I have received multiple inquiries as to how I've managed to get my abs into the condition they are after birthing four babies and spending forty-three years on this earth. What I am about to share is nothing earth shattering or new, and you've probably heard it all before, but I thought I'd blog about it so that I can give people my own recipe for ab success when they ask me how to get a nice midsection.
The first thing I want to point out is that there is no magic bullet for getting good abs. I think people really want me to share some literal secret, like drinking a weird vinegar or doing some super-off-the-wall ab move to have tight abs, and that's just not the case. It really is a multi-faceted, yet still simple, approach.
In order from most important to least, here is what I do for a tight midsection.
#1. Diet- Bring your body fat down! It does not matter how well all the tips following this are working- If your beautiful abs are hidden by fat, no one (including you) will be able to see and appreciate them.
#2. Hold 'em in! All the time. As often as you can think of it. Honestly, I'm almost always in an isometric ab contraction. It's a habit. The more you do it, the more automatic it becomes. There is not a single ab exercise out there that does as much for ab flatness and definition as simply contracting your abs as much and as often as possible. Reason? Ab exercises last for just a few minutes. Holding your abs in lasts all day long.
3. Cardio. Same reason as #1. Cardio helps burn fat. Lack of fat means ab visibility.
4. Hold 'em in while doing ab exercises. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone doing an ab exercise with their abs protruded. The tighter you hold your abs in while working them, the more effective (and harder!) the ab exercise will be.
5. Strengthen your lower back. Your ab and lower back muscles cross over each other. To to have tight abs, you MUST have tight lower back muscles. If you have tight abs and a weak lower back, your abs will have the appearance of being wide, no matter how strong they are. Plus, you will have created a skeletal imbalance. I can't tell you the people I've given this advice to, and after strengthening their lower back they begin to see the V-taper they've been unable to obtain until then.
6. For my actual ab workouts, once a week I usually do 20 minutes of an ab tape. My favorite is Kari Anderson's Curl DVD. But sometimes I will choose two of the ten-minute sections in either Kathy Smith's Tummy Trimmer DVD or 10-Minute Solution Quick Tummy Toners DVD. There are other DVD's out there you could use.
Often I will add another ab workout in the gym a couple of days later (abs are like every other muscle group and need plenty of time to recover between targeted ab workouts). When I do this, I treat them as two different muscle groups: Middle abs (always including both upper and lower in the move), and obliques. I don't isolate upper abs because they are the same muscle running between the rib cage and pelvic bone. Upper abs are not my issue- lower are. So it is much more efficient for me to spend my workout time targeting the area of the muscle that is weakest. I've found that upper abs get tightened in the process.
I do at least three exercises for the middle abs, and two for obliques. Sometimes, I will work them between other muscle groups (for instance, super-set them between back or bicep exercises), and other times I do them back to back to really burn them up. A sample ab workout for me looks like this:
3 Super sets of:
- Reverse Crunch on bench (feet coming down all the way to the ground with control at all times)- 20 reps
- Weighted side bends- 20 reps, each side (challenging weight- you want to FEEL this in the obliques!)
Then 3 Super sets of:
- Captains Chair leg lifts (curl your legs toward your knees, don't just lift them- it's supposed to resemble a reverse crunch!)- 12 reps
- Cable Rope Crunches- 20 reps (weight should be challenging)
Finish with:
- Bicycle Crunches 3x15, alternating sides (15 on each side)
And if I haven't hit lower back by doing something like deadlifts or squats some other time in the week, I'll do 3 sets of a targeted lower back exercise like Supermans or weighted hyperextensions on a Roman Chair.
The only thing I'd say that is negotiable, here, is #6. I know of others who do their ab workout quite differently and get similar results. This is just simply how I prefer to work my abs. In all reality, the way you target exercises for the abs is really just the gravy of the whole process. The meat and potatoes of having beautiful abs lies in the other five steps.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Lessons Learned and Still Applied From my Cutting Diet
So as many know, I've completed a couple of cutting diets. I'm surprised to say that my eating now more resembles the cutting diet than it does the way I ate BEFORE the cutting diet, which was really not that bad.
Here are some valuable things I learned that I thought I'd share:
- I cook ahead. This is something I told my coach, Ruben, I didn't want to do in the start. I'd rather just cook what I was going to for that day. But it didn't take me long to figure out that it took just about the same amount of time to make a big pot of brown rice as a small one. Last night my daughter and I had sweet potatoes for dinner. I threw extra into the oven and then tossed it into the fridge when the meal was over. I don't set aside a time on the weekends to cook for the week like a lot of people do, but now when I do cook something I can use for meals later on, I'll make extra.
