Archive for the ‘fitness competition’ Category

WIAW: Flashback To My Fitness Comp Days

Morning! I woke up on the right side of the bed this morning and feel as chipper as a….chipmunk? Well – whatever fits that comparison is what I feel like. I guess resting up for a few days, having my weekly sister night, and getting in a good chat with Peter about a few things will help set me back on my feet. And I can’t forget the support from you all about “The Jeans” and my two new races I shared.

A Different Spin on What I Ate Wednesday – My Competition Days

Peas and Crayons

The other day, when I realized I had gotten those jeans around the time of my fitness competition, I got to thinking about how much my eating has changed since those days. Peter even commented about it when we were talking yesterday, telling me just how “proud of me” he is when thinking about it all.

So, for today’s What I Ate Wednesday a la Jenn, I thought it would be fun to take a look back into my past and nab a day of my eats from the competition days. I warn you – it’s ugly.

No, really. It’s ugly. I had not a clue how to work a camera back then. Winking smile

Breakfast (Pre-Workout)

  • 1/3 cup (or perhaps even 1/4 cup) oatmeal cooked with cinnamon and water
  • 1 scoop whey protein
  • 2 tablespoons dried fruit (notice the food scale!)

Breakfast (Post-Workout)

  • 1 apple chicken sausage from Trader Joes
  • 1/2 cup scrambled Egg Beaters with salsa
  • 1 apple sliced and spread with strawberry yogurt
  • coffee with a splash of milk

Lunch

  • 3 oz extra lean ground turkey with salsa and 2 tablespoons shredded cheese
  • 1 cup sliced strawberries
  • 1 tablespoon peanut butter (that was seriously the best part of my day)

Snack (Pre-Workout #2)

  • protein shake with chocolate almond milk & whey protein powder
  • Cookies & Cream flavored Luna Bar

Dinner

  • 3 ounces grilled shrimp
  • 1 cup canned green beans

All of these meals were taken from a post from the archives of my old competition journal. I saved them here on FFF, if you're interested in reading the original post. You can also read my Q + A post on my competition thoughts, if interested in more comp details.

I told you it was ugly! And you know what? I actually prided myself on all of that because I allowed myself a little more leeway than my previous competition diet. It feels so crazy looking back because I know that I ate that way day in and day out for about three months…while working out 2 or more hours a day basically every.single.day. Eeep!

You can imagine I was pretty cranky. I even remember yelling one night at Peter after he mentioned still being hungry from dinner. I yelled at him “You don’t even KNOW what hungry FEELS LIKE!”. Um, yeah. He probably did. Did you see the “meal” I served the poor man!? How is he still married to me?! Smile with tongue out

Now, I know people out there can happily eat a competitor style diet and one that is a lot more appealing than what I just shared. I know Naomi does it! However, I know that style is not for me. By far! I am so thankful in the ways my eating has changed since then:

I now emphasize the quality of the food over the calorie count of the food. Watery, canned green beans for dinner? No, thank you. I will take a pile of quinoa with lots of fresh veggies instead. <—new food kick

IMGP1415-1

I now fuel my body so it can achieve – in races and new workouts. No longer do I go hungry, so someone else can tell me if they like it or not.

I now eat a truly satisfying dessert and not a processed bar or whey protein shake to satisfy a sweet tooth.

I now know the bliss of peanut butter and oatmeal together. And it sure makes a good morning, but it no longer is the best part of my day to taste peanut butter.

I now eat 100% for me. I sure don’t eat “perfect”. I know I have plenty of ways I could improve my eating habits (love of sugar, much?). I also know for once I finally have that balance I worked years to create. I finally eat in a way that truly satisfies me and where I don’t feel pressure to fit into any style of eating. I choose what I want to eat that I know leaves me feeling well on a whole. I’m happy to be here. And I’m also incredibly happy my picture skills have improved. That was just plain painful to look at!

  • What ways have your eating habits changed in the past few years?
  • Don't forget to enter the Champion Giveaway! Ends tomorrow!

Posted by on September 21st, 2011 67 Comments

Reader’s Request: Gaining To Conceive

When I posted my Body After Baby post on how I plan to track progress, Katie from Peace Be Me commented with a request for me to share a bit more in depth on my weight gain to conceive. I have briefly discussed it before, such as in my Q+A post about my weight, but not in detail recently. Ask and you shall receive here on FFF. I’m not afraid to spill my guts. I guess there’s a reason “brutally honest” and “real” were two of the quickest responses I got when I sent out this tweet yesterday.

twitter

I’ll take it! Now, to get to the nitty gritty gaining to conceive stuff.

You regular readers know that I competed in a fitness competition early November of 2009. If you’re new around here and didn’t know that, well a) now you do and b) hello & please stick around! For my competition, I had to do some pretty intense training and get down to a low (unhealthy for me) body fat level in order to achieve the leanness for displaying muscle definition in such an event.

