Hello my beautiful readers and happy OCTOBER! Wow, I cannot believe we are in full swing into Fall. I absolutely love October…our anniversary is this month and so is our sweet babe’s birthday! The big THREE is fast approaching for us and I cannot believe three years has come and gone so quickly. Today I wanted to share a long over-due fitness update with you all. Just like anyone else, I have my own ups and downs with fitness and living the lifestyle. It really is a life-long journey! When you wander off the path a little bit, all you have to remember is that you CAN begin again.
I wouldn’t say I have ever wandered off too far, but I have definitely lost a lot of motivation for a period of time here and there. I have been living this lifestyle of consistently training and being mindful of my eating for about 7ish years now (wow!). It all really started after I met Brody and he introduced me to this thing called “lifting weights”. You know….that thing that most women shy away from! But really, it is SO empowering. To be a woman and to just move a lot of weight around…I just love it! That constant mindset and self discipline is what made me fall in love with it all and it is what keeps me going. I haven’t done a fitness show for about two years and I do not think I will do another one until I am well done with having kids. I absolutely miss the grind of doing a show so much but I just know that my focus needs to be elsewhere. Shows will always be around! It is also good to train myself to still go “hard” with my fitness and goals without having a show to work towards. I don’t want to use a show as an excuse or reason to work hard…I want to work hard and stay motivated for everyday life.
I currently train 5-6 days a week. If I am feeling sluggish or have extra “me” time, I will go into our home workout area and do a quick 20 pump session to reenergize myself. I will literally just start grab weights and d0 whatever with them for 20 minutes, whatever feels good at the moment! My training sessions are about 45 min of weight training focusing on a specific muscle group (back, legs, chest, etc) with 5 rounds of HIIT cardio at the end (high intensity interval training). I still eat 6 times a day and my meals are 80/20 clean meaning I am not just eating a clean protein with a clean carb…I may do one or two meals like that but the rest you can consider the food to be “processed”. Those foods include cereal, rice cakes, crackers, meal bars, etc. I definitely am good at knowing what my body needs and how much of it. This is called intuitively eating. I eyeball my macros out (I scarcely use a scale at the moment) and eat until I am satisfied. Don’t get me wrong…Mama can throw down the food every now and then! But on those days, I will only eat about 3 times a day instead of 6 (or less if I really go HAM, haha). I definitely have my weeks where I intentionally skip a day or two of training or eat way off the wagon, but I know that I am human and that is going to happen! Like I said above, begin again!
Here are some progress pictures from my last show that I entered when Noelia was just 11 months old…so almost 2 years ago. It is crazy what our bodies can do when we put them to work! I do not think I would ever do a show this close after having a baby again but it was definitely one I do not forget! My body definitely wasn’t 100% show ready–yes I was lean, but the muscle to truly compete and be a force on stage was not there. Doing that show was more about proving to myself that I could get back into shape after baby and a “atta’ boy!” for me. I definitely want to focus on having more mass for the next show (whenever that is!). I was 110 pounds in the right photo which was the night before show day I believe.
Annnnnd here I am currently! I have no clue what I weigh and I am A-Okay with that! I am pretty proud of myself for staying about 15 pounds above stage weight. It can be very easy to rebound and crash after doing a show, but I was determined to diet out of it (reverse diet) the right way and not hurt my metabolism by constant purging. I am completely happy with my overall “package” at the moment. Sure, there are always things about my body I want to tweak and change, but for someone who eats intuitively, trains to what feels good, and has many food-cheat sessions, I would say I am pretty darn happy!
Current pictures in my competition suit. At least it still fits! Ha
5 Ways to get Started &/OR Begin Again
- Set a realistic goal. Many times people will set out to accomplish a goal that isn’t realistic for their starting point. Say you are “new” to the lifestyle and you want to lose 20 pounds. You have never followed a meal plan, cut out bad foods, or have experience in a gym. Realistically, how many people will lose 20 pounds their first “try” the right, healthy way? No pills, no drastic calorie depletion, and no keto diet ;). Allow your first goal to be a smaller, attainable one like 5 pounds. Once 5 pounds is accomplished, move to another 5 or 10 and etc. Your mind loves victories, so feed it with victories that will help you to keep going!
- Devote time. Everyone want to lose weight and/or make a lifestyle change but once they realize that it takes time and a rearranged schedule from their normal, they are out. This is when those fad diets and pills come into play because they are fast, require minimal effort, and minimal time. Doing this the right way requires work and work takes time. Time meal prepping, time working out, and giving your body time to do its job.
- Drink your water. Water consumption is the easiest and most effective way to kick start your lifestyle change. I always recommend consuming at least one gallon of water a day. If you’re not used to drinking that much water, start small. Maybe start with a half gallon and work your way up.
- Clean up your diet. Most people know what they need to cut out of their diet, it is simply doing it. The easiest things to cut out at first is pop, loaded coffee drinks, fast food, and candy. So many positive changes happen right away by simply cutting out these few things. If you are someone that always had to have a sugary pop, you may feel sick for the first few days without it. The is your body craving that sugar that it was always fed, but hold your head high and fight through it!
- Give yourself Grace. You are HUMAN and mistakes are going to happen. There is nothing wrong with that, if anything use it as fuel to get back up again and begin again. You are the only person stopping you and the only person that can truly motivate you and push you to your limits. Make yourself proud and crush those goals one after the other!
