Find what works for you!! Part two

Hello everyone! Welcome back! In part one of this entry, I gave you guys a little information about my journey with my weight, how I made the decision to change my body after my revelation that I wasn't so healthy after all and I basically gave you an introduction as to how my fitness "obsession" came about. In this entry, Part two, I'm going to pick up where I left off and show you guys what my diet typically looked like after my first run with the Atkins diet. I'm also going to get into how I train in the gym, I'll touch on supplements that I take and I'm also going to get into carbohydrates and break down the difference between "good carbs" and bad carbs".

Now, back in 2004 when I was eating a very low carb diet, I told you guys that I managed to drop about 40+ pounds without exercise. Towards the end I also explained the "surge of energy" I had due to the way I was eating and I was left with literally NO CHOICE but to join a gym-the energy was that overwhelming. I at that point, joined a local gym which was open 24 hours because I would have so much energy sometimes that I would need to go work out in the middle of the night just so I could sleep. Like most women starting out, I didn't know my way around a gym. I stuck to the treadmills, stair climbers and elliptical machines in the beginning. Weights intimidated me, all the men and few women who DID know their way around the weights intimidated me, and I really had no interest in them at that point. I was there just to burn off some energy and didn't know anything about weights, building muscle or any of that...I was happy to be losing WEIGHT and wearing a much smaller size in my clothes. After a few days of visiting the gym so much and eating the same way that I had been for the past 5 months or so, I stopped losing weight  and I didn't understand it. I had literally MASTERED the low carb thing AND I was burning off way more calories than I was consuming...so why wasn't I losing any more weight? Well, I mentioned it in part one that this whole diet was a science. I wasn't losing anymore weight because my body was in a state of ketosis already. (Ketosis is when you're body is basically burning off its stored fat cells). Because of this natural state of ketosis due to my way of dieting and adding exercise on top of that, my body was being "tricked" into thinking that I was in starvation mode so any calories I WAS taking in, my body was holding onto. I had hit a wall, or plateau as they call it in the book. I know, its hard to wrap your head around it because I haven't gone into fully explaining how the Atkins diet works but THAT isn't my mission. I don't want you guys to get the idea that I'm promoting any particular diet because I'm NOT,  however, I'm not against it either. It's about finding "What works for YOU." Now, I was spending at least 1 hour every day at the gym, on my cardio machine of choice and I would watch everyone work out. This was the first time I had ever joined a gym so I was interested. That's how I learned, by watching everyone else...well, not EVERYONE. I'd watch the people who had better body's than I did. It wasn't long before I found myself by the weights, and the weight stacked machines. Good thing about going to a gym at 2 am is the lack of bodies that were there to get mad that I was taking my time to read the machine and see how it works. :) I caught on really quick and before you know it,

