A Fitness Competitors Diet

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Stacy

A FITNESS COMPETITORS DIET

As you can imagine my most asked question is, “What are you eating” or “What is your diet like”. People want to know how I do it. They want to know how I manage to get my body fat down to 8%. My answer is, and will always be it’s your diet. A fitness competitors diet is strict, and it’s not for most. I’d like to share with you what a fitness competitors diet looks like.

Before I go any further let me make this clear I’m training for a NPC show that’s in 2 weeks. This is what I’m eating to train for my show. When my season is over I will make slight modifications to my diet. You’ll notice as you read on there is a lack of good fats such as avocado, EVOO, nuts, coconut oil, etc. There is also a lack of starch carbs no rice, corn, potatoes including sweet potatoes. A fitness competitors goal is to get extremely lean while maintaining muscle mass. Although all those foods mentioned are good fats they’re not on a competitors menu.

BREAKFAST: Typically for breakfast I’m having pancakes. I make my own starting by grinding the old fashion oats. The recipe is totally clean/healthy, and it’s good. You can get the recipe for that on my blog. You have to get creative with your food try to find new way’s to eat the same thing. For example my pancakes are just about the same as heating up hot cereal, but I don’t like hot cereal so I figured out a different way to use the same ingredients to make something different such as a pancake. I like to drizzle a smidgen of raw honey atop. Honey is naturally sweet so you don’t need a lot or I’ll spread a smidge of baby food applesauce atop.

SNACK: My snack is typically a protein shake. I love my protein shakes! I actually look forward to them! I’m also very particular in how I make them. I fill my single serve blender with ice. By the way if you don’t have a single serve blender you’ve gotta get one! There only $12, and their so convenient I literally use mine 4-5 times a day. It’s just easier to use and clean than the big blenders. Plus it keeps your serving size in check. Put one scoop of whey protein powder I use vanilla by muscle tech. 1 tbs of PB2, 1 tbs of ground flax, and approx 1/2 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. You may need to add a bit more milk if it’s to thick. Blend and enjoy. It taste delicious! This is a great option to satisfy a sweet tooth craving.

LUNCH: Lunch is almost always a salad with chicken. Yesterday I made something different. I cooked up 1lb of extra lean ground chicken with carrots, celery, jalapanoes, Tabasco sauce, 1 crushed garlic clove, and 1 can of organic unsalted fire roasted tomatoes. It was so good, and had just the right amount of heat. You’ll notice a trend that a lot of my meals have heat I’ve learned to love it, because it speeds up your metabolism. If you cannot tolerate the heat leave the ingredient out.

SNACK: Depending on the day I’ll have another protein shake or 2 low sodium rice cakes. Sometimes I’ll spread the tiniest amount of peanut butter atop, but currently I’m eating them plain since I’m so close to my show..

DINNER: Dinner varies. I try to get creative with it. The other day I made a chicken meatloaf. click here to view the recipe. It was awesome!

SNACK: My before bedtime snack is always a protein shake.

After reading my meals you can see my diet is limited. After my show I’ll add some foods back such as nuts, avocado’s, all those good fat’s I mentioned earlier. I’ll probably gain 5 lbs post competition. That’s a diet that’s maintainable/manageable. I’ll still keep my sugar intake limited, and sodium levels low, as well as carb cycle starchy carbs. Starchy carbs will not make it into my daily diet. To maintain weight loss you have to be strict with nutrition. You can exercise all you want, but if you cheat you’ll never get where you want to be. This pic couldn’t say it better:

Honestly I think we all know what we have to do to get to our goal weight, but the diet part is definitely the hardest. Why do you think that is? What do you struggle with maintaining a clean diet? To leave a comment click the thought bubble next to the title of this post.

NPC Bikini Competition Update

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Stacy

NPC BIKINI COMPETITION UPDATE!!

