Motivation

The internet is full of inspirational, motivational messages and images about fitness.  I am a repeat offender when it comes to posting my favourites all over my wall and my twitter page.  Sometimes though, those messages seem to miss the mark.

A friend of mine posted this one today, and I've seen it before - and HATE it!  It makes it sound like we starve ourselves and work out and are generally miserable, all to punish ourselves based on comparisons to "skinny" roommates or self-loathing.

UGH!

I like MY version much better!

Remember - love what you can, when you can!

Mandy
xo

Mandy's Monday Menu - smooth it out!

Wow, how time flies!  Yet another Monday, and we're now 14 weeks out from competition!!

For now, I'm still working on the 1400 calorie per day menu, carb cycling 3 low and 1 high carb day.  Since I started using my spreadsheet food calculator religiously every day, I've really been making progress - it's amazing how far off of my nunbers I was without it - I was cheating myself out of about 400 calories per day by guessing, and BOY was I cranky!  Not only was I not making progress, I was a cranky, grumpy, moody mess!  Good thing I'm back on track now - after 7 days of really tracking and following my numbers to the letter, I'm down 4 pounds (likely of waterweight, but I'll take it!).  My water has been at 6L or more a day, and I even made a trip home for the weekend without falling off the wagon.

Today, rather than a "menu" I'm going to give you a recipe....I've been using this for the past week in preparation for today's spray tan at Dove Spa on Dundas West (which is ultmately in preparation for the final LFL Toronto Triumph cuts this Thursday).  The key to a nice, even spray tan is exfoliation!

I stumbled across this concoction on facebook one day, and forgive me, but I can't for the life of me remember who deserves the credit!  Either way though, this recipe is SUPER easy, and if you can keep yourself from eating it, you'll come out of the shower smelling freakin' delicous! (Just make sure you don't use this once you've gotten your spray tan - since it's oil based, it will ruin your tan.)

Ingredients:
Granular sugar
Coconut oil

Yup.  That's it!  I use them in basically a 2:1 ratio of sugar to oil, and you can make as much or as little as you want.  Toss the two ingredients in a bowl, mix well, making sure it's on the thick side - in warmer temperatures, the coconut oil gets REALLY liquid-y, and you'll be disappointed if you don't use enough of the sugar.

I like to make a big batch and put it in a cute, air tight container, and keep it by the bathtub.  You'll honestly come out super moisturized and smelling like coconut candy...it's ok to lick your lips!!

Love what you can, when you can!
Mandy
xo

Fresh Perspective Friday

Hi there, sportsfans!  Happy Friday to those of you who recognize the difference between the work-week and the weekend!

My apologies for being tardy on the posts this week; I had intended for the Monday Menu to address my seemingly constant cravings (...have allllllwaaaaaaayyys been.....try to get THAT song out of your head now!) for ice cream in this crazy hot weather - and then the ice cream maker broke.  I'm working on rectifying that situation, but in the meantime, I didn't think anyone would be especially enthralled by a post with multiple pictures of a plain ol' protein shake with ice blended into it!

Wednesday weigh-in was going to be a discussion about support systems, my struggle to have my family understand where I'm coming from in both my journey and desire to compete, as well as my concern over their so-called "healthy" diet and lifestyle.  My parents have been here all week "visiting"- my Mom is here on a training course, and my Dad and I have been working feverishly to get caught up on my house renovations. 

Alas, between the malfuntioning ice-cream maker, and the busy-ness of the renovation/gym/LFL/baseball schedule, my posts just never made it into the realm of being.

Before I head back outside to help my Dad with yet another project, I wanted to leave you with what may just be my new mantra.  My friend (whom I met through the social media site for gym rats, which I highly recommend, www.gymga.com) Shawn, posted on the book of faces just how grateful he is for the good things in his life - his wife, his kids, the baby on the way, his new-found relationship with his parents - the list goes on - but most hauntingly, the fact that he's even ALIVE today, living longer than he sometimes thinks he was meant to do.  He closed out his post, public to his friends - both from the interwebs, and from real life - with the following:

Everyone should try, when they can, to take a minute, even just one minute, to remember the things that keep them from hanging themselves. Your wife, your kids, your job, your family, your truck, your dog..... it doesn't matter. Life is overwhelming and sometimes impossible... love what you can when you can.

In my mind, that really resonates with the whole message that I'm hoping to spread to those who have touched MY life.  Life is not perfect, you may not be perfect, but there is always something to love.  When you can recognize those small things, always take a moment to cherish them, like savouring the last bite of the best dessert you've ever tasted.

