beautifullyambitious’s BodyBl

First and foremost let me just say I have an addiction to pumpkin pie…I love it! Something about October and going into the holidays makes me just crave pumpkin pie… well this year I  may have a small slice on a cheat day BUT I have already made up my mind that there will be no going overboard with the pumpkin pie this year!

With this decision I decided I needed to either find or create a recipe that is similar to pumpkin pie to fight off those cravings… well here it is…I created it and its awesome!

What you need:

Blender!!! (which you should have by now!)

1 cup nonfat milk or 1 c lowfat vanilla almond milk (I have had it with both and honestly prefer the almond milk with this one)

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I like Optimum Vaniila Ice Cream)

The following spices to personal taste preference (I like a bolder taste so I tend to add more then the average joe): pumpkin pie spice, ground cloves, allspice- sometimes a little nutmeg..

1 packet splenda (you can give or take this one- makes it a bit sweeter- I use 1/2 packet)

1/2 Cup- 3/4 Cup Canned Pumpkin Puree (make sure it is only the puree and not the pumpkin pie mix)

What to do:

Mix all spices, protein powder, splenda and milk in blender until smooth….then add the pumkn and blend until smooth. Pour and sit and ENJOY!!! Yummy yummy yummy

 Hope you enjoy this one as much as I did!

Andrea

So far so good! I ended up waking up a 1/2 hour late this morning which ordinarily would have put me in a bad mood to start and I would have made the excuse that "I have no time to workout this morning, I will work out later" only to put it off and say "I’m too tired" and not workout until maybe tomorrow. BUT instead of falling into old habits I kicked my butt. I jumped up- took my little Max puppy out (the brisk air woke me up!) - took in some caffeine and was on my way.

Back tracking a bit… for those of you who didnt read my last blog "enough is enough" I have decided to dedicate time to plan and set things up to ensure success with my diet and workouts… well thank goodness I did last night. I made my meals for today last night and I even put out my stuff for my breakfast AND I also put my kickboxing cardio DVD in the DVD player- cleared the misc. items in the living room so I had no excuse..

Well with everything already done and feeling more awake-even when you are late it makes it VERY hard to make any excuses for missing a workout. I decided I would do 30 min of kickboxing and some light ab work instead of my usual 45-60 min of kickboxing and 1/2 hour ab work (hey something is better then nothing right?) and I also opted to make up for lost time by taking a 5 minute shower instead of my usual indulgent 20 minute shower…. it worked…

I got done and felt amazing… it feels so good to do kickboxing again (its been a while) and it felt so good knowing that I didnt use an excuse and pushed myself to get it done. Good job me!

After work I am going to get my Max puppy and walk him up to pick up my daughter (about 1/2 mile each way) then I will stop over and see my Uncle… head home-hopefully send the kid outside to play with her friends and do some more ab work! Then I am going to read some of my book and chill out at home for the night.

What a great Friday, hope yours goes well!

Well yesterday I just got so mad at myself that I have decided enough is enough. Lately my diet has been really slipping and my training hasnt been as intense and I have been using the great excuse of "I will re-start tomorrow". Well, thats bullshit! (excuse the language) I decided enough is enough, no more excuses and its time to re-claim control!

 I first took a long hard look at how great I was doing a few weeks ago then had to figure out what is different now or what is affecting me to go astray onto the too well traveled path (the one that most obese people track on) instead of staying on the unbeaten path that offers amazing views… I have come up with its a combination of Murphy’s law kicking my butt, lack of sleep, lots of out of town visitors and being thrown out of routine. In a perfect world I would have my little routine every day but life doesnt work that way. I realized that I need to re-create and re-adjust my "plan". When I plan I succeed- when I dont well I get a whole lot of excuses and a whole lot of chaos!

So…with all of this new found awareness of bullshit and excuses and chaos I decided to write out a plan. I attempted to do this with creating a "cut" diet BUT have since decided "cut" diets are great for those people who compete or who don’t have a 5 year old, a puppy or a new job they are trying to stil figure out..its just not my thing.

