Ahh after a wonderful and relaxing weekend I am back up and ready to go!! To do list in hand and breakfast in my belly we go! 

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? On my end of things it was just nice to relax! It was just Friday I realized I am constantly working (YAY!) which I love but just sometimes I need a little break! So that was me this weekend :-) 

At any rate as you are probably guessing I am writing this article to get into the science behind our abdominals or better known our abs. The muscles everyone wants to have whether for the beach or just because you want people to see your fitness badge of dedication. Of course it really does take dedication to get there, no fad diet or million sets of crunches will get you there but I can certainly tell you what will...clean eating! Sure exercise plays a role but without lowering the excess layer of fat (yes if you can pinch it is probably fat) around your abs you will not be able to see them.

I'm sure some of you are thinking wait what this chick wants me to eat to lose weight and see my abs? YUP! If you need some clarity on clean eating here you go>http://fitandhealthywithbeth.weebly.com/1/post/2012/02/what-is-clean-eating.html. Essentially we need to meet our bodies nutritional needs and caloric needs. 100 calories of oreos does not equal 100 calories of edammame!! 

Now that we know how to get there let me explain a little bit more of the why, our bodies were not made nor do they understand how to break down the overly complicated compounds in our over processed foods for one and too we just eat way too much junk food and sugar. The result? We store all of those calories as fat. Truth be told an over abundance of anything can really cause fat storage, however, eating foods in their natural form makes it a lot more challenging. 

So back to the why of eating, if you want to see your abs you must lose the extra layer of belly fat "visceral fat" on top of them and how? through clean eating, plenty of rest, and working out hard. 

What foods help lose belly fat? 
~Dark  green veggies
~Whole grains 
~Lean proteins
~Low sugar foods

Best exercises to work your abs?
I personally believe we need to work from our core, especially because all movement comes from there, so I prefer to focus on the whole area. I picture a girdle if you will! 

Planks: 

Reverse crunches 

Bicycle abs:

side bends with weights

V-up

Super mans: 

Happy Monday!! I want to be 100% honest with you...I have been a little off with my work outs lately. Nutrition has been just about 100% but I just haven't "felt like working out". For someone who loves the feeling of crushing a good work out and not mention the endorphins. To me that was my body telling me I was burnt out. 

Generally every 12 weeks (sometimes even shorter than that) because honestly I just need a break! I need to wake up feeling like ahhh I get to work out not I have to work out. 

So this week starts some new work outs and honestly I am excited!!! I am really happy with the progress I had with Body Beast and it was super fun lifting that heavy especially doing it with Mike! 

I am kind of making my own stuff up to be honest...as I dive deeper into training I find I want to really test myself so I am going to be increasing my work out time per day and really what I focus on.

Goals of the new programming?
~Target my weak areas and make them better: specifically I want to improve my shoulders and my legs/booty. So I will be working those muscle groups more. 
With the weights I will also be lifting heavy with less reps and sets (so 3 sets of 6-12 for upper/lower body and 3 sets of 20 for abs). 

~I will also be increasing my amount of cardio from...oh around 0 days to 3 days a week. (2 days of HIIT + one day of Steady state cardio) 

~ another keep thing is going to be nutrition. I have selected what supplements I'll be using but not so much what macro percentage. I am thinking 40 carbs 40 protein 20 fat but we'll see. I did find out I am a fat burner vs a carb burner which is crucial and main reason I have a hard time gaining real muscle mass. 

I will be taking:
shakeology + protein powder
glutamine
BCAA's
fish oils 
P90x recovery shake (post work out)


Also, I  think to reach where I really want to get to, it will take me about a year to achieve. So I will really need to have the big picture in mind and FOCUS!
So I want to compete...I originally thought I was ready now and for Bikini division I think I could fare okay...but I then realized, I don't want to do "okay" I want to add a little more muscle, and do a fitness or a figure show and I want to place! No more wallowing and not being out right with my goals, there they are!  


So then in all of these since nutrition is soooo key how can I or anyone else for that matter avoid feeling deprived? 

Well really, in my opinion, it comes down to lifestyle. We are a culture of people who do all things over food. Example: meeting with friends= lunch, celebrating hitting a goal at work= happy hour, birthday celebrating= going out + cake.
Rarely will you find that your friends and family will ask you to go celebrate your sister getting straight A's with a session of rock climbing or hiking. Not to say there is anything wrong with that BUT it all comes down to decisions at that point. If you are in the realm of "I need/want to lose weight" then eating all that crap just because it is there is NOT what is going to help keep that weight off. There are so many other ways you can enjoy life and friends without over indulging and over eating. The first is obviously changing your mind set and what senses you choose to enjoy the most.

Second, if your boyfriend/girlfriend has the metabolism or maybe just doesn't have those same goals as you, that's okay just be sure to hide his/her treats from line of vision. If you don't see it chances are you may forget you have them! 

Third, have "substitutes" that leave you feeling satisfied. Instead of eating ice cream try low sugar froyo or banana protein icecream (you can flavor this however you like!) or for me instead of eating all of his crap I may just have a fiber one brownie...no they aren't the best but I'd rather have something like that instead of a huge heaping plate of something I will really regret! 

Fourth, FOCUS. Is that chocolate bar really something you want or is it just a drop in blood sugar or increase in your stress level? I know this is a big one for me! At around 5 pm my levels usually drop which almost always means if I see it I will eat it. I have reworked my calories to prevent this from happening. It wasn't easy or always fun but it got my body where it needed to be.

Fifth, we all slip up sometimes. Move on and let it go! 

Have a fantastic Monday everyone!