Perspective...and other weighty issues

We've all heard the ol' "muscle weighs more than fat" argument.  Usually, it's coming out of the mouth of someone who is overweight, and for whatever reason, this simple concept is misinterpreted time and time again.

So before I get into the main subject of my post, I'd like to try to clear the air.

1 POUND of anything weighs the same and 1 POUND of anything else.  Seriously.  1 pound of muscle weighs a pound, and so does a pound of fat.  The difference is in VOLUME.  1 pound of muscle takes up less space than 1 pound of fat, because muscle is more dense.  Get it together people, it's not a difficult concept!

Phew!

The reason I felt compelled to address this common misconception is that in the last 24 hours, I've had two very different conversations about my weight; one with my Mother, and one with a coworker, both of whom have just returned from their respective vacations.

I dropped my parents off at the airport a month ago, and they arrived back in Canada yesterday.  Aside from their lovely, dark tans (where did I miss out on THAT gene?), it was clear that they'd had a great vacation due to their weight gain.  I poked at my Mom about it, and she made a bunch of excuses about how "healthily" they ate, and how much walking they did...but I wasn't buying it.  In an obvious attempt at misdirection, my Mom pointed out that I'd lost weight.  Not true!  My weight this morning is a measly 0.6 pounds HIGHER than it was the day they left.

A week ago, one of my coworkers left for vacation.  He too was sporting a nice, deep tan, and a few extra pounds.  He looked at me at lunch today and said "you've gained about 5 pounds since I left, haven't you?" While most people would have smacked him, I know that his wife is very into fitness, so I took it as a compliment without hesitation.

So my Mom thinks I've lost weight, and that's a compliment, and my coworker thinks I've gained weight, and THAT's a compliment... and I took both of them as positives.  It's funny how perspective can bend our truth, isn't it?

Whether it's 5 pounds of fat, or 5 pounds of muscle, remember to love what you can, when you can!

Mandy
xo

It's not a too-mah (Arnold Classic 2013)

On March 2nd, I got to cross one of my 30-before-30 goals off of my list: I met a handful of my BAM girls!

I flew down to Columbus, Ohio to take in the Arnold Classic 2013 expo.  I was greeted at the airport by two of my favourite people whom I had never met in person, Jill and Shannon.  From the very first second, these girls were a RIOT!  Once we finally made our way out of the airport (which took about 30 minutes, even with "you can't miss it" directions), we got to the hotel and had our first ever slumber party.  Too many jokes to even begin to explain our evening here...

First thing Saturday morning, we were up and taking advantage of the hotel breakfast buffet - scrambled eggs and oatmeal for all - and then off to the Convention Centre for the main event.  Ok, so it wasn't really the main event, it was the expo, but for our purposes it was EVERYTHING - meeting the rest of our girls (Rachel, Cari & Megghan), getting some face time with our mutual idol, Jamie Eason, and really just taking in the whole experience.

Once we found our parking lot (Shannon and Jill are TERRIBLE with directions! lol), we said a quick hello to Rachel at the bodybuilding.com booth, but they were VERY busy, so we decided to do a tour after a quick hug.  We struggled to get around - it was insanely busy! - but eventually made it to the back of the convention hall, where some of the amateur competitions were going on.  WOW were these girls amazing!  First it was the amateur figure competitors... 

...and then the amateur bikini competitors.  WOW.  Some of these girls had far more muscle than I expected for bikini!

We rounded up the crew and got in line to meet Jamie Eason.  She's about 5 months pregnant, and totally adorable.  One of the girls had made an extra "Beauty and Muscle" shirt for Jamie, since she was the one who brought us all together in the first place.  She was so gracious and kind, and tried to take as much time with each of us as she could, despite the guys running the booth rushing everyone through (this girl is in demand!  Everyone wanted to see her!)  What an absolute pleasure!

The rest of the day was spent navigating the other booths at the expo.  I put on a clinic at the Fat Gripz booth (HA!  Deadlifted 205 without the Fat Gripz no problem, but forget it with them!  I need to get a set!)

Also got to meet the lovely Amanda Adams of Oh Yeah! and she complimented me on my hair.  Cari got a more generic autograph, but we figure that's because it was obvious that she had no idea who Amanda was. LOL.

The Vitamin Shoppe had a cool photo-op set up, so of course we got in on that action


And we did the same at the GNC booth!

We hit up North Market for some yummy lunch

And had Mexican for our 'family' dinner.

I caught a ride with the bb.com crew to an after party that night, and danced the night away at MegaBash, where I met the guys from PrOATein - go figure, I go to Ohio, and end up partying with people from Toronto!

A quick 20 minute nap, and I was off to the airport to head home.  It all went so quickly, and I wish I could have had more time with my girls!  We all agreed that next year, we're doing the Sunday - Saturday was INSANE, and there were way more freebies given out on Sunday according to Rachel who was there the whole time.   


I can't want to do it all again next year, and I know I'll see my girls again before that!

Mandy
xo

Ketchup (not just a sugar-filled, tomato-based condiment)

Once again, I’ve been a BAD blogger.  I’ve left you, my faithful (10) followers hanging without your fill of stories, anecdotes, updates and to-do lists for far too long.

