Delicate Flower on Weigh-In Days

(ana)

so apparently, I am a delicate flower......when it comes to weigh in day.  :)  Who knew?.  Good lord, you'd think at my old age and with all the life experience I have (compared to my younger team mates in their crazy sport we are playing), that I'd be more even keeled, and chilled about a bunch of silly numbers that the machine spits out at me every friday.   

......But nope.  I struggle with the initial numbers I see thinking to myself "really???  WTF?  with all the hard work I'm putting in, the strickness of my diet, why did I gain 2.5 pounds this week.  

ARGH !!!!!!

And of course there is the good ole fashion habit I have of always comparing myself to others and Bails and Jen are doing great, losing weight every week, etc. blah, blah, blah.....

So trainer Jamie told me to take a deep breathe and watch and listen.  He explained the numbers to me more carefully and I now see that they aren't really that bad.  I have gained 3.4 lbs of fat free mass (meaning muscle), and was up 2.6 lbs of water weight (which is a good thing as I was dehydrated.) and lost 1.3 % of body fat (all in one week).  So that is good right?  Yes, it is.  and I'm feeling proud of my accomplishments eventhough the overall number on the scale went from 142.4 to 144.8.

Like trainer Jamie says, the numbers aren't always what they seem. So apparently, I build muscle easily which is a good thing I guess. 

This whole process is teaching me so much.  Our bodies are very different and nobody ever said that life was fair.  I may have to work harder, be even more diligent with everything I put in my body, but that's ok.   I need to be kinder to myself and pat myself on the back (which is getting pretty awesome, so they tell me as I can't see it.) for the accomplishments along the way, regardless how small. 

It's a One day a time kinda process.  I'm excited to see what next week brings.  And I have vowed to myself not to be so delicate next time I step on that scale.  :)

Happy Halloween everyone.

Remember that time I sucked it up?

Jen

This week has been full of temptation. I was expecting it, eventually, but week 2? 

Come on, now.

I wanted salty crackers on Monday. Sushi on Tuesday. Chocolate on Wednesday. I had to avoid cheesecake Thursday night (although cake isn't usually a temptation for me!) And today, Friday, is Halloween!

At least it's "re-feed day". Tonight I get a meal out with Husband Jamie. I think I might have a burger. None of this stuff:

I'm all for egg whites but hamburgers win today.

In all seriousness, though, I'm happy with how much I've been able to just suck it up and move on.

How's that, you might ask? 

Well, the advice is simple but not easy. It's something Trainer Jamie has told me time and again. It's about wanting the result and the long-term gains (or losses in my case) more than the instant gratification of yummy tidbits.

Ready for it?

You just... Do it.

Yeah, I know. I was underwhelmed too.  The thing is, that's really all there is to it. You look temptation in the face, acknowledge its presence, say, "No," and continue.

Try it :). It feels pretty good.

Diving deep to find the strength

(ana)....  the training continues and I am learning what I like and what I don't in this whole process.  What I don't like, clearly, are things I need to work on for myself and therefore are difficult.   The training itself is tough and intense and there are moments when my brain screams, "What the heck are you doing?" but I manage to get through those tough spots.  I dig deep, and then deeper, and sometimes, thanks to our relentless trainer Jamie, I find even deeper places to pull from.  That I like, actually love because I am seeing the differences in my body already. Small, but I can see them.

What I don't like (find tough), is the food.  The other day, I actually felt like crying as I was trying to shove breakfast down and didn't want to eat.  Eating 5 meals a day is hard, every 3 hours on the nose and the food is pretty basic stuff at this point.  For a food lover like me, this is hard.  But again, I promise myself to trust in the process and just get it done.

And the patience is tough too.  I have decided to stop weighing myself on a daily basis because I am learning that this number doesn't mean much at this point and that it sets my mood into a tailspin.  My loving partner, Trevor, can attest to that.  :)  So to keep my home a happy place, we only weigh in at the gym on Fridays where the numbers make more sense.

I can do this.....I can do this......  sing it with me folks.......

A week so far..