OMG! I cannot believe how long it’s been since I’ve been in touch. I’ve kept my YouTube videos up to date, but I’ve had difficulty posting daily. I’ve been really busy with life in general besides training for my NPC bikini competition that’s only 4 weeks away now! Here’s an update on my progress.

I trained with my coach today. Our main focus right now is my lower body; leg’s and glutes. My upper body is perfect, and we don’t want to get it any bigger so I’ll be maintaining that through my boot camp and muscle pump classes. After a killer leg and glute workout he took my measurements which I was dreading! This weekend I had a bit of a cheat. I’ll tell you the same thing I tell my clients. I don’t like to cheat with my meals, because it’s hard to get back in the right mindset, and if your having a weekly cheat meal you cannot expect to have the best results. I find it works best for me if I eat healthy on a daily basis, and when I have a special occasion such as my son’s 4th birthday party this past Saturday I can enjoy a little food with family and friends, and not feel so bad about it, because I know those instances are far and few between. Keep that in mind, because this is the time of year when we have a lot of special occasions coming up. Such as Easter, baby showers, wedding showers, weddings and graduation parties. Save your “cheats” for then it’ll help to justify that cheat meal was celebrating a special occasion not just a weekend splurge. Anyway I’ve gotten off track my numbers. Two weeks ago my body fat was 9.67%. Today my body fat is 8.53%! So happy! My main focus right now is staying focused! Continuing to train hard, keep my diet clean, and practicing my walk. I need to get my swagger!

Moving along to my diet. I’ve posted some pics of what my diet looks like. It’s pretty much the same everyday. Lot’s of protein, and my coach has me carb cycling. Which means some days I don’t have starch carbs other day’s I do. My supplements consist of an Omega 3, CLA, Magnesium, biotin, Hyaluronic Acid, and I just started taking a fat burner LIPO 6. I don’t take this all the time this just happens to be what I’m taking presently.

Dinner and lunch most the time is salad with some sort of protein. My salads are always loaded with veggies. That’s what fills you up. I typically put celery, radishes, hot peppers, carrots, tomatoes, and an egg or two.

For lunch I recently made these chicken burgers. I made these with fresh ground turkey that was very low in sodium 35mg per 4 oz serving. I seasoned the meat with minced garlic, mustard powder, liquid smoke mesquite, red pepper chipolte spice, and franks red hot. I mixed it all together split into 4 sections 4 patties. I cooked in a non-stick pan, and served over a portbella cap with onions and a side salad.

Let’s hope that I get everything I need to get done today so I can shoot a YouTube video to have published at R.A.W. Fitness TV. I typically shoot them on Tuesday morning, but I had two clients in the morning, and one in the afternoon. I’ve got my fingers crossed for tonight.

Til next time!

Stacy

A Healthy Way to Prepare Fish

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Stacy

A HEALTHY WAY TO PREPARE FISH:

Protein is the leading nutrient in my new diet to get me ready for my competition in April. I try to switch it up to keep it fresh. Right now I’ve been eating a lot of fish from Cod, Tilapia, and Tuna.

It’s important to cook your fish properly otherwise it will taste dry and blah. If your fish is frozen place it in it’s air-locked bag in cold water for 10-15 minutes. Once it’s thawed place the fish in a baking dish. Season however you like. I like to squeeze fresh lemon atop, black pepper, and cilantro. Then place lemon wedges a top the fish. This is key the lemon will keep the fish moist. Add whatever veggie you desire. I like broccoli because it’s fibrous, and keeps my belly full. I steam and seasoned them with Mrs. Dash which is a great salt free seasoning.

Baked Tilapia

Baked Tilapia Dinner

I also cooked my Tuna like this. I had yellow fin tuna for dinner last night.

Yellow Fin Tuna

My workouts are going great, and on point. Two weeks into it, and everyone has been telling me they see a difference that I’m looking more cut. I have been doing cardio everyday for 1 hour, and strength training 3 x per week. Yesterday I went to the gym, and took a 6 mile run on the treadmill, and burned close to 700 calories. 7 weeks out from my show I’m really excited!