 

Exciting things that have happened since we last hung out:

 

·         I spent the holidays in Orlando, Florida with a friend.  Totally opted out of the whole holiday thing in the traditional sense.  Christmas dinner was a Chicken & veggie pizza from Pizza Hut.  Seriously.  Then one day, we walked 7 miles in each direction just to get Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.  Uphill.  Both ways. (ok, maybe not that last part.  But 7 miles for real!)

·         My (first) 29th birthday!  Hilarious stories with our newest ‘single serving’ friends from Iowa, and my new imaginary husband.

·         A new workout program!  WOO!

·         Me, dating.  A LOT.

·         Me, getting exhausted with dating!  Lol

·         Setting my ex up with a dating blogger.  Yeah, that happened, and it was awesome.

·         The Superbowl – Go Ravens!

·         Valentine’s day…..xoxo

·         Made plans to go to the Arnold Sport Festival 2013 – and meet a handful of my BAM girls!

 

The holidays were great.  I spent December 23rd with my parents and opened gifts.  As always, they were incredibly generous…highlights include a new watch – solar powered, so I’ll never have to replace a battery (or stop wearing a watch because I’m too lazy to replace a battery) – a bottle brush (hallelujah! They finally get it!), and a collapsible funnel.  LOL  I love my family.  Hopped on  a plane early on the 24th, and spent the following 9 days in warmer weather than my family and friends.  No holiday decorations, no tree, no nothing.  Just my bikini, and nice long walks every day.  And Pizza Hut for Christmas dinner.

 

New Year’s Eve, we sat in the hot tub with a group of fun strangers until about 11:00pm when the pool closed, then raced to the room, got all prettied up, and went to the resort restaurant bar.  We met a couple of brothers from Iowa (Hi guys!), and sat at the bar with our drinks, exchanging stories.  At midnight, we threw napkins like confetti, then crashed a private party down the hall.  This big, Italian family was celebrating their Matriarch’s 70th birthday, so we were instantly friends, OBVIOUSLY. 

 

Once I was finally all pizza’d out and back on home turf, it was time to get dialed in for a new program.  I took my (admittedly intentionally slightly embarrassing) “Before” pictures, and signed up for a couple of challenges.  One was the www.bodybuilding.com $100k Transformation Challenge, and the other was the James Wilson 12 week challenge.  I purchased the training program from James, and have been following faithfully ever since.  It’s a big change from the way I typically work out, with a lot of circuit work and super-duper-sets with very short rest times, and full body focus rather than muscle group specific work each day of the week.  I’ve seen some significant muscle gains, and plan to spend the next 6 weeks leaning out little by little – to look awesome in my bridesmaid dress for my best friend’s wedding in Mexico in April!

 

With the New Year, and a new program came a new focus: dating.  Partly as a journey of self-discovery, partly because, well, who doesn’t want a partner in crime?  Yes, I had an online profile.  Yes, I met some STRAAAANGE characters.  I went on some really bad dates, some really good ones, met good guys, weird guys, and even not-so-good guys.  At one point, I was going on THREE OR MORE dates EVERY WEEKEND!  It quickly grew exhausting, and I’ve since narrowed things down to a more manageable number of really great guys.  I’m in the process of getting to know them better, and eventually will let my guard down and move onto relationships, but for now I’m comfortable where I am.  Just trying to be as aware of all of the feelings involved as I can.  The last thing I want to do is break hearts.

 

Speaking of breaking hearts, through the magic of facebook I came across a dating blog written by the roommate of a friend of a friend.  After reading the first couple of entries, I was hooked, and started following her blog via Twitter.  www.52FirstDates.ca is written by a girl who calls herself “La Blonde” and I’m fairly certain we were separated at birth.  So naturally, I set her up with my ex.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I set my ex up with a random stranger who blogs about her dating life, and her mission to go on a date per week for a year.  What could possibly go wrong?  (As it turns out, Trolls – who claim to be friends and former friends of mine/ours – ripping me apart in the comments is what could go wrong)  Check out dates 14, 15 and 16 with “the Z-man”  to see the hilarity.  Seriously though, I wish him well, and will be cheering for him (from afar) when he competes in his first fitness competition 3 weeks from now.

 

Superbowl happened.  The Ravens won.  There was nacho dip, and chicken wings.  Need I say more?

 

Valentines day was amazing for me.  Not for the reason that one would typically wax poetic either.  This Valentines day was celebrated with Kidney-shaped cards  - not hearts (FYI, Hallmark doesn’t make kidney shaped valentines).  One year ago, on February 14th, my Dad has his surgery to remove his cancer-riddled kidney.  A year later, he’s still cancer free, and happy and healthy.  It really brings VDay back to a positive sentiment for the cynic in me!

 

That pretty much brings me up to this week.  Yesterday, I booked my flight to Columbus, OHIO for the 2013 Arnold Sports Festival this weekend!  This is an event that I’ve been trying to get to for a few years now, but until this year haven’t been able to get it together.  I’m VERY excited to even be going, but the thrill is heightened even more by the fact that while I’m there, I’ll finally get to meet a handful of my BAM girls face to face, in person.  I don’t know that I can express how important these women have become to me over the past 15 or so months, and I’m going to hug their guts right out of them!!!  J

 

I PROMISE I will blog about the weekend’s events, give special shoutouts to my girls, and be ALLLLL over the Twitterverse with it.  If you’re not following me yet, please do so – it’ll be fun!

 

Above all else, remember to love what you can, when you can, and I’ll see you at the Arnold!

 

Xo

Mandy