The positive side is I now know how to create one should anyone I know ever need help but again, counting carbs is not for me. I instead have decided to go back to the "natural" side of life…eating as natural as possible (fruits, raw veggies, lean meats) and really limit complex carb intake… (oatmeal, brown rice, whole grain bread and pasta)- if I do eat them it is before 2 pm. I have decided to taper my meals… making my biggest meal lunch (I dont have time for a big meal in the morning) and my smallest meal in the evening. I am introducing more foods and spices that I dont usually eat to offer up a variety to my diet (such as pumpkin, squash, ginger ect ect). While yes, this isnt as technical as a formal "diet" it works for me and it is what I did before..just now I am tightening up the foods I take in… I am back to planning my meals the night before and preparing (measuring ect) my meals the night before so in the morning I just grab and go. Less chaos, better mornings and better eating!

Yesterday after swearing at myself I also got so motivated that I wrote out my training schedule through Dec. I downloaded a calendar template from Microsoft Templates and tailored it to fit my needs- I even added little pictures of weights and cartoons flexing for added fun. I now have a plan… I train for 5 days and then rest 1 day.. over a 7 day week I do 2 days of lower body weights & pilates or yoga, 2 days of upper body weights and cardio, then 2 days of straight cardio and ab work. I have a plan for days when I am away from home all day and just bought a little mini cooler to pack away foods for all day trips to the beach.

I have the plan, the will power and I belief I will succeed. Enough is enough and I want the teeny weeny bikini!

Have a great Thursday-

Andrea

Yes, I have blogged more in the past few days then I have in the past few months…don’t ask why… but at any rate here is a new one.

Does stretch mark cream work? Does it only work for people with really red or really new stretch marks? What brands do people use and "swear" by?

I personally have some stretch marks that are about 5 1/2 half years old (thank you to my beautiful daughter) they are not horrible but not something I personally like to look at. Not really red but they are there- the texture and faint redness is there… tonight I started to really look into the different stretch mark creams offered and wouldn’t you know it there are a million and one brands- all claiming to work. Where does one start? Is it a test, wait and see process then move on to the next product and the next until you find something that works? Or is it a ask around thing? Is it appropriate to ask people if they have a stretch mark cream they recommend or is it creepy???
I need to truly look into the different types and hear some real reviews from actual people not company sales teams. Does anyone or has anyone out there used a stretch mark cream that they would recommend???

 Thanks in advance…

Andrea

This morning I ran 3+ miles!!!! : ) It felt so good, even at 5 am!!!!

I haven’t had the opportunity to run since I moved out to the Big Island (about a month ago)… primarily because I have no childcare out here and dont really know anyone yet. The hours my daughter is in school I work so, no time to run then.

Well…my good friend Dawn came into town last night and will be here until Tuesday. I spoke with her and asked her if she minded if I got up early and went running (leaving kendra sleeping) and she didn’t. This morning I woke up and ran- the funny part is I wanted to, it took no mental pushing and very little physical pushing to run at 5 am… I thought because it has been a while I would be slow or wouldn’t be able to hold out….but I did it and I was pretty damn fast!

Anyway…thats it-I ran this morning! Weights tonight…

Have a great Friday-

Andrea

Okay guys..I am back to weight training after a very long 3 day detox diet.. My energy levels were pretty low during those3 days, plus I couldn’t intake the proper amount of protein after training I would need so I opted for Pilates and walking for 3 days… oh how boring!

Anyway, having said my piece on my detox in my last blog I will say that today is officially day 1 of my cut diet and day 1 of plan "Kick my own a**" in training… 

I have been re-vamping or toying or experimenting (whatever you want to call it) with different variations and different exercises to see what kinds of results I get…this workout was focused on light weigh and more reps for those weighted exercises but I also did a lot of my workout using bodyweight exercises…almost a test to see how my body reacts… With all that now said here is the workout already:

Start Time: 5:15 AM

End Time: 6:30 AM

Warm Up: 50 Jumping Jacks (this is a new thing for me… and it seems to work)

Stability Ball Crunches: 1) 30 reps 2) 30 reps - 2 sets in all/ 60 reps in all

Dumbbell Squats: (limited with weight- home gym) 10 lb dumbbells- 3 sets of 15 reps.

