decision day

To be completely honest, I made  my decision on Saturday.  So sorry to keep anyone who might be reading this in suspense.:)  I am not going to be compete in the figure competition on April 14th.  Although I feel more toned, healthier, and my pants for church fit great, I know that I cannot get to where I want to be in 6 just weeks.  I could work my butt off and look ok, but that is not ok with me!  Since I do have this momentum going and a competition in mind, I will compete soon.  I feel good with this decision.  I am currently looking for a local compeition and also looking at hiring someone to help me along, especially with the diet!  I spend so much time putting a diet together every week and I know that I am not hitting the mark of the proper protein/carb/fat combo for the training that I am doing.  So, there you have it.  Not quitting, just planning for success!
ps- i didn't  make my goal either.:(  However, planning my weigh in day on the start of my period was not a good idea.

Leaning towards no

What is this a weekend thing or what??  Here I am on the fence. again... 
Yesterday I noticed that I was feeling and looking smaller!  I went out to dinner with a friend, avoided the bread, wine, rice, and somehow the vegetables!!! There weren't any green veggies on the menu!  That is craziness!  Still, I managed to eat well.  When I returned home, I had a nice dessert of arugula:).  If you haven't tried it, arugula is good!  Not dessert good, but still good. 
Today I had a great workout.  35minutes of cardio, ball hamstring curl and bridge, donkey kicks, and other kneeling butt exercises, and three sets of:
side lunges 30lbs.
50 squats
single leg deadlifts
bulgarian split squats
lateral raise (shoulders need lots of attention):) 15lbs.
oblique extension 25lbs.
I plan to do more squats and butt work throughout the day. 

Today, I looked at myself honestly and don't think that I will not be where I want to be in 6 weeks.  Although, I am making progress, 6 weeks is not enough time to feel good enough to go on stage in a skimpy little bikini!  And believe me, you need to feel good to do that!
I have put a lot of time and effort into this, and don't plan on just quitting.  I am going to look at other shows and consider trying a different one instead.

inspiration

"If you think you can, you can.  And if you think you can't, your right."  -Mary Kay Ash
A few weeks ago my mom and I were visiting my sister in Chicago.  We were walking in the Lincoln Park area when I saw a that quote through the window of a Title 9 store.  That quote has struck a chord with me.  For the past three weeks, I have been saying it to myself and have actually listened!  It doesn't get any more honest than that. 

At the beginning of January, I started my clean eating diet by following a month long plan that I found in Clean Eating magazine.  I started out strong and felt good and confidant.  Then the food just got to me.  Some of the recipes seemed to be created in order to reach nutritional criteria, with no concern for taste.  About 5 days into my month long plan, I got mad.  I showed the plan who was boss by eating what I wanted and ended up gaining weight on my month long clean eating challenge...  How is this inspirational?  Good question.  I told a client the story and she told me that I needed to forgive myself.  She wrote me a note that says, "I forgive myself daily."  I keep it in my planner on a piece of bright green paper.  It sticks out against the white of my planner and I read it and breathe about it everytime that I see it.

plan for the week

This week carries some hefty goals! Today and Thursday I will be following a clean eating plan from Oxygen magazine.  Feeling good so far- not starving that is!  The calorie count is around 1350.  Pilates was great this morning with two of my favorite pilates gals.  Hope that I gave them a good leg workout, I know that I can feel my inner thighs!  I plan to do around 45min of cardio and strength training for the chest and shoulders tonight.
If everything goes as planned, I should be able to get in an hour workout or more on Wed, Thurs, and Sat.  Friday, I am hoping for an hour, but it just might not happen.  I am looking forward to a good week!
A week from today is my final weigh in before I make my decision.  I didn't weigh myself today, decided that mentally it was not the right choice.  I don't need anything to deter me from reaching my goals this week.  Wish me luck!

workout and delcious clean recipe!

Last night I made a delcious recipe that I found in pinterest.  I have been on a mission to find a tasty way to eat quinoa and I found it!  Quinoa is a good source of protein and fiber, which both are great at making one feel full.  That is important to me, but add to that the fact that it tastes great and it is definitely a winner!

Superfood Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

recipe by Iowa girl eats
Serves 5
Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1 orange, peeled and segments chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup pomegranate arils (about 1 pomegranate worth)
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper
For the Lemon Vinaigrette:
2 lemons, juiced (need 1/4 cup juice)
2 garlic cloves, microplaned or finely minced
dash of sweetener (agave nectar, stevia or white sugar)
salt & pepper
6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
1. Cook quinoa according to package directions. Set aside to cool.
2. For the Lemon Vinaigrette: combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid, and shake to combine. Or, add lemon juice, garlic, sweetener, salt and pepper into a small bowl and whisk in oil.
3. Combine cooled quinoa with red onion, orange segments, avocado, beans, pomegranate arils, corn, cilantro, salt and pepper. Pour Lemon Vinaigrette over the salad and stir to combine. Serve cold or at room temperature.
Can add a protein.  I added shrimp= yummmm!
According to the recipe calculator on Spark People, this is about 356 calories per serving.
Total Fat: 19.7g, Sodium: 4.2mg, Dietary Fiber: 7.5g, Sugars: 11g, Protein 7.7g

Todays menu:
fruit and 1oz nuts
5eggwhites, veg, and ww toast
leftovers from last night.
air popped popcorn (make in a brown lunch bag) with spray butter
1c. fruit, 1c. milk, 1scoop protein powder, ice smoothie
chicken with herbs, feta cheese and lemon juice, kale chips, and brussel sprouts
I have not entered this menu into fitday.com to have any nutrition information.

