Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Weeks 6-8 of 12

These last three weeks I was really hoping I'd see a bigger change than I have. I've stayed at pretty much the same body weight, with maybe some minor physique changes. This would be fine during a normal cut, but I have to put my head back into the game and drive it a little bit harder if I'm going to be in the running against people who are loads better at dieting and are starting off with a better foundation in bodybuilding (as well as those with great genetics, but I won't worry about things not under my control).

Progress shot at 7 weeks.

The hardest thing for me to have done and to have overcome in these last several weeks was simply to diet moderately. I've always crash dieted consecutively, almost religiously for a very long time, and it has always helped me get to where I've needed or wanted to be. To me it's almost a reflex. To lose weight, stop eating anything other than protein and green veggies. Sure, it's fantastic if you don't care about strength or having any energy to function, but it's unsustainable and the weight will always come back on once you go back to eating normally. High protein and low everything else is not normal and will not be sustainable long term, but moderate dieting is sustainable for life. It's a skill I never thought I'd get good at, but I'm very proud to say that if anything, these last two months have shown me that I'm able to be truly flexible with my diet, while still getting to my goals, however slowly that may be.

I came from the mindset that everything must be counted in order to "fit" your macros properly. I used to weigh the 2g onion in my salad, the splash of almond milk, even my damn hot sauce if I knew it had even a single carb. What ended up happening was I stopped eating salads and started eating pre-packaged, sodium loaded, unhealthy foods. Why? Because it's a damn pain in the ass to chop a salad and weigh the ingredients individually, find the right ingredients in MFP, put in the right equation to get the exact amount of what you put in it when you're starving and busy. And if someone took a bite of my food? I would panic. Legitimately PANIC. Where did the macros go? How many was that? What should I eat to make it up? DAMMIT I spent 45 minutes perfecting my meal with those exact macros and someone had the nerve to taste it???

Yep, that neurotic.

Protein bread, olive oil mayo, deli meats, & lite salami.

15F / 21C / 45P ~ 400 kcal

Never again. If I don't want to eat the remainder of my food, I get rid of it or save it for later. If I eat it later, I approximate the macros. If I want a bite of something, I'll have it. Sometimes I'll leave 100 calories of cushion for these little mishaps, sometimes I won't. But you know what I will never do? I will never break into an anxious sweat over someone tasting my food or wanting me to taste theirs. I will never sacrifice my healthy, delicious salads for bland, unhealthy frozen meals due to laziness. I will never succumb to uncontrollable binge-eating driven by stress levels over food. What I will do is chill out, weigh my meals during meal prep once a week, and improvise along the way. If I'm feeling stressed or anxious, being a neurotic counter won't help.

Overall, the mental gains these two months have been totally worth it. I haven't binged, or even thought about binging for a long, long time. And I have flexible dieting to thank for that. Flexible meaning, my diet can be whatever the hell I need it to be, in order to live a healthy and fulfilling life without stressing over something as trivial as food.

We have four more weeks in this transformation challenge, time to get things in gear.

Until next time,
Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Week 5 of 12

After blogging last week, I thought to myself, "there really can't be much more I can say about this cut, it's just going to be business as usual." Well boy, was I wrong.

I feel like I'm learning something new about myself, and re-learning so many things about dieting that I had forgotten because I simply hadn't committed to one [seriously] for long enough in the last few years.

I decided to give myself a bigger push and drop my calories from around 1700 closer to 1500 in order to keep up with my 2 lbs loss a week. I nearly hit that number with a low weigh-in of 159.2, but what's even better is that I didn't gain any weight after my cheat meal on Friday night. I decided that I'd roll over my cheat meal into a re-feed on Saturday since I didn't go over-board with my cumulative fat intake on Friday.

Overall, what I discovered this week was that simply removing foods or giving myself less of a portion to eat wasn't going to cut it. Instead, I opted to swap out some foods and replace them with other, more filling versions. Instead of having a banana and/or an apple, I eat more berries. Instead of oats or rice, I have vegetables. Instead of whey protein, I eat egg whites or chicken. The goal here is to keep my volume of food the same, but to eat less calorically dense foods in order to curb hunger.

Bye-bye, flour tortillas!

I'm pretty confident that 1500 calories will provide a big enough deficit, to where I will lose weight consistently, for at least the next few weeks as we close out the second month of this challenge. Instead of cutting any more calories, I will just increase my cardio as needed.

For this week, my new mini-goals will be to continue lifting 4x a week, and to add a 10 minute session to the end of each workout that consists of HIIT. Since I'm not changing my macros this week, my menu will stay the same, which makes grocery shopping, as well as choosing my meals much more easy and straightforward.

Until next time!
Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Week 4 of 12

We're one month in, which means it's time for some progress pictures!

Everyone looks better in some good lingerie.

I've lost about 8 lbs so far, which averages out to 2 lbs a week, with a low weigh-in of 160.9. If I can keep up this rate of weight loss over these next 8 weeks, I'd be ecstatic!

