Tearose’s BodyBlog

Making a successful body transformation is about so much more then just working out and eating right. Its as much a mental transformation as a physical.
We have all gotten stuck in these ruts were we stop and start and stop and start, which means we pretty much just stay where we are, we may lose a little and then we gain it back and the cycle can repeat itself again and again until we lose all hope of getting there.

It is definitely possible to stick to a diet and workout plan for long periods of time, I did it last year, for a whole year.
So what changed? yes my circumstances changed, but something else much more important changed. My thinking changed.
Here are the things I know and have learned and  what I feel to be necessary to an amazing transformation:

• What is your purpose? Why do you want to lose this weight, be a certain size etc.? Figure out what that is. Maybe you want to be a good example for you family and kids, maybe you want to compete, maybe you want to be a fitness model, maybe you just want to feel good again. make sure its what you feel PASSIONATE about.
• Then decide exactly what you want to accomplish, be very specific, write it down in detail. Set specific goals and write them down as if its already happened. Find a picture of your ideal physique and put that somewhere you can see it daily.
• Imagine what it will feel like to reach your goals, create a mental mind movie, imagine specific situations starring your new lean self, imagine looking down at your body and it looks exactly like you want, what does it FEEL like? If you find this hard at first don’t stop, work on it everyday it will become clearer and clearer.
• Review these goals everyday.
• Take before pics, you don’t have to share these with the world, but its important YOU see where you are at. It wasn’t until I took my before pics that I realized I must do something NOW waiting even one more day was not acceptable!
• Tell yourself after your workouts, I am even leaner today then I was yesterday, I am getting leaner, stronger and tighter. Imagine the fat melting off to reveal tight shapely muscle.
• Focus on the positive, everyday write down 3 things you did well, also write down 3 things you will do even better tomorrow.
• Have a plan B, what if it rains, the car breaks down, the kids get sick, your stuck away from home without a meal, you can’t get to the gym etc. whats your plan? I have a bodyweight circuit I keep on hand for when I can’t get to a gym, know what you can do, create options for yourself.
• Plan ahead. Cook your meals ahead, some of us hear this, know this, tell others this, and still don’t do it! lol …DO IT!
• Write down what you are grateful  for everyday.
• When you feel like crap and like nothing is going your way, go encourage and help others, works wonders for your mental outlook.
• Before you go to bed, imagine how you want the day to go, imagine your workouts, the reps, sets and weights, when you wake up do it again.
• Weigh, measure and do skin folds, take pics and try on clothes at regular intervals, this could be weekly, bi-weekly or once a month, I like weekly (at least for measurements and weight) because if things aren’t going in the right direction you can make corrections before they go too far the wrong way but just pick one and stick to it.
• Celebrate your victories, even the little things, don’t wait until your at your goal to celebrate.
• Get some new gadgets or equipment, they can help with motivation.
• Try something new, try some yoga, boxing, pilates, go climb a hill, and see if you can beat your time next time. Have fun!
• Keep a workout journal, find a nice notebook, write motivational quotes in it, track all your measurements on a page and track your goals, write down your meals and workouts and water consumption, cut out pics of what you want to look like and past them in it, customize it, make it yours!
• actually write down the time you will do your workout, what time you will eat, wake up go to bed etc, these times are important and if you know what time you are doing everything it just makes it easier.
• Set goals for each workout, you should be trying to go faster in less time further in the same amount of time, lifting more weight, or doing more reps, in some way make each workout better then the last.
• Hold yourself accountable, join a board, forum or group of like-minded people. Sometimes there is no one in the world who understands you, especially if friends and family are not supportive, they will listen, motivate and give you a kick in the ass when you need it.
• Commit to your goals completely and wholeheartedly, sometimes we say in our minds I will give this everything I have! (well, as long as this, and this, and this, happen or don’t happen) Don’t set limitation on yourself, if you argue for your limitations, you will get to keep them!
• When you REALLY don’t want to workout and you find yourself trying to think of an excuse, STOP THINKING and go DO IT. Those times will be some of the best workouts ever, you don’t want to miss that do you?
• Be ready when you hit a goal with a new goal, its too easy to think I’ve made it, I can rest, but wat really happens is you start going backward. keep challenging yourself!
• If you screw up and eat something off plan, DO NOT blow off the whole day, get right back on track with the next meal. Too often people blow off that day and then since it was Wednesday or whatever (can you tell I have LOTS of experince wit this?)and the week is messed up they may as well just have the rest of the week off and start again Monday right? Well do you want to ever be able to trust yourself? Don’t do this. You promised yourself this time would be different, that you would reach your goals THIS TIME remember?? Honor your self promises, thats where that inner strength comes from. The feeling you have when you are that strong mentally that you can sit amongst friends and family while they ho down on chips and cake and cheese and dip while you eat your pre-packed meal with a smug smile and not a pang of regret is PRICELESS!! you feel frikin INVINCIBLE and that feeling just builds on itself.
• Have your off plan meals PLANNED, don’t eat out of the bag or box, put it all on a plate, layed out so you can see it all , then eat slowly and enjoy
• Spend some time looking at transformations on bodyforlifetracker, or bodybuilding.com, or youtube. Do this whenever you start to doubt you can do this. This will build belief. I have seen such amazing transformations, mind-blowing transformations, and I know that if they can do it, so can I.

