by EM2WL | Aug 1, 2013 | Building Muscle, Fat Loss / Cutting, Fitness Cycles (Periodization), Interviews/Guest Posts, Transformations
Have you ever found yourself wondering what it really takes to look like a figure competitor/fitness model (or if it’s possible to do so while fueling properly)? Well, we were able to track down the stunning Stephanie Lynn (some of you may recognize her from Bodybuilding.com or MyFitnessPal) who was willing to spare a minute of her busy time for the fam. Stephanie dishes on how she achieved her “fitness model” look without the standard, metabolism-trashing methods of excess cardio & insufficient calories.
Hey Stephanie! Thanks so much for agreeing to this. We’ve heard that you just finished a show. Can you tell us how you placed?
I placed 1st in my class (Open – tall class) and 3rd in the Figure Master’s (over 35) division.
Congrats! How long have you been competing now? What inspired you to start?
This was my second year competing… my second show ever. I have ALWAYS been intrigued with bodybuilding. I started lifting weights back when I was in college. I met my husband at our local gym. We trained together when we were dating. He taught me about all the different exercises and how to put together a routine. His aunt (also named Stephanie) was a bodybuilding competitor. She was the first woman I had ever seen up close with that much muscle mass. I used to look at her with awe. I used to think, “I would LOVE to look like that one day.” 
Once I became a wife and mother I had all but given up that dream. Don’t get me wrong…I was still working out. I was in the gym every day for many years but I seemed to see little progress. I eventually stopped making my fitness a priority and quit working out for about 8 months. It was the longest break I had taken from exercise in my whole adult life. In that time I gained some weight…and I was miserable. By the end of 2010 I reached a point where I no longer felt comfortable in my own skin. My face was round, my clothes were tight, and my self esteem was in the toilet. I had to make a change. I started training harder and pushing myself in the gym. I did get stronger but I didn’t make as much progress as I would have liked. A year went by and still not much had changed. I had been killing myself in the gym and I still did not like my body. That’s when I realized that while I had the training down, I had yet to conquer the diet. In January of 2011 I downloaded the My Fitness Pal app to start tracking my calories. That was the catalyst for my fitness revolution!
Many women spend the better part of their lives dieting to achieve the fit, lean, muscular look that we see on fitness models and competitors like you. Can you explain to us the methods that you used to achieve the level of muscularity required for the stage? Or were you always lean/muscular?
Down to 117lbs
Was I always lean and muscular…LOL…NO! I am, by nature, long and lanky. If I would just diet and do cardio I would look like a stick woman. I am not at all genetically inclined to build muscle. I have learned that I both gain and lose fat fairly easily while building muscle has been more of a challenge. When I first learned how to count calories/macros, my first goal was to lose weight. I went from a “fat” 140lbs down to a super lean 120lbs.
At one point I even got down to 117lbs, which is way too skinny for a woman of 5’7″.
Remember I had been exercising for YEARS before this but yet my training lacked purpose and progression and my diet was a mess. I was pretty much eating whatever I wanted. I am living proof that you cannot out-train a bad diet!
So, (we often recommend “bulking” for ladies who want to build muscle)…do you feel that it’s possible for a woman seeking the “fitness model look” to achieve it without bulk cycles?
^^That is the biggest lesson I learned throughout this whole fitness experiment.
Just going to the gym every day and lifting weights was never going to give me the body I wanted. I HAD to adjust my diet to fit my goals if I was going to see progress. If I wanted to gain muscle I had to be eating a surplus of calories. If I wanted to lose fat I had to be eating at a deficit. It wasn’t until I started doing that that I started seeing visible changes. I know the prospect of purposely gaining weight is a scary thing for most women but it is truly the most efficient and effective way to build lean muscle. Even with a proper diet, lean muscle takes a long time to acquire…not months but rather years. 