With that, I will sign off for the first time with my NEW mantra.

LOVE WHAT YOU CAN, WHEN YOU CAN,
Mandy
xo

Wednesday Weigh-In: Let's Make a Deal!

How many times has the following scenario happened to you?

Set #1: Supposed to do 10 reps.  By rep #6, you've already convinced yourself that there's no way you'll get to ten, so you negotiate with yourself that you'll do 8 this set, and add 2 to the next set.

Set #2: This time, it should be 10 reps, PLUS the 2 extras that you skipped on last set; by rep 8, you're sure there's no way that even 10 will happen, so you quit early, and you'll DEFINITELY add another 2 to the next set.

Set #3: OK, this one will be huge.  In fact, maybe instead of doing 10 reps plus the extra 6, I'll just do another 8, and then an EXTRA set of 8......

Set #4:  Man, those first 3 sets were REALLY tough.  And it IS a low carb day, so I just don't have the same energy that I normally would have..............

Sound familiar?

I don't think I've met anyone who hasn't at one point or another tried to bargain with himself in a workout; some do it more than others.  When people are paying a trainer to push them, and help them "take it to the next level", it's not uncommon to hear extra reps being called out, or half reps - I don't know where trainers learn to count, but they ALL seem to either struggle, or count in fractions ("One...One and a quarter.....One and a HALFFFF"...) - and most of the time the client keeps pushing out reps until they physically can't do any more.  So where is that drive when we DON'T have that $65 an hour motivator?

When I was working my back the other day, I found myself bartering; that is, until I overheard somebody trying to cut a deal with his trainer.  I looked over, and thought to myself how silly of him to spend all of that money and try to cut corners...WAIT.  Maybe I don't spend the money on personal training, but I certainly spend the time in the gym, the money on supplements, and effort planning my meals (ok, Z does most of the latter, but there's still a lot of effort that goes into it!).  So why on Earth am I selling myself short?!

At that moment, I decided that every time I tried to make a deal, I would "Trainer Count" my reps or sets, and if I was really trying to haggle, I'd up the weights, too!  I ended up doing 4 sets of 12 reps of back extensions, instead of 3 x 10, and the last set I had to go and grab the 50# dumbbell because I was already using a 45# plate!  Was I happy to do them?  Not so much in the moment, but after the fact, I was proud that I didn't let myself quit.

Next time, I'm going to charge myself $65 for my advice...LOL!

Don't let yourself get away with making excuses.  Treat that voice in your head like it's your client, and make it do extra if it complains!  Of course, form is always a priority, but if you're cutting weights or reps because you're trying to negotiate less work for yourself, you're just not getting everything that you can out of your workout!

Love yourself, and PROVE IT!

Mandy
xo

Monday Menu: Treat Yourself!

Ahhh....Cheat meals.  Love 'em or...well, LOVE 'EM, I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't treat themself once in a while.  At the moment, I'm carb cycling on an 8 day cycle - high, low, low, low, high with a cheat meal, low, low, low.  Yes, that's right; I'm having a cheat meal every other high carb day.  Guess what today was?  The second high carb day!

A few years ago, I had given up on myself, or at least started making excuses for myself.  It was to the point that I was ordering a LOT of take out, mostly from the same Thai food place, and tipped the scales at over 150 pounds (which is a lot when you're 5'1").  When I moved into my new house in February of 2009, and was renovating the kitchen, I of course ordered dinner; when the delivery guy arrived and I opened the door, his face lit up and he said my old address....he had delivered to me there so many times that he immediately recognized me and knew my address by heart!  WOW, how embarassing!

Obviously, my eating habits have come a long way since then, but I was really excited about today's cheat meal at Friendly Thai!

Round one: APPETIZERS.  Veggie Spring Rolls.  An order of these is 2 full rolls.  I used to put back 2 orders in one sitting...they really are delicious though!

Round two: MAIN COURSE.  Luckily, I had my boyfriend with me for dinner, so we got to split a few dishes and get some of everything: Shrimp Curry Pad Thai, Green Curry Chicken with Coconut Rice, and Spicy Crispy Beef.  I didn't eat much of the beef, because I couldn't stop eating pad thai and curry chicken...


































Round three: ARE YOU KIDDING?  I was STUFFED!  I had intentions of going to Sweet Flour for dessert, but I couldn't possibly do it!  We had a pretty big doggy bag as it was!

I'm ready to go into my food coma, and I certainly won't be happy with the number on the scale in the morning, but the plan is that this will keep me on track the rest of the time.  Do you do scheduled cheat meals?  Does a cheat meal spiral out of control and turn into a whole cheat day?  How do you keep it honest??