I was absolutely HOOKED. The adrenaline rush you get from lifting weights is addictive. It's the equivalent to racing a car, sky diving or any other crazy thing you can think of that people do to get that rush. I'm a true adrenaline junky and the feeling is awesome... I loved it instantly. It was at this point that I realized, my diet needed an adjustment. I was already eating lean protein and plenty of vegetables but that was not enough. Working out and lifting as heavy as I was makes you realize the importance of carbohydrates...GOOD CARBOHYDRATES. Without the consumption of good carbs, I would have definitely hurt myself. I also would be wasting my time because muscle gain would be minimal and the biggest thing is that you NEED these good carbs to give your workouts 100%. Remember in part one how I told you guys that carbs are essential for the body to function properly? Going for long periods of time without consuming enough good carbohydrates WILL be noticeable. It's true and I'm going to explain it all to you. The fatigue comes on quick and strong without the carbs when it comes to lifting weights. Another thing everyone needs to understand is that the idea behind lifting weights is that you want to built that muscle...make it stronger...make it grow. Want to know what that entails? TEARING the muscle. Yup...that's right. I know all of the men that may be reading this already knew that. I can guarantee that most of the women did NOT. When you lift weights you are TEARING THEM. These are the basics to it....you lift weights, tear the muscle fibers by over exerting them with weight, then the muscles grow over time as they heal, forming scar tissue. It is during the healing process that the muscles grow, and what you put into your body after you work out will help promote growth and maximize that healing time. Your body is a SCIENCE! Losing weight is a SCIENCE. Building muscle is a SCIENCE. Did you know that muscle takes up less room in your body than fat does? Muscle also burns more calories than fat in the same amount of time. What does that mean? Basically, two women who both weigh 130 pounds: one who has 22% body fat and the other who has 11%. The woman with 11% body fat can consume more calories per day because of the extra muscle she has. THAT'S the difference. The woman with 11% body fat who weighs the same as the woman with 22% wears a size 5 while the other woman may wear a size 9. Also understand that there just because someone is "skinny" it does not mean that they are healthy. Have you ever heard the term "skinny fat"? This means that this person may be on the smaller side but has very minimal muscle tone and their skin may be loose (even noticeable) and more than likely has cellulite. This person may weigh within or in some cases, below the recommended weight for their gender and height, but their body fat percentage is on the higher side. That is also very important for you guys/ladies to remember. I'm sure you've all head at one point to not be so fixated on the scale. THIS is the reason. The scale doesn't tell you all the details. Lets say you've been working out religiously, eating clean, drinking lots of water but you haven't lost weight in weeks. Have you taken your measurements? The scale tells you if you've lost weight. It does NOT tell you if you've replaced fat with muscle. This is where measuring yourself plays a huge role in your success!! When people ask me for advice this is what I tell them...do NOT forget to measure yourself: Bust area, small waist, hips (largest part of your butt), thighs (around the largest area, usually halfway up), largest part of calf (left or right, one bicep, and have someone measure around your shoulders. You should be taking measurements weekly as well as daily weights. Weighing yourself will also show that for us women, during that time of the month we will more than likely notice an increase in our weight. Some women will gain up to 10 pounds during pre-menstruation! TEN POUNDS! Of course this is water and will go away as soon as your period starts but again, the scale helps you to know how your body works and what to expect. I know there's debate on whether or not we should be weighing daily when dieting because many people get discouraged by the number.....but I just gave you the solution! Yes, you SHOULD be weighing daily. Not just for the number but this will tell you a lot about your body. "Dieting" as I hate to call it needs to be banned from your vocab. You are not "dieting, instead, you are changing your life, your habits, your outlook and most of all you are getting to know your body in a whole different way! Daily weighing will help you to get to know how your body reacts to certain foods! Yes, this is where the title of this entry comes in to play and by the end, you'll know why. Lets talk about CARBOHYDRATES: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. Carbohydrates can be your best friend, and your worst enemy as I have come to realize. Rewind back to 2004 and even before that when I told you guys about how I loved to eat pizza, pasta, Italian pastries etc. For the most part, my diet consisted of BAD CARBS. regular pasta, pastries filled with conoli cream, pizza, fried everything, fast food...the list goes on. No wonder why I was out of shape, unhealthy, and tired all of the time. My metabolism was at a major disadvantage. When we eat that way, we don't even understand the damage we are doing to our bodies! Our bodies function like a machine-a furnace. We have to keep that fire burning (metabolism). When we eat unhealthy it throws everything off. Nothing is working as it should. That's scary, huh? Even more of a reason to be happy that you're here, wanting to make a change. It's the best thing you'll ever do for yourself, I promise.

 BAD CARBOHYDRATES: Carbohydrates that have little or NO real nutritional value. Foods that cause a rapid spike in blood sugar, causing the release of insulin in the blood stream. Sugar, white flour....these two things are the "devil" I was talking about in my previous entry. Regular white pasta, white bread, candy, cakes, pastries, cookies, etc. ALL BAD CARBOHYDRATES! All of these foods turn to sugar in your body, and FAST! That spike in blood sugar is NOT GOOD for not only your waistline, but your health as well. I don't even want to bring up the subject of diabetes. Actually, yes I will briefly in the hopes that my mother's doctors will someday read this. My mother, has diabetes. Lets just say that she doesn't have the best diet. She refused to accept the fact that she shouldn't be sitting down to a 7 course Italian, carb filled meal every day. Back a few years ago, I put my mother on a carbohydrate restricted diet, none so severe as Atkins in the earlier stages but close to the maintenance phase of it. I replaced all of her starchy, refined carbohydrate meals with wheat bread, wheat pasta, loads of vegetables, and lean meats, completely took sugar containing foods away from her reach and her sugars miraculously became lower. NOT because of her doctors, NOT because of her medication....BECAUSE OF SCIENCE AND COMMON SENSE. Her doctors didn't like that too much and convinced her not to eat that way anymore for obvious reasons that I won't clearly state...I'm sure you can figure that out. Bottom line is that sugar is bad-PERIOD, END OF STORY. There is nothing good for the body that comes from sugar-NOTHING. Sugary soda's included, people! You might as well drink gasoline. I won't even get into what that stuff does to your insides! Soda-number one thing you should be cutting out of your diet...actually, SUGAR. This doesn't mean you cannot have anything sweet in your life again. This is about life changes. Changing your attitude about food, changing what you KNOW about food, FINDING ALTERNATIVES! I can honestly say that throughout my 8 years or so, of reading up on and studying nutrition-I have been able to find healthy, acceptable alternatives for all of my favorite foods. You'll be surprised of all the foods available that you don't even know about. I will be giving you recipes so don't worry!! Remember when I told you to start looking at labels? Go look at the sugar content in the milk in your refrigerator. Did you do it? Surprise? I'm sure you are. Sugar is in most of the foods you don't even suspect to contain it. Bread has sugar, regular old white pasta has sugar too. My motto is this..."If you can't grow it, pick it or see it at a farm....DON'T EAT IT!" Now it sounds extreme, I know. But it's basically how I was eating once I became serious about working out and lifting weights. There are exceptions, everyone is allowed an indulgence now and then. Rule of thumb-everything in moderation. Rare occasions, its okay to have your favorite piece of candy, food, whatever. Just don't make it an everyday thing. Your health is more important than anything.