Lifting weights without fueling the body with enough calories to build new muscle is like spinning your wheels and going nowhere. Look at how many countless hours I spent in the gym in the 12 years before I started this life-changing fitness journey. Once I shed the fat there was very little muscle under there to show for all the work I thought I had done. I saw this. I was disappointed. I knew I wanted progress and that I wasn’t getting it with what I had been doing. I decided it was time to “bulk.” I have since bulked twice and cut 3 times. Here is my journey in pictures…
Consider not just the change in my body, but the change in my weight. I weigh only 5lbs less in the last picture than I did in the first. The scale is just a number. I started my journey wanting that number to go down. Now I just want it to go up!! I am hoping by next summer I’ll be ripped at 140lbs. That would mean coming full circle for me…back to my “fat” weight but with a completely different body! In addition to my weight, also note my waistline. My waist was around 26 inches at 120lbs. Now, at 135lbs it’s 27.5 inches. It’s bigger…but look how much smaller it appears to be. This is one of the amazing things about muscle. It balances out the body and gives you curves in the right places. I am more of an hour glass now than I ever was before. Building a wider back, bigger shoulders, and a bigger bum have actually made me look more feminine!
Now, your cut was a bit different from many that we’ve seen (in the industry)– in that you didn’t drastically slash your cals, or do cardio 3xs/day. Can you explain how you were able to achieve this same look without using these traditional methods?
My diet is quite different from a lot of other competitors. I have been doing intermittent fasting for over a year and a half now. This method of eating allows me to consume more food at each meal including a late evening meal before bed to sustain me during the night. I usually start my cut 20 weeks away from the show with my calories close to maintenance (around 2000). From there I slowly cut calories down as needed to see progress. For this last cut I spent the majority of those weeks eating around 1800-1900 calories. I cut down closer to 1600-1700 in the 4 weeks before the show.
I did the same with cardio. While bulking I was doing only a couple of Zumba classes per week just for fun. I slowly added cardio as well. 
I started with 20-25min at the beginning then worked my way up to 45-50min towards the end. Some days I’d do Zumba and some days I’d use the cardio equipment (either the stairmill or the high-inclined treadmill). I believe in a gradual approach to dieting. I prefer to lose on as much food as possible. You never want to play all of your cards at the beginning. If you start too low with calories you will have nowhere to go if/when you plateau. If you are doing 1hr of cardio every day while you are bulking then you’ll have to double that by the end of your cut. Remember that the body likes homeostasis and will adapt to whatever you are doing. You will have better and easier progress if you save some of those cards to play later in the game.
Can you describe the difference in your scale weight between off season and competition day? What about changes to your diet/workouts?
Well you can see in the images how my weight fluctuates. I will start my 3rd bulk next month and I predict I will likely get up to at least 155lbs. That’s a 20lb gain. 
As for my diet, I will be eating a lot of the same foods just more volume with a few extra treats thrown in there more often. I fully intend to stuff my face for the holidays. As for my training, I change this up fairly often both during contest prep and in the off season. Once I lean down for a show I can see what muscle groups are lacking and pinpoint which areas I need “bring up” to foster more balance and cemetery in my figure. I will often increase the frequency in which I train these areas so they are getting hit more often…more stimulus and time under tension. I am generally stronger when bulking because of the extra food so I will take the opportunity to increase my strength and train in lower rep ranges. I lose some strength while cutting but I still try to keep “weight on the bar” so that I retain as much muscle mass as possible while eating at a deficit. I often make up for this by increasing my volume a bit (more sets and/or reps).
So would you say that it’s realistic for women to strive for a competition look all year long?
No. It isn’t realistic at all. I would never try to maintain this look year round. When you are cutting for a competition you are putting your body into a catabolic state. You will lose some muscle mass while cutting. 
