Sunday 9 September 2012

2wks out of 12

Wow, two weeks into my new program from Micheal Elias of Physique FX and I have to say I am feeling so darned awesome!  I can see my entire body tightening up before my very eyes.  I'm down at least 4lbs since the start, though I am certain that half of those pounds are water as I appear alot tighter now.
My lifts are improving as well.

I am mostly owing this so far to the fact that my training so far has taken only 1hr to complete, cardio included.  My cardio workouts are HIIT and peripheral as well, so working harder, but for shorter time periods.  I am doing no running whatsoever, not even a jog.  This stuff is awesome, sooooo glad for myself too!

My diet is totally doable, manageable.  I am loving the whole nutrient timing concept as well.  I have a schedule for my meal plan which means I need to be eating whatever meal at definite times of the day.  I am only using protein powder as a protein replacement sometimes in the mornings instead of eggwhites, when I am in a hurry, otherwise not at all.  I eat whole foods post workout instead.  I am using BCAA's (Xtend from Scivation) and dextrose, as well as fish oil and flax oil for my supps.  I really feel dialed into this.  My diet fits me!

Starting tomorrow, things get amped up a little bit.......an extra set is added and 10 extra mins on the treadmill.  Looking forward to what the week will bring me next week if already I am reaping rewards on what I see as so little.  Certainly does confirm that you can get more from doing less.......just really needs to be done with intelligence.......the whole premise with my plan is to yes burn fat, spare the muscle I already have built and perhaps even build some more.......hence why my cardio is muscle sparing.  My heart rate still gets up there, and I actually sweat ALOT more this way too.  Totally effective, and I have to say that I really feel that my best interest was put into this program.........

I mean afterall, that is the way it should be.  Shouldn't it?!

Tuesday 4 September 2012

First Day Blues

My children have returned to school after their summer vacation, both so very excited to be getting back.  Me?  I sit here feeling a little hollow now.  Explains why I slept so poorly through the night.  I've been looking forward to this day for some time, but now that it is here I already am missing them.   Like most Moms on this day, we are filled with worry and wishes.  I hope that they will be allright, I hope that they like their teachers and find some new friends too.

Just for today I will allow myself a little 'off' ' time.  The usual scheduled routine will be a bit off today.  Things will all still get done, just not at their usual times.........I just feel so out of sorts.  I could 50,000 different things, and I am having a funny time just trying to decide to get one done.  I am already 2hrs behind on my diet/training schedule....breakfast should have been at 7:30a and it didn't happen till 9:30a.  My training which is usually to be happening in the neighbourhood of 10:30am, will be at 12:30p lunch will be off as well.........weird when that happens, but I must adhere nonetheless, even if delayed just to keep the timing of nutrients in check for the rest of the day, otherwise it would mean skipping a meal.

After one week on my program I have lost 1lb.  This is the goal, to lose 1lb/wk over 4wks, and then things will change again as far as diet and training goes.  We are looking to yes shed fat, but to maintain my muscle as much as possible and even hopefully be able to add muscle too by the end of the 12wks.  I must say that Micheal Elias does have this all planned out to a science.  I knew right from the get go, after looking over my diet that he was looking out for my physiology as well as my goals........so important, to get the right amount of nutrients and fats and carbs. and after a week I already feel a huge difference.

Today is back and abs day.  I do a circuit comprised of supersets and plyos.  My cardio this week is no more than 40mins and no less than 20.  Still no running or jogging YaY!!!!

Anyhoo, gotta run........things to do and things to get done!

Monday 3 September 2012

Busy Times, New Beginnings

It has been a very long time since I have been able to sit and write more than a sentence of two.  Buys times indeed!

It was summer vacation time for my children, and well we did just that.  My summer was spent doing lots of different things with my children as well as eating lots of different things too.  I enjoyed a complete break from diet and training.  As I have spoken about before, I really had lost interest in my training.  I really was having a hard time getting motivated to do any sort of workout.  Actually was sort of depressing, because the more I tried, the more I failed and the more I failed the less I wanted to try.  The less I wanted to try, the more I felt awful about myself too.
Gut instincts are what we call that little voice within.  My gut kept telling me that there was something not quite right about all of this.  My gut kept screaming at me that I was burnt out.......there isn't anything 'wrong' with me, but just that I really needed to be doing things differently.  I kept looking to my training......and each and everytime I would approach my gym and look over the day's workout I filled with dread.  My inner voice was screaming "you've got to be kidding me, right?!"  Every fibre and cell of my being did not want to complete anymore of these workouts, and blast it all I knew it too!  Something had to change.  I had to change something.  I broke from my diet just as a way to reset my metabolism.  I obviously broke from training, just because I really didn't want to do it anymore.   By the beginning of August I had already gained about 8lbs and was feeling it too.  I have a smaller frame so 8lbs shows itself very well on me, not to mention my having turned 45 in July I felt old and f*t.
I knew I didn't wish to follow the path I was on anymore, I knew the path I had been on no longer fit my needs.  I wondered if it was even hurting me as opposed to helping me.  I still wonder about that one and I am guessing that time will only tell with that one.