 

I began training for the competition right after I weaned Makenzie from nursing. That’s important because it means I had not had my period since conceiving her almost 2 years prior to then. Read more about that in my period post.

So, I had no cycle because I couldn’t regain it after nursing thanks to the intense training and diet for my competition. We knew we wanted to try for a second child pronto. Right after the competition ended, I became determined to regain my period as quickly as possible. Due to conceiving M so easily, the recommendation became to get back to the weight I was when I got pregnant then. That equated to around 20 lbs heavier than I was on competition day.

Now, I gained just shy of 10 lbs of that immediately as my body gained back the water weight and glycogen stores I had depleted it of for the show. So in reality, I only needed to gain 10-15 pounds above my “happy place” to get to where I easily conceived Makenzie. With time, I likely would have regained my cycle at my happy place because it was healthy for my size. I put that aside though and went for the extra padding because we were ready for a baby. Sure enough, I hit that 135-140 weight range and BAM – I got my period about 6 weeks post-show.

In order to gain the weight I had to stop working out completely for awhile. I had to eat, which was easy enough because it was the holidays. My body had been through the wringer and was more than happy to put on some fat. In all honesty I didn’t mind so much at that point because it was for a greater cause and I was still at a healthy weight.

Then, we got negative test after negative test after negative test. Every month that I had to keep myself at a place heavier than I felt best became harder to do. I wanted to throw myself into fitness goals, but had to hold back to carry the few extra pounds. I’ve mentioned before how I don’t feel quite like me when pregnant…I felt the same then. I believed I had spent the previous year enjoying fitness and happily getting into GREAT shape for nothing. All because of that dang competition. And I didn’t have a pregnancy to show for it either.

That challenged me the most. I didn’t mind the weight if it brought me a baby. When it didn’t happen quickly like with M, worry crept in. Did I royally screw  up my body with the training and now I wouldn’t get to conceive? I dealt with that worry by hating on my body. Then that angered me because I had come to a place I loved myself and believed in my worth. I didn’t want to question the wonder of my body again and deal with those old demons. All of those emotions constituted the greatest trials.

Fortunately on Mother’s Day 2010 I saw that positive (+) sign flash on the screen. It all became worth it. Looking back, I probably could have questioned advice and gone about the weight in a less drastic manner. I shouldn’t have felt so concerned because 6 months to conceive is 100% normal. I should have realized more how healthy I still was, even if not at where I feel best. That’s all in the past now, though. I have my little B bumping around in my belly now…ready to come out. I learned from that experience and know more about myself and my body thanks to that time. And now, I will work towards my healthy, happy place and then stay there. It’s yet another reason why its so important for me to find again. 

Question of the Day – What’s one of the most emotionally challenging things you have gone through? Mine is my stuff with my Dad. That’s rough to this day.

Posted by on January 5th, 2011 60 Comments

 

 
Catch Up With Recent Posts

Announcement Time

Posted: November 23, 2011 at 7:47 am

Well, I have had a whirlwind of a few weeks over here. I missed all of you so much! I can’t express enough gratitude for your patience while I got some important things sorted out. Some scary things. Are you ready for the announcement? Here goes! I will no longer be blogging at Faith Fitness […]

88 CommentsRead more →

Self-Love Reflection: The Road Not Taken

Posted: November 20, 2011 at 11:47 am

Hello FFF readers! Nice to meet ya! My name is Carissa and my husband and I blog at Fit2Flex.  Well, I blog…he consults! We are both certified personal trainers with a passion for healthy, active living and clean eating.  I am also studying to become a registered dietitian, a race announcer, and a runner.  Stop […]

24 CommentsRead more →

Healthier Eating For Kids

Posted: November 19, 2011 at 10:56 am

Thanks to Plum Organics for sponsoring my post about tips for baby feeding magic. What if you let baby choose what’s for dinner? Check out their cute "Quest for Yum!" video and see what happens! As parents, we want the best for our children. We help them to feel loved. We strive to teach them […]

14 CommentsRead more →
 

Announcement

Posted: November 17, 2011 at 3:36 pm

Hey, everyone! I wanted to pop in and say I am working on some new and exciting changes.  As a result,I may not be posting as much during the coming week.  Please stay tuned for the big announcement! Love you all! And still feel free to find me on Twitter and Facebook for the time […]

21 CommentsRead more →

Where The Change Happens

Posted: November 16, 2011 at 7:54 am

It’s kind of funny. I become a certified personal trainer and the first workouts I turn to this week come from someone else. The book came in for me at the library last week and, after flipping through it, I couldn’t wait to give the circuits a go. Making The Cut includes a lot of […]

79 CommentsRead more →

From Beginning To End

Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:53 am

Good morning! First off, thanks for the many congrats yesterday. Love you all bunches for the tons of support you have given me in so many things this year. I hope I can return a little bit of that love through this here blog as well. So yesterday I had my first parent-teacher “conference” for […]

55 CommentsRead more →