The longer the cut and the more aggressive it is (low calories, lots of cardio), the more potential there is to lose the lean mass you’ve worked so hard to gain. The off season is where you make improvements. You aren’t going to gain any appreciable amount of muscle while eating a calorie deficit so you NEED the time off from dieting to both add mass to your physique and to improve your metabolism. Increasing your calories gradually over time will make your metabolism more efficient. If you do it right you will likely be able to lose weight while eating more calories than you did last time you cut. I am eating more food and doing less cardio every time I diet down. In addition to improving both my lean mass and metabolism, bulking up also gives me a much-needed mental and physical break from the strict diet. I don’t particularly like micromanaging every bite I put in my mouth. During the off season I can relax a bit and enjoy life.
What would you say to the many women who want to look like a fitness cover model, and are eating 1200 cals and doing 2 hours of cardio/day to achieve it?
I would tell them, first of all, that those fitness models are often in peak condition for those photoshoots and most likely do NOT walk around like that all year long. Their images are also airbrushed to perfection. Most of those amazing women you see on the covers of magazines have spent years in training to reach that level. 
You are only seeing the results and not the hard work invested. Second of all, starving and cardio-ing yourself to death is NOT the answer. I can assure you…that cover girl didn’t get to where she is by doing that…and neither will you! Furthermore, sustaining a very low calorie diet (and/or excessive cardio) over a long period of time is not only a mental and physical stress on the body, it can actually cause damage to your metabolism. Remember that your body craves homeostasis. It will adapt itself to any activity that is practiced over time. If you are eating 1200 calories per day + 2 hours of cardio over a period of time, your body will start to see this as it’s “norm.” In response to the stress you are putting on it, it will adjust your metabolism (lowering it) in order to conserve energy and resources. This is what you do NOT want to happen! If you want to have the shapely look of those fitness cover models, you are going to have to invest some time in building your body up…both your lean muscle and your metabolism!
How can our readers see more from/follow you? (FB/IG/Blog, etc)
I have a blog on My Fitness Pal (which really needs to be updated) and I also keep a journal on bodybuilding.com.
Thank you SO much for your time, Stephanie! We really look forward to hearing more from you in the future! Best of luck on next year’s show!
Stephanie Lynn
by EM2WL | Jul 31, 2013 | Consistency, Fat Loss / Cutting, Increasing calories, Q & A
Q: I’m confused. Some people who are EM2WL say they zig zag their cals, but yet they tell newbies to eat the same thing everyday. I think one of your videos even says not to zig zag cals. Which one is it? Is zig zagging calories bad somehow?
Is it high carb day yet???
A: You’re right, we have published a few articles and vids that caution people to hold off on zig zagging calories straight out of the gate (first few weeks). EM2WL gets a lot of newbies who are recovering from an Eating Disorder (ED) or ED-like mentality, as well those who are not fully convinced of the process. So we will often recommend to those who are new and coming from extreme deficits that zig zagging calories can send their body mixed messages. (Much of EM2WL research is rooted in ED recovery — including severe caloric restriction — as well as metabolic damage).
This isn’t so much that the zig zagging itself is an issue (zig zagging that centers around TDEE is a good thing). The issue is that when people who have not fully grasped the EM2WL philosophy decide to “zig zag,” they tend to do so drastically (i.e. 3000 one day, 1100 the next, unlike your more sensible zig zagging). Because of this, their body will view it as binges, and then holds on to the extra from the high days. Many will use the “zig zag” concept as an excuse to be only “half-in” — they will eat more a few days per week, randomly, but still net below BMR on other days. Then they bloat, retain water, feel sick, or gain weight, and blame EM2WL. Their body never fully grasps/trusts that they are going to feed it properly (or regularly) and reacts accordingly.
Because of this, they don’t trust that eating more will “work” for them, and they run back to low cals.
Eating as close as possible to their new calorie goal (with enough carbs, and far enough above BMR), for the first few months, will help many people to avoid this scenario. Choosing to stay consistent in the beginning helps:
- newbies accept the mindset of eating more
- ultra restrictive dieters to get used to netting above BMR
- those who need more time, room to slowly get cals/carbs up to a reasonable level (rather than jumping 1000 cals up, bloating like crazy, getting scared and quitting)
- under-nourished bodies to adapt and accept that their caregiver will eat enough,and be willing to let go of the extra that it’s been hoarding due to fear of starvation.