Bails

Alright, I decided to wait a week before my next blog post. I really wanted to give the week a fair shot before unleashing to the internet world how terrible eating clean is (blah, blah). So in a week, this is my assessment of the diet portion so far.

Currently, my two LEAST favourite words in the dictionary are "food" and "preparation". I feel behind on life, simply because my evenings are filled with preparing more, more and MORE! If anyone tells you it is easy, they are lying. It is hard. It is a commitment. So you REALLY got to want it. "But I want to watch the season 4 finale of the Walking dead RIGHT NOW!" Nope Bailey, you have to food prep. Sucks, right? But it is what it is. I'm not going to look good in a bikini eating pizza and watching the Walking Dead (Believe me, I've tried that for 20+ years, hah!).

What have I learned about food? 

1. Well I believe Jen, Ana and I will be solely responsible for making chickens extinct. THAT'S how many boneless, skinless chicken breasts I've eaten.
2. Basa fillets, a species of Vietnamese catfish, tastes exactly how you think a bottom-feeder would taste - like mud. Even soaking them in lemon juice makes no difference, unless you like lemon-flavoured mud.
3. Baking sole in the oven is a HUGE piss off. I didn't realize how much the fillets shrink when they're cooked. Seriously, massive shrinkage. Which makes you have to cook MORE. Sigh.
4. Quinoa is not appealing at all. And it gets stuck in your teeth.
5. Thank GOD for apple cider vinegar or quinoa would be permanently fired from my meal planning. Period.
6. I did NOT eat enough food before starting this, making eating 4 ounce chicken breasts 5x/day a huge challenge, and slightly revolting.

What have I learned about myself?

I think I'm tougher then I give myself credit for. As much as I wanted to stamp my feet and protest, I stuck with it for the week! AND I lost 2 lbs eating more food then I've ever eaten, EVER.

THAT'S pretty cool.

At some points during the week, I thought I was going to throw up I was so full. So losing weight while feeling like an elephant was pretty shocking!

Without sounding too candid, I also learned that pooping is important. I like pooping daily. Its like a mini-victory every day. NOT pooping is taking away my daily victory. And I'm scared because I don't know where the food is going?!?! So I'm drinking like a whale and taking magnesium to hopefully speed up transit time. It's like Ottawa rush-hour in there - a parking lot!

So we'll see how week 2 of this goes! I'm trying hard to keep up work-out wise with the other 2 ladies, but they definitely got some years on me. Just got to try your hardest, right?

Here's to pooping!

You can't spell "Legendary" without "Leg Day"

Jen

Oh man. It doesn't get easier, we just get better, right?

Right??

Leg day Friday. We died. So much glute activation... And I just have to say, I'm a huge wimp when it comes to legs. Ana destroyed me without even blinking! All weekend I was holding the counter to ease myself down onto the toilet, and wincing as I walked up and down stairs. 

So ladylike.

Friday was also weigh-in day; we were all pretty nervous. One thing I remember from last show is this: weight and body fat and all of those numbers quickly become objective measures.

One's worth should not be measured by one's fat. (Say that again if you need to). Actually, a quote I've come across on Pinterest says pretty much that, but better:

So yes. We all have fat still (and fingernails). Amazing! It's been a week! It feels longer....

In a week, I can honestly say I have re-learned that my body is awesome. It hasn't reached its potential yet (far from it), but it's strong, and capable of being lean and even stronger.

My trust in Jamie and his training skills is high. My trust in my diet is high. My love of chicken... Is waning.

But we press on.

Week 2, baby. Let's give 'er.

Chicken and Rice with a Side of Trust

(ana)  There's this thing called trust.  And often it is very hard to do when you are facing something new in your life.  I have surrounded myself with an amazing coach and very supportive people as I go down this path to reach my goal, but I have to say that trusting the food part of this process is hard. 

We started on our food regime this week and we need to eat every 3 hours and I'm finding it a real challenge to stuff that food down.  The prepping, the cooking, and the constant eating seems like it takes up a lot of my time but I am trusting the process and trusting that it will work. 