- I have started to eat more "real" food and less protein powder and protein bars, which are convenient but leave me hungrier than whole foods.
- I eat a great, big breakfast. Before breakfast was maybe a small bowl of whole-grain cereal with raisins and a cup of milk. Now it's slow-cook oatmeal with natural peanut butter stirred in, a whole egg with several (usually 5) egg whites, and often a piece of fruit. This helps me to not be as hungry the rest of the day and really fuels me well for my usually up-coming weight lifting session. Breakfast is usually now my biggest meal of the day. (For a very convincing reason to eat breakfast, I'd encourage you to read this blog by Ruben: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=2898374)
- I occasionally eat fish now, voluntarily. It's not my favorite, but I don't despise it anymore. (Yes, Ruben.... you read that right!) Tilapia is my favorite. Maybe one day soon I'll work up the nerve to try salmon again......
- Before I go to bed I have a scoop of protein powder, in milk if my daily calories allow it, or water if they don't. Ruben had me doing this to give my body something to gnaw on other than muscle while I slept. I'd rather like my muscles and endeavor to keep them, so I've kept it up.
- I usually drink at least a gallon of water a day. I can't remember if Ruben had me start this or if it just kinda came along with the cutting territory, but I find my body does a lot better with plenty of plain old water coursing through it. I am not as likely to binge, have fewer cravings, and feel less lethargic when I drink this much. My complexion is the clearest it's been since I was about eleven, and I often wonder if the water is a lot of the reason why.
- I don't eat as many carbs in the evening as I used to. I won't go into the specifics because this blog is long enough, but I prefer to get my starchier carbs early in the day, when they can be burned off by fueling me through my activities.
I hope that you picked up a thing or two here that you can implement into your own diet to help you along on your journey to fitness. As always, I love getting your comments and feed back, so please don't hesitate to respond!
Here are some valuable things I learned that I thought I'd share:
- I cook ahead. This is something I told my coach, Ruben, I didn't want to do in the start. I'd rather just cook what I was going to for that day. But it didn't take me long to figure out that it took just about the same amount of time to make a big pot of brown rice as a small one. Last night my daughter and I had sweet potatoes for dinner. I threw extra into the oven and then tossed it into the fridge when the meal was over. I don't set aside a time on the weekends to cook for the week like a lot of people do, but now when I do cook something I can use for meals later on, I'll make extra.
- I have started to eat more "real" food and less protein powder and protein bars, which are convenient but leave me hungrier than whole foods.
- I eat a great, big breakfast. Before breakfast was maybe a small bowl of whole-grain cereal with raisins and a cup of milk. Now it's slow-cook oatmeal with natural peanut butter stirred in, a whole egg with several (usually 5) egg whites, and often a piece of fruit. This helps me to not be as hungry the rest of the day and really fuels me well for my usually up-coming weight lifting session. Breakfast is usually now my biggest meal of the day. (For a very convincing reason to eat breakfast, I'd encourage you to read this blog by Ruben: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=2898374)
- I occasionally eat fish now, voluntarily. It's not my favorite, but I don't despise it anymore. (Yes, Ruben.... you read that right!) Tilapia is my favorite. Maybe one day soon I'll work up the nerve to try salmon again......
- Before I go to bed I have a scoop of protein powder, in milk if my daily calories allow it, or water if they don't. Ruben had me doing this to give my body something to gnaw on other than muscle while I slept. I'd rather like my muscles and endeavor to keep them, so I've kept it up.
- I usually drink at least a gallon of water a day. I can't remember if Ruben had me start this or if it just kinda came along with the cutting territory, but I find my body does a lot better with plenty of plain old water coursing through it. I am not as likely to binge, have fewer cravings, and feel less lethargic when I drink this much. My complexion is the clearest it's been since I was about eleven, and I often wonder if the water is a lot of the reason why.
- I don't eat as many carbs in the evening as I used to. I won't go into the specifics because this blog is long enough, but I prefer to get my starchier carbs early in the day, when they can be burned off by fueling me through my activities.
I hope that you picked up a thing or two here that you can implement into your own diet to help you along on your journey to fitness. As always, I love getting your comments and feed back, so please don't hesitate to respond!