I'm really glad that I decided to do this cut the "healthy" way. At this point, I have absolutely no cravings for "bad" food, and I wouldn't be able to consume very much anyway. The hubby & I went out to dinner for our cheat meal last night, and we didn't even order any sodas because we know it makes us both really bloated and lethargic. Our cheats are more for spending time with each other, not cooking and measuring our food, but still being relatively mindful of what goes in our mouths. I've learned that cheat meals will always set me back unless I'm able to be reasonable with my approach. It's not about the food anymore, it's about the time I get to spend relaxing with my hubbs.

This next week is going to be business as usual, I'll continue to prep my meals for the week in advance. I'm going to drop my calories by a smidge, and increase my cardio a bit as well. We'll see if we can get into the 150's by the end of this week!

Until next time,
Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Weeks 2&3 of 12

These last two weeks have been pretty telling about how things will be going during this cut. I've been a lot better about hitting my macros, meal prepping, and getting into the gym. I've gotten over my cold, and since then it's been much easier to manage my energy throughout the days and weeks. I know that as long as my breakfasts and lunches are prepared for the day, I'm golden.

My workouts have been a little more sketch. My back pain comes and goes, so I have my good days and bad days. I don't want to assume that I know what aggravates it, but I do know that my pain was almost gone until I did a 40 minute morning cardio session, which was just some light treadmill action. I've been trying to go to the gym in the mornings rather than in the evenings when it's super busy. This way I get my workout done while my husband is doing his morning workout, so in the evening I can still spend time watching Netflix with him and Bernard.

Netflix and cuddlin' with my two main bears.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the way these last couple of weeks have gone, mostly because I've gotten into the groove of dieting, and I've been able to stick to my macros without having any cravings. Don't get me wrong-- I get hungry during the day, especially at work, but keeping snacks on hand and eating healthy, whole foods usually helps. I've opted to have fruits, vegetables, oatmeal, and rice as my main sources of carbs so that I can get some volume out of my meals, which helps a lot. I also have a lot of variety with different protein sources for every meal, that way I don't ever get bored of what I'm eating. But honestly, when you're hungry, you will eat just about anything and it will probably taste good.

As for my weight, I did hit a new low of 161.4, which isn't much in terms of a weight drop, but I've been hitting lower morning weights on average. Getting under 162 has been nearly impossible for a better part of this last year, so that was pretty exciting to see. I've been getting in anywhere from 1500-1800 calories a day which is a pretty decent amount of food considering I sit at a desk for most of the day, and work out for maybe an hour at most a couple of days out of the week.

Bernard wants to get swole.

This upcoming week, my goals will be to hit my macros on the nose & to hit each body part once this week, bringing my total weight training sessions up to four. I'll also be doing post-workout cardio to fill out my hour at the gym. Bodybuilding workouts haven't been taking me very long!

Until next time!
Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Week 1 of 12

All right guys,

We're officially finishing up the first week of dieting for bodybuilding.com's transformation challenge. I convinced the hubby to diet with me, so we're in this together! I'm super excited to have a partner in this challenge.

This week started off with a long flight back to Upstate NY from Los Angeles, and then I jumped right into a new job here in town, so my schedule was completely knocked upside down. Not only did I severely under-eat, but I also had zero energy for the gym because of the major jet lag and exhaustion.

I *tried* to get in most of my protein, but my coach has me on 165g, which is way over what I'm used to getting. I think I hit roughly 140g on my best day, and a poverty 80-100g protein/sub 1k kcals most other days. I basically turned into a bitchy sloth-zombie. I realized that if I'm going to function at work and not completely K.O. right when I get home, I need to get in more calories and more food. I still don't think I've hit over 1,500 kcals in a single 24 hour period so far this week, and I paid for it by getting this nasty cold. It's like every time I diet the whole universe plots against me succeeding. Just kidding, I know I suck at it and I just need to work on eating the RIGHT amount, and stop being such an extreme dieter.

I didn't really weigh myself in the beginning of this cut because I didn't have access to a scale, but I gave myself a generous starting weight of 170 lbs. My lowest weigh-in this week was roughly 162 lbs which is where I've been holding steady for several months now. My lowest weight of 2015 after my cut was around 157 lbs.

My goal for this upcoming week is to get over this cold (as if I have much control over this one), meal prep a little better so I'm not starving at work, and get to the gym or do home workouts at least three times. Hopefully this helps me get back into the swing of things so I'm not just losing all my muscle during this cut.

Until next time!
Mel

It's Time to Commit to a Diet

All right guys, this post has been a long time coming.

We all feel it right around this time. The colder months roll around bringing with them holiday celebrations, and all we want to do is cuddle at home with our doggies and some netflix, munching on holiday snacks between parties. Wait, is that just me? If the statistics about holiday weight gain are true, then probably not.

If you're anything like me, you bond over food. It reminds you of home, or of when you went out with that one special person whether it's a spouse or an old friend, and it's something you just default to whenever you set up a night out with your buddies.

But being in this industry, I've spent way too long making excuses for why I'm not dropping body fat. One of the main reasons was that I was afraid to lose my strength. This was a big fear for me because less calories means less energy for lifts, which means less gains. I don't have that excuse anymore.

