Summer is All About Trying to Stay Focused...and Having FUN!

I'm soooo sorry it's been way too long since I've posted an update. It always amazes me how life just seems to go in so many different directions. It's all good, though. Since my April show, I've been super busy (haven't we all) between the kids finishing up their school year, me celebrating my 40th birthday *gasp*, traveling, and most importantly, trying to maintain my leanness and keep working out like crazy.

I've been meeting regularly with Jodi, and at our last meeting I was at 17%. Mind you, that was after a week in Napa Valley (my hubby's 40th present to me). I tried to enjoy myself, while also being cognizant of what I was taking in and burning off. Needless to say, I was over the moon over gaining just 1% bodyfat. Whew!

But now I'm taking an entire month off from working out and clean eating is my only solace. Those close to me know why I made this decision. I'll restart my gym workouts very soon. But it feels good to come back from vacation and dive right into structured, clean eating. I'll be challenged again in a week when we head to Cape May for a family vacation with the kids (we didn't take them to Napa....yes, it was a true vacation. LOL!) I plan on preparing ahead and making as many of my own meals as I can. Luckily we're renting a cottage, so I have access to a kitchen.

I think it's so incredibly important to find a balance between staying in shape and enjoying life. For me, I love having the confidence to look good in a bikini, which makes summer less stressful. That alone motivates me to eat clean. Plus, the summer offers an abundance of veggies to try out different recipes. Between my husband's garden and the farm share we belong to, I've had the chance to try vegetables I've never even heard of, let alone eaten. For example, kohlrabi came in our farm delivery. It's a cross between a turnip and cabbage. It has the consistency of a turnip and tastes like cabbage. My husband found a great cucumber/kohlrabi recipe that was so refreshing and perfect for summer. (I'm trying to hunt it down and will share it as soon as I find it.)

Now I want to know how the summer affects your workout and diets. Do you go completely off and just enjoy all the summer has to offer, or are you more focused than ever on making sure your bikini looks fabulous?

Until next time, eat clean and train dirty!

Pack and Plan to Keep Your Family Eating Healthy

We Fit Mommas want our families to eat clean right along with us. That's why I think you'll enjoy this guest post from Dave and Carrie Woodward of BodyEvolution.com:

One of the challenges we all face is how to keep our kids and family eating healthy, especially for those of us always on the go. Here are some tips we have found that can make staying fit and healthy fun and convenient:

1.     Start the day right. When you know you are going to be on the go all day, be sure to start with a healthy breakfast. Avoid sugary cereals. Eggs with an additional protein are great. Try cooking up the ingredients for breakfast burritos the night before. This way you can just warm up the tortillas and put them together first thing in the morning. Ideally, be sure everyone has at least 20 grams of protein for breakfast before they head out the door. The protein will help family members feel full longer and avoid morning sugar spikes and cravings.

2.     Pack healthy snacks to take with you. Keep a cooler in the car filled with bottles of water, protein bars, nuts, carrots, peppers or other healthy vegetables. Bring along sandwiches so you can have a picnic on the go. Families get hungry, especially running from place to place, so make it fun and have pre-made snacks with you. It will cut down on fast food and save you money.

3.     Don’t over-schedule yourself or the kids.  It is okay to say, “We just can’t make it.” Too often we get caught up in trying to do everything. Reduce the stress by saying no to some activities so you can enjoy the activities that you do choose.

4.     Have your kids help with the cooking. At first you may feel this will add more stress. Yet cooking with your kids gives you a great opportunity to teach them how to make healthy substitutions to lower the calories and fat in some of their favorite foods. Try using skim milk instead of whole milk, chicken broth instead of oil and egg whites instead of whole eggs.

5.     Eat until you’re satisfied, not stuffed. Too often we overeat because we are not sure when the next meal will come. Teach your kids about portion control. And enjoy the social aspect of eating together without overindulging.

Following these tips can help make planning and preparing meals and snacks a family activity. Your kids will remember these times together, and they will learn skills they can use to stay healthy and share with their own families when they grow up.