When a person incorporates zig zagging calories or other methods later in the journey, they will likely still eat enough overall cals, and their body will have no prob with the higher/lower cal days, because they are still within reasonable range.
What?! You’ve never had an “eat-all-the-food” day?
Make sense? I know that zig zagging is a big key for many veterans in the EM2WL fam, so we don’t want to minimize, shun, or call it “bad.” However, when we are dealing with such a wide variety of people, we try to suggest the safest method possible for everyone. The lack of consistency in eating the right amount (and types) of cals is what actually hurts many in the beginning if they aren’t smart about it. But, once most people get used to eating enough, vets find that they naturally zig zag anyway:
- they have have learned to listen to their body – and understand that some days will simply be “eat-all-the-food*” days – so they just take a TDEE day (highly recommended)
- many find that they are hungrier on workout days (especially lifting!) & they eat back exercise cals or increase carbs to re/pre-fuel
- many don’t log their workouts, so depending on the burn, their net cals are different each day, and they purposely eat according to the level of activity that day
- many move toward a lifestyle of no longer logging their food (which is the ultimate goal), and follow their innate hunger cues (once they can be trusted again)
- they feel NO guilt for doing so, because they understand that eating for fuel must coincide with life, and that restriction when ravaged with hunger only leads to a binge later
Basically to keep the process as simple as possible, we just say eat the same thing every day until you and your body have adapted to the fact that you will be eating more from now on. Once firmly rooted, adjust to your lifestyle. When coaching so many people, keeping it basic/simple helps a TON, because everyone’s lifestyle is so different. Some prefer zig zag, but others despise it because eating exactly the same works best for their schedule.
It’s all about making it work for you.
*”Eat-all-the-food” days are exactly as they sound: days where you feel like you could eat the house. It’s best not to fight your body on these days and force a cut. Restriction typically begets binges. Give yourself a full TDEE day, and allow yourself to eat up to, and even over TDEE. You will likely find that you not only prevent yourself from a major binge later, but that by simply giving yourself permission to eat, you may not be as hungry as you thought. And hey, if you truly are that hungry, at least your body knows that it can trust you to listen.
by EM2WL | Jul 29, 2013 | Motivation, Testimonials, The Journey
Having followed her progress for over a year, we were completely overjoyed when Monique agreed to share her journey thus far with the Eat More 2 Weigh Less fam. She’s inspired us for this long, we know you’ll feel the same! ~Lucia & Kiki
25 pounds down
How long have you been on this journey?
Officially, I’ve been on this journey since January 2012. I’ve had so many fluctuations with my weight since I was a child. From being borderline anorexic in middle school to working out like a machine in high school without proper nutrition; this time around, I figured I would actually try to give my body what it needed and not what I THOUGHT it needed.
When did you first learn that you needed to eat more to reach your goals? What was your original response?
Color Run!
I first learned that I needed to eat more to reach my goals when I hit a plateau for about three months straight while exercising and eating as clean as I possibly could. I felt groggy, tired, irritable and most of all hungry, after counting calories. I thought to myself, “I’ve literally done everything right with a few cheat days here and there, but this scale won’t budge at all.”
How did others around you act about your decision to discard the usual low cal methods for weight loss?
The usual response was “wait… you’re not cutting out anything?” or “how can you eat sweets and still lose?” and the infamous “I’m cutting out carbs because they’re bad for you… you won’t lose anything if you start to eat more calories and carbs than your body actually needs.”
How did your body react to the initial increase in cals?
45 pounds down
Two words: Water weight. I felt bloated for about a week initially since my body wasn’t accustomed to the sudden increase in calories. On the plus side, I had SO much more energy to actually workout without feeling fatigued and exhausted all of the time. I finally didn’t need coffee to wake myself up in the morning from a bad nights’ sleep. Plus, I slept like a baby at night, which was great.
Can you describe your typical workout schedule?
