fitnessprincess’s BodyBlog

There are no shortcuts.  I was reminded of this quite painfully over the past few days.  Wednesday late afternoon before my evening workout, I decided to try Hydroxycut as an adjunct to my weight loss.  Seemed safe enough after all they advertise the stuff everywhere including the natural bodybuilding magazines, right?

Wrong.  One dose landed me in the ER with a serious allergic reaction.  For the last three days I have been recovering.  As soon as I came home I did an internet search on Hydroxycut and sure enough I discovered I am not the first/only one to report an allergic reaction.  Sure I know there will be many of you out there who haven’t had any problems and have used the stuff for years.  To you I say you are damn lucky.  For me it is a reminder of what I already knew/know:  you fill the glass with sand and that’s what you get mud.  So don’t muck around, eat right and workout hard and you will reach your fitness goals.  Yeah it will take time but you will achieve quality results and good health. 

I am still here and still pluggin’ away.  It has been a really rough week and I am still emotionally a bit raw.  My baby, my best friend, the love of my life Nikki appears to have some medical challenges.  Nikki is a 19-year old seal point siamese cat and we’ve been together since I started my career.  It looks like he may heart trouble (needs an echocardiogram) and he has a(nother) mast cell tumor - benign but needs removed and if that weren’t enough his teeth need attention, too.  As he is a senior citizen all of this is ridiculously expensive.  Of course there isn’t any health insurance for senior kitties like Nikki.  The echocardiogram alone is about $400.  The surgery is even more expensive and problematic because they would have to put Nikki under anaesthesia which isn’t cool if they are right about the heart disease.  It really is sickening to me how the vets can get away with charging what they do.  I am so conflicted about all of this.  Nikki seems quite healthy - he went home this weekend and hollered many times in that characteristic siamese voice at mom’s kitty Thundar or Hissing Hester as we nicknamed her.  How could he be sick and act so well?  He didn’t have any heart murmur when my old vet (why did he have to move? He was Nikki’s vet his whole life!) saw Nikki this past summer for his shots.  I am also conflicted because Nikki has had 3 tumors removed and one of those was a mast cell tumor.  He has had this one for a while and I haven’t noted any change in it so why create problems where there are none?  As you can see I have lots of questions and no answers. 

OK so how does any of this relate to my Bbing blog?  Well this is where my head and heart have been the last week - thinking about Nikki and trying to figure out what to do.  I was hoping to sign up with a new coach but now I can’t given things with Nikki - he comes first. I haven’t done too well eating-wise and I think that is linked to all of this.  On the positive side I have been working out furiously.  It really has helped me deal with this whole situation - get rid of my frustration and give me something else to think about.  I wish I could say it gave me clarity to know how to proceed but I don’t yet know what I am going to do.  I am going to keep praying about it and ask God to lead me.  Your prayers on Nikki’s behalf are most welcome. 

This is the time of year when you start to see fewer people at the gym and when I see people give up on their New Year’s diet resolutions. Please now is not the time to give up!!!

Alex Rodriquez confessions and a series of recent conversations I have had with women thinking about competing in figure prompted me to write this blog entry. 

Bodybuilding and figure competitors frequently use over-the-counter thermogenic products when dieting down for competition.  Surprisingly, few of those with whom I have recently spoken have any idea what the active ingredients in their favorite thermogenics are and more importantly few are aware that using some of these products is prohibited if you want to compete in certain natural federations such as INBF or OCB. 

Let’s test your awareness:  What would you say if I asked you if any of the following thermogenics contain any banned substances?
Hot Rox?
Fahrenheit?
Surprise!  Both contain banned substances.  Fahrenheit and Lean System 7 contain prohormone derivatives (A7-E) and use of these products is prohibited by the INBF. 

I can hear you now. "Oh! I didn’t know!"  Umm…we heard this argument yesterday from Alex Rodriquez:  "I’m guilty for a lot of things, being negligent, naive, not asking all the right questions, and, to be quite honest, I don’t know exactly what substance I was guilty of using.  Whatever it [was], I feel terribly about it." 

Really?  You should because as ab athelete you should KNOW what you are putting into yoiur body!  As my mother always said:  "If you fill the glass half of the glass with sand that’s what you get.  Mud."  There are no shortcuts.  If you take one you will pay the price and it may be higher than you were counting on and the bill will come due likely when you least expect it. 

Ladies take a moment today and really make an effort to read and identify the ingredients on the nutrition facts label for all the foods and supplements you are consuming.  Do you know what the active ingredients are?  What they do chemically?  Do you know what their side effects, if any, are?  And perhaps most importantly do you really want these chemicals in your body?  You decide.  All I can say is life is too short.  Good health is too precious - it really is a gift.  You only get one body, one life - make it a healthy, happy one starting today!

References
OCB/IFPA Drug Testing Guidelines.  Avail. URL:  http://www.theocbwebsite.com/forms/DrugTestingGuidelines.pdf
2008 List of INBF Banned Substances.  Avail. URL:  http://www.inbf.net/downloads/2008-INBF-Banned-Substances-List.pdf

LOL!  Contrary to rumors I am still alive and well! and kickin’ you-know-what in the gym.  Actually Saturday I participated for the second year in a row in the Race Up One Boston Place, a stair climb event organized by the American Lung Association.  I love this event - in part because I truly do enjoy stair climbing but more importantly because I so believe in this cause and this particular organization, which is one of the truly few out there that really does use the donations in support of their cause - 77 cents out of every dollar - and that’s a pretty strong statement right there.  Check out your favorite charity and THEN we’ll talk.  LOL! 

A lot has been going on since my last post.  I have been rethinking my vegan lifestyle.  In part because of my problems with low blood iron but also because of my energy levels and my inability to put on muscle.  If you truly look there are very, very few true vegan athletes out there.  Most are "vegetarians" and eat dairy and most developed their physiques on a regular carnivorous diet. 

I have also been rethinking my relationship with my current coaches.  From June - January I followed the same program with no changes.  Most of the folks who have seen it have been appalled and the consensus seems to be that it would be more appropriate for an endurance athelete not for someone trying to put on muscle.  Dietwise things haven’t been much better.  Post-comp I went right back to my pre-comp macros but finally crashed and burned during the holidays.  I can now see this was a delayed rebound.  The sad part is I got no more assistance in heading it off this time than I did last time and I think it was much worse this time because I had been dieting for so long (since June).  In reviewing my competition photos from November and comparing them with those from April, I was really disappointed.  I had more muscle back in April AND I came in much leaner.  So much for "perfect peaking." 

OK so where does this leave me?  I don’t know the answer yet.  I have been emailing someone I respect and I am hopeful that I may be able to "start over" with the person I first approached about coaching when I first got interested in figure.  In the meantime I am going to try to design my own nutrition and training program.  Hey!  I couldn’t do any worse than these folks who charged me mega-dollars for their services, right!  LOL!