A girl's gotta have a Plan B

[ubermumma]

Hi all,

I am currently relying on my very young and very fabulous PT, but a girl's gotta have a Plan B.....so this is my attempt to take some responsibility for my own development and hopefully enlist the support of few strong and wise women along the way!

The basics are:

42 year old female, married with 2 young kids (under 7).
132lb
5ft7inches,
Body Fat approx 24% (depends what time of day it is!)
Lifting since Sept 2006.
Recent addition of supplements: Multi-v, whey powder, BCAA, L-glutamine, Kre-alkylyn (creatine).


I've been fluffing around with the girly dumbells and "toning" for a while but have recently had a real change of focus - I want to be strong, with rock hard glutes, a defined six-pack and killer biceps!!!!!!!! If getting there means I have the confidence to do a once-only figure comp then that would be a double bonus!

Now today I had a real light bulb moment - I GET IT - I have to eat more to feed my muscles if I want them to grow and do smart cardio to burn the fat - VOILA!!! My 1500 calories with a 57/33/10 macro split is just not gonna do that. So I hereby solemnly swear that I will make EVERY attempt to consume a minimum of 2000 calories with a 40/40/20 split from now on. I cannot tell you how proud I am of myself that I do actually "get" this now, after reading it and discarding it for the last 3 or more months, almost every day on this site!!

My workout week is messy, cause I teach a few group fitness classes that cannot be moved, but I have got my self out of teaching a couple of the higher intensity ones so I can put more energy into lifting. Most of my sets I do 3 times with reps to failure.

Monday
AM : HIIT on treadmill 25 mins (5.45am "fasted cardio")
PM : Teach Pilates Class
: Legs - step ups
- walking lunges
- hack squats
- leg press
- leg curls
- wide ballet squats

Tuesday:
AM : 1 hour PT session - shoulders & chest this week (no back cause of a muscle strain, but sorted that with accupuncture today)

Wednesday :
AM : HIIT as above
PM : Teach "Bar" Class - higher reps, lower weights - purely endurance stuff
: 45min spin class (catabolic????)

Thursday
AM : Mid am, teach Pilates Class
Arms - bi's and tri's

Friday :
AM : Legs as above
PM : Teach Pilates

SATURDAY : REST

Sunday
AM : Used to be spin, but will be lifting now, arms this week I think.


FOOD Is something like this:

Meal 1 : Muesli, Skim Milk,

Meal 2 : Protein Shake with Skim Milk, Almonds

Meal 3 : Tuna, Lentils (or brown rice, or kidney beans) chilli, fat free-natural yogurt

Meal 4 : Apple, Protein Shake

Meal 5 : Meat, Fish or Chicken with either green salad and/or carbs

Meal 6 : Fruche (low fat yogurt thing), almonds or protein shake.


As I said above, I have been relying on my PT for all my advice...but have really changed my focus now to wanting to build some mass without letting my body fat run away from me. My weight has gone up a couple of pounds in the last week or so, and it is just a huge mind-switch not to freak out about it, but the body fat is dropping so I am hugely encouraged by that.

If anyone wants to offer advice or make any comments I am a blank canvas and wide open to suggestions!!! The only thing I am powerless to change are the classes I teach.

[Sar-Wah]

Welcome
*waves*

[ubermumma]

Hi Sar-wah, nice to have a welcome from a fellow Aussie!

This one is just a quick entry to say that I suck at eating 2000 calories and am gonna need more commitment to do it! It's 9.00pm and I am home from teaching and then participating in a killer spin class. I have eaten beef, sweet potato, spinach and kidney beans after a post-workout protein shake. I am not at all hungry but after entering everything into FitDay I am nowhere near target. So I will also have a fruche and a banana which will bring my totals to:

Calories: 1479
CHO: 49%
PRO: 37%
FAT: 15%

Might have to put some peanut butter on the shopping list for tomorrow - yum!!!

[Sar-Wah]

Calories: 1479
CHO: 49%
PRO: 37%
FAT: 15%

Might have to put some peanut butter on the shopping list for tomorrow - yum!!!

LOL... this sounds funny coming from me!! (Check out my journal to see why!!)

EAT!! For the amount of activity you have done - particularly that spin class, I don't think you have eaten enough!!

I have the same problem!! I usually have fruit or low-fat yoghurt to fill me up with the extra cals I need.

I hope you had a great day!

[ubermumma]

Sar-wah thanks for posting, I have actually read a great deal of your journal and the advice you have been receiving helped wiht my light-bulb "eat more" moment! My kids have gobbled all my broadband for this month, so I am on slow slow slow time here, but as soon as the puter starts working faster I'll be sure to post in your journal!!

Didn't even want to weigh this morning after the mini food fest last night after spin and bar classes - but no damage, and body fat was low too - yippee!! So, this eating more business is winning me over.....and the energy for this morning's work out was amazing!

I am feeling very proud as I write this cause I have just entered everything in fit day and my totals for today are gonna be:

Calories: 2008
CHO : 50%
PRO : 30%
FAT : 20%

I'd like to re-balance the cho/pro ratios but it's shopping day tomorrow and the cupboard was a little light for protein choices!

This morning I worked legs, without my trainer. My back is still a little tender so kept the squats to the Hack Machine.

5 mins warm up on Rower
Step Ups with 5k dbs - 4x15 each leg
Walking Lunges with 10k dbs - 4 lengths of room
Hack Squats - 4 x 10 (wide legs, feet out)
Leg Press - 4 x 10 (the whole damn stack, woo hoo!)
Dumbell Squats - 4x15 (narrow feet, 12.5k db)

TAUGHT pilates for an hour. Quick "nana nap" this afternoon!

Have just finished writing up my tri's and bi's workout for the morning and I can't wait to do it!!

