. You swear they will never have to part from one another.

And yet....the socks left behind. You feel sorry for them. They are good socks. They served everyone well. Your feelings for them have not changed. Your life would not have been the same without them. Mismatched or not, you have happy memories that will never die. Now these socks can be on a quest for their true sole-mate.

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!