Zombie Race
I work a desk job, so I try to be as active as possible each week. I also like to keep my body guessing depending on the season and what activity I’d like to get into. One day, I might hike and on another day I may try some hot yoga. It keeps the boredom at bay!
Typically, my week will look like this:
Monday – Body Combat class or upper body circuit training
Tuesday – Spinning class
Wednesday – Body Combat class or lower body circuit training
Thursday – Swimming or yoga
Friday – Rest day (unless I didn’t get some lifting in throughout the week, then I may do a full body heavy lifting session)
Saturday/Sunday – 2 to 3 mile jog/rest day… depends on activities for the weekend!
Has proper fuel affected you in ways other than weight loss? (Good or bad)
Honestly, I’ve been able to see tremendous changes in my body that have nothing to do with the scale. I’m sleeping better, looking leaner, and have so much energy to do just about anything. The greatest thing that came out of all of this is that I’ve learned how to live and have a healthy relationship with food. I’m a huge foodie and have no time to “diet” at such a young age. I get to enjoy my social life and teach others who want to know my “secrets” how to stop depriving themselves in order to feel better about their weight.
Any parting words of encouragement to those who are new to eating more, or struggling with the decision of whether or not to fuel properly?
I usually tell people to try it out for about a month and see if they have seen a difference in how much more they can lift, how much harder they can push themselves during an intense workout session, or just how much better they feel. It seems like a strange idea to eat more when you’re trying to lose weight, but you simply have to trust the process. Don’t let the scale have so much power over you. You shouldn’t have to judge your worth based on a number. Ever.
The best decisions that I’ve made throughout this journey were eating more (especially protein), purchasing a heart rate monitor and buying a food scale. If you don’t accurately know what’s going into your body, the results you want will not come. Most importantly, be patient and learn to live. Life’s too short not to have great meals with the people you cherish the most along the way!
50 pounds down! A work in progress, but getting there, and enjoying every minute of it!
Share your success, no matter how large or small. You never know who you may inspire to hang on just a bit longer. We love featuring results and journey stories in REAL time, not just before/afters. If you have a victory (scale or not) let us know and allow us to share with the fam, by submitting to success@EM2WL.com
by EM2WL | Jul 25, 2013 | Consistency, Fat Loss / Cutting, Motivation, Testimonials, The Journey, Transformations, Troubleshooting
Before the drama began – loving life
Well this has been a long time coming. I’ve been meaning to sit down and put all of what’s been happening with me for the last year, since my transformation story, on paper. So much has transpired I’m trying to decide exactly where I should begin.
Ok, I’ll start from July of last year, I went to Jamaica to celebrate my bff’s 40th and had an absolute blast! I was at the tail end of my metabolic reset, in which, I had only gained four pounds. I totally enjoyed all the fine delicacies and didn’t count a thing. I was on vacation, loving every minute of it and I vowed I would never ever ever diet on vacation again. I know I ate a surplus some days, the food was amazing and I was determined to try everything. I got back and had gained all of ZERO pounds. WHAT???? So back to Cathe STS Meso 3 and over the rest of the summer I was lifting heavy and eating at cut.
Nov. 2012 – Back to post baby weight & devastated
I noticed the end of September, my weight started creeping up slowly. Since I was lifting heavy and eating right, I tried not to become concerned. Well, my son transitioned to wearing a pump to manage his diabetes, and I didn’t have one full nights sleep for over three weeks. I had to get up every three hours to check his blood sugar. You talk about exhausted… 9pm, 12am, 3am, 6am every single night. By the top of November I had an extra 20lbs and I couldn’t believe how I’d gone from toned and svelte to thick and fatty. I just knew it had to be my thyroid, and though my numbers looked fine, I decided to switch from synthetic to a natural thyroid replacement pill. My numbers plummeted and though in cut mode the weight didn’t budge. I was back to my after baby weight and all the muscles I was so proud of, seemed to disappear into oblivion. You talk about devastated…
I felt everything people would write me about…frustrated, scared, anxious, and obsessed with that scale. I couldn’t understand how I went from nicely toned with just a wee bit of fat to shed, to a thick girl with layers of adipose tissue that seemed here stay! During the next few months the doctor and I worked on getting my thyroid level right. Though the temptation was there to slash calories drastically, I absolutely refused. I ate at a small deficit 10-15% and took off an extra 200 to account for the low thyroid. Lifting and cutting and still nothing moved much. Well the cutting business, wore on my nerves, so back to TDEE I went. I figured if I wasn’t losing or gaining at cut or TDEE then why not enjoy my food???
