‘Twas the night before, before Christmas

I wrote this a few days ago, and I was honestly afraid to post it. But now maybe because it is New Years Eve, I need to get over it. I need to get over my fears.

“Stop and Remember: Whatever is going on in your mind, you are attracting.”

So, with that said I am not attracting the negative. I am done with extremes and I am ready to move on. Here is my post from the other night. Enjoy!

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I have so much to say but don’t know where to start…bullet points, that might work!

• What a year!! Let’s be done with it 😉
• Completed my first Figure Show
• Hired a new coach, to do another show? I don’t know?
• Went off the rails – LOL – yup!

Let’s go with the last point because that is the what is hitting me NOW! The days leading up the Christmas have gotten progressively worse. Everyday and extra bite of something. I had told my new coach (see third point) that I only know extremes – extreme highs and extreme lows – I don’t know where the middle of the road is. There is no grey in my life, just black and white.

She gave me a meal plan, and a workout plan for December. This is off season, no show in mind yet for 2015. We need to work on some areas and we are slowly increase my food and decreasing all the cardio.

The weeks leading up to my show, which was November 8, 2014, I was doing 1hr20mins cardio and my carbs and fats were at a record low. I was doing what I though was needed to get me on stage. And I did, I stepped on stage that day very proud of my accomplishments! I didn’t have a care in the world, 1st, 5th or 10th it didn’t matter. It was the experience backstage, on stage and the Boston Pizza foodathon that followed. It was my Dad’s waffles for breakfast the next day and candy and pizza and whatever I wanted.

Is that the way it should be done, no probably not but I didn’t care – I had put in the work for 16 weeks to get myself down to a record low of 145lbs and 12% body fat. Never in my life had I felt so small, but so powerful. I felt beautiful and ugly at the same time. It was, and still is a whirl win of emotions.

So, what brings me to today? I just feel huge, and I haven’t even had Christmas dinner. But I can’t stop myself. It is like this is the last time I will have these items that I am craving?!? I am having a hard time allowing myself little pleasures, I just resort to extremes.

I have come full circle

It was a year ago today that I received an email from my (now former) boss to see her first thing Monday morning when I arrived. I had no idea what was about to happen. I could never imagined the hell I would go through that day, the next day and the months that followed.

Fast forward a year, Nov 30, 2014 – WOW – what I have accomplished over the last year. First I won the fight, then I landed on my feet. Quickly after I started to get serious about my training. I stayed focused for 9 months, focused on the journey, the stage, the process. I had my ups and downs, my highs and lows. But if I could get through this last year and end up a better, stronger person – I am unstoppable.

I don’t know what is next for me, but I like the feeling of choice and the ability to make a decision that best suits me. There will be more change in the next few months, but not forced change.

Dec 2, 2013 was one of the worst days of my life, but after they beat me down, but man did I GET UP!

Saje Crave Away

I LOVE the SAje Natural Wellness store! My sister-in-law introduced me last fall when we were downtown Vancouver. I had seen it before, but never been in one.

Now I own, 3 Nebulizers and a variety of difference essential oils. We use one in our master bedroom, one in the kitchen and another in my son’s bedroom.

The last time I was in, I came across a new product that I hadn’t seen before. Crave Away which is an essential oil that helps to deal with food cravings – Sign me UP!

“A wholistic way to transform your relationship with food and support balanced eating habits. Inhale deeply an essential oil blend of pleasant food aromas to signal contentment to the brain and satiation to the body. The sweet aroma of benzoin and the licorice spice fragrance of fennel blend to calm the nervous system, minimize emotional eating, and prevent overindulgence.”

I smells amazing, and I now keep it in my purse so that I can grab it quick and inhale deeply when I feel a craving coming on. You can also dab a bit on your wrist, and smell when needed – I do this in the car 🙂

 

 

7w 1d – let the mind games begin!

It has been a weird week, I was explaining to a friend of mine this morning that I have been coming home after work and questioning if I cheated on my meal plan that day?!? I have to stop and really think about it. I know I didn’t but my mind is playing tricks on me. I have been taking a break from the office daily to grab a coffee, or go for a drive and every time I think – hmm I should get a treat. One cookie, doughnut or pack of Twizzlers is not going to kill me. I don’t act on these thoughts, I order my black coffee and go but for some reason my brain thinks maybe I did!

Each time I have these thoughts, I make a choice. My choice is not to give into my temptations. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, I am not depriving myself of food – no one needs doughnuts. I choose to fill myself up with vegetables, protein and good carbs.

 

There is a lot going on in my life right now, between work and home. We have decided to sell our house in the middle of my prep, smart – probably not but it is time and needs to be done. Will it throw off my prep? Maybe! But I will try my best not to let it. I will keep focused on my prep and hopefully everything else will fall into place. This show gives me something to focus on, to take my mind away from all the realities of life. Because I know that what I am doing is not reality, it is a dream. A dream that will come true, but then fade away.

 

How do you weigh your food?

I discovered something interesting this past weekend that got me thinking!?! I use yams or sweet potatoes for one of my starchy carbs during my day and the amount changes weekly. This particular day I needed 108g of yams/sweet potato. I normally have been taking the easy (lazy) way to cook them and putting them into my slow cooker when I cook my meats. When I weigh them out I get about 2-3 1″x1″ cubes – hardly enough to even count! And trust me some days I think “what is the point!” but as the weeks go on I will take every gram I can get.

This time, I used my new fancy Spiral Vegetable Slicer to make sweet potato curly fries. I was super excited and I believe I used 2 small sweet potatoes to fill a baking tray. I popped them into the oven for about 10 mins, watching carefully because they cut very thin. When I took them out to weigh them, to my surprise the WHOLE tray weighed 107g. How could this be??

