5 days to NATIONALS

A couple of times during this week with more than 2 people  the following conversation came up:

CLIENT(s): I was doing so good with my diet all day, then things started getting very frustrating and I ended up giving up and eating a lot of (chocolate, bread, drinking CocaCola - which I never do, cookies) * These are just examples of the various things I heard from different people.

So I asked them.

ME: Where hey worth it? were you truly craving those things? Did they made you feel better after?

CLIENT(s): No I wasn't craving them. I was just (angry, frustrated, tired) and needed to munch on something.

ME: So why didn't you munch on 3 lettuce heads, or 5 cucumbers, or celery sticks if what you needed to do was chew to get rid of anxiety.

CLIENT(s): mhhhhh.......

Not only for my clients, but also for yourselves and me. We all have been in this situation. Try this approach, why don't you put a huge lettuce head in the corner of your fridge and name it the MISERY LETTUCE. Next time your day went to hell and you want to stuff your face, go eat that huge ball of lettuce.

We are letting our emotions get the best of us. This society has taught us to take refuge in food whether it is a reward or consolation. It is killing us slowly.

The pictures I am going to share with you are not only about my current transformation, they are about ME pulling through a 4 month commitment of having full control of what I put in my mouth. I had some hard days and I wanted to eat cookies, but I did not give myself that option. I had to seek other ways to get rid of my frustrations. Go for a long walk with the dogs, write on my blog, sleep it off.....

I also made a promise to myself: not eat cookies for 3 months (ohhhh white chocolate macademians I have missed you) I kept asking myself, what is more important the temporary pleasure of eating those cookies, or having my butt look even better for NATIONALS. The answer was pretty obvios the whole time.

IMPORTANT ABOUT MY CURRENT TRANSFORMATION (since people keep thinking I either became a vegetarian, not eating carbs, taking substances, getting ridiculously huge, that I look manly and disgusting,  a crapload of nonsense that I have heard during the last month) HERE IS THE INFORMATION - don't just make an opinion about it inform yourselves!:

1.- Picture dates: LEFT January 12th, RIGHT April 13th.

2.- Starting weight: 125lbs - finishing weight 112

3.- Body Fat estimate: starting 19% - finishing 9% (this precedes weight in importance) as I could be 110 but if I had a bodyfat % of 34%, I would be a unhealthy jiggly "skinny fat"

4.- I eat more than your average person starting diet which is somewhere at 1200. I eat closer to the 2000 and my meal plan is 100% personalized by my coach to my needs. Most of you would gain weight on my meal plan.

5.- I eat oatmeal, rice, pasta, sweet potatoes and some fruit in 3 meals a day. CARBS! yes, like I said before CARBS  are not the enemy of weightloss, IGNORANCE IS!

6.- I am NOT CUTTING WATER. I will be drinking what you drink on a normal day all the way into my show.

7.- I am not using any "weird substances" only hard work and nutrition to transform my body.

8.-  I am not doing endless hours of cardio, no more than 1:30min a day of work and that includes weight training.

9.- I used to be an average person, but the work I put over the period of a year and a half into improving my physique now qualifies me as a high performance athlete. Over a year and a half I constructed this body so when people are so quick to judge like it happen by accident I can only laugh.

10.- I have felt extremely HAPPY and HEALTHY and STRONG the whole 3 months of this process. Some people keep asking me how I feel half expecting that I answer: CRAPPY and to their disappointment such is not the case. Most people "know someone" who has done a show and had a horrible experience and messed up their metabolism and etc, etc, etc. YES ITS TRUE and you now why? BECAUSE you need to be informed to do this process right. No everyone takes the time or investment to either work with a highly reputable and knowledgeable coach, or RESEARCH before signing with the first person that says they can help you jump on stage.

Again with this picture what I want to say is that choices add up and our bodies are a result of what we chose every single second of the day, both mentally and physically. You don't have to give up things, you just gotta ask yourself what is going to make you feel better and what is more important, your commitment or a silly cookie.

And if you think that I do not understand where most of you are I just want to remind you this was me just 3 years ago 145lbs, 40% body fat, depressed and without a job:

How did I do it? I just got tired of being in the hole and crawled myself out. When I saw the light and I felt happiness I fought to keep the feeling and kept doing things that made me feel more and more of that light and happiness.

CHEERS!