I have been told that the first week is tough but soon when my body adjusts, all this food I can barely get down, will feel like not even close to being enough.  Hard to believe.....but I am adding a sprinkle of trust on this.

At this moment in the training, I'm finding the work outs easier (and they are not easy) than the food.  and the funny thing is, I LOVE FOOD.

Trust, trust, trust.......

The diet - making up the meals

Jen

Ugh. I have homework to do. As usual, I procrastinate, and so it's 8:30pm on Sunday and I'm using my macronutrients to create meals for myself on My Fitness Pal.  An arduous task at the best of times... and I'm a morning person.  So that was a little bit stupid on my part.

In any case, I've been successful in putting together some sample meals with the proper (ish) nutrients, that seem palatable and can be mixed around for variety.  I didn't include veggies in these calculations on Trainer Jamie's instructions (Trainer Jamie is a little different than his alter ego, Husband Jamie, whom I don't often listen to) ;)

Veggies are "free" for now - meaning I can eat all these meals with a salad, if I want, or a heap of broccoli, or even a green pepper (something I always crave when my intake of sugar regulates itself).

I decided that I would eat at the following times:

• 6:15am (about an hour after I wake up)
• 9am (my hungriest hour)
• 11:45am (the only protein shake in the diet, pre-workout)
• 1:30pm (post workout awesomeness)
• 5pm (dinner with the little one)
• 8:30pm (when munchies usually strike)

6 meals.  It's going to be fun :)

Here are some of the meals I've put together with the appropriate nutrients (approx 23g carbs, 5g fat and 35g protein).  

• 1 egg, 1/2C egg whites, 1/3C chickpeas
• smoothie with 1 small frozen banana, 1 tsp almond butter and 1 scoop of protein or 1/2C egg whites
• Salad with a can of tuna, 1/4 of an avocado (or some oil and vinegar dressing), 1/4C quinoa
• 1/2C spaghetti squash, 1C cottage cheese (1%), 10 almonds
• 4 oz chicken breast with 1 tbsp salsa, 1/2C brown rice, 10 almonds
• 3/4C lean ground turkey (with homemade taco seasoning), 1/2C brown rice, 6 almonds

That's all I've got for now. It's enough to make a day of it tomorrow.  Big Costco trip in my immediate future, though, I can sense it...

So stoked about this! It begins early tomorrow am!

colourful language and giggles

(ana) And so it was that we finished off the week with leg day . Although I'm feeling groovy at the moment, I know that won't last.

Tomorrow as I drive my clients around to see 6 homes, I'm sure my legs will complain.  

And I must apologize to the regulars at the gym for the colourful language as we train. Mostly me actually but for some reason it just comes out. I will try to be more lady like in the future. And the laughs, well that helps too.

Ah, diet...

Jen

We got our macronutrients today, which means diet begins in full swing on Monday. I've always found this part to be the toughest in terms of my mental stability. I like to eat. Love it, actually. So I was super pleased when Jamie gave me my total calories: 1560. Woohoo!

Right now we are hitting about 55% protein, which is quite a bit, especially since I've made a promise to myself to eat whole foods, and little to no protein powder. I know I can do it- it's just going to take planning. My fitness pal app is going to be my friend through all this, I think.

Leg day today. Wish me luck!

Here we go....indeed

(Ana)  As the elder in this group of crazy women, I feel blessed to be working with an amazing trainer and friend, Jamie Wright, and to have the support of two great and strong gals, Jen and Bailey. 

Where I'm coming from, for those of you who may care to know...  I'm 47 and it has taken me many many years to fully appreciate my body and it's strength.  In this world of media always showing us that smaller and skinner is better, it's been tough at times to try and fit in.  With the support of my partner, my trainer and my friends at the gym, I have finally seen the light.  I'm never going to be a ballerina, and you know what, I'm good with that. 

So follow along on this journey we are taking and you might yourself getting motivated, you may laugh a little, and even feel sorry for us once in a while.  I'm so excited to see what I'm made of, to develop my inner strength and mental fortitude.  I have a goal and am pumped to see how it goes. 

