One For the Road

So tomorrow we are headed to Houston. My hubby is there now so that he can get a good night of rest as he has round two of all day interviews tomorrow. This is where my Plan B will come into play. My 6 Pack Fitness food bag will be earning it's worth once again. It's my true companion each and every day, but it'll be stuffed to the gills for the weekend excursion. I've baked my home made protein cakes this week and they are individually wrapped and ready for the road. I've got stacks of my airtight containers full of boiled chicken, brown rice, veggies and my delicious oatmeal/Myofusion mix. So, although I'll be away from the luxuries of home, I can still stick with a clean diet. I'm also excited that we are staying at the same hotel that we stayed at the last time, so I know that the gym there is sufficient enough for my Saturday morning cardio session followed by my bis and tris work out. So, I'm not gonna miss a beat! It's supposed to be beautiful in Houston all weekend, so I've also got all of our roller blades packed. I look forward to some outdoor fun!

I had to chuckle today as I was talking to my awesome preschool class about having a Can Do attitude. We were working on a project to strengthen their fine motor skills and some were finding it difficult to string Cheerio's onto their piece of string. Many of them were saying “I can't....”. It was awesome because by the end of the project they were all saying “Ms. Megan, I can do it!”. And what joy and pride seeped out of their sweet little faces! It made me wonder if I always have the Can Do attitude. Do you have a Can Do attitude? Instead of saying I can't, try saying I can and you'll be pleasantly amazed at the successes you'll have just by having the right Can Do attitude! I'm relying on this attitude to help me get through this weekend. And I know I can!

Why Not Me?

Hmmm, isn't that an old country song? Seems like it. And I haven't been able to get the tune out of my head all day! Lately I've been taking shots at myself I guess you could say. I'm one of hundreds of lucky girls that got chosen, yes chosen, to be a model in an upcoming fitness fashion show to benefit breast cancer. How exciting is that?! Let me tell you, it's very exciting for me! It's really like a dream come true, so why I chose to sabotage myself from October through December I have no idea. But here I am totally excited and working hard to get back into awesome shape for the show that takes place on March 17^th. And if I ever have the guts to tell anyone about being chosen for this fashion show, I don't speak very positively about myself. Usually it goes something like this...”yep, there will be amazing pros there like Monica Brant (my fitness hero), Dave Goodin, Adela Garcia. And then on that list of fitness models is my name, Megan Coty.” Like I'm not worthy to be a part of that list of pros who are stars in my eyes. But why not? Everyone starts somewhere, right? Monica wasn't born a pro figure competitor. She worked very hard and followed her dreams and didn't stop until she made it and she's still a huge figure in the fitness world. In fact, she has been competing since at least 1991 that I know of and although she placed 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd in many of her competitions, she also placed 9^th, 7^th, 6^th in many as well. But she never gave up. That is so inspiring and shows such drive and determination. And shows that I too can strive to be my best and to not give up, even with this big set back.

All along I've known that there was going to be a special preview party sometime in January, but I knew I wouldn't be ready to make an appearance. However, I just got the invite to the private party and photo shoot and it isn't until Feb 5^th, so I've been given an opportunity or a gift if you will, an extra week to shed some fat and build some more muscle! So, I'm trying to be optimistic and will see what progress I can make. I still don't think that I can be photo shoot worthy in 2 & ½ weeks, but just in case, I took the plunge today and made myself a hair appointment for the Wednesday before the party. If I'm not ready, then I'll just call and move my appointment to the week before the actual fashion show. Here's to being optimistic and positive and to working hard rather than continuing to kick myself for setting myself up to possibly miss out on an exciting preview party that could have some great exposure to some wonderful opportunities. Moving forward....because the past does not define you, the present does. (ActiveInspiration.com)

