Selecting a Trainer

After I decided that I wanted to persue Figure Competing, I knew that my first step would be to talk to people that had experience with the competitions.  I first reached out to a girl I went to high school with who I knew participated in Figure Competing.  I then reached out to my friend, Amie Gaudet, who I know from a women's online forum that I am part of.  Both ladies gave me fantastic support, advice and guidance!  Both also suggested that I get a trainer.  So my research began. 

My husband actually found 4 trainers in the Washington DC/Baltimore Area.  Unfortunately, there were no trainers available in Annapolis.  I started interviewing the trainers through email and telephone conversations and actually narrowed it down to two that I thought would be a good fit for me.  The trouble was, the trainers were a good hour or so away from Annapolis and I knew that in order for me to be successful, I needed to be sure that my trainers were available and that it wasn't going to create a major inconvenience for me to meet with them.  I was feeling a little discouraged and was getting frustrated that I didn't have more favorable options.

I had remembered speaking to a woman, Kelly Gonzalez (http://kellygonzalez.com/), at my gym several months earlier that I knew participated in the competitions, so I gave her a call to see if she could recommend anyone local.  I knew she was also a personal trainer, but I didn't realize that she would be willing to train me as I prepare for the competition.  She did recommend that as I get closer, I start working with one of the trainers that actually specializes in Figure Competition Training, but I've got some work to do before I can meet with them. 

So I'm working with Kelly now.  She's putting together a monthly nutrition plan for me and also helping me change up my workout.  We're really going to get me working SMARTER.  She's not training me in a sense that she'll be working out with me daily; I'm not looking for that sort of trainer.  I'll be checking in with her through phone and email weekly and she'll be making sure that I'm set up with routines, diet plans and keeping on track to successfully meet my goals in the healthiest way possible!

Buddies are the Best

I couldn't have made it this far in my journey of health and fitness if I didn't have my workout buddy, Lisa. I mentioned that it had taken me about two weeks to decide to work out with her back in July. The truth is, I'm a little shy. I have trouble opening up to people and I was feeling insecure about getting into the gym since it was uncharted territory for me.

Lisa and I couldn't be more different. I'm competitive by nature and she's a no-nonsense/no-excuses type of girl. I found myself pushing hard to keep my commitments to her. She was strong and steady. She never missed a workout and I found that our personalities actually meshed together very well.

In the beginning, Lisa was a great teacher. She was patient, she showed me the ropes, never laughed when I was doing 5lbs dumbell curls and was there 100% to answer questions and cheer me on. That's important when you're working out with someone. You need to feel comfortable and supported. When we first started, I didn't really want to work out. I felt like I was having to do all this hard work because I was "fat". As we progressed through the months, I looked forward to our time at the gym. It was girl time. We gossiped, vented, encouraged and bonded. Working out was just the tool we used to get together.

So here we are in February and we're still working out together at least 3 days a week, occasionally our schedules get jammed we might miss each other, but for the most part we're consistent. She's a HUGE support as I enter my journey into competing.

Working out with a buddy has tremendous benefits. LOVE YA, LIS!

Finding the Time

The #1 question I am asked about working out is, "How do you find the time?" Hmmm....

When someone asks me this question, the first thing I want to say is, "there's no such thing as 'finding the time'." Time is something that cannot be found. We all have about a million and three things we could with our time. Guess what? We're all given 24 hours in every single day. I don't have any more time than anyone else. So what's this, "finding the time"? No one finds time to do anything that is a priority to them; they MAKE THE TIME.

Life if about priorities, finding what's important to you and setting aside time in your life to do those things. I make the time to spend with my children, I make the time to keep my home clean and comfortable and I make the time to take care of things that are important to me (my children, my marriage, my work and my body) I'm no less busier than anyone else, in fact, I think my life schedule is pretty packed. I run a small business as a preschool owner/director, I'm a mother to two small children, I'm active in my community as a volunteer, the list goes on and on. I have a lot of things that are important to me.

Its like I tell my kids, "You're only in charge of yourself." No one is going to do your priorities for you. No one is going to take care of your body but YOU. You only have one body so you better do what you need to do to make sure it lasts you a long time.

I know that I need to work out. Its what my body needs to feel its best. So, I get up early, get my kids where they need to be for the day and then I TAKE that time that I MADE for myself and I get it done. This philosophy doesn't just apply to working out, you can apply it to anything that is important to you.