“Until one is committed there is hesitancy, a chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in ones favor all manner of unforseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could ever have dreamed would come his way.”

Well the binging is under control. I really think that was due to dieting for so long. I can’t binge now if I tried, it just makes me too sick. I am 11 weeks out and have about 30 lbs to go :S I weigh around 147 and I need to get down to 117 and then deplete to around 112/113. I am just going to do the best I can and work my ass off.

I just finished my classes for Cert 3 and 4 and now I just have to finish my assessments to get my certification. I am looking forward to getting out of my current job and finally being able to work in something I am passionate about.

I have been doing home workouts for the past month or so, which was a really nice change from the gym., especially because its been so cold and I just don’t want to leave the house, but I am ready to get back to the gym again.

I have been getting up at 4:30 in the morning to get 45 min of cardio in before work and then I do my weights and another hour of cardio after. I am thinking I will start taking a fat burner around 6 weeks out? I need all the help I can get. I made myself a competition countdown calendar, and everyday I get all my water and meals in and all cardio and my workout I am giving myself a star lol.  hey whatever works… if I am tempted to skip cardio I think about how I won’t get a star for that day and it will mess up my calendar.

I have legs tonight and because I got caught up reading blogs I will be going later then I had scheduled, its ok though hubby is busy tonight so I may as well spend my time at the gym lol. I need to get busy drinking more water though.

Well….wow I didn’t realize I hadn’t posted a blog here in so long :S. So lets see at the end of Feb, we ended up moving in with my husbands family… at 9 weeks out. I had to change gyms find a new job and that didn’t go over well. I ended up binging in march, April and May, shit its been 3 months? I have put on about 25 lbs. I just lost all motivation.

Well I have also joined a new great gym, and started a fabulous personal training course! I am carefully dealing with the binging. With the help of my coach, Tony Di Costanzo. Hes given me a binge protocol I guess you would call it and been so wondefully supportive., added many foods into my diet for a bit and I have been resting . I am feeling an urge to start training hard again, which is so awesome because i have not wanted to train at all. Right now I am concentarting on living the lifestyle ,taking this weight off and completing my course, we’ll see how i go from there I am happy and in a good place.

My hormones were totally out of whack, still are, but I started taking magnesium and a B supplement and I notice a BIG difference. I am also reading Jillian Michael’s book Master Your Metabolism and that is giving me some great insight into whats going on with my body, so hopefully soon I will be able to make even more positive changes. I still have the itch to compete for sure, thats just me I guess, but first things first I want to feel healthy and happy.

You know, as it is I can’t make a decision on things like this. I need to choose my song for my routine. I had one chosen but then my husband said it was awful and he hated that song so… now I don’t really want to use it. So crap! I am trying to find something else.

I got my hooker heels on and I am going to practice posing soon, and I also need to get an hour of cardio in soon and then the rest later tonight. I had my phone set, I was going to get up at 4:30 and get to the gym and get weights done, but it never went off!

I did weight and measurements yesterday I am down a lb and a bit 127.38 now and I am down an inch in my waist… 25 inches now! I gained a bit in my mid thigh, but I can actually feel the muscle, its bigger for sure… so thats why. Oh and went up in leg press from 90 to 100 kilos yesterday! I have always been very weak in these. So looks like things are moving in the right direction.

I went back and was reading Cynthia Herndon’s blog and I came across this:

She says:
"I want this more than anything else. I am not willing to cave or give in or give up. I am not willing to let setbacks determine the outcome. I am not willing to let circumstances define me. I am not willing to make excuses to somehow justify why I don’t want to do this anymore. I feel like the regret and remorse of NOT following through with this plan to fulfill my dream will be much more unbearable than actually doing the dirty work necessary to achieve my ultimate goal."

This is EXACTLY how I feel. I have been hemming and hawwing on some things. There have been things I have not quite been ready to do, that I decided earlier this week, screw it I am giving this ALL I got. I’m pulling out all the stops. Lets see what happens, it can only be good, it can only be good.

This shit is getting hard. I notice that many of us are really wondering why we are doing this right about now. You girls who have already competed KNOW you can do it, I hope and pray and dream and believe that I will make it.