NPC Training – Day 6

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Stacy

NPC Training – Day 6

Who Hoo! Second week of my training, and I feel….awesome! Bet you weren’t expecting to hear me say that. The first week was rough, but Monday I felt the best I’ve felt yet. I finally feel like I’ve got a handle on my diet, and my body is starting to get used to the new exercise.

Monday training was 100 reps of each:

Chest Presses – with the big girl 10 lb dumbbells as my trainer called them.
Overhead tricep – presses w 10 lb dumbbells.
Incline chest presses –
Leg Presses – Don’t know the weight, but it was freaking heavy!
Leg curls – 70 lbs
Leg Extensions – 50 lbs
Hamstring Curls – 30 lbs
Push-ups
Abs

He had me training with a group of gals which I didn’t like. I’m serious about my training and focused, because I need to be ready for my competition. The other girls were training because they want to lose some weight and tone up. My issue with it was their constant complaining, moaning, and groaning. It’s hard to keep yourself in a positive mindset when everyone around you is complaining. Sure I don’t like it either, sure it hurts me too, but I shut up do what he asks of me, and I keep a smile on my face. Okay enough of my venting.

Monday I had the biggest sugar craving. Makes sense I’m only allowed fruit once a week, and my sugar intake has been reduced to 12g for the entire day. Do you even realize how hard that is? Read a label you’ll understand the difficulty. Sugar is in everything, and if it’s sugar free there has been sugar additives added to it which I also cannot have. If your craving sugar that can be a sign that your body needs protein. My fix was my special protein powder BSN lean desserts whipped vanilla. OMG it taste like your eating a vanilla shake it’s so freaking good! It’s expensive though so I only break it out when I want a dessert, and it satisfied the craving immediately. I ordered it online awhile ago. I love this stuff, because it only has 150 calories per scoop, 3.5g of fat, 120g sodium, 8g carbs, 2g of sugar, and 21g of protein. The downside to this powder is it does have sugar additives. I only had small serving just to hit the sweet spot.

I have another session with my coach today not sure what we’re training today, but I’m excited so we can talk. When I first came to him I expressed my interest to compete in the bikini division. He felt I would be more suited for figure, but I just haven’t been comfortable with that. I’m not big enough nor will I get much bigger in 7 weeks, and I don’t want to get bigger. I like a soft look. Thankfully he agreed yeah!

Catch ya all tomorrow! I gotta find time to shoot a new YouTube video for ya’ll. I was so busy last week I never had the opportunity. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channels below so you never miss a thing!

BLOG
YOUTUBE CHANNEL R.A.W. FITNESS TV
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM

Figure Competition Training – Day 3 & 4

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Stacy

Figure competition training – Day 3 & 4

Happy Friday everyone. Today is day 4 of my figure competition training so I’m going to compile yesterday and today’s training into one post.

Yesterday was day 3 of my figure competition training, and I trained with my coach. This was the hardest day yet. The biggest reason is lack of rest, and the constant going. I was so busy yesterday. My morning started off with teaching Spin at Anytime Fitness. I did the same ride I posted for you all on day 2 of my training so I know I got in another 30 miles and over 400 calories burned. Immediately following was my training session with Walt. My workout started rough. He was not pleased with my lack of endurance, and told me to never do cardio like that before our sessions. I told him sometimes that’s not possible. I had to teach, and I have to get my cardio in for the day so I killed two birds with one stone, and I had a jam packed day so there would have been no other opportunity to fit in my cardio. He told me to do whatever it takes to get in the reps I had to get them in. There were a few times I had to pause catch my breath to finish. By the end of the workout I felt ready to puke and pass out however I did neither. We did back, bi’s and abs. I’m not even going to list the exercises, because he had me doing stuff I’ve never seen. He loves his creativity, and so do I! I did 10 sets and 10 reps of each exercise that’s a total of 100 reps of each exercise.