Friday, May 14, 2010
An Unexplained Gain is Nothing to Sweat Over
After posting this last night I got to thinking about it and realized I unintentionally misinformed on the issue of carbohydrate water retention. If you have already read this blog, please reread! I may have unwittingly caused you to believe that you can maintain a higher carb level and lose water weight!
As many of you know, I've recently completed a cutting diet. It was an excellent learning experience.
One valuable thing I gleaned is that diet makes a MASSIVE difference in what I weigh from day to day, and while it's generally good for me to weigh a couple of times a week, at least, to keep my head in the game, I don't need to panic when the scale is up a few pounds.
During the process of cutting my nutritionist, Ruben Sandoval, switched me from high-carb to low carb, high protein to low protein, regular sodium to low sodium, and high calorie to low calorie. Each time he told me what my body would probably do on the scale for the next few days, and you know what? He was spot-on every time!
It absolutely astounded me how quickly the body can be manipulated through diet.
The most notable changes: The first one you probably have already guessed. This was when we brought my sodium from lowered levels back up to what I normally consume. But what might surprise you is that big changes also happened when we took me from low carb to high carb. In BOTH instances, I would gain a few pounds of water weight. Even more notable was when I would go from both low carb AND low sodium to raising them simultaneously. When we did that, my scale really jumped- I'm talking 5 or 6 pounds. I could actually see the water weight gain all over my body within just a few hours, as evidenced by lack of muscle definition, particularly in my abs (I hated that!).
There were separate things at work, here:
The first was what we all know, that sodium causes you to retain water. The thing is, the body doesn't like to have it's sodium level off kilter and will fairly quickly (within about 24-48 hours) process the excess water AND sodium out to establish it's balance once again. This is why reducing sodium to low levels for longer than 24-48 hours is counter-productive: The body wises up and replaces the needed sodium in the blood through the kidneys. It also puts unnecessary strain on your system to do so for an extended period of time.
In the case of excess carbs, it's an entirely different issue going on, but with the same outcome- The body stores three grams of water for every gram of glycogen stored in the cells (glycogen comes from carbohydrates). This is why, when your cells aren't 100% full of glycogen, as is usually the case with people who are watching their weight, you aren't holding as much water. Raise your glycogen levels to 100% through a higher-than-normal carb day, and wa-la! Weight gain! Once your carb levels go back down to what you traditionally eat, the body releases the glycogen and the accompanying water weight with it.
So while you may have gained a LITTLE fat from the over-consumption of calories when you have a chocolate-chip-cookie binge, a majority of it is water that will go away when your diet returns to normal.
Therefore, if you have been following an eating plan that should be causing you to either lose or maintain your current weight, yet you suddenly show a gain of a few pounds on the scale, it's almost certain that something has changed in your diet and you are holding water. Don't sweat it! Just keep up or restore your good habits- it will come down eventually.
Also, it almost goes without saying that we women have much wider fluctuations in weight than men. Hormones play a big part in water retention, too.
For the carb-induced weight gain, you can get in a couple of good, hard cardio sesssions to help work it out. And the good news? You'll have plenty of energy for those cadio sessions, because glycogen is fuel used for exercise.
In either case, just keep on drinking lots of water (and by water I mean actual, non-flavored water, not other calorie-free drinks- I get over a gallon a day), and don't worry too much about a sudden rise in scale weight. Your body's natural tendency is to seek normal and stabilize to it's genuine weight in a few days.
As many of you know, I've recently completed a cutting diet. It was an excellent learning experience.
One valuable thing I gleaned is that diet makes a MASSIVE difference in what I weigh from day to day, and while it's generally good for me to weigh a couple of times a week, at least, to keep my head in the game, I don't need to panic when the scale is up a few pounds.
During the process of cutting my nutritionist, Ruben Sandoval, switched me from high-carb to low carb, high protein to low protein, regular sodium to low sodium, and high calorie to low calorie. Each time he told me what my body would probably do on the scale for the next few days, and you know what? He was spot-on every time!
It absolutely astounded me how quickly the body can be manipulated through diet.
The most notable changes: The first one you probably have already guessed. This was when we brought my sodium from lowered levels back up to what I normally consume. But what might surprise you is that big changes also happened when we took me from low carb to high carb. In BOTH instances, I would gain a few pounds of water weight. Even more notable was when I would go from both low carb AND low sodium to raising them simultaneously. When we did that, my scale really jumped- I'm talking 5 or 6 pounds. I could actually see the water weight gain all over my body within just a few hours, as evidenced by lack of muscle definition, particularly in my abs (I hated that!).
