Training and Nutrition Update - Feb 11 - A New Beginning without those EVIL CARBS....

Happy Friday to you all!!! :)


I hope everyone had a great week, and I'm happy that you decided to stop by and checkout my latest post on my journey to my next figure comp. !!!

I have decided to continue using this ultra-low carb diet i recently put together. Last year when i first started prepping for the Ontario Naturals i was already fairly lean so my body was able to handle carbs a bit better than this time. Unfortunately a few weeks ago i did NOT look anything like i should have looked being about 12 weeks out from my next show, I was depressed and lacking motivation. I was doing 2 cardio sessions a day, the first one was 45 minutes steady-state on the stepmill and second one was 30-min intervals, I was eating a fair bit of carbs mainly from fruit and grains. What a distaster!!!!! i will NEVER do that again... i ballooned to 155lbs! i don't care what anyone has to say, that is NOT healthy. Last season when prepping for Ont.Naturals my weight did not exceed 135lbs. off-season or on-season i never wanna be that big again, none of my clothes fit, i was eating way more than i am now (mainly carbs) and i was STILL hungry and cranky all the time, not to mention slaving away on the cardio equipment day and night!!! 

I was too ashamed to take pics of myself, however i did snap a few so i could do a before and after... I will be posting these pics from January 11th soon... 

The good news is that I have tweaked my diet, i got rid of those useless filler carbs, and i REFUSE to follow a LOW FAT approach... I added in a fair amount of dietary fats, mainly from sources such as:

-Avocados

-Primrose oil capsules

-O3mega Extra Strength Capsules from Genuine Health (these are working wonders for me!)

-Cod Liver Oil  (Liquid extract)

-Nuts

-Whole Eggs

-Other nut oils

-Skinless dark poultry meat

-Salmon and other fatty fish (herring/sardines etc....)

-Extra virgin olive oil

Those are just a few of the fats i have added in, that have helped heal my metabolic damage caused by that high carb diet i followed in the off-season. 

I cannot stress just HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!!!!! I have cut cardio out completely, I'm eating tons of protein from a variety of different sources, and eating tons of good healthy fats along with greens (mainly cruciferous veggies and romaine lettuce) and im doing almost NO CARDIO. The most cardio i will do is 3-4weekly 15-20minutes of high intensity intervals.

I have shed 15 lbs since i started this about 2 weeks ago. My clothes finally fit and my moods are way better now that i'm not starving on a low-fat diet! 

I still have a long way to go till i am super-lean and ready to hit the stage, but i'm so happy that the results are taking less time now and i'm way more pumped and motivated! :D

I plan on following this diet that i wrote for myself, which is basically 4 days of 50grams or less of carbs/day coming from berries and trace-carbs from green veggies/fiber...then on 3 consecutive days i cut my carbs out completely with the exception of some greens (again.. trace carbs), flaxseeds, cocoa powder and i increase my fats on these days and continue until I am fully depleted. I then begin slowly cycling back in some carbs for the next 4 days. This will surely change as time goes by and my transformation continues but for the meantime it's whats working best!

In terms of supplements I am really seeing an increase in energy and an uplift in my moods since i've been taking "O3mega Extra Strength" Capsules by the same company that makes Greens Plus, "Genuine Health." I highly recommend this Fish-oils supplement to anyone that's looking to accelerate fat-loss and increase their energy levels!

I took some progress pics, again this is nothing compared to what i hope to look like by next month, but i've come along way since last month where i was suffering from the high-carb-blues and energy crashes and nearly destroyed my thyroid doing too much cardio... *PHEW* thank God that's over... :)

Look out for my next Update!!! :)

xo

-Alex L. :)

DON'T FORGET TO JOIN THE GENUINE HEALTH FACEBOOK PAGE, AND LEARN ALL ABOUT THE AWESOME HEALTH PRODUCTS THEY OFFER:
http://www.facebook.com/GenuineHealth

New Progress Update for February :)

Hello Everyone,

Thanks for stopping by my blog to checkout my latest update on my journey to the Canada Naturals April 23/2011 !! 
So I've been doing some experimenting with my diet this past while and I found that i was not seeing any results with grains still being part of my meal-plan so I've substituted the majority of my carbs with the exception of berries here and there with more healthy fats. I have also changed some of the supplements I was taking and replaced them with different ones. Since the minor adjustments to my diet I am seeing very promising results :) I'm so excited to see how this transformation continues to unfold... I worked really hard on building muscles this past off-season and as i slowly burn off layers of fat I'm beginning to uncover new lean muscle mass.. YAY! :D

These are some progress pics that i just took, mind you I'm holding a ton of water still due to the massive amount of veggies in my diet as well as other factors (time of the month etc..)

At the moment  my diet consists of 6-7 meals, all containing protein and dietary fats. I'm focusing on consuming whole foods only and I'm also taking fish oils, whey protein and Greens Plus as my main supplements. I just started taking "Om3ga Extra Strength" fish-oil capsules by Genuine Health (the same company that manufactures Greens Plus), and I will continue to use these as my fish-oil supplement through out my entire show prep. I've noticed an increase in energy as well as better ability to focus. 
I will be gauging my body throughout the next couple of weeks and perhaps adding in a carb-up day if necessary! :) 


I look forward to posting more pics and updates, stay tuned for more videos and journal entries on here...

xoxo,

Alex L. :)