mommefit.ca

Originally posted on my coach’s website, www.graemethomasonline.com, this has been one of my favourite pre-contest meals.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can albacore tuna, packed in water, drained
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 c mushrooms, chopped
• 1/4 c avocado, chopped
• 1/2 c salsa-1 c salsa
• Optional: Add 1/4 can black beans and 1/4 can corn

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Combine all ingredients. Enjoy!

Wow, what a journey it has been, and its not even over yet. The hardest part, getting on stage, is still ahead of me. My journey started 8 weeks ago, in January 2012, when I decided to compete in my first figure competition. Why, you ask? Oh, let me count the ways…

• I was feeling old (nearing on 40) and hadn’t trained for or competed in anything (other than making babies) in a long time (several years).
• I always liked competing. I started in gymnastics at the age of 4, continued with soccer, softball, basketball and volleyball in high school, soccer, softball and spring board diving in University, 5Ks, half marathons and marathons after I graduated, adventure racing thereafter and, most recently, triathlons.
• I admired the strong, graceful look of women in Oxygen, Muscle and Fitness Hers and FitnessRX magazine.
• I hadn’t lifted weights (other than body weight exercises and light hand weights) since my early 20s.
• My friend inspired me (yes, thats you MJ!)…see her photo below.
• My kids were finally old enough that they didn’t need as much constant attention (my youngest just turned 2).
• I have a supportive husband, who, although annoyed at times, puts up with me and allows me to spend hours preparing meals (most time consuming) and exercising. I guess it helped that my new diet caused him to lose 20 pounds of his own, so he couldn’t complain too much!
• I told everyone I was competing and so I couldn’t possibly back out now (although I thought about it often).
• I wanted to do something for ME!
• My diet needed some cleaning up anyhow.

Now that I have covered all the reasons I decided to compete in the first place, I’ll let you in on all the tips, trials and tribulations I encountered along the way. The thing that surprised me the most was how easy the diet was. Notice I said was. Up until a week ago, when I started ‘cutting’ for the competition, the diet was easy.  So easy in fact, that I could easily – and happily – eat like that for the rest of my life.

The preparation on the other hand, was hard. It takes a lot of time to shop, chop, prep, cook and package all of your food. TIP: You need to be organized if you want to stick to your diet. If you’re not prepared, you’ll grab something easy in substitution, which will not help you progress. If you’re not prepared and don’t know what you are going to eat next, you may get hungry which can easily lead to your being famished, which again, can lead to you grabbing something that is not on your plan. When you veer off your plan, your macronutrients may be out of whack, your portions might be too big and you might just be tempted to binge or cheat.  TIP: Being prepared helps you to stick to your plan.  I found that when I knew what my next meal would be and I knew it was ready to go, sitting in the fridge in a glass container, I didn’t obsess about my diet and found myself looking forward to my next meal. I rarely got hungry and I rarely had cravings.

However, that has all changed now that I am three weeks out. I am on a carb-cycling diet plan, where I get low carb days (about 50 g of carbs), medium carb days (about 130 g carbs) and high carb days (about 150 g carbs). The protein stays pretty much the same from day to day but the fat varies depending on how many carbs I am eating that day. The plan is much stricter in terms of macronutrient timing and making sure that my carbs are fueling my workouts and that I am combing the right foods. TIP: If you can afford it, hire a coach to help you with your diet and exercise plans.  A coach can help tailor your diet and exercise to your individual needs and can adjust your plan based on your progress (or lack thereof).  My coach has helped me cope tremendously, but I have found that because I am consuming not just fewer carbs, but fewer calories overall, I tend to run out of energy really fast, especially on low carb days.  He tells me this is somewhat normal

