The I Love Carbs Blog

Last night my hubby and I watched a show on MSNBC called, Hooked: Muscle Women.  It was very interesting listening to the Pro FBB talk about how they got into body building.  What an inspiration!  But, listening to MSNBC portray these hard working athletes as having a control problem, or an obsession was infuriating!  I copied the link to a short video from the web site.  Listen to Dr. Harrison…or I call him, Dr. Douchebag, talk about how these athletes have “an illness, a disorder; if it seriously impairs social occupational functions, he calls this “Muscle Dysmorphia”.  He defines Muscle Dysmorphia as a syndrome in which individuals develope an unrealistic occupation with their muscularity or fitness.  He also says in the program that these women have an obsession with muscles, that he described them as psychotic behavior, and that they’ve learned to channel it into bodybuilding. This is considered an illness to him because they will pass up an invitation with friends to go out to dinner for their obsession of dieting.  Hmmmm…now, to me that’s silly!  What about all these Olympic athletes that have waited for 4 years to compete!  I’m sure with their set goals, they didn’t go out partying with friends every time they were invited out.  They trained SO hard to reach their goals.  Would this Dr. Douchebag consider them obsessive? with  psychotic behavior?  Or take him for example.  How many years did it take him to become a Harvard doctor?  I’m sure many years of studying for his set goal to become a doctor.  Would he consider that obsessive behavior?  Now, I’m particularly frustrated with this program because it paints a negative picture of what I’m passionate about.  But it would equally frustrate me if they talked about other athletes this way.  Anyone with a goal to set, whether it’s for competing or just a personal goal, should be praised for their accomplishments.  The female body builders that were interviewed were wonderful spokes persons for this program.  Unfortunately, they weren’t given the props they deserve.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26075262#26075262

I’ve had tons of positive comments since I started training for my first show.  And while all those comments mean a lot to me, why is it that the few negative comments really bother me.  Don’t get me wrong…I LOVE training.  I couldn’t imagine if I wasn’t blessed with a healthy body/life to be able to train the way I do.  I thank God all the time for that.  But those handful of negatives are replayed in my mind over and over again, and leaves me questioning myself sometimes…Why do I choose to train?  Why is female bodybuilding frowned upon.  I’m not huge, I don’t look intimidating.  And really, bodybuilding is a healthy way of life!  Yes, I put myself to the test with dieting down for a show, lifting heavy, and feeling the pain from an intense workout.  My daughters will grow up learning that food isn’t about just the pleasure of taste, but it’s about fuel for your body.  And exercising to have your body in shape so you can work and not be winded every time you have to exert yourself physically.   Recently, I had a person ask me, in a concerned manner, that she heard I competed and I was starving myself for it.  That ticked me off!  I worked my butt off for a year to get into the best shape of my life!  Come train and diet the way I do for a year and see what kind of results you’ll get!  (that’s what I wanted to say to her)  I don’t like confrontation, and usually I would just be polite and walk away.  But I decided not this time.  She ended up saying sorry a million times and told me some excuses.  I didn’t necessarily want an apology, I just wanted her to know that I am passionate about what I do, it’s WHO I AM, and she turned around and belittled me for my hard work.  It felt good to let someone know how I felt.  I was polite and it was a good conversation.  Does she understand why I train?…I doubt it, but she certainly knows where I stand.

I’m feeling on fire the past week.  Training has been awesome and I’m feeling super pumped and strong.  I did arms last week and my bi’s and tri’s couldn’t moved any longer after my workout.  I was able to use the 45 plates for my preacher curls, 5 reps.  Today I did legs.  I was supposed to do it on Sunday, but I was wiped out!  Today was a catch up day.  Anyhow, I was able to slap on 45’s on the BB to do squats.  By the time I finished with working my quads, they were so pumped, I could hardly walk over to the rack to do Stiff Legged Dead Lifts.  Which after the second set, my quads loosen up a bit.  I did 5 sets of weighted sit ups with the 25lb plate.  I finished with 45 minutes on the elliptical. 