There were separate things at work, here:
The first was what we all know, that sodium causes you to retain water. The thing is, the body doesn't like to have it's sodium level off kilter and will fairly quickly (within about 24-48 hours) process the excess water AND sodium out to establish it's balance once again. This is why reducing sodium to low levels for longer than 24-48 hours is counter-productive: The body wises up and replaces the needed sodium in the blood through the kidneys. It also puts unnecessary strain on your system to do so for an extended period of time.
In the case of excess carbs, it's an entirely different issue going on, but with the same outcome- The body stores three grams of water for every gram of glycogen stored in the cells (glycogen comes from carbohydrates). This is why, when your cells aren't 100% full of glycogen, as is usually the case with people who are watching their weight, you aren't holding as much water. Raise your glycogen levels to 100% through a higher-than-normal carb day, and wa-la! Weight gain! Once your carb levels go back down to what you traditionally eat, the body releases the glycogen and the accompanying water weight with it.
So while you may have gained a LITTLE fat from the over-consumption of calories when you have a chocolate-chip-cookie binge, a majority of it is water that will go away when your diet returns to normal.
Therefore, if you have been following an eating plan that should be causing you to either lose or maintain your current weight, yet you suddenly show a gain of a few pounds on the scale, it's almost certain that something has changed in your diet and you are holding water. Don't sweat it! Just keep up or restore your good habits- it will come down eventually.
Also, it almost goes without saying that we women have much wider fluctuations in weight than men. Hormones play a big part in water retention, too.
For the carb-induced weight gain, you can get in a couple of good, hard cardio sesssions to help work it out. And the good news? You'll have plenty of energy for those cadio sessions, because glycogen is fuel used for exercise.
In either case, just keep on drinking lots of water (and by water I mean actual, non-flavored water, not other calorie-free drinks- I get over a gallon a day), and don't worry too much about a sudden rise in scale weight. Your body's natural tendency is to seek normal and stabilize to it's genuine weight in a few days.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Products I have Found Useful
Along the way there have been products and things I have found particularly useful in my quest for fitness. In case it might help others, here are some of them:
-Wonderslim crispy Protein Bars from DietDirect.com (http://www.dietdirect.com/wonderslim-crispy-protein-diet-bars.html) These have a very good balance of carbs (18g) proteins (15g) and fats (5g), a good amount of fiber per bar (5g), and the sugars are relatively low (8g). And at just 160 calories a piece, they taste really good! I can toss one in my purse so that I am never caught without good nutrition, since I try to eat every 3 hours or so. I usually order 11 boxes so that I can take advantage of both the free shipping on orders over $79 AND the 10% bulk discount on orders over $99 (use coupon code saveme10). This, of course, lasts me months.
- The book Sculpting Her Body Perfect by Brad Schoenfeld. This is my favorite female exercise book. He has very good plans explained for both starting and advancing in your weight lifting efforts, as well as demonstrations of the exercises and a DVD of the execution of many of them, as well.
- HERS Magazine, by Muscle and Fitness. This is my favorite women's fitness magazine. It's not fluffy! This is the real deal of how to get fit and stay that way.
- Oxygen Magazine. Also non-fluffy, a close second to HERS. It'd be my first recommendation, were it not for it's unabashed plugging of Tosca Reno's (the wife of the Oxygen Publisher, Robert Kennedy) Eat Clean Diet books.
- Now you're gonna laugh, but Clean Eating Magazine by- you guessed it- Robert Kennedy Publishing. I like the magazine better than her book. Seems somehow more adaptable to real life to me than her actual eating plan in the book.
The three above magazines are the only fitness/food magazines I subscribe to. The rest are just too fluffy for me.
- Natures Own Sandwich Rounds. I think Orowheat makes an almost identical product. At one point (100 cals, 5g fiber, 1g fat) per, these make a fantastic sandwich.
- GNC Whey Protein Powder. It's more cost-effective than many of the protein powders out there, and I think taste better than most. If you have the GNC Gold card you can purchase their products through the 8th of every month, I believe it is, for a 20% discount. For me, the price of the card has more than paid off.
