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! 

Happy Hump Day!  Whew I cannot figure out why but I cannot get enough sleep this week!! I really think it has to do with the muscle building and the need for more sleep but more on that later. I have received a lot of questions asking what I am eating, how often, and why I am doing what I am doing so I figured I'd give you guys the insider scoop!

Right now I am trying to add muscle to my body with a program called Body Beast. It's an at home work out built to add muscle to the "scrawny guy" in all honesty. The program was designed by an ex body builder Sagi and he is HUGE! So funny and one of my favorite trainers from Beachbody (Tony Horton will always be number one!). And since I have always been the scrawny girl it seemed fitting. I'm 5'8 and I have always had a thin-esque look (Even though I was a total skinny fat girl for most of my life) but the plan is to add some new shape to this body! I am a lot leaner now than in the past so I am only doing cardio1-2x a week to really give my body the chance to grow! But more importantly than that I am eating the proper way to actually build muscle.

Fact: you cannot "lean out" and gain muscle at the same time. The 2 are opposing ideas so right now I am thankful it is sweater season and in bulk mode.

My diet right now is between 2000-2500 calories per day (that is sooo much for me!!) with 50% of those calories being from carbohydrates such as fruits, veggies, and complex carbs and starches. The key is to eat a little over what your "maintenance number" is so that the calories go mostly to muscle and very little is stored as fat.  The other 50% of my diet is broken into roughly 25% protein and 25% fats though it varies a little day to day. The kicker here is that I really need to sit down each week and lay it all out so that there is no guess work but I haven't done so well with that as of yet!

So my meals range from the minimum of 300 calorie snacks to 500 calories. I am eating 5-6 meals a day and also I haven't been super strict. If I want a little chocolate I allow it and so on. I am by no means going over board but for me if I deprive myself now I will only over eat later!

For supplements I am doing a few new things... Pre-work out if I am tired or low in energy I take a supplement called Energy and Endurance...great stuff but it packs a punch so I try not to use it too often. And most importantly post work out nutrition, for this I do 1 packet/1 scoop of chocolate vegan shakeology (YUM!!! First time trying this and I love it!), 1/2 scoop vanilla whey, 1/4 Greek yogurt (plain), 1/4 oats, 1 TB Pb, some ice and almond milk and water, and my creatine. This is my first time using the creatine...ever so I am curious to see how it will help. I can already notice a difference in my lifting (the whole purpose is to increase endurance during the work out by helping the body store more creatine). The only downside to all of this is it can upset stomachs (has not for me) and also causes water retention. Like I said though...it's sweater season so not too problematic right now.

At first the scale freaked me out but then I just stopped checking because in all honesty it does NOT matter!! I am trying to grow and add muscle so hey if I look better, fit into clothes better, and feel better who cares about the scale?

Any ways that is pretty much where I am right now but more on the work outs a little later I have already talked your eat off a ton!!