This Monday the fam and I are heading out to an island off the Gulf Coast.  We’re staying with good friends of ours and I can’t wait!  Honestly, my diet hasn’t been too bad, but not very clean.  *Got to get back with it.*  I’m starting my food journal  again to help me have a visual look at the meals.  It helps me stop myself from eating more carbs than allowed.  But, back to my subject matter…I will indulge some while on vacation.  What is a vacation without a splurge?  a boring one!  You can only get to the island by ferry, boat, or small aircraft.  There’s no supermarket, only 2 restaurants, and no streets.  The it has white sand the water is aquamarine.  We’ll be soaking up the sun right on the beach.  I love the beach.  I just want to sip a margarita with a tiny umbrella.  There is a fish market on the island, which is fab because I can eat my weight in seafood  

My training this week was fantastic!  Every workout left me sore.  I just finished up my entire body this week. I train each body part once a week.  I ended it with legs today.  Oh baby…I was sweating so bad.  It’s it funny how you judge your workouts?  Love the soreness, sweating is a good indicator of a hard training session, and of course needing to throw up after training.  In my gym, you have to go down three flights of stairs to exit the building.  My legs were shaking so bad, the guy walking up was chuckling, and said, “must have been a good leg day.”  I skipped cardio today, but will pick up the slack tomorrow. 

Train HARD, Lift HEAVY!

Today my girlfriends and I went out to a place famous for antiques.  It also happened to be my friend’s birthday and we spent the whole day wondering around town, eating, without a care in the world!  It felt SO good!  I indulged in whatever I wanted.  We started with a light lunch at a French place.  We shared a cheese plater with fruit and bread.  Oh how I LOVE Brie!  Then we hit the shops and we shared some chocolates with coffee.  Shopped some more.  We started to get hungry so we ventured into a place for a late lunch.  I had a delish Florida Grouper sandwich with homemade french fries and chased it down with an Italian Bellini—very refreshing since Florida is 1000 degrees outside!  Shopped some more…then went into a cafe and had a cappucino with a pastry.  My diet was blown away today.  But the beauty of it was, I really didn’t have a diet today!  Just out celebrating friendships and loving life!  Here’s some pics of us around town today.

EWWW!
****@aol.com
IP Address: 69.177.201.117

This blog is written especially for the person who left me this beautiful comment on my profile and left me this message.  What really bothers me is who the HECK is this person to comment on MY profile!  I trained darn hard to achieve my goals, and it won’t be shattered by someone who can’t take it.  Perhaps, my friend, you’ve stumble upon the wrong web site, this IS BODYBUILDING.COM   Perhaps you meant to look at Whimpybodies.com?  Before you place judgement upon ANYONE here on this site, just know that EVERYONE here trains hard, has different goals, and YOU are NO ONE to shatter their dreams!  So, I leave you with the wise words of my husband…”Shut your pie hole!”

Tonight my hubby and I went to a local (level III) show with our good friends.  They’ve never been to one, and I think after being around all those fantastically fit people, it just becomes contagious and you want to be fit also.  They guy asked my hubby if he could write out a training program for him seeing how much I’ve gained from his training.  And his wife said she would consider training for a show, and wished I lived near her so we could train together.  Honestly, she would look wicked up there on stage!  She’s the one who went with me to train a few months ago.  So yay for being bit by the fitness bug! 

This would have ben a great show to compete in.  There where 3 ladies in the Women’s Open and I think I could have done very well.  I’m glad I went because it sure did fire me up for next week!  The promoter to my show was also there tonight.  I went and introduced myself to him.  He’s a very nice guy.  I told him I was looking forward to doing his show next week and he kind of looked me up and down and said, “Oh yeah, you look great, nice total package.  You’ll do great!”  I told him that meant a lot to me coming from him. 

My diet has been bearable…but…these next few days will be torture!  25 grams of carbs + training + cardio up until Wednesday.  I am however, really enjoying all the sodium I get to take in right now.  The chicken breast that I cook is delish and tastes great on salad.  I’m going to miss having it for a couple days as I start to pull the water out.  If you buy frozed chicken breast, buy Tyson’s no-hormones, no-antibiotics chicken breast.  I thaw it, and pat them dry.  Then I make a dry Italian seasoning mix with garlic powder, dried rosemary, dried basil, dried oragano, red pepper flakes, and sea salt.  Then I sprinkle it over the chicken and pan sear them.  About 4-6 minutes each side, depends on the thickness of the meat.  They turn out tender and great hot or cold over salad. 

My goal this week is to focus of course on my diet, or lack there of, cardio, and most importantly my posing.  I’ve come a long way from when I’ve started, and it’s been so much fun!

I wasn’t able to meet with my trainer this week.  This kind of stressed me out since I’m 3 weeks out now.  But, my youngest daughter caught a cold, and my hubby and teenager were out of town.  I would have brought her along to my posing practice, but she looked miserable.  Posing practice will be on Tuesday.  I’ve got to figure out a song to use for my routine. 