Today's workout consisted of 10min. warm up on the stairclimber.
pull ups- 40-25lbs assistance
Stiff leg deadlift 50lbs (keeping light to protect my back that is bothering me slightly:()

Lat pulldown machine 100lbs.
Single leg deadlift with 20lb dbs.
tricep kickback
cable reverse fly with extension
tricep dips with legs extended on bench
Followed by 15min on the elliptical. 
It is a good day!

to compete or not to compete part 2

Well, here we are again.  About 1 1/2 ago I set my need to decide date for Tues, Feb 28th.  Since then I have been up and down and up and down again.  Friday, I took my body fat percentage.  My results were 21% body fat, which places me at the very lowest in the normal range.  At the time, I was quite pleased!  When I competed before, my body fat was somewhere around 13-14%.  Not sure whether it is necessary to be that low again...  Well, after doing some research this weekend on new clean eating recipes, I stumbled across some information on competing on www.oxygenmag.com.  What I read started me in another round of can I do it?!  According to oxygen, a person at 19% body fat might be better fit to train for bikinni whether than figure.  boooooooo!!!!  Not what I wanted to hear at all!!!

After much mental debate, talks with my husband,  and cookies calling my name, I have decided to stick with my original cut off date of the 28th.  That means that I have a week and 2 days to kick some serious butt and see what can be accomplished. 

food, glorious food

Yesterday was a hard clean eating day.  The hardest part is not the food, although eating the same boring things over and over does get old!  The difficulty in eating clean yesterday was that I was home almost all day long!  My oldest son was not feeling well, just a low fever and a cold, but still tied us to the house.  all day...  I did have two appts early yesterday  morning 5:15 and 6:15 and was able to get an hour in myself thanks to my kind husband leaving for work a little later than usual.  From 8:30am-10pm it was just the kids and I.  We had as much fun as a sick, tired boy can have.  But the kitchen called my name all day.  Combine that with the fact that I was so tired= a long battle.  Below is my eating plan for yesterday.
fruit and 1oz nuts
3/4c oatmeal with flax and a protein shake with 2/3c strawberries and 1c. milk
1c. brown rice, tuna, and veg
veggies and 2TB hummus with 2 hard boiled eggs
1c. cottage cheese and 1/2blueberries
turkey burger and asparagus

A pretty decent amount of food, right?  Here are my additions to that plan. 1 tall cinnamon dolce latte with skim milk and 2 pumps of syrup.  I still haven't looked that up for the calorie count.  I also had probably 4 hershey kisses, a couple bites of sloppy joe meat (for the boys) and I only took a touch of peanut butter off of the knife after making something for the boys.  It took everything in me to keep it at that!!! 
Plans for improvement:  I remember jello being a "free food" for my last competition.  I think I will whip up a whole lot of it!!!  Watch out grocery store!  Here comes a girl with an appetite!!  Hopefully that will help.

mindful eating

This evening as I was training two hilarious, hard working women, we began talking about calories.  What a shock, right?!  On Saturday, my husband and I ate at Panera.  It is awesome that they now have the calories listed, except for that means that I may never eat another frontega chicken sandwich.:( 

Using the calorie counter, I ordered the Thai chicken salad and black bean soup with a water.  The total amount of calories was supposed to be around 400.  Not too bad and it was delicious!  My husband, not a calorie counter by nature, ordered a mean that totaled around 1200 calories.  Since he is trying to eat cleaner, I asked if he knew how many calories he was consuming.  He was shocked!  He actually thought he was doing alright by ordering French onion soup.  It made me think about how many times people think that they are eating healthy only to be blown away by the nutritional content. 

Our society does not make nutrition easy for most.  Unless one has a good understanding of nutrition, it is very easy to be fooled.  The first step to eating healthier is to have a better understanding of what a body needs to run efficiently.  The second step is to apply it!  Think about it this way, is that mayo on your sandwich going to help to strengthen your immune system?  help build muscle?  help keep skin looking youthful?  No!!!  It will add more calories to your day, period.  No thank you!  Better options are mustard, very few calories or avacado, calories and fat yes, but it offers more good than bad.  By simply thinking about what we put into our bodies, we can make positive changes.

shock to the system

I rarely weigh myself as I generally go by how my clothes fit.  However, if I am able to compete in the figure competition in April, weight is somewhat important.  I try to limit my weigh-ins to once a week in order to avoid the number obsession.  Before the big weigh in, usually on Tuesdays, I have to assess my emotions that day and ask one question.  If the number is not what I want, will it ruin my day?  If the answer is yes, save the weigh-in for the next day.  Well, today I was feeling pretty good and ready to see a smaller number on the scale.  It didn't happen!!!  What a shock!  I have not allowed it to ruin my day, however.  I am trying to view things in a positive way.  Hopefully, my weight has not changed as I have been mainly focusing on muscle building.  That is probably true.  Secretly, or not so secretly now, I know that I have not followed my diet as perfectly as I should...  I admit it and will do better. 