Bulgarian Lunges: (these really really hurt today so I only did 2 sets) 5 lb dumbbells (yah I am a sissy lala coming off a detox diet okay…so yes 5 lb dumbbells) 2 sets: 1) 10 reps 2) 12 reps

Dumbbell Deadlifts: 10 lb dumbbells- 3 sets of 15 reps

Wide Leg Squat: 10 lb Dumbbell - 3 sets of 15 reps

Standing Pulse Lunges: (opted to do a set of these since I couldnt bang out a 3rd set for my bulgarian lunges) 10 lb dumbbells- 1 set, 15 reps

Calf Raises: 10 lb Dumbbells 3 sets 1) 15 reps 2) 20 reps 3) 20 reps

Bodyweight Exercises:

Round 2 Squats.. Ultra low squats with only bodyweight- 3 sets of 10 reps

Pelvis tilts (I think that is what they are called- you lay on your back-hands to your sides knees up and squeeze your hiney up) 3 sets of 20 reps… [FYI -I am already feeling these]

Donkey Kicks (again I have a habit of naming things I do.. on all fours you kick 1 leg at a time as high as you can…a good booty blaster or hiney minimizer… hahahaha) 3 sets 1) 15 reps 2) 20 reps 3) 15 reps

Side Flexors (I feel like I am in an 80’s workout video when I do these…but they work! You lay on your side and flex the top leg and lift it as high as you can) 3 sets of 20 each

Stability Ball/Leg and Ab things…(I cant even think of a name for these…. you basically lay on your back and hold a stability ball in between your ankles and and raise it up and bring it back down about an inch from the ground- it works the abs and the legs at once!) 3 sets of 10 reps

That is it! Thank goodness… I stretched but I really am feeling the pain right now and prob will later…on top of this tomorrow morning I am running! Yeah! (who would have ever guessed I could be excited about running) My friend comes into town tonight and she is staying a few days so I will be able to have her home and asleep while my daughter sleeps in the early morning so I can go running… Wish me luck its been a while!

Well thats it… tomorrow I will report day 1 of the cut diet (i figure if I have to report it I wont cheat)…

Have a fabulous day!

-A

Ha ha ha just kidding about the chocolate part! Yesterday was the last day of my lovely detox…thank goodness!!!!

 I did the Jay Robb 3-day detox for the 2nd time this year only this time I did a few of my own modifications.. I do not recommend making any changes if you do the detox for the 1st time… but I am going to push my luck and say if you can master it the 1st time..you are a pro. Therefore… I am a pro..so I can make modifications. (Okay so maybe its my own justification but it works for me)

I made the following modifications:

1) I continued to use Lipo6x supplement on the detox (typically no caffeine or additional supplements are suppose to be used on this particular detox)

2) On day 2 I started my meals much earlier then usual (due to being up with a sick puppy) and found myself absolutley starving at 8 pm- and I ate an extra banana so I had 6 servings of fruit instead of 5..so what! Its only fruit!!! I was basically bordering giving up and giving in and knew if I didnt eat that banana I would…so I ate it!

3) Day 3- last meal. I proclaimed myself finished with the detox after my last serving of fruit yesterday- BUT I have great reasons… The reason I did this detox wasn’t truly to "detox" in the sense you would think but rather to re-set my taste buds and my eating habits before going into my cut diet (started today)…so I figured… I would have a 1 last carb heavy meal before going into new forms of "extreme dieting" (I think they should make that a tv show…they have shows with people eating gross bugs…why not! (thats for another blog though)). I still didn’t do too bad. I had a thai peanut wrap thing I made at home… essentially a low carb whole wheat wrap with 2 tbsp all natural/unsalted peanut butter (Adams)- matchstick carrots, fresh greens, cilantro and grilled chicken. YUM YUM YUM

All in all my goals for the detox were achieved. I managed to re-set my taste buds, and re-find my eating focus and today I am going right into my cut diet. I have succeeded… and that my dear is FABULOUS!

Have a great day!

-A

Before you read on…please note this is my own view, a huge pet peeve and also note I am on day 3 of my detox diet and may be a little more on the sensitive/cranky side…with all of that disclosed…read on! 

As stated in the headline- this is not a personal’s site, 90% of us on this site really do use it for it’s purpose- to learn, and network, share progress, build supportive friendships and get advice with other people into bodybuilding!!!!

This morning I received a private message- not unsual but this was from someone who had NEVER even spoken to me before. It was essentially some guy trying to pick me up- written in the way that someone would send a reply to a personal ad. What really gets me is he is some sort of drama model who only has modeling goals on his bodyspace- nothing to do with fitness (I will keep his name confidential out of a courtesy). While some people may be flattered by someone trying to pick them up out of the blue on a website that is geared towards body building and fitness.. I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE!!!! While yes, I truly do appriciate compliments, friendships and support from other people with similar interests I certainly do not appriciate someone e-mailing me in an attempt to "pick me up"- especially when they know absolutley NOTHING about me!

