smorgan1227’s BodyBlog

One thing I have learned from my short exploration into the world of fitness and bodybuilding is that there are two ends to every decision.  For example, you should eat more fat and less carbs, or you should eat more carbs and less fat.  Another example, You should do very little cardio, or you should do at least an hour a day to lean out.  The list goes on and on.
Now as a newbie… this can be very complicating.   To be or not to be, that is the question, lol… So what am I to do?

What I have learned after 7 months or so is try it all.  I have tried carb cycling, low fat, high fat,  no cardio, lot’s of cardio, lots of protein, no protein, Heavy free weights, low weights lot’s of reps…. The list goes on and on…

The lesson I have taken away is that my body doesn’t know what my brain thinks.  It doesn’t know the science or even the logic behind every argument.  Sometimes it defies reason and leans out when it is not supposed to.  I would never know what worked for me unless I experimented.  There is nothing sadder to me than seeing the same people go to the gym every day and workout hard, but never change.  They have the same beer gut, or the same saddle bags.  They are so unwilling to change their routine, even at the cost of remaining stagnant.

I love all the differing opinions.  I enjoy reading the articles and trying out the theories.  If I had never tried eating clean I would have never realized my bodies potential.  I don’t want to miss out on any of the other "big secrets" that are out there.  Thanks to everyone who contributes.  I love all the information bb.com offers.

The hardest part about it all at this moment is trying to figure out what competition and what association to get involved with.  I am not sure how important it is for your first competition.  I would like to compete in Northern California, but will go to So Cal if I need to.  I also want to win if I compete.  I am sure that is a high hope for my first competition, but if I don’t have a chance at winning there is no purpose for me.  My mind just works that way.  If anyone has any ideas about how I should go about picking a competition please let me know.

Ok, so this blog is mostly for the women.  Monday morning is always my superset day for legs and abs.  This morning I woke up with cramps from my stomach down my thighs.  My mind was screaming, hell no we are not going to the gym for leg day.  However, somewhere deep inside me there was a little voice, it was kinds squeeky, but is was saying, just go and do your best.  Somehow that small voice won out.  As I warmed up with leg curls and extension I thought I must be crazy.  I started to sweat from the pain.  Luckily endorphines kicked in.  Soon I was working out harder than ever.  My squats increased in weight.  I had a great workout.  So glad I went.  And to just make everything even better, someone at the gym asked me if I played a professional sport because I was always working out so hard.  That was a goal of mine when I started getting  back in shape, was for people to mistake me for a professional athlete.  Thank you little voice.

I can’t believe that I am a part of Andrew Oye’s Body survey.  You need to go check it out!  lol… The questions are hard to answer.

http://www.myfittribe.com/oye_body_survey/sonya-morgan

When I used to open a magazine and glance through the pictures of all the beautiful people I would think, wow, they are so beautiful.  If I just bought that skin care product, or lotion, or lipstick, etc. then I can maybe look like them.  Then there were times when I would look at a picture and wonder at how a human could have such flawless skin?  Amazing!

Once my brother became a photographer and asked me to help him with his shoots, my thinking changed.  I started to realize that there was a lot of smoke and magic going on.  500 shots are taken to get the one perfect shot. So, I started thinking to myself, how hard could this be.  This is easy!  HA…. Once again my thinking was all wrong.  I went from thinking it was this crazy impossible thing to something anyone can do.

It was about this time that my brother cornered me into have a shoot of my own, "for fun".  I have had a few shoots since then, and this is what I have learned.

Getting ready for a photo shoot is VERY hard work.  I am a very athletic person.  I have competed in numerous sports.  I have played in the several championship games.  The mental and physical preparedness is no where near as hard as getting ready for a photo shoot.

Perhaps it is just me.  Being physically strong and fit is much easier than looking lean.  I suppose a photo shoot is up their with all the cutting sports like wrestling and boxing and bodybuilding.  The more you have to cut and bring your body under submission the more difficult it becomes.  One must have great constitution to torture your body.  It goes beyond being fit into the realms of the unnatural.

I was so sick Saturday night after my photo shoot that I was throwing up all night.  Trying to rehydrate myself slowly feeding my body proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated.