Fat starting to come off – noticing muscle gains (20lbs heavier)
So, I believe it was March or April, I’m still looking for answers since my thyroid numbers were now level. Goodness, though I’d shed a few pounds, I was stuck at 170lbishhhhhhh. During my hunt for some type of viable explanation, I found a Sweaty Betties vid, on adrenal fatigue. Things started to make sense. Severe stress, lack of sleep, growing older can all contribute to causing adrenal fatigue. Lord knows I was sleep deprived, and the start of the gain was when I was getting up all through the night….ahhhhh haaaaaaaa! Light bulb blew up…lol… I mean for weeks no sleep and I was absolutely stressed in general with family issues, plus the strain of my full time job and my 2nd job that I love, EM2WL. Well, I read and watched more vids and started the supplementation suggested, but, I was still having sleeping issues. I found that my free T3 was a bit too high so we backed down on the thyroid med a little bit.
Ok, so now I’m sleeping ok, thyroid numbers are good, I’m lifting heavy, I invested in the Body Media Fit (boy did I underestimate my numbers, but that’s for another blog, in time…lol), eating at small cut, starting to see some fat loss but still stuck in my big clothes. So, I decided to take some pictures and bam, I see some muscular maturity…more dense muscle than when I was at 154lbs. Yes still almost 20lbs heavier but I could see that all the gain wasn’t just lumpy fat, but that there was some nice growth that transpired unbeknownst to me. I got excited and then the brain starts saying over and over…”now it’s time to shed all the excess fat so you can start wearing some of your smaller stuff…aren’t you sick of wearing the same three jeans?” Oh my gosh, I then became obsessed about the numbers…YES!!! Exactly what I type a few times a day to others, NOT to do!
More mature muscle and v-taper development
After whining to the Kikster one day, I realized, I was causing myself unnecessary stress and I said that is it! No more scale…No more logging… and NEW CLOTHES BABY! Oh yes, the sausage queen went into retirement. I hit the outlets and bought nice fitting jeans. Matter of fact, I went all out and bought tops too, even though my top size didn’t change, hey, I went for the gusto. Feeling good again because a sausage I was not any longer…lol. My plan was to weigh in after a month, but now way over a month later, I have no desire to step on the scale. Listen, during my no scale or logging time..whew, I haven’t been stressed about a single number. And logging for over a year has taught me how to hit numbers,macros, blah blah. So no sweat there either.
lost 1/2 inch in waist…I’ll take it
What’s been happening since? All the jeans I bought are looser…tehehe. The ones I’m wearing today were a bit snug when I bought it. I could hear Kiki’s voice saying, ” Now the purpose of your shopping trip is to “desausage”…why are you going to buy those sausage makers?” LOL. I know I should have left them right there, but they were on too good of a sale. Oh so glad to report they fit smashingly today. Also, the break from all the tracking has allowed me to shift my focus to physical goals. I’ve always wanted to dead lift and squat my weight. My lift sessions have gone to another level. Not worrying about all the tracking keeps me nice and mellow. I also decided to stop dwelling and focusing on the negatives…I wish I looked like this, look at that lump, why can’t I see a striation here or there yet…blah, blah, and negative blah. Now, I congratulate myself on new feats tackled and I point out the positive changes I see in my friend, the mirror.