New Beginnings,

I decided to let my trainer go.  I needed fresh insights, a new direction and fresh eyes perhaps.  I wanted to explore a new trainer whom I had been curious about over the years, but my loyalties kept me from going.  I finally decided to accept that what I had been given before as a custom plan was very cheap in cost for me, but if I wasn't happy then really it isn't that cheap afterall.  I decided to get honest with myself, pay a price that everyone else pays, and hopefully get a service reflective of that price.  I did!   So far, I don't feel dread about my training, in fact it is the opposite, I dread if I am not able to do it on time!  My diet is well balanced and my program reflects my BMR, ABMR and what caloric goal we are aiming for to reduce by 500cals.  My program entails of approx 22pages!!  Complete with my dialy menus, macro needs for the day in case I have to be outside of the menu.  My meals are set at specific times as well as my training and supplements too.  Very impressed with the amount of detail.......I don't have to wonder why this or that, and if I do I just ask and am replied to with the greatest amount of detail......I really feel that I am learning alot more.

After week one, I have lost my predicted 1lb......everything is on course, so far!

Wednesday 9 May 2012

I Live In A Small Town......

It is true that I live in a small town.  I live in one of these small towns who suffer identity issues due to an amalgamation to a bigger city.  My husband and kids and I moved here two years ago from what I like to call the 'inner city'.  The part of the city that always was 'the city' and not some township.  I'm used to bigger populations and therefor bigger thinking as well.  There is lots to be said about bigger city living perhaps as much as there is to be said about small town living.

In my small town, the slogan is to shop 'local'.  We have one grocery store, one pet food store, one hardware store.  We have two coffee shops, several hairstylists' businesses as well as pizzerias.  We have one Tim Horton's (I so wish we had another on the other end of the town too!), one Subway and one Mac's Milk......we have one sushi restaurant, one Vietnamese and one Chinese restaurant.  We have one Mediterranean, one Italian, two pubs and one burger joint.   Most of the businesses are not franchised.  The demograph in my small town is mostly upper to middle class.  The average middle class home sells for around $700,000+  That is just a 3bdr home.....not waterfront.  Waterfront sells for about $1.2,000,000.00+  With that all in mind, I'm sure you'd be guessing by now that shopping locally around here is not going to be cheap!  Well, you're right....it isn't.

I was raised to be a prudent shopper.  It is not beyond me to drive a few extra miles to save a buck.  I like my money and I like it in my pocket, like most of us.  I have three dogs.  I do purchase the geriatric dog food here in town for nearly $60/bag.  The puppies' food I travel a few extra miles to a big box Pet Smart and pay $30 for the same sized bag of puppy chow........here in town, the equivalent would cost about $50/bag.  See what I am saying?  The grocer, though is a YIG, is priced higher than the bigger box store size YIG, just a few miles down the highway.  So between you, me and the fencepost.........I do not shop 'locally' most often.  I do however support local services such as hairstylist, butchers, farmers and their markets......you know, the little guy, who actually WILL cut you a deal and mean it too.

To not shop locally means one has to be sort of quiet about great deals that they've found in their travels.....unless it comes from 'the village' itself.  It is almost a source of guilt if someone asks where you got such and such an item, and you happen to have purchased it out of the village.  You answer, and then wait for that look of disdain before the reply of "Oh?  You didn't get it in 'the village'?!"  You also NEVER admit that you shop at Walmart either for two reasons: 1)There aren't any designer labels there and 2)There aren't any designer labels there.  I purchase clothing for my children wherever I find anything that looks alright and is priced alright.  In my own opinion, children's clothing is a big cash suck since the children are continuously growing and changing......Do I really want to spend my money on labels for children that will only be wearing them for about 6mos?!  It actually makes alot more sense to use consignment shops for children's clothing for that reason as well.  However, where I live we don't even have a consignment shop.  That is not to say that it has never been tried......Because of the demographics, we have loads of folks who have lots of great quality clothing to donate but not so many folks who would use consignment.....again, for the same reasons as mentioned above.