My diet yesterday was the as he calls it the “munchie meal plan”. I was to eat every 20 minutes. This was quite difficult at times. I packed four containers of food one for protein, veggies, fruit, and starch carb. By the way my starch carb was a brisket size red skin potato that I ate after my workout. That’s been the only starches I’ve been allowed to have all week. I brought my food to show him what I packed and got the no, no, no again. The nutrition side is definitely a learning experience. My vegetables were frozen veggies that I steamed, but his issue with that was the sodium and or sugar that gets added as a preservative before packaging. Sure enough when I got home, and read the label the frozen veggies I thought were acceptable did have added sodium, and I can only have 200mg of sodium per meal. I headed back to the grocery store and found what I needed. Yesterday was the first day I didn’t feel hungry, but I did have a hard time getting some of the foods down. I’m not a big celery fan, and one of his suggestions was to snack on celery all day to keep my metabolism going.

This morning I set the alarm for 5:15am to head to Genesys for early bird spin. Don’t I look excited! I had absolutely no endurance. I only lasted for 40 minutes got in 16 miles, and have no idea how many calories I burned I think I was still half asleep.

My progress so far has been great. Monday’s weigh in was 139lbs and yesterday I weighed in at 134 I’ve lost 5lbs in 4 days. Amazing what the body is capable of once you take sugar and sodium away from your diet.

Today’s agenda I’m starting a new fitness program at a high school in flint. I’m really excited to work with the students. Tonight is boot camp, and right after boot camp I have a session with my coach we’re doing legs.

Today’s meal plan protein shake for breakfast, veggies for snack, protein shake for lunch, more veggies for snack, and a salad with two eggs for dinner. I eat very light today.

I’m laughing as I’m typing my two little ones are playing hide and seek Collin who is 3 yrs old is counting 1,2,9,7 LOL! Have a great weekend and I’ll catch you all Monday!

Please leave me your thoughts by commenting. You support truly helps me get through those tough days, and I value and appreciate all your feedback! To leave a comment click the thought bubble next to the title of the post.

Stacy connected with R.A.W Fitness by SUBSCRIBING TO (click on the link to subscribe)

BLOG
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM

Figure Competition Training – Day 2

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Stacy

Day two of my figure competition training. I must say the hardest part so far is the nutrition I plan on talking to my coach tomorrow to get more clarification about that. He gave me a meal plan, but there are no numbers so I’m kinda unclear how much to eat. The only numbers I have right now is not to eat no more than 200mg of sodium and no more than 12g of sugar for the day, but then my snack suggestion is carrots which are high on the glycemic index. For example 3 oz of matchstick carrots has 5g of sugar now if I ate that much sugar for snack that only leaves me 7g for the rest of the day, and as he say’s I MUST MEET MY NUMBERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday I was on my own for training. I am to do cardio everyday my coach wants me to do 1 hour of cardio. I was so busy yesterday the first opportunity I had was just before 8pm, and hadn’t seen Dan all day I felt so bad leaving to go to the gym. Good thing I have such a supportive husband, because this sport I have learned is very selfish. I opted to spin I burned 400 calories and hit 30 miles.

My ride:

Warm-up for 2 songs at 95 cadence
The body of the ride consisted of 2 songs in the saddle for 30 sec, hoover 30 sec, and standing for 1 minute my cadence ranged from 75 -100 depending if I was in or out of the saddle.
1 song full intensity cadence anywhere from 110 -130
1 song for recovery cadence at 95.

That was my ride for the hour. I took one song to cool down and one song to stretch.

My diet today consisted of:

Breakfast: Protein shake
Snack: 1/4 cup of berries which was about 4-5 blueberries
Lunch: Salad with 1 breast of chicken, 1 oz of matchstick carrots, gourmet sprouts, and my dressing half freshly squeezed lemon.
Snack: Protein Shake & a bowl of broccoli seasoned with Mrs. Dash I had a hard time getting this meal down at this point I was sick of vegetables my body wanted something starchy, but I’m not allowed at least not today.
Dinner: Another salad the same way.