I’m doing more cardio and still lifting strong, and FINALLY I’m seeing my lower abs coming through.  I’ve been tanning and got some color on me…not looking like a ghost anymore  

Lately, I’ve been dreaming of food.  I love cooking.  I cook dinner for my fam and I eat my protein and veggies while they’re eating a yummy spaghetti dinner, or home made pizza…yeah, I make an awesome pizza…lived in Italy for a few years.  I’ve always had a passion for cooking.  And I’m going to start in a couple weeks to volunteer at my church in their kitchen.  Every Wednesday, the church cooks a home cooked meal to give the busy families a chance to sit as a family and have a good meal before class.  It’s going to be torture for me being around all that food, but I love being in the kitchen.  Especially a commercial kitchen!  Since I have a terrible sweet tooth, I’ve been trying to find ways to make desserts that I can eat.  Something that has no carbs, no sugar, and I can’t make it with dairy products.  Hmmm….that is very difficult to do.  I have made a flan using eggs (protein, which I can eat), vanilla, (the one without syrup, extract only), spenda, and soymilk.  It wasn’t bad.  The texture was a bit off, not as creamy.  I think if I bake it slowly at a very low temperature, the texture would be better.  I also tried making meringue cookies.  I used egg whites, spenda, and cream of tartar (which have less than 1% of carbs).  Again, the texture was off, but it actually tasted like a crisp marshmallow.  I’m wondering if it’s the splenda that give these desserts the wrong texture? Hmmm. Back to the drawing board  

  Front Double Bi.    Front Relaxed              
                                                                                                                                                                                    

My order came in yesterday, and I took progress shots with them on.  Wow…I was so excited.  Although I feel like I’m spilling out all over the place, it really helps me invision what I NEED to look like.  This Friday I start my posing training with my coach.  I’ve dropped a pound this week and I almost hit 132 this a.m.  I’m going to use a ton of bikini bite to keep the suit in place :p This blue beauty is my night suit.  My pre-judging suit is a black “wet-look”.  I opted to not go with velvet because I think velvet looks flat against an oiled bod. 

I’m getting loads of support from my gym.  Some of the members that I’ve gotten to know said they’d like to go cheer me on at the show…”holding signs and doing the wave”…er, cheer me on, yes, signs and the wave? NO!

After my shows, I have a beach weekend getaway planned with my girlfriends.  I figured my family will need the break from me and my insanity   My hubby is so great.  I know I’m driving him up the wall, but he still shows that he likes me.  I know he always loves me, no matter what.  But liking a person is a whole different matter. Love you honey!!!

I ran out of time today.  With a household that has four different training schedules, you learn to compromise a bit.  I did, however, get a good 45 minutes of good cardio in tonight.  I did 30 minutes of HIIT on the Stair climber, then 15 minutes on the treadmill at a steady 3 mph pace at a 9% incline.

*side note*

I was talking to my mom today.  She’s only 58 years young, and has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.  She’s the kind of person that does for others and never takes the time for herself.  Her doctor has prescibed meds for her to keep this under control.  I go to my daughter’s cycling races and see men and women older than her, and they’re out there kicking butt, and living a healthy, active life.  They’re grandchildren are probably on the sidelines cheering them on.  That’s awesome to me.  I want to be that person.  To be there mixing it up with my grandchildren someday, and they will look at me in awe.  Heck, I want to be that person for my daughters!  I feel that by living a healthy lifestyle, and not necessarily "preaching" it to others, they learn from your actions.  (Although, some people just need a swift kick in the butt to get them going!) People aren’t very motivated when you tell them they need to exercise.  They’ve got to want it.  Then they’ll ask for your advice, and that’s when you rejoice, and dish it out.  I’m very proud of my family, and for the choices they make, whether it’s the kind of food they eat, or the training they do.  As parents, friends, or companions, you’re actions speak louder than words.  And your enthusiasm and dedication will be contagious to others.  Stay positive and uplifting and others will soon join you.

Keep training hard everyone!

Day 41- Meal Journal

M1- 5 oz. skim milk + 1 scoop whey, (2 capsules) Jetfuel, 2 egg whites, 1- 1/2 whole wheat toast.

*coffee w/ cream and sugar

M2- 1/2 c. brown rice, 5 oz. grilled chicken, coffee w/ cream and sugar.

M3- 1 kashi bar, 6 oz. skim milk + 2 scoops whey, 1 T, natural pb.

M4- 1/3 c. cottage cheese

M5- 5 oz. baked salmon, 1-1/2 c. mixed greens, 1/4 avocado, 2 T. honey dijon dressing.

M6- POST WORKOUT- 5 oz. skim milk, 1 scoop whey, + creatine, glutamine, bcaa.