Ok, ok, ok, so I can’t tell you I’ve lost x,y, or z, BUT, I can tell you I’ve lost a half inch off my hips, waist, and thighs. I can say I surpassed my dead lift goal, met the squat goal, and I’m blowing past other personal records during my lift sessions. I can also see a nice progression which others have noticed too. I have also conquered the hardest part of the journey…the mental voyage. And lastly, I can say I’m enjoying the stress-free non-tracking lifestyle and appreciating every positive thought I now have about me:-)
by EM2WL | Jul 18, 2013 | Consistency, Fat Loss / Cutting
As a trainer this is the absolute toughest time of the year.
Sure, New Year’s Resolutions can be annoying (lots of peeps that have no intentions of doing what it takes longer than the first month), but there’s nothing like that warm Spring/Summer air to bring out the impatience in us all.
I literally gain 5lbs at the start of every warm weather season simply from stressing over the volume of complaints and “I need to lose weight this instant” feelings that come from all across the board. If this is you, please know that it’s a very common thought right now, so you are not alone. But, it’s not helping you. If I could get even 20% of clients to realize that the stress they are causing themselves (and me!) is LITERALLY compounding the problem.
It is so painstakingly hard to watch how the warm weather changes people. The patient suddenly become irate, fluctuations that were easily dismissed during winter layer season becomes inconceivable, magazines/TV/movies show perfect/airbrushed/starved/surgically modified/beautiful people frolicking in the sun. Even “plus-sized” models are like size 10 with super flat abs (riiiggghht…really?!), leaving all but a whopping 10% of us being content in the body that we are presented with. Then we spend the entire summer wishing we were something other than we are, until all of the true “fun in the sun” has come and gone, with us on the sidelines feeling sorry for ourselves.
I often wish that I could take an extended vacation…to rip out the mags/books/movies/scales/too small clothes, etc. from the homes of EVERY woman, and take her shopping for something that does fit and flatter her NOW. Then, I’d drop her off at the nearest PACKED beach to take a good, long, look at the 90% of people there who also aren’t happy with the way that they look.
REAL people have rolls, stretch marks, blotchy skin, etc.. and don’t look like people in magazines. Heck…the people in magazines don’t even look like that! LOL. And the ones that do look good enough to grace magazine covers (temporarily – for a 2 hour photo shoot), put in excessive amounts of time, realize that the look is temporary, and that the picture will be altered once taken.
Because of my field, it’s so hard for me to read a magazine or watch a movie/commercial without reading deeper into how it might be making women feel about themselves. I look and see the reality of it, but it bugs me knowing that most women won’t. Those magazines amplify/exacerbate the feelings of body discontentment that is so common with our society. Granted, we will all be faced with the temptation to feel dissatisfied, and possibly even the need to justify it — “Well it’s different for me because…” — but the point is that it’s not different. There is a fine line between wanting to improve, and deeming ourselves unworthy of life because that change won’t come instantly. Putting our lives on hold, and dwelling on it really doesn’t change it.
And literally makes it worse.
It’s not that having physique goals or wanting to improve ourselves is wrong, but the drastic decisions that we might make in haste because of the urgent feeling, is what we have to be careful to avoid. We already know the devastating effects of attempting quick fixes, yet when a big event rolls around, we may allow our rational to become compromised. Hastily made decisions (for summer, wedding, vacation, etc) can cost us months of hard work, or cause us to keep changing things every 5 minutes out of insecurity/doubt/urgency to see results, while actually running in place (net effect = zero results).
Big events and special seasons are tough bumps in the road on this journey, but we must stay the course and work towards self acceptance.
Summer…only the strong survive.