 

Yes, it was too good to be true – but luckily I found that out AFTER I ate them – LOL! I thought that maybe I had weighed them wrong before – out of the slow cooker with all the extra moisture. But no sadly, that is the correct way to weigh them and the way I had done it in the oven dehydrates them so the macros would be as if you are eating the whole sweet potato – obviously right?!!

Here is an article I came across that explains it as well – The Right Weigh and the Wrong Weigh: Should Food be Measured Before or After Cooking?

Oh gosh, I hope my Mom doesn’t read this! Hasn’t she taught me anything! And geez my husband too, I can see his head shaking already….oh well! Learn something new everyday I say!

Fast approaching 8 weeks

At night is when I question this process the most. I guess because I have time to think about it.

Normally, my day is so busy, I focus more on remembering to eat than think about the why? I don’t question so much the program, the workouts, food or supplements; after all I go to reputable people who have been in this industry for 20+ years and I trust them. I think it is “how is my body going to get there in that amount of time?”

I am approaching 8 weeks out from competition and to some that sounds like a long time; 8 weeks, 2 months, 60 days. A lot can happen in that time! I think what I have learned so far is that it goes in waves, highs, lows and plateaus. Your body either reacts or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t you change, modify and continue on.

I am so curious to see what the next 8 weeks brings and what my “package” will look like.

 

And its 8w 4d – Can’t miss a beat!

I feel like my world revolves around the gym and food right now, and really it kind of does. But there is more to life, and I know that. Monday was a prime example of how days go sideways and sometimes you just have to roll with it.

The morning routine at our house right now is gym for me first, alarm goes off at 4:10am and I get up to get ready and be at the gym (sometimes pounding at the door) at 5am. I have to be home by 7am for my husband to switch with me – 2 year olds can’t watch themselves – and then I try to shower and get ready before the rugrat gets up around 7:30am.

Monday morning I could only do my 1hr cardio because I needed to be at work early to leave early and pick up my car getting fixed. GET ON WITH IT ALREADY RIGHT!??! Well that left me to do my weights at night.

I got all my meals in during the day, had a shake when I got home, picked up my car, had supper and then headed to the gym around 8:00pm. This way the kid is down and hubby can relax. But holy cow I forgot that the gym turns into a night club after dark! I was supposed to do legs but heck no was I going to attempt that. I ended up securing a cable and went to work on back and biceps.

I managed to do;

Straight Arm Lat Pulldown

Lat Pulldown (wide grip)

Cable Double Bicep

Bicep Cable Curl

Seated Row

Barbell Curl

I was home by about 9pm and had my last meal of the day – protein and water, made into a cake. I don’t think I fell asleep until past 10pm which is super late for me! So, 4:10am Tuesday morning was SUPER early.

Sunday Funday!

I am officially 9 weeks out from my first competition and this is where it starts to get interesting. My week consists of workouts (5 days of weights and 7 days cardio), food prep, meeting with my coach, posing class and then all the normal things like being a wife, mom and employee.

This Sunday was no different, except that this is the only day that I don’t set an alarm! I had my breakfast before hitting the gym, egg white pancakes – YUM! Then it was off to the gym around 9:00am on the agenda was triceps and cardio, I have 1:20 of cardio to do on the weekends.

As soon as I get home, its a shake and then a Gatorade, this is part of my meal plan as per my coach. We had plans to go out that day so food prep was super important. I ate my 3rd meal in the car…

Ground Turkey Quinoa Salad

I spent the next 4 hours touring around Granville Island with my husband, son and friends. I managed to consume only a coffee in that time period and I had my next meal waiting for me in the car on ice! It was turkey, cabbage and mustard – a staple right now.

Dinner was up next almost as soon as we got home. My go to right now is stir-fry, it simple and tasty!

Now keep in mind, I have a two year old so in between all of this he would like my undivided attention. I don’t remember if he ate his dinner, probably not, but he most likely stole off my perfectly portioned plate of food! After bath, stories and cuddles he normally goes down around 8pm. Then I get to get creative with my select ingredients for my last meal of the day. Tonight, I wanted to try something a little different than my normal protein lava cake so I made FROSTED protein cake!

I think my head hit the pillow around 9:30pm, my alarm goes off at 4:10am…you can read all about that tomorrow!

 

Protein Frosted Vanilla Pumpkin Pie Cake

This is very similar to my Chocolate Protein Lava Cake except this time I made sure I could pop the cake out of the dish it cooked in and then I made protein frosting to go on top!

Started out with my ingredients – vanilla protein powder, xanthan gum and pumpkin pie spice

I mixed those all together in a dish, then added just enough water to make it doughy. Sprayed another dish with PAM and then poured in my batter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it went into the microwave for about a minute. Depending on if you want the whole thing cooked through, mine still ended up a little runny in the middle.

This time I made frosting – about 1/3 of my scoop of protein for the frosting, a little bit of xanthan gum and just enough water to mix it.

And then I frosted my cake. I added a dusting of cocoa powder to finish it off and it was great! Nice little change to the normal.

Miracle Noodles

Have you tried these yet? I found them at my local Choices Market, but you can get them at a Low-Carb store as well. There are a few different flavours and I tried them all. Super good to add to stir-fry, which is my nightly ritual – just can’t get sick of it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooking Instructions

• Open the bag and rinse thoroughly with cold water for 30-60 seconds.
• Boil Noodle for one minute
• Put noodles in pan, heat until dry, and then add to a stir-fry or any countless other number of recipes. That’s it! Enjoy!