Eden’s BodyBlog

What’s the real motivator in fitness and bodybuilding?  For me there’s a lot of motivators like looking good, building confidence, accomplishing something that I did for me and of course a healthy life.  SOmetimes I get really frustrated when I think I’m doing all that I can and it’s still not making a difference.  It’s the same cycle year after year when the winter weight is put on and taking it off is even more trying.  By doing everything that I can to lose the weight, I just have to be patient and tell myself that through the weeks and months I may not see results, but sooner or later the body kicks in and the fat seems to melt.  Seeing these results is what pushes me even more.  Yesterday I went for my walk around the river.  SOmetimes I get self-conscious about how I look.  (I’m way too hard on myself) and I think, "Oh I don’t look that great.  (see I’ve got some body-image issues)  But yesterday was different.  When I went for my power walk (I call it that cause it makes me feel powerful inside and out) I felt more confident like all the hard work to get back into shape was paying off.  I love that feeling.  It’s like nothing else when you see what YOU did for yourself.  It’s not something that was purchased accept with your own blood, sweat and tears.  I’m excited to keep pushing myself and seeing the results.  I can’t wait to post new pictures of my progress.  And I hope everyone else is proud of what they’ve accomplished too.  We’re all in this together.

Cutting carbs give you what?  A lean body, fatigue, or what?  EVERYONE has their view on what cutting carbs can do for your body.  Some swear by is that it’s the key to losing fat.  Some don’t eat any at all and some eat then only after they work out.  So what’s the deal with cutting carbs?  Lets say that I had like a month to get ready for a photo shoot.  How would my body react to cutting carbs totally out of my diet and eating a lot of protien?  Sometimes the statistics are so overwhelming, it’s hard to know what the answers are.  I know there’s a ton of you out there who know from experience what works for you.  I’d love to hear all of the ideas and views on cutting carbs.  Experience is a huge lesson to learn and I’d love to learn from others.  Let me know what you think about cutting carbs and the posative and negative effects.

I know how everyone is going to do something different to reach their goals.  I know what works for someone, isn’t going to work for another.  I ALSO know that when I’m trying to figure out what works for me, I rack my brain so much, trying to figure it out that I end up frustrated, stressed and motionless.  I read a lot of articles on training and nutrition.  But like I said, it’s frustrating when one article is different from another.  Like cutting carbs for example.  Some quit cold turkey, others taper off a bit but never really cut them all out and I’m wondering which road I should take.  I end up obsessing over what to do.  Any advice on figuring out your own body and what it needs?  I’m told you’re not to do too much cardio cause it will burn muscle and then I’m told that in order to stay lean you do like 1 hour of cardio six days a week.  There was a time when I thought I knew what I was doing and I was getting results, but as I get older, I wonder if what used to work isn’t going to be enough.  Any thoughts on that?  As always it’s good to hear other’s input.  Thanks

I need help!  K now that I have your attention I’ll tell you what’s up.  I’ve finally got my motivation back to train hard and put on as much muscle as I can, but there’s that fear in me that I’ll over-do it and put on more fat than I should.  It’s been forever since my back has allowed me to lift heavy and now that I can, I want to go with full force.  But what’s the fine line between eating to gain muscle and not so much fat?  What’s the best way to supplement for a woman?  I know there’s tons of you out there that know exactly what I’m talking about and have many answers and I’d LOVE to hear them.  Talk to me and feed me your wisdom

One of the hardest things about living in Idaho is the cold weather.  I seriously don’t know how I’ve lasted so long here.  In the winter I get all blah from the cold and lack of sun and when that happens I’m of course not outside as much going for walks and enjoying nature.  So what does that lead to?  A less leaner body.  The Holidays have passed and now there’s no excuse for me not to work out.  Oh sure, I’ll say that I have NO energy and that I’m drained and then I’ll say, "Well when it’s warmer I’ll be outside more burning more calories so it’s ok for me to slack off now."  I could beat myself in the face for thinking like that.  I need motivation and inspiration to get my butt in grear.  Hopefully through coming to bodybuilding.com and reading others posts and stories, I’ll find that motivation.  So thanks in advance.