- Moving Comfort Women's Fiona Bra (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AP3SEY/ref=oss_product) This sports bra keeps my girls in check and if I get too hot I can strip down to just it on top in the gym without looking frumpy or like I am wearing my lingerie. I don't bother buying any other, since I am fairly big-busted and positively hate bounce.
- Aussie Sprunch Spray. Works as both a styling product in wet hair and a hairspray. I just toss a full-size bottle of this in my gym bag and it lasts quite a while.
- David Greenwalt's book "The Leanness Lifestyle". This book has a very sound plan for true fitness a lifestyle, not just a temporary fix. I see it is sold on Amazon.com. Although I parted ways with David Greenwalt when I tried his Leanness Lifestyle University on-line (he wasn't quite as gentle as I prefer a coach to be), his book is my fitness bible to this day, and I refer to it often. I actually combined his macro-nutrient suggestion (emphasising more protein than I had been eating) with Weight Watchers point system and accountability for very good results.
Of course, the most important tool in reaching fitness is your own determination and focus. Keep reminding yourself that you are worth it- because you are!
-Wonderslim crispy Protein Bars from DietDirect.com (http://www.dietdirect.com/wonderslim-crispy-protein-diet-bars.html) These have a very good balance of carbs (18g) proteins (15g) and fats (5g), a good amount of fiber per bar (5g), and the sugars are relatively low (8g). And at just 160 calories a piece, they taste really good! I can toss one in my purse so that I am never caught without good nutrition, since I try to eat every 3 hours or so. I usually order 11 boxes so that I can take advantage of both the free shipping on orders over $79 AND the 10% bulk discount on orders over $99 (use coupon code saveme10). This, of course, lasts me months.
- The book Sculpting Her Body Perfect by Brad Schoenfeld. This is my favorite female exercise book. He has very good plans explained for both starting and advancing in your weight lifting efforts, as well as demonstrations of the exercises and a DVD of the execution of many of them, as well.
- HERS Magazine, by Muscle and Fitness. This is my favorite women's fitness magazine. It's not fluffy! This is the real deal of how to get fit and stay that way.
- Oxygen Magazine. Also non-fluffy, a close second to HERS. It'd be my first recommendation, were it not for it's unabashed plugging of Tosca Reno's (the wife of the Oxygen Publisher, Robert Kennedy) Eat Clean Diet books.
- Now you're gonna laugh, but Clean Eating Magazine by- you guessed it- Robert Kennedy Publishing. I like the magazine better than her book. Seems somehow more adaptable to real life to me than her actual eating plan in the book.
The three above magazines are the only fitness/food magazines I subscribe to. The rest are just too fluffy for me.
- Natures Own Sandwich Rounds. I think Orowheat makes an almost identical product. At one point (100 cals, 5g fiber, 1g fat) per, these make a fantastic sandwich.
- GNC Whey Protein Powder. It's more cost-effective than many of the protein powders out there, and I think taste better than most. If you have the GNC Gold card you can purchase their products through the 8th of every month, I believe it is, for a 20% discount. For me, the price of the card has more than paid off.
- Moving Comfort Women's Fiona Bra (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AP3SEY/ref=oss_product) This sports bra keeps my girls in check and if I get too hot I can strip down to just it on top in the gym without looking frumpy or like I am wearing my lingerie. I don't bother buying any other, since I am fairly big-busted and positively hate bounce.
- Aussie Sprunch Spray. Works as both a styling product in wet hair and a hairspray. I just toss a full-size bottle of this in my gym bag and it lasts quite a while.
- David Greenwalt's book "The Leanness Lifestyle". This book has a very sound plan for true fitness a lifestyle, not just a temporary fix. I see it is sold on Amazon.com. Although I parted ways with David Greenwalt when I tried his Leanness Lifestyle University on-line (he wasn't quite as gentle as I prefer a coach to be), his book is my fitness bible to this day, and I refer to it often. I actually combined his macro-nutrient suggestion (emphasising more protein than I had been eating) with Weight Watchers point system and accountability for very good results.
Of course, the most important tool in reaching fitness is your own determination and focus. Keep reminding yourself that you are worth it- because you are!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Final Results of My Cutting Diet
Well, it's over. Twelve weeks of a cutting diet, done. As someone who has been a habitual non-finisher of things started I can honestly say that I am extremely proud of myself.