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About the Authors: Husband and wife fitness experts Dave and Carrie Woodward are creators of BodyEvolution.com, a holistic system available for $37 online to help people make lifestyle changes to lose weight and keep it off. Carrie, 40, is an Elite marathon runner who has run in the Boston and New York marathons. As a group exercise instructor she teaches everything from Yoga to kick boxing, step cardio, spinning classes and a host of others. She holds a degree in Exercise Science and Health Promotion. Dave has a master's degree in Exercise Physiology. He completed his master's thesis on hydrostatic weighing and body composition, minored in psychology and loves to teach. He has taught everything from college level courses in anatomy and physiology to working with youth football and soccer teams teaching the fundamentals of the sports and the importance of sportsmanship. A self-described "adrenaline junkie" Dave enjoys skydiving, scuba diving, rock climbing and anything fast or exhilarating. Dave and Carrie are the parents of four boys and live in Southern California. Learn more at www.BodyEvolution.com.

Summer's Almost Here...Maintenance Plan Time

My apologies for slacking off and not keeping you up-to-date on what's been going on.

One of my goals this year was to maintain my leanness and not fall back into back habits (i.e., regain all the bodyfat I worked so hard to lose). Right after my show, I took one day off from working out, but kept my diet plan going. I signed up with Jodi for another 12 weeks with the goal of getting to 14-15% bodyfat and maintaining it until I was ready for the next show. (At this point, I'm not sure if it will be Oct. 2013 or April 2014). Regardless, I need someone to hold me accountable when it comes to eating.

Well, it's June 20, and I've successfully maintained 14% bodyfat and approx. 130 pounds. Each week, Jodi adds food and takes away cardio. Here is my current diet and workout routine:

Breakfast (pre-workout): 5 egg whites + 1/3 cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup berries
Morning Snack (post-workout): 1.5 scoops protein powder
Lunch: 3oz. protein + 1/2 cup brown rice (or other whole grain) + 4 oz. veggies
Afternoon Snack: 1 scoop protein + 1 tbsp peanut butter
Dinner: 3 oz. protein + 1/2 cup brown rice + 8 oz. veggies

Evening snack: 1 scoop protein powder

The beauty of this maintenance plan is the ability to substitute a variety of foods. I'm at around 1,600 calories. Each snack or meal is 200-300 calories. So I can have a protein bar, rice cake w/ peanut butter, or other combinations that keep me in that calorie range and similar type of food (protein, carb, fat).

In terms of working out, I'm now doing 35 minutes of steady-state cardio 5x per week. I work one muscle group each day, 6 days per week. She'll continue to decrease my cardio until I'm closer to 20 minutes per day.

When it comes to supplements, I'm pretty much still taking what I always have, minus the fat burners. I take everything with breakfast. (Yes, I know I should be taking them throughout the day. I try to be stricter when I'm training for a show.) Here is the list:

- Pre-workout (Jack'd)
- Glutamine + BCAAs (Beverly Int'l)
- BCAAs (Optimum Nutrition)
- Fish Oil
- CLA
- Vitamin C
- B-12
- Hair, Skin & Nails supplement
- Multivitamin

I'm trying a new protein powder called Core Nutritionals. According to Jodi, it's high quality and great for making muscle gains. I've already gained 1.5 pounds of muscle since my show, and the chocolate Core post-workout protein is soooo yummy!!

That's all for now. Here's to eating clean and training dirty!

Post-Contest -- What Happens Now?

If you remember my show last year, I couldn't wait to go back to "normal" eating. Well, that eating led me right back to 25% bodyfat. I was so thrilled with my bodyfat level and how good I looked, I just couldn't bear the thought of going back.

Needless to say, I signed back up with Jodi for another 12 weeks. My goal -- get back to 15% bodyfat and maintain it. I'm also looking at doing another show in October in the Bikini Division. Since that category is a bit softer than Figure, I most likely wouldn't have to diet down so hard.

Mondays are my Jodi days, so here's this week's update:

I weigh 126.4 (less than show time) and 11.8% bodyfat. Here is my diet:

Diet
Pre-workout/Breakfast -- 5 egg whites + 3 oz. sweet pot
Post-workout/AM Snack -- protein shake
Lunch -- 5 oz. tilapia + 2 cups veggies (can be anything like cauli, brocc, zucch, etc)
PM Snack -- 3oz. chicken + 3 oz. sweet pot
Dinner -- 3 oz. chicken + 2 cups veggies
Night Snack -- 3 oz. chicken

Workouts
Cardio -- 60 min./ 6x week (no plyos, no intervals -- steady state only)
Weights -- back to going heavy

I'm contemplating joining a proper gym. While I adore the gym in my basement, I'm running out of weights/plates. I also belong to a gym where I work, but they literally have three leg machines -- leg press, leg extension and leg curl. I want access to a variety of exercises so I can really up my game.