What is really cool about being in small community is just that.  Community.  Never before have I ever experienced this true sense of community.  I can bring my son to jujitsu and sit beside my hairstylist (who knows EVERYBODY in town, because she has been cutting hair here for over 20years!), whose children go to the same school as mine (we only have two schools after all, lol!), see other classmates and schoolmates of my children's and hear all about the gossip in town and know of the things, places or persons being discussed.  Also makes me be VERY cautious about what I say and to whom........you just never know who knows who around here!  In the inner city, you have alot more anonymity.  You don't stand out in a crowd as much as you do here.

In my two years of living here, I have learned alot about this community, the people in it and how they think.  I'm never so sure that I fit in around here.  It reminds me alot of high school actually, except that I am not insecure and don't have this need to fit in either.  In fact I have always been a bit of a maverick and well, I guess I still am.  I've ruffled feathers here and there with my non conformist ways.  I do my own gardening/landscaping, I do not have a nanny, I do not even have a job outside of the house.  I do however, volunteer my time to the children and teachers at school as well as the clubs that my children are involved in.  I do get involved in the community as a whole by being a good Samaritan........in fact I always have.  It is simply just my nature.  To most around here, I am a bit of a puzzle.  I don't wear designer labels everyday of the week, yet I still look amazing.  I raise my children without the aid of a nanny and yet I still smile.  I do drive a little further to shop, but at the end of the day I do have more money in the bank.
Sad thing about that though, is that most of the local businesses here are run by people who do not even live in the village.........so really I wouldn't even be supporting a local person, and the profits would be leaving town anyways.......It is just one of the ways this town tries to identify itself and make itself different than it's now bigger city it has become a part of.  Funny thing is, people of equal affluence in the inner city don't seem to have to try so hard to be noticed.

 In fact, most of them(me) are not trying to be noticed at all.





Thursday 26 April 2012

Moving Right Along......

Here I am back in the saddle again!!  That's right........you read it, I am BACK in the saddle baby!!

Isn't it funny, how a bit of redirection can totally restart and refocus an individual? For the past 2 wks (1wk of T-nation's w/o and the other my new program from Linda) I have been training my body in a different way than I had been for quite some time.  Full body, upper body/lower body splits and workouts that both challenge your muscles as well as fire up the metabolism in no more than 60mins a day...........LOVIN' IT!  (In other words, thank-you Linda......again!)

As predicted, I was not able to achieve any training over the week-end due to the Provincial Championships.  I did however get my share of movement running back and forth from the judges table to the head judges table.  I was a score runner.  For anyone who may not know what a score runner is, it is the person who gets to sit at the judges' table at any given even, beit as it was in my case gymnastics related, bars, beams, floor or vault and watch some AH-MAZING feats of athleticism.  The judges table consists of 4 judges...a D1 and a D2 judge, and then 2 regular judges.  The D1 judge is the judge who can really make or break your day.  The score runner is the person who sits with the D1 judge and waits for final numbers to be sent to the head judges' table (usually located waaaaaaaaaaay off to the side somewhere, lol!), and then goes and retrieves electronic printout of scores to bring back to the D1 judge for verification, then the scorer runs it all back the head judge.  A scorer can also be the one to punch in the handwritten scores from the D1 into the handheld electronic gizmo that sends the info to the head judges' and then goes off on foot to retrieve printout for D1's approval, and walk it back to head judge afterwards.....so lots of walking, lots of sitting......and LOTS of FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got to see some really fantastic gymnastics let me tell you.......like this beautiful floor routine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8ymwAxfjPk&feature=related

Just totally friggin' amazing was this girl!  I was sitting nearby, not at that event but at beam, her team had just finished on beam (she did an awesome beam routine as well.....she scored HIGH by all judges!) and the team that was waiting to get up on beam were having to be patient because the judges were still tabulating, so I was able watch Nicola's floor routine in meantime.......I get goosebumps!

My diet has been on the money, even at the Provincials.  I packed my own lunch, so it was fairly safe......could have drank more water though, but I was travelling light.

I am already feeling tighter in my skin, and this week is to be considered my FIRST week of my new program.  My diet is seeming to be just the right combo of carbs and protein, as I feel better energy-wise, and my carb cravings are few and far between even.  So all things are looking UP!!
Today is a cardio day, so that should be easy enough to get in as well.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Live It, Love It...