I repeat bodyspace is not myspace, a personal’s site or a place to attempt to pick up people!!!!

Thats all, I’m done now. Thanks for reading…

Andrea

Well when I wrote up my cut diet I guessed my weight…I figured I had probably gained but dont own a scale or have access to one at the moment…. well last night I weighed in at 125 lbs so its not as bad as I thought! Yeah!!! I have to re-configure my numbers for the cut diet but its nice to know I was way off!

CUTTING DIET – Starts Thursday 9/27/07

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Pre-Cutting Diet: Jay Robb detox 3-day cleanse program- begins Monday 9/24/07 and ends Wednesday 9/26/07.Jay Robb detox 3-day cleanse program- begins Monday 9/24/07 and ends Wednesday 9/26/07.
FOOD INTAKE PROPERTIES:

Jay Robb detox 3-day cleanse program- begins Monday 9/24/07 and ends Wednesday 9/26/07.<u />
  Protein Intake:  1 g protein per 1 lb bodyweight. Approximate current weight 133 lbs. Total protein intake per day 133 g, protein to be evenly distributed between 6-7 meals throughout the day, eaten in combination with carbohydrates and “good fat”. Protein sources: Lean chicken, beef, turkey, egg whites, low/non-fat dairy and whey products.

1 g protein per 1 lb bodyweight. Approximate current weight 133 lbs. Total protein intake per day 133 g, protein to be evenly distributed between 6-7 meals throughout the day, eaten in combination with carbohydrates and “good fat”. Protein sources: Lean chicken, beef, turkey, egg whites, low/non-fat dairy and whey products.Carbohydrate Intake: 2 g carbohydrates per 1 kg of body weight, 133 lbs converted to kg; 133 lbs = 60.33 carbohydrates per day. Complex carbohydrates to be eaten before 2:00 PM [oatmeal, brown rice, whole grain foods] - all other carbohydrates counted (vegetables) and can be eaten at any time of the day. Unlimited fruit intake- not counting in carbohydrate count due to healing properties (although unlimited amount allowed- try to stick with no more then 5 servings per day).
 “Good Fat” Intake:   “Good fats” included in cutting are: avocados, olive oil, virgin coconut oil, flaxseed oil (or capsules), raw nuts, all natural peanut butter, ground flaxseed, and fish oil capsules. To be taken only in moderation and appropriate serving sizes with meals.

Liquid Intake: Primary liquid is WATER! Minimally shoot for 1 gallon of water per day, 1 gallon = 128 fluid oz. Other acceptable liquids are Endorush, Redline, NO Powder, Sugar-Free Redbull (limit intake) and other pre-workout drinks. Non-fat milk and soy milks (low sugar) are allowed minimally. All carbs must be included in total daily carbohydrate count.
 “Cheating”:  Cheat meals are discouraged. If it is a must, cut portion in half and eat before 2:00 PM.
 

SUPPLEMENT PROPERTIES:

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Lipo 6X: Fat burner, doing an 8 week cycle (started 9/1/07). *** No additional caffeine to be taken after 12:00 PM unless staying up a long period of time. Amount: 2 Capsules 2x per day: 30 minutes prior to meals and no later then 3:00 PM

Fat burner, doing an 8 week cycle (started 9/1/07).No additional caffeine to be taken after 12:00 PM unless staying up a long period of time. <em />
CLA 1000 mg: Fat reducer, must be taken consistently. Amount: 1 Capsule, 3x daily: only take with meals.

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B-12: Energy system boost and immune system boost. Amount: 2 Tablets, 2x per day: preferably crushed and added to smoothie or protein shake

C: Gives immune system a boost and wards of colds (cold season). Amount: 1000 mg per day.Zinc: Take for recovery after hard workouts in evening. Amount:  200-500 mg per evening.

Take for recovery after hard workouts in evening.
Rhodiola: [New Supplement] Take as directed for mental clarity and stress management. Amount: TBD as recommended.  
 Multi-Vitamin: Amount: 2 capsules per day, 1 in afternoon and 1 in evening. This one took me a while to put together, I basically have never done a “cut” diet before and pieced this together from reading tons of things. Any suggestions or comments are welcome : )