3 Weeks 'Til Figure Competition -- Yikes!

We're getting down to the wire and I'm happy to report this week's results:

Bodyfat
14.9% (down 1.3%)

Weight
129.2 lbs. (down 5.0 lbs.)

Diet Changes
Morning snack is now 3 oz. chicken and 2 oz. sweet potato

Workout Changes
Cardio 65 min. 7x per week
Keep 45 seconds of plyometrics between sets

Here's what my diet now looks like:

Current Daily Diet

Breakfast (eaten before workout at 4:45am)- 5 egg whites, 4 oz. sweet potato

Post-workout (approx. 7am): - 3 oz. chicken, 2 oz. sweet potato

Lunch (noon-ish) - 6 oz. tilapia, 1 cup green veggies, 4 oz. sweet potato

Afternoon snack (3:30ish) - 3 oz. chicken, 12 almonds

Dinner (6pm)- 6 oz. tilapia, 8 oz. (2 cups) asparagus

Evening snack (9pm) - 4 oz. tilapia

I submitted my entry forms and fees for the April 27th show, and I'll finish the April 13th paperwork this weekend. Now it's starting to feel real.

After I even out my tan lines from my tanning booth mishap, I promise to post some pics. Until then, eat clean and train dirty!

3 Steps to Pain-Free Weight Loss and Healthy Body Image

Today's post is brought to you by Laura Fenamore. What’s more painful than chronic physical pain?

The pain that lives inside of us, that’s what. Can you imagine being 100 pounds overweight and living with all of the shame that goes along with that? Imagine the inability to buy a dress or the fear that goes with flying on an airplane at that size. Now, can you imagine losing all that weight and still coming up short? Still feeling deep inside that you are not good enough? Never believing for more than a few moments at a time, that you are beautiful and valuable?

Body image is how we see ourselves from the inside out, and losing weight doesn’t necessarily change this view in any real way. Interestingly, there are very few of us who don’t have a distortion in our “internal mirror.” Like the reflections in a funhouse, our image is out of whack. Obese people often live in eternal (and deadly) denial, and many times, thin people harm themselves with starvation, drug use, compulsive exercise, and purging. And there’s no easy fix to any of this. There’s no exiting the funhouse with a few laughs.

The simple truth is that getting out of that funhouse of distorted images starts with what we eat, how we live, and how we feel. It requires that we end our unhealthy love affair with self-criticism and create the room for self-care and self-esteem. And learn it and learn it and learn it some more. And if we cannot get it, we ask for help with that.

We can’t love ourselves and chastise ourselves at the same time. Well we can, and you tell me, how does that work for you? It’s got to be the whole shebang if we’re really going to change. And why not? Change is all around us. The world keeps revolving and WE need to move with it. Human beings are remarkable. We can survive. We have survived the most harmful of things. So, in honor of National Nutrition Month, why not tackle some of that pain inside of us?

Step 1: Start your day by remembering that you are both powerful and precious. On your knees, ask the power around you to remind you to love yourself today. Let every negative comment or thought simply float away. If you want peace, you must give up the idea of conflict entirely and all the time. This is now your new goal.

Step 2: Take the time to do loving things. How do you build self-esteem? You perform estimable acts. Let that materialize as loving actions toward yourself. We’re talking about the basics here – rest, good company, healthy food and nutrition, and physical movement. Those are the basics. How long since your day revolved around those things? Too long, I bet.

Step 3: Love is a two-way street. So treat yourself to time with those who love you. Cultivate a sense of childlike joy and run, skip, jump, climb, and play with those you love. Don’t deny yourself ice cream and other treats you enjoyed as a child. Just consider putting them in a fun Yum Yum Dish, so that you know you won’t overindulge.