Slowly but surely, I will come out of this fog.  I was cruising about the web yesterday in search of clues to achieving my fitness/figure goals with the nutty crazy busy lifestyle I have.  I was getting so down on myself wondering if it was even possible to go any further if I can only maybe hit the gym 3x week.  You see, back in the day....before I was married or had any children I still had a limited schedule to be able get a w/o done due to my work schedule.  I wasn't lifting 5x week then either come to think of it.  In fact, I was likely lifting 3 to 4 days a week.  I was making progress......then what needed work was my diet.  I knew nothing about eating properly for my goals.   Fast forward to today, and I have the diet down solid enough, and it is the training that baffles me........
I found a w/o that uses complexes consisting of full body movements.  It used variable sets and reps for each training day....so one day hard and heavy the next session would be moderate and so on.  It was a 3 day training split which meant things would change up frequently,no chance for stagnation.  My thoughts were that I could do that.......or at least something like that.  It would fit into my life these days very well and since I am heading towards leaning out for summer would fit my goals as well.
I have mentioned in previous posts that I have a trainer (Linda Cusmano), and I ran my idea past her in hopes that she would agree with me, lol!!  Linda said she certainly would be able to devise something like the model I showed her, to fit my needs.  I shared with Linda how busy my life is getting, and how discouraged I was beginning to feel about the entire situation........she was happy to know where I am at and encouraged me for sharing my thoughts and feelings.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Easter was great.......ate a bit of crapp, but not overload.  I did indulge in a nice 3 layer carrot cake made with maple cream cheese frosting........SLURP!!  Those who know me, know how I love cake.....those who don't........stick around, you'll figure it out ;)

Sent in my pics to Linda as well.....hadn't done so for a couple of months I think.  It will give her a fresh perspective of where I am now, what damage I may have incurred (hopefully, if any)  And where to go and how to get there with my constraints.  My stats are interesting in that I have grown in size but it doesn't really appear that way in pics....not distorted, or extra fluff anywhere that I could tell.  I actually was encouraged seeing myself in my bikini again........I didn't feel I looked so bad afterall, lol!!  Seriously, I was considering hiding in a 1pc this summer I was feeling so fat and frumpy........No.......I know I am not fat.  It is just that when you do achieve a certain level of fitness and lean body mass, one's standards become that much higher to maintain.  I am leaner and fitter than alot of mid-lifers my age........and yes, I am grateful!

Today is a cardio day for me.......just some HIIT, nothing fancy.
Food so far is tight and on plan too!

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Are We there Yet?!

Seriously, this is how I feel these days, like a kid on some higher authority imposed road trip to God Only Knows where!

Since my last entry, I....... Of course I have been busy, why would you ask?!  Yes, have been busy running here and there with the kids, following one of my pups around as she has now gone into a heat.  The other pup (I have 2 puppies, and one geriatric dog) was sent in to be spayed.  That was yesterday.  Brought her home this a.m and blammo, doesn't the nutjob puppy proceed to remove ALL of her sutures!  So, yes back to the vet........sedation, and then more sutures put in a collar put on and now antibiotics for her to boot!  Oh it was horrific for me to see her with a gaping incision, I had only left her for about 5mins or so and she totally removed her stitches in that time.  The vet, a friend of my husbands, said that she must have been working quite hard on them as the incision is now beginning to bruise..............poor little pup.  I'll get her back in an hour or so now, as she just needs to sleep off her sedative a bit more.

Last week's adventure was a birthday party for a 7yr old and 9 of her besties........Next week, hopefully will be more quiet, lol!

As for training and diet?  I likely haven't gotten a workout done since last entry.  I am in a terrible self sabotaging rut these days.  I am now aware of it, but boy let me tell ya it is a tough one to break.  I am in the process of trying to figure out the 'why' part of this.  I am usually quite diligent, almost anal about my training, and I am now on a very slippery slope of which I've never thought  I would ever need to worry about.  I make excuses galore......too tired, too busy, can't fit it all in so why get started?, or worse even still I will actually even start to workout and then partway through give up and walk away.
My eating isn't so bad, I am able to remain mostly diligent there, but all this inactivity or slack-tivity is beginning to show on my physique.  Sure the muscle is still there, but there is a good layer of fat over top of it now.  I am used to sitting between 16% -17% body fat and I see the scale reading 18%.....still totally acceptable, and admirable I am sure but it isn't my 'normal' for me.

I need to get TOUGH with myself, tougher still.  I've got to find a way to stop the negative self talk and turn that around to make POSITIVE changes for myself!  I have also to do this on my own.  My husband is not much of a support when it comes to my lifestyle.....he buys me pie, or tries to share some other crappy type of food out of 'love' and kindness.  He thinks he's being kind and thoughtful by doing so for me, but I would really rather he bring me home a bouquet of cauliflower instead, lol!  Though in his defence it really isn't his responsibility to make sure I take better care of myself.  This is my own personal choice.......I am the one who chooses to eat right or not, to train hard to slack off.  It's not my children's busy little lives that are to blame either......really, it is me.  I am the only one needing to change, in order to make change happen for myself.

Just for today......

I will get my cardio done.  (I do have a head cold at the moment)
I will eat according to plan
I will not allow temptation to lead my astray from my goals
I will find a way!