To get back to my earlier point, that my diet was easy, in order to stick to my plan closely, I have stopped cooking ‘meals’, opting instead to make my carbs separately from my proteins, separately from my fats, so that I can track what I am eating more easily.  For example, pre-cutting, I was eating healthy casseroles, stews, chills and shepherds pies, which included a mix of proteins and fats and carbs. Now, I am making boiled chicken or grilled white fish separately from plain brown rice and plain steamed broccoli. Also, where I may have had a salad with walnuts and cranberries and feta before, now I eat only the salad with mixed vegetables.  Where I might have marinaded my fish before, now I bake the fish with only some spices on top.  This has lead to very PLAIN and BORING meal times and I no longer look forward to my next meal. TIP: In the last few weeks, your our meal plan will be pretty damn boring so be ready for it and keep your ultimate goal in mind.  Put inspirational quotes or photos up on your fridge or on your facebook page to help you through.  It has made meal preparation a lot easier though, as there are a lot less ingredients and a lot less variety.  If I never saw a piece of tilapia with green vegetables ever again, I would not miss it in the least!  No wonder pros don’t compete more than a few times per year!

The workouts, as I had predicted, are the best part of training for a figure competition. I look forward to them so much, that I have to work really hard to not over-exercise and to make sure I get the rest I need. TIP: Rest! This has been really challenging for me because in the beginning my coach took away a lot of my cardio sessions. Although I resisted at first, I quickly noticed I could build muscle much faster when I wasn’t over-doing the cardio. So I took my coach’s advice and stuck mostly to weights. I thoughtnthat once he re-introduced the cardio (which he did last week at 4 weeks out), I would be thrilled, but I wasn’t! I learned that by engaging in high intensity interval training (HIIT) I could work much more efficiently, get the same fat burning after-effect and spend less time on the treadmill. I don’t mind the extra cardio too much though, as I use it to catch up on my TV time and it keeps me from thinking about my boring diet!  TIP: Distraction works great! Sleep does too.

The one thing that really did surprise me is how hard the posing really is. Over the past two months, I have taken three posing seminars and they all provided me with a wonderful overview on how to pose properly and what the mandatory poses were that were required by the different organizations and competition categories (TIP: They are ALL different so make sure to do your research before you compete).  What they did not teach me was HOW to activate my lats. This was very, very hard for me. Everyone had a different way of describing it, but none of them seemed to resonate with me (ie. I knew what they were trying to say, but my muscles just would not react the way I wanted them to). For the life of me, I could not ‘flare my lats’ – until yesterday!  TIP: Spend lots of time practising your posing, especially your back pose. Two months of practising about 3-4 times a week and I finally got it. I don’t know if it was because I didn’t have good lat development to start with, or if my mind and body just weren’t talking to each other properly, but I finally got it. This is how it feel in my body: I press my shoulders down towards the floor, while pressing them inwards (kind of like making farting noises with your armpit) and then I engage my triceps. Weird, I know, but it works for me.  TIP: I highly suggest that once you figure out how to pose in front of a mirror, you learn how to pose without one. Engage a friend to watch and critique you or use a video camera so that you will be able to see if what you think looks good, really does.

That’s it for now, more in part #2.

My inspiration:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 lb extra lean or lean ground beef (91%)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1/2 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 c brown rice
• 1 c of frozen corn kernels, rinsed under warm water until no longer frozen.
• 1 1/2 c salsa
• 2 c water
• 1 chicken stock cube

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large skillet, saute onion, red pepper in olive oil for a few minutes. Add in garlic and beef and saute until beef is only slightly pink.
2. Add spices and saute 2 more minutes.
3. Stir in black beans and rice and cook for 3 minutes.
4. Add the corn, salsa, water and chicken cube.
5. Bring to boil and simmer, covered, over low heat for about 60 minutes or until rice is soft, adding more water when necessary in order to soften the rice.
6. Serve.