Earlier this year, I had an elective cosmetic surgery (fancy way of saying I got new boobies), and in doing that I knew that I'd have to take at least 8 weeks off so everything could heal before beginning training again. When I got back to training, I had lost about 50 lbs off my squat and deadlift, and about half of that off my bench press. This was to be expected, so I didn't really sweat it. I had already started dieting to get some of the post-surgery weight off, and I felt really good.

Week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 7 of dieting post-surgery.

Flash forward to a few months later, and my right implant had calcified. It was very uncomfortable and looked terrible. I developed capsular contraction of the right breast and needed to get a capsulotomy. This second surgery would remove the calcification, and result in another 8 week layoff from lifting. This really bummed me out, because it was an unexpected, unwanted surgery that eventually resulted in another 50 lbs off my squat and deadlift, and another 20-25lbs off my bench press. This means I lost 250 lbs off my total, which was almost 30% of my total!

Now that I'm already weak, I really have no excuse for not just dieting down and getting to a reasonable leanness. I've already put on a pretty good amount of muscle, and I really am curious as to what I'd look like under all of this fluff.

My chubbiest in 2006 at 172lbs,
140-145lbs in 2013,
built some mass at 160-162lbs

Long story short, it's time to cut the shit and get lean. Who's with me?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

- Mel

The Ironic Rigidity of Flexible Dieting

WHAT IS FLEXIBLE DIETING?

Flexible dieting tends to be a much easier, more sustainable, and overall more pleasant experience than typical dieting methods that have been popularized in the last decade or so.

For the average overweight person intending to drop some fat for the summer months, an event, or for general health, it can be a very helpful tool to balance out dieting with a hectic work schedule and family life. Without referring to the atrocious over-popularized acronym--IIFYM *shudder*, flexible dieting can be used for weight loss, maintenance, or gain, all while enjoying a variety of foods as long as one stays within their calorie goals, while also being mindful of their macronutrient and micronutrient goals. 

When using these dieting methods, however, to be as accurate as possible, one must weigh out all of their meals, down to the ingredients if at all possible, in order to truly know the amounts of each macronutrient that's being consumed. This ensures that dieters hit their nutritional needs, while "fitting in" some junk food (for lack of a better term), when a craving or desire hits, allowing them to enjoy all foods in moderation.

However, some dieters have simply gone too far into a obsessive state of counting macros. Many "IIFYM" advocates tend to develop neurotic behaviors (if it has calories, it MUST be counted!) which, although an accurate use of the macro system, is the complete opposite of what a flexible approach should feel like. Counting gum, black coffee, artificial sweeteners, diet sodas, and herbs, and other super low calorie foods is not only a waste of time, but is really mentally obsessive and unhealthy behavior. Considering most food labels are partially rounded anyway, depending on FDA guidelines as well as each brand's own arbitrary systems, labels are not one hundred percent accurate. Not only this, but no matter how obsessively one track's their intake, one cannot possible duplicate each day's caloric output exactly, but can only estimate total caloric burn.


WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

The best way to approach flexible dieting, if you're not in competition prep, is to allow your results to speak for themselves. Meaning that if you are getting closer to your goal week by week, allow yourself to loosen the reins a bit and allow for uncounted green vegetables, eyeballing a portion of almond milk, or a free meal here and there. Rigid loyalty to the method is nonsensical if you are accomplishing what you are setting out to do regardless. It's only when there is a period (i.e: as little as two, up to ten weeks for women) of no change in body weight, when you can either change your calorie allowance or tighten your counting methods.

Restrictive dieting (we've all been victims of this in the past), is typically NOT sustainable for the average person. We all have parties, events, social lives, and even work lives that don't allow us to be on a diet ALL the time. So what? Does this mean we have to give up? ABSOLUTELY NOT. This just means we have to account for those days! You CAN couple macro counting with free days.


A FEW APPROACHES

• If you have an event where you will want to enjoy yourself and generally will not want to diet through, you can account for a meal by limiting your earlier meals to just protein rich meals. A vegetable omelette for breakfast, a chicken salad for lunch, maybe greek yogurt or a protein bar for a snack, and then just enjoy your evening while still being mindful of your portions so you don't throw yourself too far off track. A good way to gauge portions is to have just one plate of food with a protein, a serving of vegetables, and a carb, as well as one drink and a dessert that you can share with a friend or your spouse. Resume your diet the next day. 
• If you have a weekend event, you can opt for a steeper deficit (if your goal is weight loss) for a couple of days before and after your weekend. If at all possible, try to be mindful of your meals during this time, and throw in an extra cardio session so you won't be thrown too far from your goals.  
• If you have an event, like a vacation, that will last a week or longer, do your best to time your diet so that your diet break coincides with your vacation. Typically a diet break will come after about 6-12 weeks of dieting depending on the leanness of the dieter. This way you can just take the entire week or two off from dieting and just live your life. Once your diet break is over, you can get right back into dieting with a clear conscience and get to your goals even faster. 

For personalized meet prep programming and nutrition, email melsmoves@gmail.com