No photos today since it was pretty much the same as yesterday.

On a lighter note I got to spend my morning and afternoon with Aidan. I was a chaperone for his 2nd grade field trip to the Sloan museum. He is such a sweet boy. On the bus ride there and back he wanted me to snuggle, and he kept telling me how much he loved me. It was a great day!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE!!!!

BLOG
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM

Vegetable Chicken Stir Fry

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Stacy

VEGETABLE CHICKEN STIR FRY

Looking for healthy dinner ideas then look no further. I made this vegetable chicken stir-fry for dinner last night and it was delish! The meal was loaded with colorful vegetables, and flavor it provided my body with the perfect balance of protein, carbs, and healthy fats.

I started by tossing a cup of each veggie into a frying pan: Sugar snap peas, carrot chips, mini bella mushrooms, and sweet red peppers.

On low heat I sauteed the veggies in 1 tbs of virgin coconut oil, a dash of extra virgin olive oil, a dash of minced garlic, and a pinch of sea salt, black pepper, and cilantro.

I purchased a rotisserie chicken from Sam’s club earlier that day. We ate half for lunch, and I used the rest for the stir-fry. Keeping the heat on low I covered, and let the veggies steam for about 8-10 minutes.

I accompanied my stir-fry with a salad of organic greens, matchstick carrots, shredded cheese, gourmet sprouts, and my favorite garlic expressions salad dressing. I didn’t feel like having a ton of dirty dishes so we ate on paper plates. The meal turned out great, and the boy’s devoured it.

Over the weekend I finally got my diet back under control. I just got back from visiting my parents in Florida, and my mom is awesome she made sure we never went hungry, but my parents are not the healthiest of eaters. Everything is cooked in lots of butter, the vegetables are canned, and the starches are white. Once you fall off the bandwagon it’s really hard to get back on. What helped me get back on track was watching fitness model motivation videos on YouTube to remind me the body I want to keep, and inspire to perfect. It always helps. I’ve also started keeping a food journal that way I can hold myself accountable.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated? To leave a comment click the thought bubble next to the title of this post.

Stacy connected with R.A.W. Fitness by SUBSCRIBING to my:

Blog
YouTube Channel
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

How To Eat Healthy and Affordably While Traveling

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Stacy

Do you have a vacation coming up in the near future or maybe your going to be traveling for work? Just because you’re on the road doesn’t mean you have to throw your diet out the window. I’m going to share with you how to eat healthy and affordably while traveling.

I’m on vacation this week in Orlando, FL we’re taking the boy’s to Disney. We’re a family of five so eating out is not an option for us. My boy’s are ages 7, 5, and 3. After having them cooped up in the minivan for 18 hours the last thing I can expect them to do is sit still in a restaurant, and with a family my size frankly we cannot afford it. With a little planning you can easily pack your meals keep it healthy, and enjoy your meals at the rest stops while allowing the kids to run around and stretch their legs.

Watch this quick vlog for healthy affordable options while traveling, and don’t forget to subscribe to R.A.W. Fitness TV for all the latest in fitness!

How To Eat Healthy and Affordably While Traveling:

A Day’s Meals

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Stacy

I get asked questions about diet everyday so hopefully this will help give you a glimpse into a day’s meals of what you should or in some cases shouldn’t be eating to stay healthy and fit, sustain energy throughout the day, and keep your belly full. Many people tell me when their “dieting” they feel like their starving themselves. Great news you should never feel starved nor should you ever “diet”. Matter of fact when you feel hungry that’s your bodies natural cue telling you it’s time to eat. To keep your belly full and sustain energy you want to eat 5-6 small meals a day, and keep your diet balanced with a wide variety of carbs, protein, and good fats. This was my day’s meals yesterday’s.