My schedule:
Monday and Wednesday: Get up and get myself and the kids out the door by 6:45 am. Drop kids off at the preschool (Marissa rides in a carpool to school and is picked up at my preschool) I'm at the gym by 7:10 am. I work out until a little after 8:00 am. Get home and get showered and I'm to work by 9:00 am. I do carpool at 3:00 for my daughter and then I'm back to work by 4:00 pm until about 6:00 pm. After 6:00 pm, that's family time. I'm fortunate in that my work schedule can be flexible because I'm a business owner (note: flexible does not mean less demanding) I have a home office where I can work after the kids are in bed.


Tuesday and Thursday: The kids and I are at the preschool by 7:00 am. I work until its time for me to go to the gym at 1:30 pm. I then do cardio until about 2:15 pm and then pick Marissa up from school by 3:00 pm. Then I'm back to work by 4:00 pm and work until about 6:00 pm. Again, family time at 6:00 pm.

Friday: Same as Monday and Wednesday, except I don't go back to work after the afternoon carpool.

Sat and Sun: The family gets up and goes to the gym at 8:00 am. The weekends are generally cardio days for me, but I sometimes do a little extra lifting. We're usually out of there by 9:00-9:30 am. Then the rest of the day is ours to do family things, get chores done and prep for the week ahead!

In today's society we find ourselves rushing around, pushing aside our own needs and feeling exhausted. Making the time for yourself, keeping your commitment and holding yourself accountable is very empowering. I find that I'm a much better person all around. I'm rejuvinated, focused, destressed and ready to take on life's challenges.

A February Funk Turns into a Time to Set Some Goals

Let's just say that February was a turning point for me. Maryland was hit with some pretty bad snow storms and between digging our way out, school closings and dealing with power outages, I only found myself in the gym a few days this month. I'm not going to let that get me down though, its good to give our bodies a break, right? I will say that after two weeks of not working out, my body was craving the gym!

The good news is that while having the down time, I was able to re-evaluate my goals and take a hard look at my progress. I'm at 130lbs, although I can fluctuate back up to 135lbs depending on my diet and activity levels, and I'm back in my size 2 clothes! WHOOPEE!!!! I realized, I'm ready to push myself and my fitness level.

My husband, Marty, has always been active. He's in good shape and he's always been very disciplined and motivated when it comes to taking care of his body. After seeing the transformation I had made in just over 6 months, he started to take his fitness even more seriously. Through his own personal research and goals, he introduced me to http://www.bodybuilding.com/, more specifically, fitness model Jamie Eason. Wow! She's an inspiration! So after reading her stories, watching her workouts and realizing that working out and pushing my fitness level was becoming a passion of mine...I decided to look into Figure Competing!

Surviving the Holidays

We all know that getting through the months of November and December is tough on any diet or workout routine. Our schedules are busy, we're constantly around great (fattening) food and in general they are just very "social" months.

I believe that the key to keeping on track these months is not to "punish" yourself by getting in the mindset that you can't have fun or splurge. You're going to fail. When you feel like you're missing out, you lose motivation.

Just follow these rules:

1. Just have a taste; I would taste something and then think to myself, "is this worth throwing away all my hard work?"
2. Watch your portions; Enjoy those mashed potatoes and gravy, just don't go overboard
3. Limit your alcohol; You can have a glass of wine or cocktail, just keep yourself in check
4. Get rid of the leftovers; Having all that food in the fridge makes it too tempting to snack all day long. Send it home with guests if you can. Ideally, just make enough for the meal and try not to have leftovers.
5. Don't buy all those cute little holiday decorations/gifts that have the candies and such with them; This season, I opted to get decorations and small gifts that didn't have anything to do with sweets. You'd be surprised how many small things you can find that don't have to be sugar filled. When I received gifts that had sweets attached to them, I immediately put the sweets in a bag (maybe sampled one or two) and then got rid of them. Too much temptation to just mindlessly munch.
6. Get to the gym; Don't lose your priorities just because the season is busy. Working out and taking care of your body is NOT something you can push aside.

Looking at what's really there...

It wasn't like I had this illusion where I thought I always looked great. I'm what I call a yo-yo dieter/exerciser. Prior to my "aha" moment in July, I had tried various diets (South Beach, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Detoxes, etc) I would hit the gym every now and then; go through spurts where I would "work out" for a month. The truth is though, I never really saw myself as heavy or out of shape. It wasn't until I saw that picture that I realized I needed to do something, and something serious.