Once I began lifting weights I started adding the necessary foods to maximize my health AND muscle gains. Here are some examples:

Breakfast consisted of one of the following options:

•  3 egg whites, scrambled, 1 slice of fat free cheese, 1 tablespoon of low sodium salsa, 2 turkey sausage links, 1 slice whole wheat toast, small serving of fruit.
• 1 cup Steel cut oats, 1 cup of blueberries, 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup of Kashi go lean cereal, 1 cup strawberries,  1/2 cup of plain soy milk

Lunch consisted of one of the following options:

• 2 cups spinach, 3 ounces grilled chicken breast, lean steak or filet of fish (usually salmon or tilapia), 1 cup of quinoa with mixed steamed veggies (super grain!!! Look it up!!)  
• low sodium turkey on wheat bread loaded with veggies and yellow mustard (contains no sugar)

Mid-afternoon snack (150-250 calories) Usually a small piece of fruit like an apple and 2 tablespoons of all natural peanut butter.


Dinner consisted of the following with choice of lean protein:

• 2 cups of steamed vegetables with 3 ounces lean protein
• palm size serving of either quinoa or sweet potato

After dinner snack (150-250 cals):

• 1/2 of a peach or apple sprinkled with cinnamon and stevia powder or honey set in the oven for 5-10 minutes. The honey mixed with the juices of the fruit brought out by the heat make this the equivalent of a really good desert. Tastes like pie without all the guilt. This can also be done in the microwave.
• Celery sticks filled with fat free chive/vegetable cream cheese.
• Carrots and fat free ranch dip. I usually made my own with fat free cream cheese, fat free mayonaise and packet of ranch dressing seasoning. Keep in mind you must limit to between 150-250 cals.

My gym routine was dependant on my work schedule but 1/2 hour before my workout routines I would have a small serving of fruit in addition to my Whey protein. There are so many different kinds of whey protein out there on the market, its all about finding which one you like as far as taste and calorie content. Also just make sure that per scoop you're getting no more than 20 grams of protein. Thats how much your body can process at once anyway so the rest is going to waste. You don't need to supplement that much because your diet is controlled to contain plenty of protein as well so don't worry that you're not getting enough! I would have a serving of fruit because that would provide an instant burst of energy to power through my workouts. Remember, fruit has sugar however, it is NATURAL SUGAR! WHICH IS OKAY IN SMALLER AMOUNTS! (There is a huge difference between the two when it comes to insulin levels in the blood caused by the different sources.)

Along with my protein shake and fruit I wold take my powerhouse of secret supplements. Well, they're no secret...I JUST KNOW WHEN TO TAKE THEM TO MAXIMIZE RESULTS! And I'm going to share them with you now. For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you might recognize these pictures! I posted them for a reason!

150 mcg's of GREEN TEA EXTRACT, 200 MG'S OF CoQ10, 500 MG OF L-CARNITINE! This will give you superwoman strength in the gym! Also this is great stuff to add to the regimen- Sublingual (under the tongue) liquid B complex. This is the icing on the cake of energy supplements! How do you think I'm still going with this entry? :-) It's awesome stuff. Now, I have one other secret ingredient that I stack on top of this combo, BUT, I'm not going to disclose that yet because I want to do a seperate entry on the benefits of this very awesome supplement that I couldn't go a day without! Those nearest and dearest to me should already be able to guess what that is!


After my workouts, as I'm driving home, I have another protein shake and 1 slice of white bread with all natural peanut butter....wait, WHITE BREAD? YES! This is the only time I will have a "bad carb" the reason is because after you train your muscles, you want to get that protein into the muscles as fast as you can! You do this with a fast digesting carbohydrate like white bread and a healthy fat like in the peanut butter. Then its breakfast within 1-2 hours! Hard work isn't it? It becomes second nature once you understand the mechanics behind your body...THE SCIENCE!! ;-) 


If you guys havn't noticed, when I've spoken about my diet in this entry I really didn't speak as if this was my current regimen and thats because it isn't. Right now, I have reverted back to my ways of low carb living. I do this every couple of months and take a brief break from weight lifting to give my body a rest and to reset my metabolism because over the years I have realized that my body is very sensitive to carbohydrates and once in a while its benefited me greatly to reduce the amount that I take in every so often. I usually do this for a months time and then resume my normal training and eating patterns. I'm already about 3 weeks into it and I've shed another 8 pounds which is pretty awesome since summer is almost here. :-) This is what I meant when I said you need to find what works for you. Everyones body reacts differently to certain foods but once  you pay attention, you will know what foods you can eat and what foods you need to limit!


NEXT UP....

THAT MISSING PIECE TO MY PRE WORKOUT SUPPLEMENT LINE-UP!!!

And I'll be showing you around the gym so if  you're a beginner, you won't feel so lost.