I asked Jodi for her feedback as a judge (and I'll be getting the other judges' feedback since the show promoter sent me their email addresses). She wants me to gain 10 pounds of muscle. Not sure how I feel about that. I definitely need more muscle mass, but as a woman, it's difficult to think about gaining weight.

I just received my official show photos, so as promised, here you go:

One Week Out & Final Show

My apologies for skipping a week. I had all these great intentions of posting, but between work, workouts, kids sports, and a host of other things, it was like I had monkey wrenches flying at my head all week. On top of depleting, I'm surprised I even know my name anymore. LOL!!

One Week Out
I met with Jodi the Monday before the Saturday, April 27 show, so it was actually less than a week. I weighed in at 128.8 lbs. (down 1.2 lbs.) and bodyfat was 10.1% (down almost 2%!!!!) She tweaked my diet, and my workouts were ending:

Diet

• Monday's night snack changed from 3 oz. of chicken to 3 egg whites.
• Wednesday's breakfast was now 4 oz. tilapia (no more egg whites...buh-bye favorite pancakes).
• No condiments, spices or gum (i.e., the start of Allison's 72-hour hell...you can take my food, but don't take my gum!!!

Workouts

• The Friday before (Apr. 17, 10 days out) was my last leg workout.
• Continued one-minute plyometrics in between sets.
• Wednesday, April 24, was my last workout (weights and cardio)

I began taking Expel (i.e., depleting) on Wednesday, which also meant drinking one gallon of distilled water Wed. and Thurs., and half a gallon on Friday. Friday at 5pm, I stopped drinking anything.

Friday
I definitely tried to pack too many things into the day before the show (note to self). I really wanted to take the day off, but things were so crazy at work that I couldn't. I had a mani/pedi scheduled, still needed to pack, practice posing, and, most importantly, get hand-tanned by Jodi and check in one last time. Jodi won't weigh or measure the day before a show. Most of the weight lost is water and she doesn't like to get caught up in the numbers. She can read bodyfat by just looking. She guessed me at "high 8s", so I'm going with 8.8%. LOL! It's definitely lower than last time when I came in at 9.5%.

My instructions for Friday and Saturday included some unexpected treats. Friday dinner was 3 oz. chicken and 8 oz. asparagus. My evening snack was 2 oz. of cooked lean beef (or 3 oz. raw). WOOHOO!!! I did weight myelf when I got home out of curiosity, and I was at 126.5. I think that's the lowest I've been since 11th grade. LOL!! My weight measured 26 inches.

Saturday -- Show Time
Boy, did I miss coffee on Saurday morning!! Good thing I packed lots of Excedrin and Advil.

Here's what I ate the day of the show (although the pre-judging and finals timing threw me for a loop):

• 4 oz. tilapia, 4 oz. sweet potato
• 4 egg whites, 4 oz. asparagus
• 2 oz. beef, 4 oz. asparagus, 2 oz. sweet potato
• 3 oz. chicken, 3 oz. sweet potato

As I mentioned, the show was in Burlington, NJ. My good friend, Janine, who graciously joined me as my trainer backstage, trekked over 90 minutes to attend. It was such an organized, well-run show -- what a nice surprise. You knew what time you were going on, no surprises. Lots of room backstage. I loved every aspect.

I entered two categories -- Novice and Open. Drum roll please...I won 4th place in the Novice group!!! I was on cloud nine all weekend. Even the T-walk, which I was so nervous about, was easy-peasy. I just loved every minute of it.
 
Final Thoughts
I honestly can't believe I placed. It was a very large show, and the other girls blew me away. They were gorgeous with bodies to match. But everyone is so friendly and approachable. I love the sportmanship of the sport and I'm really excited to do it again. And yes, I am thinking about doing another show. I may test out the bikini category, even though I just love the muscular look.

One important lesson I learned, there is no off season. You have to embrace this as a lifestyle, not I'm on/off my competition diet. It was incredibly hard for me to get to this point, much harder than last time. And I'll be damned if DQ is going to mess it up. LOL!!

That said, I did go out for a celebratory meal afterwards. Janine, my parents, my mother-in-law and I all went to Friendly's. I had an awesome burger and an even better Oreo ice cream treat. Plus, my family insisted the staff sing "The Trophy Song." What a great way to end an awesome day!!!!

NOTE: Having some technical issues. I promise to post pictures very soon!