I wanted to try a cutting diet for several reasons, the biggest one being I desired my body fat as low as possible while maintaining as much of my hard-earned muscle as I could for a corrective surgery scheduled May 6th (tomorrow). The second big reason was because I have in mind to compete in figure down the road and was simply curious as to whether I could hack a cutting diet.
I can.
Ruben Sandoval (you can find him on my friends on FaceBook or here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=FLEXCHEF ) started out as my nutritionist for the diet, and wound up as my trainer also, all the way in California (I'm in Texas), when my in-person trainer and I here broke up for completely amicable reasons. (Still appreciate you, Ross!) It's been a really good arrangement for me, and I hope it's been beneficial to him, as well.
I shared about the experience of having Ruben for a distance trainer in my blog "The Advantages of a Long-Distance Trainer" on SparkPeople.com here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=2906050
Anyhow, the point is that Ruben has been my guru on everything having to do with my body and it's changes over the past 12 weeks. Normally he likes to take a full 16 weeks to cut a competitor in, but he sped up the process with me to accommodate my surgery date.
Let me put in a little aside here: A cutting diet is something you do NOT want to go off and try willy-nilly by yourself. I am glad I had professional help and would not recommend that anyone try something like this the first time around, at least, on their own. It's a balancing act that he has experience in and I don't. I needed his help. (And Ruben, brace yourself: Your inbox is about to explode again, my friend!) Ruben was worth every dime I paid him to help me.
It also might be good to note that because he was trying to keep me in peak health for my surgery, Ruben was more liberal with my calories and didn't have me do as big a reduction in water intake at the tail end as he does with most competitors. Had he been able to do my cutting diet his usual way, I'm sure my results would have been more dramatic than they already are.
I ate weird combinations of foods that would have never occurred to me, but a lot of them I wound up liking. I have eaten so much fish over the course of this thing that I've wondered if I'd grow gills and start making funny kissy motions with my mouth. And I don't even like fish! But one thing I've always believed is that if you are going to do something, you might as well do it right, so I pretty much did what Ruben asked me to almost the whole time. I realized that in order to gain the results we were after it was critical I follow his program in it's entirety. Imagine that! (Remember what I said above about typically not finishing things?)
This isn't to say I didn't ask questions, because I did, but I did what he said, even when I wondered if it was really going to work or not. I didn't want to screw up the grand plan by testing some uneducated hypothesis of my own.
He started my diet out a little more loose and then tightened it up as time went on. At the end, there was almost no wiggle room. I ate EXACTLY what he told me to- No deviation! As a matter of fact, save one big binge on peanut butter and Wheat Thins about 1/3 of the way through the process (which I called and confessed to him, crying- a memory I'd just as soon lose), I did a pretty darned good job of sticking with the plan the entire time, if I do say so myself.
I learned more about how the body breaks down food than I had ever known before. (This stuff fascinates me, so when Ruben was explaining it I was listening with rapt attention- I wanted to know what was going on in there after I swallowed!) I will never look at food the same again.
There are so many other things I took home from this that I am sure I will blog about in the future. But one thing is for sure: It was a valuable experience that I will always be grateful I had the honor to endure. :-)
The hardest part of the whole diet were the third-to-last and second-to-last days of it, which was just day-before-yesterday and the day before that. He had pumped me full of protein and brought my carbs way down for several days in a row, then increased my carbs dramatically while reducing my fats and proteins for the very last 3 days. The lowered fats and proteins combined with the increased carbs left me less satiated, so for those first two days of the 3-day higher-carb-lower-calorie round I was wanting to eat the furniture! Wow! I hadn't felt that hungry in weeks! By the 3rd day and final day of the cutting diet, which was yesterday as of this posting, I was a little more adjusted to it. Either that, or I was so freaked out because we were taking final pics the next day (this morning) and I had surgery the next day (tomorrow), that my nervousness overrode any hunger I was feeling.
And here are the results:
February 11 2010, I started out here, 5'8.5" at 159.4 pounds and 18.42% body fat:
And on May 5th, 2010, I was 147.8 pounds, and 10.89% body fat:
I'm down 11.6 pounds, but more importantly, we hit all of our goals: Ruben's goal of getting me to 11% body fat and mine of getting to 148. Additionally, we both had the collective goals of getting rid of body fat, as opposed to muscle, and keep me extremely healthy in the process.