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Once I became a wife and mother I had all but given up that dream. Don’t get me wrong…I was still working out. I was in the gym every day for many years but I seemed to see little progress. I eventually stopped making my fitness a priority and quit working out for about 8 months. It was the longest break I had taken from exercise in my whole adult life. In that time I gained some weight…and I was miserable. By the end of 2010 I reached a point where I no longer felt comfortable in my own skin. My face was round, my clothes were tight, and my self esteem was in the toilet. I had to make a change. I started training harder and pushing myself in the gym. I did get stronger but I didn’t make as much progress as I would have liked. A year went by and still not much had changed. I had been killing myself in the gym and I still did not like my body. That’s when I realized that while I had the training down, I had yet to conquer the diet. In January of 2011 I downloaded the My Fitness Pal app to start tracking my calories. That was the catalyst for my fitness revolution!
Lifting weights without fueling the body with enough calories to build new muscle is like spinning your wheels and going nowhere. Look at how many countless hours I spent in the gym in the 12 years before I started this life-changing fitness journey. Once I shed the fat there was very little muscle under there to show for all the work I thought I had done. I saw this. I was disappointed. I knew I wanted progress and that I wasn’t getting it with what I had been doing. I decided it was time to “bulk.” I have since bulked twice and cut 3 times. Here is my journey in pictures…
Now, your cut was a bit different from many that we’ve seen (in the industry)– in that you didn’t drastically slash your cals, or do cardio 3xs/day. Can you explain how you were able to achieve this same look without using these traditional methods?
I started with 20-25min at the beginning then worked my way up to 45-50min towards the end. Some days I’d do Zumba and some days I’d use the cardio equipment (either the stairmill or the high-inclined treadmill). I believe in a gradual approach to dieting. I prefer to lose on as much food as possible. You never want to play all of your cards at the beginning. If you start too low with calories you will have nowhere to go if/when you plateau. If you are doing 1hr of cardio every day while you are bulking then you’ll have to double that by the end of your cut. Remember that the body likes homeostasis and will adapt to whatever you are doing. You will have better and easier progress if you save some of those cards to play later in the game.
As for my diet, I will be eating a lot of the same foods just more volume with a few extra treats thrown in there more often. I fully intend to stuff my face for the holidays. As for my training, I change this up fairly often both during contest prep and in the off season. Once I lean down for a show I can see what muscle groups are lacking and pinpoint which areas I need “bring up” to foster more balance and cemetery in my figure. I will often increase the frequency in which I train these areas so they are getting hit more often…more stimulus and time under tension. I am generally stronger when bulking because of the extra food so I will take the opportunity to increase my strength and train in lower rep ranges. I lose some strength while cutting but I still try to keep “weight on the bar” so that I retain as much muscle mass as possible while eating at a deficit. I often make up for this by increasing my volume a bit (more sets and/or reps).
The longer the cut and the more aggressive it is (low calories, lots of cardio), the more potential there is to lose the lean mass you’ve worked so hard to gain. The off season is where you make improvements. You aren’t going to gain any appreciable amount of muscle while eating a calorie deficit so you NEED the time off from dieting to both add mass to your physique and to improve your metabolism. Increasing your calories gradually over time will make your metabolism more efficient. If you do it right you will likely be able to lose weight while eating more calories than you did last time you cut. I am eating more food and doing less cardio every time I diet down. In addition to improving both my lean mass and metabolism, bulking up also gives me a much-needed mental and physical break from the strict diet. I don’t particularly like micromanaging every bite I put in my mouth. During the off season I can relax a bit and enjoy life.
You are only seeing the results and not the hard work invested. Second of all, starving and cardio-ing yourself to death is NOT the answer. I can assure you…that cover girl didn’t get to where she is by doing that…and neither will you! Furthermore, sustaining a very low calorie diet (and/or excessive cardio) over a long period of time is not only a mental and physical stress on the body, it can actually cause damage to your metabolism. Remember that your body craves homeostasis. It will adapt itself to any activity that is practiced over time. If you are eating 1200 calories per day + 2 hours of cardio over a period of time, your body will start to see this as it’s “norm.” In response to the stress you are putting on it, it will adjust your metabolism (lowering it) in order to conserve energy and resources. This is what you do NOT want to happen! If you want to have the shapely look of those fitness cover models, you are going to have to invest some time in building your body up…both your lean muscle and your metabolism!
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