Breakfast is for Champions

Champions are too busy getting better to make time for excuses. Charles Williams

It's true, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So, if you don't start every day with a clean, balanced breakfast, make a plan to start tomorrow! We can't expect our cars to run on empty, so why should we expect our bodies to perform on empty? Think about it, your body has just woke from a 6-8 hour fast, so you've got to replenish it's energy sources in order to perform optimally throughout the day. They say you should eat within the first hour of waking, but you have to make a plan that will work for you and that you can stick with, but whatever your plan, do not skip breakfast! Many people think this is a good way to skip some calories, but in the long run you will probably find yourself eating even more calories to compensate and your body will go into starvation mode and store fat. I love waking up and doing a fasted cardio session at 5:45am every morning because my body taps into my fat stores for energy. Check out this link that talks about fasted cardio: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/assessing-fasted-cardio-training.html. Depending on your goal, fasted cardio may not be part of your plan, but for me it is – I currently have a lot of fat to burn! It's also a great feeling to know that I've gotten in at least 45 minutes of cardio before my day even begins, so later if something comes up or if I don't have time after lifting to get in a second cardio session I don't feel as stressed about it. Most importantly I make sure that I am eating my breakfast within 45 minutes of doing my cardio session to supply my body with the fuel it needs and to keep it from tapping into my muscle stores for energy – I'm working hard to build muscle, so I don't want to sabotage my efforts! Many of you have been asking what I eat, so I'm going to throw out some clean breakfast ideas that include both carbs and protein...

½ cup Egg Beaters scrambled, ½ cup of oatmeal and ½ of a ruby red grapefruit

½ cup Egg Beaters scrambled, ½ cup of brown rice and ½ of a ruby red grapefruit

Protein pancake with a very thin layer of natural peanut or almond butter, topped with slices of ½ of a banana or with ½ cup of berries

My refrigerator is always stocked with egg beaters, spray butter, ruby red grapefruit and berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries). Although fruit is very healthy for you and contains natural sugar, it's still sugar, so enjoy in moderation. Berries are the best fruits, with raspberries having the lowest number in grams of sugar and carbs, followed by strawberries and then blueberries. If I'm going to enjoy fruit, I typically do so with my breakfast. It's very important to read food labels of all foods you buy. You will be so surprised at how many foods we think are healthy that actually have hidden sugar in them. In the book “Potatoes Not Prozac”, the author talks about overt sugars (the ones that are obvious) and covert sugars (the ones that are not so obvious and are hidden in processed foods), so watch out! When buying peanut butter, go for the natural stuff, but again be careful. You must read the label to make sure that the only ingredient is dry peanuts. Period. Or if you love almond butter the one ingredient should be dry roasted almonds. Period. No oils. No covert sugars.

Many of you are asking how to make protein pancakes and I'm happy to tell you that they are so easy to make and are so delicious! I mix together ½ cup of egg beaters with 1 scoop of my favorite protein powder and joila, pour it into a small pan and make one medium sized pancake! One of my favorite protein powders is MyoFusion. The texture is perfect for my pancakes, for mixing in my oatmeal for my daily snacks and comes in so many delicious flavors! Are you craving chocolate and peanut butter? Throw yourself together a protein pancake made with chocolate protein powder and top it with a thin layer of natural peanut butter! Top with slices from ½ of a banana and your taste buds will really be thanking you and you'll get those carbs you need. If you have a good blender, another way to add some healthy carbs to those pancakes is to add ½ cup of dry oatmeal to the mix. I am one of those people who can eat the same thing, day in and day out, but most people just can't eat this way. So, I encourage you to use the internet to find wonderfully delicious and clean recipes. A couple of my favorites are http://www.oxygenmag.com/ and Tosca Reno's http://www.eatcleandiet.com/.

Now that we all know how important it is to start our day with breakfast, it's equally as important to continue eating smaller meals about every 2.5 to three hours throughout the day to keep our metabolism revved up and to make sure we don't become completely starving which in turn seems to help us in making bad food choices and in overeating. I use an iphone app to track my meals throughout the day and I also set an event on my calendar called “EAT!”. Every three hours my reminder goes off reminding me that it's time to eat and I also go in and edit the event to go off again in 3 more hours. An ideal day for me looks like this:

7:30am Breakfast

10:30am Mid-morning Snack

1:30pm Lunch

4:30pm Mid-afternoon Snack

7:30pm Dinner

9:00pm Evening Snack (Casein Protein Shake)

Here is a great article to read about Casein protein and why I choose to have it as my last meal of the day: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-case-for-casein.html?mcid=PO-7day-proteinpowder. Also, I first learned about eating smaller meals every 2.5 to 3 hours back in 2001 when I joined a Body For Life challenge at my local CA gym. It was a 10 week challenge and in that time I lost 16 pounds and 9% body fat, so this way of eating does work, I promise! Check it out at http://bodyforlife.com/.

Ok, so at this point I think I'm rambling and going into information overload, so I'll call it a day. I'm happy to answer any questions, so just fb me or email me as I love to share (can you tell?!). LOL. Choose to be a champion and add breakfast to your day!