I've lost 13.3 pounds of body fat, which means that over the past 12 weeks I have gained 1.7 pounds of muscle. For an idea of how hard it is to gain muscle while you lose fat, take a look at my blog titled "Lift! Even if you are overweight!" here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=3183771
AND my complexion is the clearest it's been in my life!
Massive success, IMHO!
Ruben, you done beyond good! :-)
While most people who have lost 11 or 12 pounds would be down one clothing size, I am down two. As a matter of fact, at my height and weight I am a solid size 6 (a 4 in some cases), something that almost seems impossible to the rational mind. I attribute this to not only the fat loss, which takes more space than muscle, but also to Ruben's exercise training plan. The man really does understand the human body and how to manipulate it through natural means.
Speaking of which, Ruben does NOT promote the use of steroids for either muscle gain or fat loss. So if you are thinking we employed some unethical means to get me where I am, think again. He never even asked me to so much as take a diuretic. The supplements I took were things that I was already getting in my diet, just in smaller amounts. They have no ill side effects, and are all as safe and natural as a multivitamin. I know: After he asked me to add something new, I researched it. (I trusted, but not blindly- I felt a responsibility to be educated about what was going on in my own body.)
My advice to anyone working with a nutritionist on a cutting diet? First of all, make sure he or she does not promote the use of steroids or other drugs, and secondly, simply to follow their plan in it's entirety. Don't have days where you go off and take a "break". Don't abandon the parts you don't like. Do ALL of it. Stick with it not matter what. The results are worth it.
I am blessed to have found Ruben.
If you like, you can view more pictures of my progression, as well as more final pics, here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_photo_gallery.asp?id=NANCYANNE55
My reason for making my weight loss journey so public, complete with photos, is that I deeply desire to encourage you that you really CAN make a huge difference in your body through diet and exercise, no matter what your age or condition. I want you to seize your own health by the horns and lay claim to it: Don't sit back passively and act the victim to fat and inactivity! If you put the work in, change will have no choice but to come. But you have to go beyond wanting to change and actually DO something about it.
To very loosely paraphrase my brother-in-law, Charlie: Don't let life happen to you, YOU be the thing that is happening to life!
Next goals? To recover from surgery, then reach 9% body fat while getting these legs and glutes nice and firm.... Just watch me!
I wanted to try a cutting diet for several reasons, the biggest one being I desired my body fat as low as possible while maintaining as much of my hard-earned muscle as I could for a corrective surgery scheduled May 6th (tomorrow). The second big reason was because I have in mind to compete in figure down the road and was simply curious as to whether I could hack a cutting diet.
I can.
Ruben Sandoval (you can find him on my friends on FaceBook or here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=FLEXCHEF ) started out as my nutritionist for the diet, and wound up as my trainer also, all the way in California (I'm in Texas), when my in-person trainer and I here broke up for completely amicable reasons. (Still appreciate you, Ross!) It's been a really good arrangement for me, and I hope it's been beneficial to him, as well.
I shared about the experience of having Ruben for a distance trainer in my blog "The Advantages of a Long-Distance Trainer" on SparkPeople.com here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=2906050
Anyhow, the point is that Ruben has been my guru on everything having to do with my body and it's changes over the past 12 weeks. Normally he likes to take a full 16 weeks to cut a competitor in, but he sped up the process with me to accommodate my surgery date.
Let me put in a little aside here: A cutting diet is something you do NOT want to go off and try willy-nilly by yourself. I am glad I had professional help and would not recommend that anyone try something like this the first time around, at least, on their own. It's a balancing act that he has experience in and I don't. I needed his help. (And Ruben, brace yourself: Your inbox is about to explode again, my friend!) Ruben was worth every dime I paid him to help me.
It also might be good to note that because he was trying to keep me in peak health for my surgery, Ruben was more liberal with my calories and didn't have me do as big a reduction in water intake at the tail end as he does with most competitors. Had he been able to do my cutting diet his usual way, I'm sure my results would have been more dramatic than they already are.
I ate weird combinations of foods that would have never occurred to me, but a lot of them I wound up liking. I have eaten so much fish over the course of this thing that I've wondered if I'd grow gills and start making funny kissy motions with my mouth. And I don't even like fish! But one thing I've always believed is that if you are going to do something, you might as well do it right, so I pretty much did what Ruben asked me to almost the whole time. I realized that in order to gain the results we were after it was critical I follow his program in it's entirety. Imagine that! (Remember what I said above about typically not finishing things?)