You may think we are completely crazy and that women should not have muscles, well, this may not be the blog for you.  But I challenge you just the same to follow along.  We may change your mind.  This isn't just about the training, it's about growth, perseverance, dedication, and friendship.

My hope is that by contributing to this blog that I can prove to other women out there that are my age, that you are never too old.  If you want something bad enough, go get it.  Surround yourself with good people, supportive people and take one day at a time.  In our case, it is often one rep at a time. 

Peace, and out.

And it begins (or not?)..

Bailey

Unfortunately, I am not as eloquent as Jen when it comes to voicing how I feel about training for a fitness competition. Jen is so concise. Able to relate how she feels in a sentence or two. And you know exactly how she feels about it. She's excited, so much so she's vibrating!

And maybe that's where my problem is. I'm not sure how I feel about it - not just yet anyways. The idea of looking like a bikini competitor is exciting, no doubt. But the journey to get there is a scary one. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a perfectionist. Being the perfectionist that I am, the thought of trying and not succeeding scares the crap out of me! And I feel like not succeeding is a very, VERY likely outcome, given my past history with food. Looking back, I've never been successful at fueling my body appropriately. I get stuck in the social aspect of food and beverages (alcoholic beverages, let's be real now). And the times where I felt I made a conscious effort to "be good" so to speak, I have been unsuccessful and very frustrated. All rabbit food and no weight loss makes Bailey a dull girl.. and a bitch. Hah!

Sound familiar? I'm sure most people have been in my shoes. "Might as well eat whatever the hell I want if nothing is going to change!" (Insert next excuse now). (And another). (Might as well throw in one more). Sigh.

The nice thing is I have two very strong and beautiful ladies behind me. And very motivated ladies. That's scary though as well. I don't like the idea of people seeing me struggling. Struggling seems lame, and I don't want to be the dark horse dragging the whole team down because I'm too much of a lame-o to believe in myself. They seem to believe in me 100%, and part of me says "thanks" while the other says "don't you know me! I can't do this (and holy crap, I REALLY want a beer right now!)".

So I'm going to take it one step at a time. We'll see where this whole thing goes. Either way I'm really excited to cheer on these 2 amazing ladies taking this journey as well! You should see them, they rock!

So my first blog is complete! I apologize if my blogs to come sound A LOT like this one. I have a feeling they will! My internal struggle with should I, or should I not.. Here's to the future!

And it begins...

Jen

Well, here I am again.  It's been five years since I've done a fitness show, and I can honestly say I didn't think I'd be heading down this road again.

Trainer Jamie and his girls: Ana, Jen, Bails

Not that competing wasn't a fantastic experience - it was amazing, challenging, and exciting - but it was hard.  Like, really hard.  And in some ways I'm tougher than I've ever been (I've now been through labour and the arduous process of opening a business), but in other ways I feel weaker.  More scattered.  Older and a little more worn.

Do I have time for this? my inner self wonders, do I have the fortitude?  I know that I did, once.  I managed to break through many food-related barriers on my last journey.  I was dedicated, resolved, and so, so strong.  I had weak moments, and I pushed through them, with the help of my husband (and trainer), Jamie.

I think of the stage.  I blossomed up there, a natural in the spotlight.  I smiled with ease and I truly enjoyed every minute of that day... especially winning 4th place, which I hadn't expected (my goals were simply to not look fat, and to remain standing in my heels)!

My goals will be different now, I realize.  I am not going to be satisfied with just "making it" to the stage.  I want to place well, this time.  I want to really see what I can do.  And I know, five years later, that I have more potential.  My muscles have matured and grown.  My ability to be self-critical (and realistic!) has broadened.  I have more resolve when it comes to food.

Training with Ana and Bails will be a treat, too - these chicks are so amazingly tough.  We had our first bodybuilding workout with Jamie yesterday (ow, my pecs!).  I'm going to have to work hard to keep up!  Bailey is the young'un in our group, with the least experience, but wow, the strength on her!  And Ana has been around a gym for ever - her legs are my inspiration.

Stay tuned for more fun.  This is week one of many to come...