A Plan

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

In almost all things in life, there is a plan to follow. Or at least having a plan makes everything in our lives much easier to manage. Our nutrition and exercise should be no different. If we are to be successful, we must have a well thought out plan. Well, I had a great plan to follow to get into top shape for competition, but I didn't have a plan for after. A plan to help me through what my girlfriend calls the “post competition blues” or what a fellow male competitor friends calls the “after competition letdown”. After my second competition, I had a plan in place to go right back to training after a relaxing weekend that included a cheat meal. I started that Monday and was ready to go, but had the wind knocked out of my sails when I was informed that since I had won my pro card with the INBF that the NPC would no longer allow me to compete in their shows. Wow, really?! This totally threw me for a loop, really bummed me out and before long, without a plan, I was consumed by feelings of depression and I started dabbling with sugar. I had laughed at the thought of “post competition blues” or “after competition letdown”, but it really is true. You are so focused and strict with your diet, your exercise, your life for so many months. Then the high of the competition and the journey getting there is over and you don't really know how to function without that structure, that drive – I know I didn't which is partially why I am in this dilemma that I'm now in. There are even articles about the “after effects” of competing that I wish I had in my bag of tricks to have helped me to be prepared and to have put together a plan for the “after”.  I'm amazed by all of the forums of competitors talking about this very topic and how some have gained 20 pounds in 2 weeks following competition!  And so many of my competitor friends have said "it happens to all of us."  Without a plan I was struggling, and without my well oiled eating plan I found myself gorging on my boys Halloween candy night after night, even though I didn't want to and told myself every morning that it wouldn't happen again, but it did. Over and over again. Even though I kept up my work outs, my weight was soaring (Well hello, of course, it was! It is ever so true when they say that nutrition is 80% of your progress or failure). By the time Christmas break rolled around, I was easily swayed by my husband to just take a break for two weeks to stay up late watching movies, sleep in and not rush to the gym every morning. Ok, well it's a new year and that mini vacation is over.

I've got a whole lot of hope, am back to my plan and I'm sticking to it. It's back to cooking, weighing and packaging my food every Wednesday and Sunday so I always have clean properly portioned meals at my fingertips. It's back to my seven days worth of pre-written workouts so I have no excuse to miss a work out. It's back to the 5am alarm clock and the fasted cardio sessions. And amongst all of that is room for balance. So if there is an opportunity to participate in a fun boot camp or to go roller blading with my boys to keep my fire lit, I'm going to take it. Part of finding balance is knowing that I can veer off course as long as my goal can still be reached in the end. Say good bye to the freshman 15!

Milestones

When I was younger it seemed like those big milestones would never come soon enough. Like turning 16 so I could get my drivers license or turning 21 so that I could legally drink. Once those milestones came and went, then the reality that I would soon after be turning 25 was dreadful. OMGosh, I would be a quarter of a century! LOL. After that dreadful 25 came and went with not as much drama as I expected, it seemed like any other age milestone would be no big thing. So when I found myself lurking near the big 4-0 all of a sudden I found myself asking if I had really fulfilled some big goals that I had set for myself. I think the big 4-0 was actually more daunting because everyone around me makes such a big deal about turning forty. So when my big 4-0 came and went I thought to myself, “this really isn't so bad!” and then when I fulfilled one of my dreams of figure competing while forty then I really thought, “forty is great!”. However, let me just admit to you right now that I am overwhelmed with the big ONE-4-OH that stared back at me from my scale this morning. Yes, you are reading this right.  140. Wow, I was not prepared for that. I was even shocked. Still am shocked.  And if you only knew how hard it is for me to share this with you.  It's for two reasons. First and foremost I am mortified and embarrassed.  And I am also fearful of offending anyone through this admission and with any writing I am doing through this blog, but this is my way of being honest with myself and also my way of trying to encourage others that no matter where you start or no matter where you have been you can achieve greatness and excellence. You can achieve your goals. And everyone's goals are different. My fear is that some of you will be rolling your eyes and through huge heavy sighs be thinking “if only I weighed 140” or “I would give my left arm to weigh only 140”, but for others of you that really know me, you will understand my disappointment with myself for ever reaching this “milestone”. This is definitely a new low for me. Or in this case I should say a new high! I don't think I've weighed this much since I was pregnant. Also, one of the biggest things I want people to realize is that what may be a good weight or size for one person may not be for another. We are all different, inside and out. So, for this girl, 140 is not ideal nor comfortable. To me this means I've got 15 pounds to lose to get back to my ideal healthy weight that I should forever be maintaining. 15 pounds to those Miss Me jeans. 15 pounds until I can put my “maintenance plan” into place where I can and will allow myself to have a cheat meal once per week. 15 pounds to be back to the weight I was when I was selected to even be a part of this upcoming fitness fashion show. Whew, overwhelming. And so much easier to just give up.