This isn't to say I didn't ask questions, because I did, but I did what he said, even when I wondered if it was really going to work or not. I didn't want to screw up the grand plan by testing some uneducated hypothesis of my own.
He started my diet out a little more loose and then tightened it up as time went on. At the end, there was almost no wiggle room. I ate EXACTLY what he told me to- No deviation! As a matter of fact, save one big binge on peanut butter and Wheat Thins about 1/3 of the way through the process (which I called and confessed to him, crying- a memory I'd just as soon lose), I did a pretty darned good job of sticking with the plan the entire time, if I do say so myself.
I learned more about how the body breaks down food than I had ever known before. (This stuff fascinates me, so when Ruben was explaining it I was listening with rapt attention- I wanted to know what was going on in there after I swallowed!) I will never look at food the same again.
There are so many other things I took home from this that I am sure I will blog about in the future. But one thing is for sure: It was a valuable experience that I will always be grateful I had the honor to endure. :-)
The hardest part of the whole diet were the third-to-last and second-to-last days of it, which was just day-before-yesterday and the day before that. He had pumped me full of protein and brought my carbs way down for several days in a row, then increased my carbs dramatically while reducing my fats and proteins for the very last 3 days. The lowered fats and proteins combined with the increased carbs left me less satiated, so for those first two days of the 3-day higher-carb-lower-calorie round I was wanting to eat the furniture! Wow! I hadn't felt that hungry in weeks! By the 3rd day and final day of the cutting diet, which was yesterday as of this posting, I was a little more adjusted to it. Either that, or I was so freaked out because we were taking final pics the next day (this morning) and I had surgery the next day (tomorrow), that my nervousness overrode any hunger I was feeling.
And here are the results:
February 11 2010, I started out here, 5'8.5" at 159.4 pounds and 18.42% body fat:
And on May 5th, 2010, I was 147.8 pounds, and 10.89% body fat:
I'm down 11.6 pounds, but more importantly, we hit all of our goals: Ruben's goal of getting me to 11% body fat and mine of getting to 148. Additionally, we both had the collective goals of getting rid of body fat, as opposed to muscle, and keep me extremely healthy in the process.
I've lost 13.3 pounds of body fat, which means that over the past 12 weeks I have gained 1.7 pounds of muscle. For an idea of how hard it is to gain muscle while you lose fat, take a look at my blog titled "Lift! Even if you are overweight!" here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=3183771
AND my complexion is the clearest it's been in my life!
Massive success, IMHO!
Ruben, you done beyond good! :-)
While most people who have lost 11 or 12 pounds would be down one clothing size, I am down two. As a matter of fact, at my height and weight I am a solid size 6 (a 4 in some cases), something that almost seems impossible to the rational mind. I attribute this to not only the fat loss, which takes more space than muscle, but also to Ruben's exercise training plan. The man really does understand the human body and how to manipulate it through natural means.
Speaking of which, Ruben does NOT promote the use of steroids for either muscle gain or fat loss. So if you are thinking we employed some unethical means to get me where I am, think again. He never even asked me to so much as take a diuretic. The supplements I took were things that I was already getting in my diet, just in smaller amounts. They have no ill side effects, and are all as safe and natural as a multivitamin. I know: After he asked me to add something new, I researched it. (I trusted, but not blindly- I felt a responsibility to be educated about what was going on in my own body.)
My advice to anyone working with a nutritionist on a cutting diet? First of all, make sure he or she does not promote the use of steroids or other drugs, and secondly, simply to follow their plan in it's entirety. Don't have days where you go off and take a "break". Don't abandon the parts you don't like. Do ALL of it. Stick with it not matter what. The results are worth it.
I am blessed to have found Ruben.
If you like, you can view more pictures of my progression, as well as more final pics, here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_photo_gallery.asp?id=NANCYANNE55
My reason for making my weight loss journey so public, complete with photos, is that I deeply desire to encourage you that you really CAN make a huge difference in your body through diet and exercise, no matter what your age or condition. I want you to seize your own health by the horns and lay claim to it: Don't sit back passively and act the victim to fat and inactivity! If you put the work in, change will have no choice but to come. But you have to go beyond wanting to change and actually DO something about it.
To very loosely paraphrase my brother-in-law, Charlie: Don't let life happen to you, YOU be the thing that is happening to life!
Next goals? To recover from surgery, then reach 9% body fat while getting these legs and glutes nice and firm.... Just watch me!
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