I found this recipe on www.fabgrandma.com. Fab Grandma states that it was originally from QVC, the shopping channel on TV and claimed that it was the best meatloaf she had ever eaten. I have to agree. It is fabulous. I made minor modifications to make it casein free as well.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 lbs ground meat (I used equal parts extra lean ground beef and extra lean ground turkey)
• 3/4 c Gluten Free oatmeal
• 1 c almond milk
• 1 egg
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp Braggs
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sage

Topping:

• 1/2 c GF catsup
• 2 tbsp GF mustard (I used GF dijon)
• 2 tbsp brown sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Mix all ingredients well, shape into loaf and put in ungreased pan.
2. Mix topping ingredients and spread on top of meatloaf.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.

This recipe was originally created by Graeme Thomas, a leading sports nutritionist and weight loss coach (www.graemethomasonline.com). I made some modifications which I have included below. When I initially read the recipe I was very sceptical that it would taste good considering it has spinach in it, but to my surprise and delight, the spinach and berries blend together beautifully. Try it & get your kids to try it too (just don’t tell them it has spinach!)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2  cups baby spinach (I used only 1.5 cups)
• 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries (I used blackberries and strawberries)
• 2 tbsp flax seeds (I only used 1 tbsp)
• 1 – 1 1/2 scoops protein powder (I used 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder)
• 1-2 tsp unsweetened cocoa (I omitted this)
• 3 tbsp coconut milk or 1/2 cup almond milk (I used nonfat vanilla almond milk)
• ice (I omitted this)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Blend together for 30 seconds. Drink!

Ok, so I still have quite a bit of work to do. Not only diet-wise but also in terms of my posing. The shots you see above were the best of the bunch and trust me, some were pretty fugly! Funny how much of an impact lighting can have on how cut you look, but I’m trying not to let it get to me. Ok, I rushed upstairs and jumped on the scale to make sure I hadn’t put on ten pounds, but afterwards, I was calm (LOL). Anyhow, I’m going to keep practising my posing and I will also really concentrate on tightening up my diet from here on in. Not much time left now, only about 5 weeks to go.  PS. See my bra in the background? I just stripped right down in the office cause I was too lazy to walk downstairs.

This recipe was given to me by my friend MJ, one of the fittest women I know. I made a few modifications to her recipe to suit my taste. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 – 8 small meatballs (homemade or store bought i.e. blue menu lean italian)
• 2 cups brocoli slaw
• 6 – 8 grape or cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
• 1 c sliced mushrooms
• 1 tbsp sesame or avocado oil
• 1.5 – 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 2 tbsp feta cheese
• Mrs. Dash to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes.
2. Mix together and enjoy!

This soup tastes decadent but isn’t at all. I wanted to post a photo but we ate it all before I had a chance. It was a great hit with the two older kids (the younger ones not so much). The soup is nice and thick and has the consistency of a great chowder so it fills you up nicely.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tbs low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 small sweet potatoes, diced
• 1 large carrot, cut into half moons
• 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 lb shrimp cut into small pieces
• 1 15-0z can crushed tomatoes
• 32 oz low-sodium garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 tbs natural peanut butter
• 2 tsp curry powder (red)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat 1/2c. water and soy sauce in a large pot.
2. Add onion and sweet potatoes.  Cook for 5 minutes over high heat, stir occasionally.
3. Add carrot, celery, and pepper.  Cover and cook 3 minutes, stir occasionally.
4. Cook chicken over med-high heat with a little salt and pepper in a seperate pan.
5. Add chicken to soup.
6. Stir in tomatoes, stock, beans, and cilantro.
7. Blend peanut butter with 1/3 c. water and curry powder.  Add to soup.
8. Stir to mix well.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve in 1 c. servings.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:

• 140 Calories
• 3 g. Fat
• 0g Sautrated Fat
• 0 g. Trans Fat
• 55mg Cholesterol
• 400mg Sodium
• 15 g. Carbohydrates
• 3g Dietary Fiber
• 3g Sugars
• 13 g. Protein (more with chicken)
• 2mg Iron

* From Oxygen Magazine