When I first stepped off the scale and the feelings of being completely overwhelmed passed, I was then invigorated to get on that elliptical and do something about it. But as I started my cardio session the truth really started sinking in and I began to question everything that I had set out to do. Is all of this hard work really worth it? Maybe since I'm now 41 my metabolism has just slowed down so much that I will be fighting an uphill battle for the remainder of my days (rather than just accepting and taking responsibility that I have messed up my metabolism by my horrible eating habits and two week lapse from exercise). I'm never going to drop these 15 pounds to be in “fitness fashion show” shape by March 17^th. How will I be able to get myself in shape for a pro competition in July? And even worse, my embarrassment factor about not wanting to show myself at the gym in this shape crept back in. Maybe I should figure out a way to get to the gym by 5am so that nobody I know will see me. And I am so tired of wearing my baggy fat clothes!  As I was overwhelmed with all of these negative feelings and of wanting to give up, my phone beeped at me to inform me that someone had posted on my FB page. It wasn't anything astounding, but it was what I needed right at that moment to encourage me to stay on track with my health and with this blog. Thank you friend (and you know who you are!). Although I have no control over age milestones, I do have control over weight milestones. So, as hard as it's going to be for me, I'll just suck it up and be heading to the gym in about 25 minutes to do something about this new weight milestone I have achieved.

Searching Not For Perfection, But For Balance

Although I am really unhappy about my appearance right now, I want you to know that my unhappiness isn't just all about the visual. It's about the physical (health) and about the emotional and psychological as well. It's about not having balance and control of my life, of myself. In the books I am reading I am trying to understand this term of sugar sensitivity and how it relates to me. Do I really have some sort of biochemical imbalance or am I just OCD? I've joked about OCD for many years, but the part of the definition of OCD that strikes me is “...Often the person carries out the behaviors to get rid of the obsessive thoughts, but this only provides temporary relief. Not performing the obsessive rituals can cause great anxiety.” Wow, I'd like to share my reality story about obsessive thoughts that caused great anxiety and then when succumbed to only caused temporary relief. I'd like to share a day in my life after my kids went trick or treating (I wish I could say just this PAST October, but that would be lying about my vicious cycle). During the day I was in total control and felt great, but as soon as we got home I found myself consumed with thoughts of the drawers of candy in my boys rooms. And I do mean drawers full! Each. I tried to not think about it, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. Those little candy morsels continued to haunt my every thought. So I finally caved and told myself that I'd just eat one mini Snickers and be done with my obsessive thoughts about the candy. Well, once I ate one, then I went back for another and another until finally I told myself that I would just go pick out every mini Snickers bar from their drawers to finish them off and get them out of the house, then this problem would be done and gone. They were all gone alright, but it was only a temporary relief that left me filled with feelings of disgust, disappointment and despair since I had no control over saying no to this madness. After beating myself up for awhile, I would then convince myself that I had to move forward and that tomorrow would be a new day. Then tomorrow came and instead of mini Snickers, it was Almond Joy. Then another new day would come and I would move on to the Laffy Taffys. There was no end to the madness. No matter how horrible I felt. I know what you are saying “just get rid of the candy already!”. After a week I knew that's what I had to do, but unnamed persons in my house were appalled that I would suggest we should get rid of two one pound bags of delicious candy (and it wasn't my two youngest boys)! LOL. So my solution: if you want to keep it, then lock it up. Sounds crazy, right? But that's what it took for me at that point, so into the gun safe it went and now someone else was in control of that which I was not.

I started thinking about a visit that Tosca Reno made to our gym about 2 years ago. I'm a huge fan of hers and loved her discussion about sugar and how it is like any other drug. It is white, powdery, very addictive and it kills. Wow. And yet I gorged on sugar night after night. All I can say is all things happen for a reason. On January 1^st as I started my day with the old new years resolution banter, I knew my life had to change and that I had to regain control. I remembered that Tosca had mentioned a book called Sugar Blues. I also remembered that I actually bought the book, but never finished it. Thus started my search and joila, I found it! After glancing at the first few chapters, I realized why I never finished it...it was pretty factual, dry and boring. So, I started browsing around on my new Kindle Fire that I got for Christmas and found two books. As I started reading the book samples, I realized that these books were speaking to me and about me and thus was my admission that I am a sugar addict. I am now excited to be reading and learning about sugar sensitivity, seratonin, betaendorphins and sugar addiction. It's awesome, I love it! Thus my desire to once again learn to be a “sugar free me”!