I was thinking today what if I didn’t pay for a trainer, a gym, supplements, a personal training course, have competition expenses looming on the horizon? Man think of what I could do with that money, I could kick back with hubby and play WOW in the evenings and eat yummy dinners, we could go to pizza hut and Mc Donalds and KFC! We could afford to rent movies and veg out. Man it sounds like heaven. But then … the weight would come back, hubby would gain too because I would have all sorts of yummy food around. The muscles would dissapear under soft dimply fat again. The lethargy and the exhaustion would come back too and we would both feel like shit. Sex would become somewhat difficult =0 You know, this route SOUNDS very enjoyable, but its not. I have already done it and look where it got me, it got me to 263lbs!

What if I kept going with this, leaped all the obstacles in my path and fought my way to my goal so I could get up on stage in an eeensy weensy bikini? Man imagine how my body would just get better and better, stronger and tighter. Imagine I would be able to do that interview with Australia Bodybuilding after all. If I could do this, I feel I could conquer anything! I love that I can inspire people to make changes in their life, that I can show them that yes it CAN be done, and YOU can do it! The feeling of pride in myself for not giving up and seeing those muscle pop.

I am addicted to this lifestyle now, I LOVE going to the gym and working hard, I love the way my arms look, and wouldn’t it be a shame to quit when I have not yet seen my body at its best? My mind likes to play tricks on me though, but I know the truth. So I will continue to strive for my goal, when I am so tired I can’t think and all I want is a nice hot pizza and some chocolate, I will eat my plain meals instead. I have visualized my self on stage so much that its now self perpetuating, I MUST continue. I have dreamed it, I believe I can, all thats left is to achieve it! I am well on my way!

This has been a tough week. More mentally and emotionally then anything. I will do a quick vlog for 16 weeks out.

I weighed in yesterday at 136 I can’t believe my weight is going up. I have not eaten one thing off plan this week and I got all workouts and extra cardio in. I do believe I am leaner though because the muscles in my arms are much more visible, my shoulders are bonier too lol and my thighs are smaller and my pants are still loose fitting. So I have no idea whats up.
It really messes with your mind though when the scale is up, oh and so are my measurements?!

I frantically emailed Tony and he told me not to stress, keep doing what I am doing and he is going to be making some changes to my diet.

My emotions are all over the map and I am just trying to stay busy and focused. I seriously just wanted to quit yesterday. That whole why am I doing this?! Do I REALLY want to do this?? *sigh* Yes I do, I REALLY REALLY want to.

I know many of you girls are doing your comp prep with much more going on then I have, and just knowing that some of you who are obviously ROCK STARS ( Tina!) are working your ass off, while dealing with a full plate and not seeing that scale move either gives me hope that my body isn’t broken and maybe I can do this too.

Also to add to the fun, I got a notice to move today. I think someone at the Real Estate office made a mistake? We kept getting these breach notices, but when I spoke with the guy there he explained that we need to get a week ahead on our rent to keep them from happening So we did. We pay rent weekly here, which is weird, anyway he also explained that because we have had so many if we have one more we have to move, well we haven’t had another one, but here is this notice and of course they are closed today for Australia Day. *facepalm*

I am getting more focused. I have been checking out the different federations we have here to see which ones would be most suitable for me. Also looking at what kind of conditions the winners are in. I think I carry a fair amount of muscle, but its hard to tell until I drop more fat.

This had made me more focused and determined, I have about 34 weeks till competition time. I only hope my skin tightens up enough. I am using body butter on it daily hoping that will help. My skin in general is looking so much better lately but I still have a lot of loose skin.
I have a lot of work to do!

Ok so the plan this next week is to get all my cardio in, 45min x 4, get SLEEP since I have been on about 4 hours a night, my goal is 8 hours, that should help with falling asleep at work , cut back on my coffee intake, I am drinking about 7 cups a day…. want to cut that to 3. Hows that for a run on sentence?
I am also going to try to get some caffeine capsules, and get all my water in everyday since the last couple days I have been slacking. The goal is a gallon a day at this point. Eating on plan is never a problem so just keep up with that and schedule my time better so I don’t fall behind in any of this

I also need to get my bodyfat tested. I want to be under 150lbs by this next weekend, last weigh in about 3 weeks ago I was at 154… so that shouldn’t be a problem.

And of course I am stoked and motivated as always after a chat with Tony.

A Week later…

WOOOOOoHOOoooooooo 149!!! FINALLY. And TOM just arrived today!!I have been at 154 for like a month. That was my own fault for not gettting in ALL the prescribed cardio. I am now waiting to see if I get a cheat meal today *crosses fingers, eyes and toes* I am feeling a bit better today so far as far as the flu goes, it always gets worse at night. Last night was horrible, I thought I was getting an ear infection as well, but it seems to be fine today.

I ALSO dropped 3/4 in in my thighs, 1/2 inch in my waist and 3/4 inch in my chest lol bodyfat reading SAYS 20.45% down from 23.03% last time.