Food as fuel vs food as entertainment

This is something I see come up a lot, especially the more I read into this beast called bodybuilding competing. When it comes to food and contest prep there is a fine line between being overly obsessed and having a healthy relationship with food. I can see how easy it is to cross that line! As someone who has always enjoyed food, and growing up in the south spent many a weekend at social gatherings that were very foodcentric. No matter what food always seemed to be the center of all events! Now I am in prep mode and while I still enjoy a very large range of foods and certainly have learned how to create basic foods into amazing fun foods I do look at food a bit differently. It is the fuel for my body, my muscles. It is what powers my workouts and keeps me healthy on the inside. I eat to workout, not workout to eat. Oh well maybe I do workout to eat, I have some amazing postworkout foods ;) However, just because I do have this healthy relationship with food, seeing it as my fuel, does not mean I don't or can't see food as entertainment! This is where I think the line gets crossed from healthy to obsessive. In my opinion if you only view food as one or the other, there is a problem. You need a healthy balance of fuel and fun, when it becomes so strict it's only fuel or you just don't give a rat's hiney and food is all about enjoyment, it's time to take a look at what is going on deep inside. I read a comment snarking on girls that create post comp food binge menus. For some, the ones who prep the insane way, this can spell disaster. For others it can be a way of putting specific food wants down on paper and out of their heads. I've been on a fantastic nutrition plan since August of 2011, not a long time really but certainly no room in there for some of my favorite occasional treats. I'm not an emotional eater, I have no emotional attachment to any food. I have a post competition fun food list. Will I eat all the items on my list? Oh heck no! I know my body can't handle all of that crap LOL plus I have no plans of having a post comp rebound. Or maybe I will have every item on my list, 1 bite of each. All things in moderation I say! I do plan to let loose and just enjoy some good eats the week after my comp, I want to relax, chill out and not think about calories or weighing portions etc. So what are your thoughts? Can food be both fuel and entertainment? Do you balance out the fun with the necessary, or do stay pretty strict with your food all year round?

9 weeks to go!

It's crunch time baby! The single digit countdown has begun to my first bikini comp! I've had a lot of ups and downs this week. I know I am at the stage where I have to bust my ass hard for very little calculable results and that stresses me out a little. While I know technically my physique is stage ready for this region it is not the physique I want to take on stage. I know I am going to have to start reigning myself in on the "free" extras I toss into my meals and working on reducing my subs and making sure I keep them to 1-2 ingredient foods rather than multi ingredient (even if they are "clean") foods. I am halfway through my second week on my new workout plan and I am loving it so much! Somedays I feel like a total badass with what I can push/pull as far as weight goes. I'm a tiny little thing and even in a deficit I am still getting stronger and making gains in the gym, which is absolutely amazing! I did attempt to give up coffee, that lasted for a week. I didn't miss it except that well it helped keep me regular, so coffee went back in my diet and I am back to limiting how much I allow myself to drink daily. I have noticed I am becoming more emotional, more sensitive to criticism and being told I am skinny. I've been "skinny" and this is not it! I am muscular, soft, and lean and most of all I am healthy. Skinny is not healthy, fit is healthy and I am fit. That's a lot of paragraphs starting with "I", I'm becoming very me-centric. hmm.

Things are getting crazy up in here

I seem to go through massive spurts of blogging and then no blogging at all. I always say I am going to make it a habit and then I don't! Not even going to bother saying that today ;) Since I last posted I decided to 1-compete on stage in the bikini edition of body building 2-become a certified nutrition specialist and personal trainer. Here is what has happened so far . . . I am currently 10 weeks 5 days out from my very first competition. I am scared beyond measure as this takes me so far out of my comfort zone I can't even see it! I am also extremely excited, not just over the experience of something new but the levels I will be taking my body to. The transformation thus far has been nothing short of amazing. I did become a fitness nutrition specialist through NASM and then went on to become a certified Dr Sears LEAN coach. I then started my own online nutrition/meal planning business which I am loving so much! Since I wanted to also offer fitness plans and I am not yet certified in that area I took on a partner with my bestest buffy, Sarah B. We've done pretty well so far and our clients are seeing some great results! Just a few more days and I can get started on my CPT through NASM too :-) Oh and then of course there is all of the stuff I have to do to get ready for this competition. It's kind of mind blowing and overwhelming at times so I have been doing one thing at a time and slowly putting the pieces of the puzzle together. This is where my body was at 2 weeks ago, I need to take new pics asap! The upper body is pretty much ready, just need to get the lower body to cooperate and tighten up. Overall I am happy with where I am at but notsomuch when it comes to being stage ready. I know it'll get there though, I have an amazing coach!