Love yourself and prove it!
Mandy
xo

Weigh-in Wednesday: Hot Hot HOT!

Hot Yoga? That's for beginners.  With the insanely hot weather we're having (why are we always surprised when it's stupidly hot in July?), I'm here to start a new movement - Hot Weightlifting!

As Social Media lights up with posts about how horrifically hot it is outside, and how everyone just wants to sit in front of their air conditioning unit without moving, I've been doubling up on workouts.  Since I'm trying out for the Toronto Triumph - Toronto's own Lingerie Football League team- I've been keeping up with my usual 6 day a week workout cycle, and adding in the practices on top.  Saturday's LFL workout was a flight of about 100 stairs with 20 rep sets of squats, pushups and bench dips scattered in, and then sprinting and ladder drills.  Tonight's LFL workout was running drills and (finally!) hitting drills, which meant not just hitting, but also lifting and carrying our partners.  I would argue that this would be a sweaty workout even in the coolest conditions, but on days like today, and in a facility without air conditioning, we got a serious sweat on.

Even in the gym, where there is supposedly A/C, it is H-O-T.  As miserable as it seems, I know that I personally feel like I've been FAR more productive than usual.  By the end of my workout, not only have I sweat more, but I've found a little extra work buried deep in my muscles!  In heat like this, the muscles are warm with minimal effort, which in my mind makes for ideal conditions to push them further and move more weight! 

So in the summer months when everyone else is on a patio, downing cold one after cold one, are you in the gym upping your maxes, or are you off worshipping the sun at the family cottage?  I HIGHLY recommend taking advantage of the sweat factor!

Love yourself, and prove it!
xo
Mandy

Monday Menu - HIGH carb days

I spoke to my Mom on the phone this morning, and she's up North visiting my Grandparents.  Whý would you care about that?  Well APPARENTLY, my Grandmother was quite concerned about my health; my uncle had seen my picture on Facebook, and was worried at how thin my face was looking, and was CERTAIN that I had become anorexic.  My Mom laughed, and suggested that at 135 pounds, I could hardly be considered anorexic (I can't wait to hear her opinion when I drop down closer to competition weight - will she be so quick to defend me then? I guess we'll see!).

So in honour of my supposedly obvious eating disorder, I felt that for this week's Monday Menu, it was only appropriate that I dedicate it to HIGH CARB DAY!  After 3 low carb days, I treat myself to the following macros: 130g of protein, 30g of fat, and (drumroll please!) 150g of carbs!

Breakfast: 1/2cup of Creamy Brown Rice with cinnamon, 4 egg whites, cooked in coconut oil

Snack #1: 1/2oz almonds, 1 apple

Lunch #1: 4oz outside round beef, 80g Yam/Sweet Potato, 2 cups raw broccoli, washed down with a shot of Progressive fish oil (1 TBSP)

Lunch #2: 4oz ouside round beef, 80g Yam/Sweet Potato, 1/2 cucumber, shot of Progressive fish oil

Snack #2 (post workout): protein shake w/1.75 scoops protein powder, mixed with water, 112g frozen raspnerries, 1 scoop Progressive vegegreens

Dinner: 4oz outside round beef, shot of Progressive fish oil

This is a non-cheat meal High carb day.  When it's a cheat meal day, I basically eat the same as above (but with whatever protein my boyfriend has cooked for me that day; chicken, pork, beef), but add my cheat meal in place of one of the two lunches or dinner, and really make it count!  Think cheeseburger with all the fixin's, sweet potatoe fries and a milkshake or a custom cookie from Sweet Flour (if you haven't tried this, DO IT.  NOW.)

I specified that the fish oil that I take shots of is made by Progressive, because I haven't had fish oil like it before... It's not just fish oil with vitamin D - it has a citrus flavour that makes the taste palatable, and the aftertaste is like you've just eaten a creamsicle.  If you're new to taking large amounts of fish oil, you'll definitely have "fish burps" until you adjust; this citrus flavour makes those far more manageable!

It's quite upsetting to me that someone would accuse me (or anyone) of having an eating disorder based on appearance.  Making lifestyle changes is difficult enough without assumptions being made that you are hurting your body/health.  I have several friends who struggle with the same accusations, and wish that people would ask more questions instead of jumping to conclusions.  I would suggest that the same people who are assuming that WE are being unhealthy likely need to re-evaluate their own nutrition, and their definition of what's "healthy".

Not everyone will be supportive of changes that you make to your lifestyle. It's up to you to love yourself, and make the choices that PROVE IT!

xo
Mandy