1. Breakfast: This one I’m not so proud to share with you, but I had a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oates. 1 cup in about 1/2 cup of skim milk. Cereal is not the best way to start off your morning, because it is not a balanced meal. Cereal tends to be higher in carbs, and both cereal and milk tend to be high in sugar. A better choice would have been eggs with a slice of whole wheat toast lightly spread with a natural peanut or almond butter.

2. Snack: After I taught my cardio strength training class I ate a Greek Yogurt coated granola bar. This one was cranberry almond. They’re a little high in sugar at 12g so I like to eat them as a post workout snack to provide me with ample protein, carbs, and good fats, and the sugar from the bar helps to re-energize me.

3. Lunch: I still haven’t been able to locate a sushi mat. I’m going to see if Bed Bath and Beyond received their shipment if not I’ll probably just order it from them, and have them ship it to the house. I rolled it up by hand which worked in the past, but the rice I used was a couple day’s old, and it lost it’s sticky so this ended up being a mess. It tasted good it was just really messy. The sushi was stuffed with turkey left over from yesterday’s dinner, matchstick carrots, and I topped it off with a hot sauce, and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

4. Dinner: I had a late dinner last night. After I taught boot camp I was busy feeding the boy’s and getting them ready for bed. I finally ate around 8:30 last night when I sat down to watch the Bachelor. My salad consisted of mixed romaine lettuce and baby spinach with sunflower seeds, 1 tbs of shredded cheese, and sliced turkey that was left over from last nights dinner. My dressing was a garlic vinaigrette. I just about never put cheese on my salad, but my body was craving dairy, and I would usually put some kind of veggie on my salad, but it was late I was tired and lazy. To be honest I would have rather skipped eating all together I was that exhausted from teaching twice, and running after the boy’s all day, but I know how important it is to eat, and never skip a meal so that’s why this salad looks so lack luster.

One of the things I love about blogging is all the wonderful people I come in contact with. I have people from other countries that read or have read my blog. It makes me wonder what life is like in their parts. Well this is life in my parts (Michigan) Zero degrees. Yesterday it was way below zero with the wind chill. It’s turned bitterly cold, and I’m so ready to head south!

How is the weather in your parts today and what are you doing to stay warm or maybe in your case cooled off? To leave a comment click the thought post next to the title of this post.

Clean Eating and Juice Cleanses

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Stacy

Clean Eating and Juice Cleanses.

We are one full week into January, and I’m wondering how your all doing with cleaning up your diets after the holiday’s. January 2nd was the day I set for myself to get back to the basics with my clean eating. I started off good so I thought. Until I sat down this morning, and did some self reflection with my diet, and realized it wasn’t as great as I thought it was. Which made me realize how hard it is to get back on track with our diets when we fall into bad habits. It also had me wondering if it was all worth it, because it’s going to take me at least a month of serious/daily training, and clean eating to get my body where it was post holiday’s….yeah it was worth it

I’m giving myself a do-over. Today is officially my brand new start. It all started with lunch, breakfast was coffee prior to teaching muscle pump. This is the type of food your body needs to be healthy. It provides your body with all the necessary nutrients (vitamins), carbs for energy, and good fat you could even have this for snack. This is one red bell pepper, 3 baby carrots, and 12 raw almonds. I was full after eating it so it accomplished it’s goal.

I’ve been hearing a lot about juice cleanses. They’re really becoming quite popular. A juice cleanse is a liquid you drink for all meals. The duration your on them varies. I have a friend who’s currently on a week long cleanse. I’m not sure how I feel about them. I feel like if I’m eating clean then I don’t need to “cleanse” my body. Honestly it’s hard enough maintaining a healthy diet, and resisting temptation. Could you imagine the games your mind would play with only drinking liquids for a week? For me I don’t think I could handle the psychological part of it.

What do you think about liquid cleanses? To leave a comment click the thought bubble next to the title of the post.