The simple truth is that YOU have the right to be honored and comforted, fulfilled and LOVED today – from the inside AND the outside.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Author: Weight Release & Body Image Coach Laura Fenamore is on a mission to guide women around the world to love what they see in the mirror, one pinky at a time, so they can unlock the secrets to a healthy weight and start loving their lives as soon as possible. Laura is the author of the forthcoming book Weightless: 7 Tools to Love Your Body (and Lose Weight For Good) and a frequent contributor to local and national media – including First for Women, Ladies Home Journal, the Dr. Pat Show and blog contributor on Betty Confidential, Daily Love and Positively Positive. Laura believes that self-love and self-care is where the transformation begins. Learn more about her programs, invite her to speak or contribute to your program or conference at www.OnePinky.com.

Launch the New You: Tips to Losing Weight and Keeping It Off

To mix things up, I'm pleased to share a guest post with you from health and fitness expert Danny Russo:

February is here, which means one thing: most of us have already abandoned our new year’s resolutions.  It’s the same old story. We start off strong, but around Martin Luther King Day we fizzle out. During my Launch the New You Tour across America, I’ve had the opportunity to meet women of all ages, shapes and sizes. They all had one common goal: the desire to be thinner, firmer, stronger, and healthier—but most important, the desire to feel better about themselves!

Women deal with a lot of physiological variables that men don’t. Pregnancy, menstrual cycles, water retention, and hormone problems all the way up to, and including, menopause are just a few of the issues that women must address within their fitness program. Each individual woman is unique within herself.

In my 30 years in the weight loss business I have seen almost every type of diet and workout regime known to man (and woman). Most of them are fad diets. So how do you know what works? Listen up, ladies!

Food, Exercise and Water (FEW) are the key to your success. No funny workout tapes. No gimmicks. Just a stripped down plan that actually works. Think of FEW as a system. One can’t work without the other. But when combined, the possibilities are endless. For those of you women out there who have made a resolution to lose weight and keep it off, here are three steps to launch a new you:

1. Food: Start by eliminating three complex carbs from your diet. Pasta, rice and potatoes are good place to start. These foods are difficult for your body to breakdown. Not all women are the same so after 1-month, attempt to reintroduce these foods in your diet and measure the results as opposed to when you were not eating them. This is an excellent way for you to start learning how your body reacts to certain foods.

2. Exercise: Focus on squats, leg press, and leg extensions, all of which can do wonders for the sculpting of a woman’s body. Let’s face it, as a woman you’re concerned with different areas than men. A fitness routine for a male does not help you to achieve your goals. Squats, leg press, and leg extensions aim to flatten your abs, tighten your tush, and firm your thighs without the “bulking up” seen in most workout regimes designed for men. 

3. Water: Drink 20 ounces of water at the same time each day. Drinking by the clock is structure and timing. Your body reacts to that. Drink water before you exercise and a sports drink or chocolate milk after your workout. Keeping hydrated is one of the most important aspects to a fit and happy life.

What you take into your body has to go somewhere. It’s important to watch what you eat and be conscious of calories, acids, and sugars. Your intake is where you must start if you have the desire to be thinner, firmer, stronger, and healthier and to feel better about yourself!

Remember, you are unique and there’s no cookie-cutter plan out there that works for everyone. Find out what works for JUST YOU. Then get out there and launch the new you!

Health and Fitness Expert Danny Russo has been a fighter, Army Ranger, systems analyst, NFL strength trainer, bodybuilding coach and health club owner and manager. After decades training men, he turned his keen mind, bodybuilding expertise and motivational muscle to helping women achieve lifetime health and fitness. Over more than 30 years he developed and perfected FEW (Food, Exercise and Water) Fitness, a strength training, wellness and nutrition regime individualized to the health and fitness needs of each woman. Since 1995 this self-proclaimed "fitness evangelist" has taken his fitness seminars on the road to 1,000 cities across America. Danny teaches enthusiastic crowds of women how to become thinner, firmer, leaner, stronger and healthier while feeling great. Learn more at www.LaunchTheNewYou.com.