I now realize that being in competition shape and stage ready is not realistic nor healthy every day of the year. I will admit that I loved being that lean and feeling really good about myself, but it is not easily maintained either, mostly mentally and psychologically for me. Even when I was stage ready I still looked in the mirror and thought my stomach wasn't flat enough and my butt was still ugly (oh how I would give my left butt cheek right now to have that not good enough body back, LOL). However, the opposite extreme of binging and overeating is definitely not healthy either. So, thus my quest for balance. I will be uncomfortably honest and admit that I've always weighed much more than anyone would guess, so I've never been comfortable with sharing my weight or talking about my weight. When I weighed 115, I had people guessing I weighed 105. When I weighed 130 I had people guessing I weighed 120. Maybe I should play those silly “guess the weight” games at SeaWorld?!....anyway, an actual healthy and happy weight for me is 123-125 and there is no reason I should not be able to have and maintain that. I feel comfortable with myself and I feel in great shape (clean eating and working out are obviously part of this equation). When I went on stage for my figure competitions I was 114 pounds and extremely lean. After competition the healthy thing that I should have aimed for is a weight gain of about 10-12 pounds, putting me back at my healthy and happy maintainable target of 125. Well my friends, I am here to tell you that when you walk away from eating clean AND top that off with compulsive sugar addiction, well, you can see where I am going with this. So, thus my admission that I am not ready yet to step on that scale to see the actual damage that I have caused nor am I ready to shed my baggy clothes that I've been hiding in! I do know that I am back on track and striving to get back to that wonderful 120 something number and find balance in order to maintain it. One of my work out buddies and I have promised that we would both take the plunge and weigh in this Friday the 13^th to get a benchmark to work from. I'll admit that I am not not looking forward to that day, but it's all good because I know that we have a plan and we are committed to it. And I'll be testing my “no sugar coating” mantra by seeing if I have the guts to post my weight on this blog, LOL. Our reward when we reach our healthy weight goal? An awesome and expensive pair of tight fitting jeans! Have you been missing me Miss Me Jeans? 'Cuz I've been mising you!

Spoken To

You've heard it before, “Listen when someone is talking to you.” I know I have. Well, this morning as I was pumping out my fasted cardio session I truly feel like I was spoken to. I subscribe to Joel & Victoria Osteen's daily word and am always touched by it, but some days I truly feel as though God is speaking through them and directly to me or my present situations. Today was definitely one of those days! As I've been talking about not sugar coating the truth while not being mean or nasty these past couple of days, what Bible verse do they quote but “The tongue has the power of life and death...” from Proverbs 18:21, NIV. And as I am facing up to my addiction to sugar and as I vow to move out of the past and move forward, they make mention of these things too! And just a couple of weeks ago as I was reaching out to someone close to me and confiding that a goal of mine this year is to learn to like myself and maybe even love myself, the response I got was “I've never liked myself, let alone loved myself, so you may as well give that one up. It's just too hard...” Isn't this awesome?! No, not the response I got, but today's word with Joel & Victoria! I think so! It's so awesome for me that I've copied today's word here in my post and I hope you enjoy it as I much as I am...

Speak Life

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE...“The tongue has the power of life and death...” (Proverbs 18:21, NIV)

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

God has given us amazing power through the use of our words. God created the world with the words He spoke, and we also have creative power with the words that we speak.

Maybe you aren’t where you want to be in life today. Could it be because of the words you’ve spoken in your past? Have you spoken words of death by saying things like, “I’ll never rise any higher; I’ve gone as far as I can go?” Or maybe you’ve said, “I’ll never break this addiction. I’ve had it too long; it’s too hard.” Now, you are eating the fruit of those words — you’re still in the same place.

If you are ready to change your situation, then it’s time to change what you say about your situation. If you want a different harvest, you have to change the seeds you are sowing. Today, choose to speak life over your future. Let your attitude be, “This may be the way it’s been in the past, but this is not the way it’s staying. I’m coming up higher. I may feel weak, but my declaration is that I am strong.” Speak life, choose life, and move forward in His victory and blessing.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY...Father in heaven, I repent for speaking words of death and sowing defeat in my own life. I ask that You uproot any negative crop from the past and help me speak words of faith so that I can walk in victory in every area of my life in Jesus’ name. Amen. — Joel & Victoria Osteen
Can I get an amen somebody?!  AMEN!