Kale Chips recipe and Treadmill workout

128 DAYS

  Since I have less than 18 weeks to be in the best shape of my life on a stage, in front of tons of randoms, showcasing my hard work while wearing a bikini (say that 10 times fast), I knew I needed to make a few diet switcheroos.  I am cycling my carbohydrates and fats based on the muscle group that I am training that day.  And I guess I should lay off my heavy use of avocado and peanut butter.  Sad face to the max.

 Meal 1: 7am- 4 egg whites cooked with Olive oil Pam, 1/2 cup kale, 1/4 avocado, 1 tbsp reduced sugar ketchup, black coffee, scant 1/4 cup oats, 2 strawberries, 1/2 banana. Supplements: multivitamin, bioastin, calcium

 Meal 2: 9am- 3/4 cup 0% Greek yogurt, 1/2 banana. 10:15-11:15- taught Pilates, didn't track calories burned

 Meal 3: 1200- 1/2 small sweet potato, boiled & mashed with 1 scoop vanilla whey protein, 1 packet truvia and pumpkin pie spice

 Meal 4: 2pm- 1 can tuna packed in water and 1 egg white cooked with olive oil served with 1 tbsp RS ketchup and 1/2 cup kale

 Meal 5: 4pm- 1 cup 0% Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp sugar free strawberry preserves (whoops), 1 chocolate rice cake. Supplements: 3 scoops pre-workout

430-700: Chest/triceps/plyo/sprintervals. 600+ calories burned

 Meal 6: 8pm- tilapia, 2 tbsp diced green pepper, 1/4 diced tomato, KALE CHIPS. <3 they totally deserve an Internet heart. Supplements: pyruvate, biotin

  My motivation is high and I am pushing myself to failure during my workouts.  I read something by Layne Norton today that I shall paraphrase:  "I'm here because I love this and in 18 weeks I'm going up against some of the best competitors in the world...if I can't do this, I don't deserve to win."  

Mr. Norton put me in a competitive mindset for the rest of the day.  Of course, the competition I am entering is a non-qualifier against other first-timers, but I'm going to train as if I'm going to be stepping out on stage with the pros.

Treadmill workout:

Minutes                  Activity

1                              3.0 mph 3% incline

2                              3.0 mph 7% incline

3-5                           3.5 mph 7% incline

5-6                           3.5 mph 10% incline

6-7                           5.0 mph 2% incline

7-8                           20 squat jumps, 5.5 mph 2% incline

8-9                           20 squat jumps, 6.0 mph 2% incline

9-10                         20 squat jumps, 6.5 mph 2% incline

10-11                       20 squat jumps, 7.0 mph 2% incline

11-12                       20 squat jumps, 7.5 mph 2% incline

12-13                       20 squat jumps, 8.0 mph 2% incline

13-15                       4.0 mph, 10% incline

15-16                       4.0 mph, 15% incline

16-20                       6.0 mph, 1% incline

  Then lay down in your puddle of sweat.

  There is a giant bag of kale in my refrigerator and I have been eating it with almost everything due to all of its health benefits: its dark green leafy veggie goodness is extremely high in vitamins K, A and C.  Today I saw a recipe for "Kale Chips."  I'm a fan of weird recipes-tried it, and then made it even healthier.  I'll go ahead and brush off my shoulders now.  The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of Olive oil and parmesan.. pff, c'mon.      

I'm a personal trainer, not a photographer.

Kale Chips recipe:

Preheat oven to 280* (temperature may vary depending on your oven)

Pile 2 bunches of kale onto a baking sheet

Spray liberally with Olive oil spray. Sprinkle Mrs. Dash or other salt-free seasoning of choice all over it.

Bake for 20 minutes or until crispy.

Indulge. Just let it happen.

Day 129. It was a day. A shoulder day.

Morning Cardio Motivation

5am: WHO INVENTED ALARMS

• Meal 1: 5:30-4 egg whites, 1 baby red pepper, 1/2 cup kale, like an entire bottle of reduced sugar ketchup...listen it's 5am, I'm eating egg whites, and I couldn't find the avocado, ew. 1/4 cup oats, 1 teaspoon whole flaxseeds, 1/2 banana, about 1/2 tablespoon natural pb. Supplements: multivitamin
• 7-8: taught spin class. Supplements: 1 scoop preworkout. Burned 415 calories
• Meal 2: 800- 1 scoop whey, 1 medium apple.
• 9:15-10:15- Strength/Core/Cardio class. Supplements: 2 scoops preworkout. Burned 530+ calories.
• Meal 3: 11- 12 whole raw almonds

1130-1245- Shoulder workout. Burned 266 calories 

  This is my shoulder workout for the last 3 weeks. 