So I held steady through September and October. Like I said, I was seeing results, feeling good and breaking goals. Getting into November, I realized that I was starting to see a drop in progress. I wasn't gaining weight, but I wasn't really seeing the results I had seen in the prior months. I didn't get discouraged though. I stepped back and looked at the big picture. How much time was I spending working out? How was my diet/nutrition? Was I working smarter not harder? So I started doing some research.

My workout buddy, Lisa, suggested www.411fit.com This is such a great tool to help in tracking what you eat and how you workout. I like that it gives a grade each day and it helps you set your goals and work towards them. I was able to see how much protein, carbs, sodium and fat I was taking in each day. I could also see how much time I was REALLY spending working out and what activities helped me burn the most calories.

I think that in any fitness program and nutrition routine you need to track what you're doing. That's helps you see what you're really doing. You can't argue what you track. You've got to be honest and write/record every.single.thing When you look back at the week, you can say, "Wow, I think I over did it on the carbs this week" or "I need more protein" or "Man! My goal was to get 3 days of cardio in and I only did 2! Next week, I'll make sure to keep on track!"

Tracking, helps you see your progress, keeps you honest, maintains your motivation and helps you work towards your goals! I recommend that everyone use some sort of tracking system.

Working out...

So Lisa and I started meeting every morning at the gym in late July. I started lifting weights with her, but I would do my cardio in the afternoons and on the weekends with my girlfriend, Heather. So a typical day for me would be 45 minutes strength training with Lisa in the morning M-F and then 3-4 miles in the afternoons with Heather. On Saturday and Sundays, I would meet Heather downtown or at a local park and we would walk/run 3-4 miles. I did this for all of August. I saw great results right away!

I lost 10bls in the month of August and my motivation was up! As we approached September and the start of the school year, I began to worry that the new fall schedule would derail me. My daughter was starting Kindergarten and I would need to be back to work at the preschool full-time.

Lisa and I began planning ahead. She came over to the house one afternoon in late August and we made a schedule for the entire month of September of when we would meet at the gym. Heather and I couldn't do our walking/running in the afternoons anymore, but we continued to meet every Sat and Sun morning.

This worked out beautifully and I was able to keep on track. Lisa and I met again at the end of September and we planned out October. Heather and I continued to meet on the weekends for our walk/runs and it wasn't until the mornings got colder and the sun came up later that we had to call our weekend cardio quits.

I did finish out my outdoor running in October by participating in my daughter's school's Family 5K. I finished first place for my age group; 27 minutes. That was HUGE for me! Already, I was seeing some major progress in my appearance, my endurance and my strength. I was becoming addicted!

Starting in the middle...

If I had any idea that I would be working towards a goal of Figure competing 6 months ago, I would have started my blog then. Its funny how you just fall into something and learn that you actually really enjoy it and it becomes a passion for you.

I'll tell you how this all started. It was July 2009 and I was spending some time with my kids at our beach house. My daughter was playing with my camera and had me pose for a picture. Several days later as I was uploading all the pictures to my computer I came across the picture she had taken of me. I was shocked! Did I really look like that?

I've never been "big". I'm 5'5" and the heaviest I've ever been was 166lbs. (that's what I weighed just days before giving birth to my daughter, Marissa, in 2004.) When I saw myself in that picture taken that July, I just couldn't believe that was really me! I decided to weigh myself. I came in at 160lbs. NOT PREGNANT. In fact, my second child was already 21 months old. I couldn't even blame it on "baby weight"!

So July 6th, 2009, I decided that I was ready to make a change. At first, I just started walking. I would walk for an hour each day. Then a couple weeks later, I got the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD and I walked and worked out with a girlfriend. We didn't quite make it the 30 days. It was hard to stay motivated and keep our schedules in sync. I was starting to fall back and lose focus.

One morning, late July, one of my preschooler's mothers caught my attention. She walked into the preschool and she just had this "glow". She looked confident and so put together and I realized that it had been a while since I had "seen" her; I mean really looked at her. I was surprised to see how she had transformed over the past months. She had lost weight; she looked fit; she looked AMAZING! Her name is Lisa Jacobs. I remember asking her that morning, "what are you doing?". She explained to me that she had been working out for about 6 months and she invited me to join her for a free trial at her gym. I thought about it for a couple days, not really sure if it was something I could stick with and wondered if our personalities would mix well and I just had a lot of reservations going into it. But...she looked GOOD. I was tired of feeling miserable about myself and I decided to meet her at the gym just two weeks later.