What did I REALLY eat?

Everyone wants to know, as a bikini competitor during prep, What do you really eat?

My typical day during most of my prep looked a little something like this(of course it changes when you get closer to the show….cutting out sugar & watching your sodium….little things like that.

Drink a gallon of water daily!

Pre workout snack – 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1 scoop whey protein

5am workout(weights & sometimes cardio)

Post workout- Whey Protein Shake w/PB2, Egg Whites & Almond Milk

Morning snack – Chicken, Brown rice & a veggie

Lunch – chicken, sweet potato & veggie

Afternoon snack– Whey Protein shake & a rice cake

Dinner – Tilapia & a HUGE Salad

Late snack – berries & cream

Again, this is just to give you an idea of my typical day. I did not eat this same menu every single day.

I prep my meals for the week every Sunday. That way it is done for the entire week and I didn’t have to think about it again.

The 2nd question I would get, that would follow up “What do you eat” is….”Are you going to eat normal when you are done”. lol! This is normal for me(us), this is how we have been eating for a few years now. We eat clean, we eat a lot and we eat every 2 to 3 hours. I believe I am more healthy today than I have ever been.

Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Hugs ~ Wendy

My 1st Bikini Competition – The decision was made…Now What?!

After a few months of battling the idea in my head and a little discussion with my “main squeeze”; In September 2015 it was decided, I wanted to train to compete in a bikini competition. It’s something that has been in the back of my head for years, but never thought I would have the opportunity to do it. With the encouragement of a few special people(my husband, my daughters, my friend Nicole & my friend Susan) the opportunity was handed to me and I grabbed it with both hands and embraced every second! Once I had made the decision I was so excited and terrified all at once. I knew it was going to be a long tough road but I was willing to put in the work to get there.

It started with having a conversation with the trainer I chose. I was lucky enough to have a girlfriend who is married to a trainer so I knew the integrity of my trainer personally and knew he was a good person. Some people are not that lucky. My advise to anyone looking got a trainer….do you research. Ask around and read, read, read. Knowledge is power…know what questions to ask before you meet with them…if something doesn’t seem “right” it usually isn’t.

Starting point – before my trainer could point me in the right direction, he needed pictures for reference (I did my training online, since my trainer lives several hours away from me), and to determine body fat percentage. Let me tell you… this is a ~~little~~ very intimidating & discouraging, but very necessary. I was mortified when I saw them and seriously wondered what the heck I was thinking and how I was ever going to be ready to step on that stage. After “beginning” pictures and some caliper measurements we determined I was at 24% body fat. Ummm…totally discouraged AGAIN! My body fat needed to be at about 15% to step on stage…sigh…one step at a time, right? and the “beginning pictures” & body fat percentage were step on of many, so without making you wait any longer ladies and gentleman….this is what 24% body fat looks like on my 5’2″, 112 pound, 42 year old body.

October 2015

October 2015

Next time – What do I do to get this mess stage ready!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs ~ Wendy

My Transformation

I have never been an overweight person. I think I was what you call “skinny-fat” or is it “fat-skinny” I am not sure, I just know I was “flabby” wanted to be better; to be tone, have defined muscle, slow the aging process just a little.

In February of 2014 my guy(bringing him into this story will make sense later in the post :-D) started working out on our Elliptical faithfully 3-5 times a week and struggled with loosing and gaining the same 5 to 10 pounds. I joined him on the cardio-junky roller coaster with the same results(down a few pounds, up a few pounds). But one decision in May of 2014 marked the beginning of the change in our progress and brought results beyond our expectations. With the help of my co-worker Nicole from hopepraysweat.com (because lets be honest, walking into the local gym for the first time all alone is insanely intimidating!) I joined the a local YMCA & started a weightlifting routine. In the first two weeks of lifting I GAINED 6 pounds! YUP! GAINED….WHAT THE HECK! I joined the gym to get fit! NOT to watch the scale go up! ok…ok…I slapped myself back to reality telling myself it takes time to loose the “flab”…. I knew I gained some muscle but I kept the weight on without losing a pound! After lifting & doing cardio faithfully every other day for over 3 months, combined with Jeff’s inability to lose the weight he wanted to, I knew something had to give. Our struggle spurred me to google “clean eating”. HOLY COW!!!!! Can you say OVERWHELMED with information!! But I read for an entire weekend on clean-eating, what exactly was clean eating, how to convert, what we could and couldn’t eat and came to the conclusion “Clean Eating” has MANY different levels and you have to choose the level that is right for you and your family. I won’t get into all of that today, but the following Monday I went to work & asked my friend Nicole her opinion on clean eating. She informed me she had recently started clean eating to achieve her goals and she suggested I go to bodybuilding.com – Jamie Eason “LiveFit” trainer, I found Jamie Eason’s Live Fit Trainer breaks “getting fit” into three simple phases of lifestyle change….after reading all of Jamie Eason’s information and watching a few of her video’s I was ready to focus on getting healthy. We made the jump to clean eating in September 2014 and have not looked back. Within one month I had lost the 6 pounds I had gained when I started lifting and lost an additional 5 pounds as well as lost inches and gained solid muscle. I have never been in this shape in all of my 41 years! Jeff has lost to date 50 pounds!!! I am so proud of him for not giving up! We now hit the gym Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and are still faithful clean eaters. It truly is a lifestyle change that has changed the way we look at food!

I am not a nutritionist and have no degree or training in fitness. Everything on our journey has been learned by researching online(reading, watching tutorials, looking at blogs) and talking to people who have way more knowledge than we did. Through our fitness journey I have learned so much and hope I can help inspire someone else to get heatlthy. This is my/our personal fitness journey and what has worked for us. Getting fit doesn’t come from a pill or a fad diet…it comes from determination, dedication and never giving up…..

One of the first steps is accountability….we downloaded the “Lose it” app on our iPhones, iPads & Macs and we logged everything we ate….YES EVERYTHING! Even when we took the wrong turn for a day…log it and watch your progress. This is a great way to learn what works for you & your body.

My “before” pictures below are after 4 weeks of lifting weights 3-5 times a week. (I am KICKING myself for not taking “before I started the fitness journey” photos.) But we can’t go back….I highly recommend taking before pictures.