Thursday, July 11, 2013

Small changes this month to give big results

Hello blog world!

FOOD CHANGES:

So I've been having a pretty steady diet so far mostly staying the same for the last two months.  This month my trainer has added some items to my diet in order to keep things from getting boring and also for specific use.

I've added avocado to my diet in my key lime pie shake (seriously this thing is delicious!!! ) I make my shakes more like a pudding because I like to eat it with a spoon :) Here's the recipe!

1 lime zest and then juice of lime
1/2 an avocado
2 small handfuls of UNSWEETNED coconut flakes
1 stevia
add water to desired consistency and blend!

The avocado has added a little more healthy fats in my diet and also I just freakin' love this shake!

Just recently I've switched out the salmon for shrimp for two reasons:  1.  It's just economical.  Salmon is the most expensive and so I don't mind switching it out and buying some bags of frozen shrimp and 2.  It's to switch things up.   After awhile I'm thinking of switching to adding back in the salmon and replacing the Tilapia meal for the shrimp because Tilapia is also a fatty type of fish and I think when I switch them out I will see some changes.

WORKOUT CHANGES:

Lifting heavy.  I'm talking heavier than I've lifted before.  I've gone from lifting moderate weight and doing 12-15 reps to adding about 10-15 lbs to each set (depending on what my body can handle) and doing 8-10 reps.  If I can do any reps past 10 then I need to go up a little in weight.  It doesn't take a lot of different moves for me to start feeling it!  I haven't really been sore too much during the journey unless I'm working out with Candice but this weeks workouts have left me pretty sore in each muscle group.  Which is awesome!  I've got to BUILD up my shoulders, and glutes so I can create the right body shape that I want.  My core will lean out and then I'll be left with a muscular hour glass type of shape.

For cardio Candice added in another day of cardio for 55 min at a steady heart rate pace of 140.  I watch netflix or hulu a show during this time because it's pretty boring but I put the incline at about 10 or 12 and increase the speed to about 3.0 or above until I hit 140 on my heart rate monitor.  Also I'm doing more interval workouts.  My cyber arc workout changed a little.  I do a variation of high and low intensity.  1 min high, 1 min low, 2 min high, 2 min low, 3 min high, 3 min low and then back to 1 min high 1 min low and so on until I hit 20 minutes then I keep it at the lower level but keep the intensity pretty steady for 15 min.  Just this little bit of change coupled with some of my sprinting session will help bring out the muscularity in my legs.

I'm also timing my workouts.  I've gone from working a full time (no weekends off- what!) job to a part time job and applying for grad school!  (yay!) so I have more time to plan my workouts throughout the day.  I wake up and do my cardio in the morning after eating my grapefruit.  And then I plan my lifting later in the day and eat my meal with brown rice after.  I'm interested to see how this timing changes my ability to build more muscle.  I'll keep you posted!

I've still got 12 weeks (11 weeks on Saturday) left of my training.  So what does my future hold?  I will be letting go of cheat meals soon....NOOOOO!!!!! :(  But I gotta do what I gotta do!  I'll be adding in a light fat burner (I forgot the name of it) but it has a little caffeine to help with fat loss and when September hits I'll be upping my cardio to some two a days.  Once you build up muscle you've got to shrink down the little amount of fat about it so I'm constantly building, and shrinking everyday!  It's tough sometimes.  Do I have cravings- hell yes.  Do I want junk food- hell yes.  Do I love sweets- hell yes.  Do I want to join in and have ice cream- hell yes.  Do I want chocolate when I have a crappy day- hell yes.  BUT I know that after this competition I want to take care of my body, I know that those foods will always be there so why not go for my goal and enjoy those treats (in moderation) later?  Why not take care of myself and prove that I can do this.  I'm pretty excited for this last stretch in my journey before I step on stage.  I mean it's not like I've got my bikini being delivered in August for my first fitting or anything right (just kidding, because I totally do!!! yikes I'm excited! :D)

Take care!

Cheers,
Ash


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