I also plan on entering my nutritional information on www.fitday.com  It is a wonderful website for tracking one's daily intake. 
On a positive note, which is vital in my progress.  I must stay positivie!!  So, back to the positive note, I did complete some hard strength training workouts last week and I was a good sore after almost every workout.  I did not complete all of my workouts, which I new would be pushing it to complete.
This week, I am aiming for 5-6 strength training workouts, 1.5 hours of cardio, and 2-3 pilates workouts. 
Yesterdays workout was for back and biceps.
Assisted pull ups- AMAP ranging from 45lbs- 30lbs assistance.
Lat sweep 35lbs.  (also awesome for abs)
basic bicep curl 20lb db
Single arm row 30lbs.
Reverse fly 20lbs.
Hammer curl 20lb db.
Row machine 90-100lbs.
The exercises were performed as a circuit with 8 reps as a goal.  I am ready to bump up some of the weights as I reached 12 reps on several.
Today is chest, shoulders, and triceps and cardio.
It is going to be a good week!

to compete or not to compete

that is the question...  At the end of April there is a fitness competition here in Indianapolis in which I am contemplating on participating.  I competed in the figure division in March of 2007.  Motivation was high, time was available, and I had a partner in training.  Now things are different.  I have two little boys, motivation wavers, time is limited, and I do not have a partner.  However, I am a determined, sometimes stubborn woman.  If I can get myself to commit, I think that I can do it.  Last Friday, I was personal training a very determined woman with three boys of her own.  She told me that I can do it and I am repeating it over and over in my head.  To further my motivation and determination, I read an article in my IDEA Fitness Journal, which is wonderful by the way, about a woman training for her first competition.  She emphasized the importance of building muscle before adding in the cardio.  Who knows how many times I have been told that, or even said it myself?!  But that time it clicked.  This week I plan to dedicate 6 half hour sessions to building muscle.  On top of that I hope to do at least 3 pilates classes, one fully just for me, the other two I teach.  I also hope to get two half hours of cardio in this week.  Yes, it is a lot, but breaking it into smaller segments seems more reaslistic and there is no way to do this without being real!
Here is my menu for the day and a recipe for a clean eating meal.
5:30am  apple
7:30am ww english muffin, 3 eggwhites, and a thin slice of cheese
11 crockpot enchilada leftovers (YUM!)
2  brown ricecakes with pb and a touch of jelly and 8oz of skim milk
4  veggies and hummus
6 chicken stirfry with veg, long grain rice, and low sodium soy sauce

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Recipe

Serves: 6

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 organic green bell peppers, finely chopped
• 1 box (24.6 ounces) Pomi chopped tomatoes
• 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chiles
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Sea salt, to taste
• Cayenne pepper, to taste
• 3/4 pound boneless, skinless cooked organic, free-range chicken breasts, shredded (you can also use rotisserie chicken)
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) organic pinto beans (look for a BPA-free brand, such as Eden Organic), rinsed and drained
• 2 cans (2 1/2 ounces each) black sliced olives, drained
• 1 1/2 cups frozen organic corn, thawed
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons shredded organic, grass-fed cheddar cheese
• 6 sprouted whole grain corn tortillas (look for Food for Life brand in the frozen section of your natural foods store)

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet (such as a cast iron) over medium-high heat; add the garlic and onions and sauté 2 to 3 minutes, or until onions soften. Add the bell pepper and cook a few minutes more, or until vegetables are soft. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, green chiles and cumin. Season to taste with salt and cayenne pepper.
2. Ladle 1/4 of the sauce onto the bottom of a 5 or 6-quart slow cooker.
3. Follow that with 1/3 of the chicken, 1/3 beans, 1/3 olives, 1/3 corn, and 1/3 cheese.
4. Top that with 2 tortillas.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 three times (the third time you will not put tortillas on top.)
6. Cover and cook on low about 4 or 4 1/2 hours, or until bubbly throughout. Serve warm.

Note: for a complete meal serve alongside a big fresh chopped green salad.

fitness and motherhood

I have several hopes with this blog.  One is very selfish- I hope that in writing down my daily jouney I can improve as a mother and in fitness by actually seeing the choices that I make.  Probably the better, but also very honest, answer would be to say that I hope to help others along their own journey.
I have to admit that I would say I am more of an expert in fitness than in motherhood.  I have 2 little boys- the oldest is almost four and my yongest is 20months.  As I sat down to write this 30minutes ago, my oldest decided to throw a huge temper tantrum.  At that point all of my wonderful fitness ideas were smothered by two thoughts: 1.  Don't go to the kitchen and eat away your anxiety.  2.  How to help my son calm down and change his attitude.  With a great deal of difficulty, I was able to do both.  phew...