I’ll get right to the point.  I was browsing in the bulk section of the grocery store when I saw a bin of organic oatmeal.  So I started comparing the carbs between it and other hot cereals/grains.  But something really confused me.  In the organic oatmeal it said that there were zero carbs.  I thought it was an error or that I misunderstood something.  Did I misunderstand?  Does organic oatmeal have no carbs or am I losing my mind here?  Would organic oatmeal be the way to go for those of us on a very low-carb diet?  Does anyone know the answer to this?  I may be making a fool of myself by asking but who knows?  Any comments people?

So it looks like I won’t be lifting for a while.  I pushed the envelope too far and wound up down.  It sucks not being able to have the control that you need to make your goals happen, but right now the best thing is to try and let my back heal.  I’ve just been doing a lot of cardio trying to make up for it, but truthfully, I feel like I’m not doing my body any good.  Sure I’m burning calories at the time, but what about after?  When I lift weights I feel like I’m burning calories and increasing my metabolism for the rest of the day.  I should be happy that I’m at least doing SOMETHING, but lifting weights is where I feel satisfied with my workout.  Seeing that pump is like a trophy that I earned.  OK enough complaining.  I’ll lay off the weights for a while and hopefully by next Wednesday I’ll be ready to start lifting again, even if it’s just a little bit. 

It’s so frustrating when you have the motivation and drive to hit the gym with full force.  You’re ready to lift as much as you can and tear your muscles up so you can have them repair and become even stronger.  You’re all excited because you FINALLY have energy to do it and then once you get started, all of the sudden, SNAP! and you’re out.  I’m referring to injuries like in my case, back injuries.  It’s one of those things that never REALLY heals and that every now and then it gets tweaked by some wrong move and then you’re out.  I thought I was good to lift heavy and go hard, but my back wasn’t healed up enough to let me do that.  In fact I think I made it even worse by pushing myself to lift more.  I’m a fool, I know.  I let my pride get in the way and now I’m going to have to pay the price.  It’s hard though when you feel like you can do anything and that you’re ready to take on a new workout.  Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!  It makes me so mad, but what can you do but rest and wait it out and hope it gets better.  I wish there was something I could take that could heal my lower back faster.  Falling off a ladder several years ago will haunt me forever. 

It’s right smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, but that’s not going to make a difference in how I continue to progress.  In my last few blogs I ranted on about losing control, to binging, to realizing that birth control was most likely to blame for the mood swings and everything else that hit the fan.  As I’ve taken myself off of the pill and have strived to get my eating and workouts back to a stable place I’ve been noticing subtle differences.  I’ve been taking pictures of my abs from the time before I binged to after and to recovery.  I’ll post them on my progress pics later on.  It’s been hard to see in the pictures that I’ve taken several steps back.  I never thought I’d let that happen.  But I’ve learned that I need to pay attention to my body and how I feel while taking unnatural substances like medicines and all.  Almost a month after taking myself off the pill I already feel like I’m seeing progress, but I don’t want to take it for granted and let myself indulge too much.  I don’t believe in waiting for the New Year in order to start eating good and working out regularly.  I believe that NOW is the best time to start.  NOW is when you should be watching what you put in your mouth.  NOW is when you should make time to get to the gym.  I want to get ahead of the game and get a jump start on the new year so that when spring shows it’s face, I’ll have a killer body to show from all of my hard work.  Here’s to getting a head start on the new year!

A while back I wrote about the craziness of going from having all of this control, eating great, working out great and above all, looking great.  And then Bam!  LIke a storm that hits and gives to no time to prepare or get out, all of the control is gone and I’m left feeling tired, run down, and I’ve binged like it was the last time I’d ever taste a single thing on my tongue.  What happened?  Besides taking my little world and shaking it up with drama, I’d added birth control to the mix.  I didn’t even think or consider what the consequences might be.  Lack of energy-check, binging-check, low motivation-chech check.  It all made sense, AFTER the damage was done of course.  If there’s someone out there who this has happened to or if your know of someone else that’s had this issue with birth control, I’d love to hear about it.  I learned that the kind of  birth crontrol I was on, probably wasn’t the best thing for someone with bipolar.  It was one of thos three different dosages.  Instead I should have gotten the kind that has the same ammount of dosage all the way through.  All I can do is pull myself up and learn from it.