Vegan Shakeology

I admit, I am leery about how something will taste when it's called vegan. I have had some very unpleasant tasting experiences that just leave me gun shy! I have been hearing about Vegan Shakeology since June of 2011 and knew some friends who had gotten to try it long before it was released. Everyone said it tasted great but . . . I still wondered.

Beachbody finally released their Tropical Strawberry Vegan Shakeology on Valentine's day and my box arrived just 3 long days later. This was a highly anticipated arrival as TBB had really been hyping up this new flavor and formula. On the day my shakes arrived I immediately ran to the kitchen and blended one up. I kept it simple, water and frozen strawberries, so I would get the full effect of the flavor.

Oh sweet heaven! It was briliant! Now don't get me wrong I do love chocolate but after going almost totally sugar free and eating very clean it just tasted a bit too sweet and thick for me lately. The greenberry is definitely an acquired taste but had really been my go to over the past few weeks since it's much lighter in flavor and not so sweet. Tropical Shakeology blows those two out of the water. It's texture can be a little gritty but regardless it is light and perfectly sweet yet not sweet and doesn't have that overpowering thickness that the chocolate can get.

To celebrate, for the next week I am offering a Free Sample! To receive one simply go to my BeachBody website and sign up for the FREE account. After you have done so send me an email with your address. It's that easy :)

Motivation

I recently read a post by a woman who was crying out for motivation. She wanted other people to motivate her to lose weight and exercise. I see this kind of thing all.the.time. People are always looking for motivation from outside sources.

I am going to be honest and say this, NO ONE can find your motivation. NO ONE can motivate you to do what it is you *think* you need/want to do. Motivation? It's inside you! The only person who can motivate you is YOU. Either you want it or you don't. If you want it you will do it and achieve it. If you don't you will find excuses and seek motivation from others.

Now I do understand this frame of mind. Sometimes I just don't feel like eating this meal or going to the gym or whatever it is I am procrastinating. I'll say "someone please kick me in the butt, I need a little extra push today" But I know the only person who is actually going to kick me in the butt and give me that extra push is me. Why? It's simple. I am doing this for me. Not for facebook friends, not for a contest, not for my husband, it's all for me. And if doing it for me isn't enough to find the motivation then nothing will.

Stop asking for motivation from others and find it in yourself. Seek inspiration from others and motivate yourself.

Healthy home, healthy body PART 2!

So last week I was talking about how my BFF (or BUFFY as our phones like to auto-correct to) Sarah and I were all "woe is me my house is a mess" but ere lacking the get up and go to do something about it. Really it was just easier to whine over texts than get off our duffs. I knew I had to make it a competition, something that would motivate us both and keep us focused.

Here is what we did. We both took a photo of one spot in the house that needed to e cleaned. We could only clean that area, no cleaning ADD and flitting from space to space accomplishing nothing. NO! We had to stay focused on our spot. We sent each other the before pictures, ow talk about embarrassing to share those! Then we cleaned. As soon as we finished that spot we took a photo and sent it off to each other. But you know cleaning just one spot isn't enough! This trend of taking photos and cleaning only that area went on for about 2 hours and we accomplished so much!

In the end we both felt so much better mentally and emotionally. We had a goal, we stay focused and we completed our mission. Honestly I think this is something I would like to do with my friend every Sunday. Otherwise known in my home as Sunday Funday, which really isn't any fun except well the house gets clean and no one has to listen to my nagging voice ;)

So if you are lacking that little oomph to get up and clear the dishes out of the sink or clean out that really awful pantry door or omg the refrigerator shelves *eek* grab a friend, snap some photos and see who can finish their cleaning mission first. Getting done and having accomplished something is really the best reward and will help keep your home healthy and your body free of stress to focus on other things, like getting to the gym!

Healthy home, healthy body

I had an interesting text conversation with my BFF over at Sarah Fitness (if you haven't check out her blog you should!) yesterday. We were both whining about how messy our homes were and rather than doing anything about it we just seemed to get more unmotivated, more tired, more depressed and more whiny.

Sarah works full time, runs a beachbody business, has 2 kids, a husband and still finds time to fit in fitness, so to say she is busy would definitely be an understatement! I myself just went from working full time while running a beachbody business, getting my hoopdance classes up and going, studying for my fitness nutrition specialist certification, taking care of 5 kids, a husband and fitting in time for fitness. While I was working I simply didn't have the time nor energy to keep up on the house. The kids tried but . . . we know how kids are. Both of our homes needed some TLC and we knew it wouldn't take much time it was just the lack of motivation and being overwhelmed about where to start.

While we were texting, for hours I might add, lamenting about our woes, a bright idea came to me! We both thrive on competition and having something concrete to focus on. Just saying the house needs to be cleaned wasn't going to do it, it was too broad and well if you've seen my home it's all open so most of the rooms really are just one big ass area lol so it's even harder to nail down saying "I'm going to clean X room". So what did we do? You'll have to check out my next blog post ;-)