I am glad that I have experienced this.  It helps me to be a better assistant to my brother with his models.  Also, I have an overflowing amount of respect for those who bring their bodies under such great lengths of control as to compete in bodybuilding an fitness competitions.

Never again will I see a picture in a magazine the same.

I had my photo shoot today.  What a relief to have it over with.  I came home and cheated by eating popcorn rice cakes after 8:00 and having a couple glasses of brandy.  Tomorrow I will be back to clean eating.  But it feels good to relax after such a hard couple of weeks getting ready.

The shoot was fun.  We went for the Oxygen Magazine cover model look. It didn’t take too long.  I was happy that a make-up artist was there.  I can’t wait for y’all to see the shots. Lots of fun.  Now I need a new goal.  Next week I go to Fitness Model International to watch.  Perhaps my goal will be to compete the next year.

Sorry, two blogs in one day.  I was just reminded of something I heard the other day.  I was doing laundry and passing through the living room.  My children were watching TV.  Apparently a commercial was on.  I heard the words that were being spoken in the back of my mind when suddenly they came screaming to clarity.  I know that commercials feed sumbliminal messages to our brains.  However, this was an outright shock to me!  I believe it was an IHOP commercial.  I know their slogan is "Come Hungry, Leave Happy"  But I swear I heard the TV Say, "Come Hungry, Leave FAT!"  I stopped in my tracks and looked at my husband.  I said, "Did the TV just say come hungry leave fat, or am I hearing things."  He said, no your not hearing things, I think it really said that.  I can’t believe that we live in a society that wants to be FAT!  I live in the Central Valley of California.  We have the highest amount of Fat people per capita than anywhere else in the United States.  Interestingly enough, we also have the most fast food restaurants per capita also.  The city I live in is named Manteca (stands for Lard, or fat in spanish) Then just for another odd statistic, we are also a major center for forclosures.  Hmmm…. Fat, greed, laziness.  I thought these were things to be embarrassed about, not proud of…

Ok, Saturday is quickly approaching…  I am squeezing in a photo shoot with my brother.  Apparently I am splitting the time with a beautiful fitness model.  Trying to wrap my mind around that one.  The most important aspect of a photo shoot, other than being physically prepared, is to be relaxed, and in the right mind.  Not intimidated and unworthy… I guess I will have to fool myself, haha…

I am not as ready as I would like to be.  I have some water weight to lose and I will have to do quite a bit of cardio over the next few days.  I lifted hard Monday and Tuesday, so it will be cardio only from here out.  I am drinking a ton of water.  I will cut back on friday.
I posted some progress pictures yesterday.  You can see that I am not ready for a photo shoot, however, I will post some morning of pictures before the shoot so you can see what a difference water weight and such can make.  This shoot will be fun.  We are only doing studio shots I believe.  I need to focus on some creative ideas and get my wardrobe and such ready.  Can’t wait for my tan to arrive in my bb.com oder that should be coming today, lol…

Wish me luck!  Any last minute advice?

My hubby is going to be on TV tonight.  He is an investigator on a Discovery Channel Documentary.  If you like crime scene and investigation shows tune in.  He will be the tall, dark and handsome investigator, Officer Joe Morgan, hehe..

Real Interrogations ‘No Reason to Die’ (Renee Ramos Case) will be airing on  Investigation Discovery TONIGHT;

Well, if anyone has read my recent post you will remember my outrage at lunch with yet another friend swearing she wanted to try eating clean, and my sarcastic response, "Why should I send you the diet, I have sent it to everyone else at this table and NOBODY has done it yet!".  Well, you will all be happy to know that I took her and another girlfriend grocery shopping on Tuesday night.  We spent two hours in the store with our three carts.  Everything I put in my cart they would grab too.  "Can we eat that, Sonya?", "how do we cook it?", "those look good", with an occasional, "I am grabbing those cheetoes for my husband, lol"… People in the store must have thought we were crazy people.  We were exchanging cooking tips, etc.
Both of them are doing great!  I am so excited.  I really think they are serious!  The next step is to encourage them to start a bodyspace.  I believe they are already starting to read the articles, etc.  I will keep you all updated.  I know……it has only been a few days……Proof is in the sugar free pudding…haha…