5x 25,20,18,12,10: OH DB press superset DB Upright Row

5x 25,20,18,12,10: DB lateral raise superset Unilateral cable lateral raise

2x20: OH DB press superset Reverse DB fly

2x20: DB lateral raise superset DB front raise

5x 25,20,18,12,10: Pec Deck Reverse fly superset bench supported DB reverse fly

5x 25,20,18,12,10: DB front raises superset Cable front raises

2x20: DB lateral raise with arms at 90* superset with unilateral DB swing.

Of course I added like a zillion and a half extra reps to burn out the muscle and I skipped rope between my first 10 sets. Needless to say that brushing my hair is currently not an option.

• Meal 4: 1:15- 1 can tuna packed in water, 1 egg white, 1/2 cup kale, 2 tbsp reduced sugar ketchup, 1/4 avocado, 1 chocolate rice cake, 1 tbsp peanut butter.
• Meal 5: 400- 2 plain salt free rice cakes, 1 tbsp pb, 1 tbsp sf strawberry preserves, 1/4 avocado, 2oz turkey breast.
• Meal 6: 730- about 6 veggie sticks, 3 tbsp plain hummus, 1 turkey burger, 1 cup mixed veggies, 1 tbsp reduced sugar ketchup, 1 tbsp spicy mustard. Supplements: 1 bioastin, 1 calcium, 5 biotin, 1 L-Lysine. 

I promise I tried to take a picture of my dinner. It just went too quickly. When it's feeding time, it's feeding time.

  Since I am pretty far away from my show date, I am not being too strict with my condiments and sodium levels and I'm also still eating carrots which I will avoid after about 6 weeks until show.  Fortunately, my body is responding very quickly and its appreciating lifting objects that weigh more than it does. 

  My body is super duper extra sore and my left glute definitely slowed me down to get up the stairs to type this. Sore is sexy, sexy hurts and I did glutes on Sunday...It's Tuesday.  That's what we call DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), which simply means the muscle has been damaged (that's actually a good thing!) during exercise and now its tender due to repair. Sweet and tender.

ONE MORE DAY DOWN. 128 TO GO!

Time to drink some tea, plan tomorrow's Pilates class, watch some mindless TV, and sleep!

Love, peace & chicken grease.

-Meghan

I have returned! And I am 18 weeks out from my first bikini competition!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This is my return post, so we don't need the negative deets, but I would just like to touch on the topic of happiness.

In 2013, I was extremely unhappy.  I felt like all of the things I worked for in the past had either dissolved or had been lost.  My confidence was at an all time low and my weight was at an all time high.  I chose to keep myself at a distance from people and I lost touch with a good number of people.  Despite my background in health and fitness, I would find myself baking "healthy" desserts and then inhaling all of them single-handed.

Around Thanksgiving I finally decided it was time to snap out of it and get back to business. I started to exercise as hard as I used to and I began to clean up my diet. I knew I needed to attach myself to a goal. Bodybuilding. When I was 20, I worked for a professional bodybuilder, I was training clients 12-15 hours daily at my first PT job, and my life was incredibly structured. I ate a lot of chicken and a lot of egg whites. My body was as hard as a statue and people would follow me around the grocery store to see what was in my cart. I started to train for my first Figure competition in November 2010. I wasn't sure what I was doing. I hired a coach who started prepping me for Southern States. I was four weeks out from show and I just hopped off the stairmaster at 8am and waited outside of the ice cream store until 11 when it opened.  I was sick.  My body shut down and I ultimately ended up forfeiting my chance to compete.

This past Christmas, my best friend, Kim, mentioned to me that she was interested in competing in 2014. I immediately grabbed a pen and a paper and I started to structure her workouts and her competition diet. We pinky swore and kissed on it. We found our 2014 show that would give us enough time to be completely stage ready. May 24th in Tampa, Florida.

We are currently 18 weeks out from show. I will be posting all of the nitty gritty details including my sleeping patterns, diet, my workouts, my stress, how amazing I feel, supplements, bikini shopping, all the way down to show time when I look like a super lean circus freak.

Stay tuned :)

Monday, January 13. Feeling very energetic & lean today.

Meal 1: 730- 4 egg whites, 1/4 haas avocado, 1 cup black coffee. Supplements: multivitamin

Meal 2: 930- 3/4 medium banana. Supplements: 1 scoop preworkout

Taught spin class 10:15-11:15, taught stretch class 11:15-11:45

Meal 3: 12:45- 1 can albacore tuna packed in water, 1/2 cup kale, 1 egg white, 2 tbsp reduced sugar ketchup, 1 chocolate rice cake, 1 tbsp natural peanut butter. Supplements: 1 Calcium Pyruvate, 1 BioAstin, 3 biotin.

Meal 4: 1300- 1 plain salt free rice cake, 1 tbsp natural pb, 1 tbsp sugarfree strawberry preserves, 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, cinnamon tea, 1 packet truvia, 1 scoop vanilla whey.

Meal 5: 1600- 4oz chicken, 8 whole raw almonds

Meal 6: 1900- 4 oz chicken, 15 whole raw almonds