[ubermumma]

Probably no probs with total calories today - been out to lunch and eaten far too much. Have to teach my last Kickbox class tonight as well as pilates so will go for all the high options and hopefully burn some off!

Weights this morning were good.

10 min warm up on rower with underhand grip
Preacher curls - 3 x 8 (I really struggle with these)
DB curls - 3 x 12
Incline curls - 3 x 10
Tricep Dips - 3 x failure
Tricep Press - 3 x 12
Tri Pull Downs - 3 x 12 (65)
Barbell curls - 21s x 3
5 min cool down on rower

My trainer has his uni timetable and all his hours are about to change, so we need to work out a mutually workable time to train now, which leaves next week up in the air. Am reluctant to train my back without him after the muscle spasm I've been nursing and also feel wary about chest too. I'll aim to alternate legs and arms (but include shoulders next time) until we work out a permanent timeslot.

Will post marcos after tonight's classes.

[Sar-Wah]

Just stopping in to say HI!!

Your workouts look good to me (although I am still learning!!)

I am a little jealous of your very young & very fabulous trainer!! I am sure you will be able to come to a suitable time to train together..... IF not move to central NSW & I will train with you!!

I hope your cardio tonight was fun!

Cheers
Sara

[ubermumma]

Hey Sara! I am full admiration for you and your "pizza incident" today! I went out to lunch with friends and my daughter couldn't finish her pizza so we brought it home in a box - and guess who was the piggy who ate 2 pieces on the way to her baby ballet class??!!! AND that was after a piece of birthday cake, and a small chocolate with my latte!!!

So today was officially a cheat day. The macros don't look too disastorous considering, but I know nutritionally they are pretty dirty!

Calories 1623
CHO 43%
PRO 39% (158g)
FAT 17%

I am proud however that I have managed to have proper post workout food, whereas previously I would have gone to bed hungry after being such a guts at lunch.

[Sar-Wah]

Everyone is allowed to have a cheat day!!

Don't stress about it!

[ubermumma]

mmm, just finishing a bowl of my latest indulgence - Nestle Diet Yogurt with 1tbls Natural Peanut Butter stirred in, it's a tough job getting those 2000 cals but this sure helps!!

Yesterday was an official rest day - pfff!! The gym would have been a walk in the park compared to the workout I got getting this house back in order - washing, vac, mopping, bathrooms, changed all the beds etc. etc. Crawled into bed exhausted last night!

Scales HATED me yesterday and I was punished for eating all that sodium with the pizza on Friday. Kept calories to a little over 1500 which seems reasonable for a rest I think. All back in order this morning, so rather relieved about that.

Was going to train legs this morning but I have been asked to cover a THT class on Monday morning, so decided to spin instead - and given my addiction to cardio and my still dodgy back I think this was a good choice! Plus it also means I can indulge in my yogurt/pb combo guilt free!!

Tomorrow I will teach THT in the morning, Pilates in the evening and probably do 25mins HIIT training at 5.30am, so I am thinking the weights might wait until Tuesday. This should also give my back one extra day to recover.

Have a PT scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, and will focus on back and chest, Wednesday night I teach the bar class, Thursday I'll do legs and Friday will be bi's, tri's and shoulders. Will aim for arms again next Sunday. Yep, that sounds like a plan! If I am feeling fresh after class tomorrow night I will train arms again then too - maybe just bi's and tri's??

OK, off to enjoy the rest of Sunday in my gloriously clean house!

[Sar-Wah]

mmm, just finishing a bowl of my latest indulgence - Nestle Diet Yogurt with 1tbls Natural Peanut Butter stirred in, it's a tough job getting those 2000 cals but this sure helps!!

How did you come up with this combination???

What is a THT class??

I hope you enjoyed your clean house

[ubermumma]

Too tired yesterday to update, but had a great sleep last night (9 hours - woo hoo!) and feeling refreshed today. Bit disappointed that glutes and hamstrings aren't sore, still musn't have gone heavy enough.

The day was:

5.30am HIIT, 25 mins
10.30am Taught Tummy/Hips/Thighs class
6.00pm Taught Pilates
7.00pm Trained Legs/Tri's
Steps Ups (4 x15/lead leg)
Walking Lunges (4x15/lead leg 8k dbells)
Hack Squats 2x12 50k, 1x10 70k, 1x8 70k,
DB Squats 4x15 10k dbells
Leg Press 1x15 1x12 1x10 1x8 70,80, 90, 90 k
Tri Dips 4x15
Rope Pulldowns 3x15 55

Calories : 1900 and squeaky clean!!
CHO 32%
PRO 45% (and a wopping 207gs)
FAT 25%

Today I have my PT at 2.00pm and I am being very disciplined and not allowing myself any cardio before that. I have asked if we can train chest ad bi' as I don't seem to be able to push myself enough with bi's and want to learn some more technique befofe I train chest solo. This will also give my back a bit of extra time to fully repair.

Also want to spend some time researching cortisol - is it induced after more than 60mins exercise?? Am I crazy doing spin after I teach my bar class tomorrow night? Hmm hopefully I can find some answers!

[ubermumma]

Calories: 1890
CHO 40%
FAT 22%
PRO 38% (186 grams)

Totally shattered after today's PT! We worked bi's, shoulders and chest. It went something like this:

Warm Up on Rower
Bench Press
Incline Dumbell Press
Arnold Press
Flys
Chest press (machine thingy!!)
Decline delt raises, supersetted....
...with Lateral raises (x4)
Barbell Upright Rows
Incline Dumbell Curls
Eazy Bar Curls
Incline Dumbell 21s
Stair sprints with a 10k plate above my head
20 pushups to finish

Followed by BCAA, l-glutamine, Kre-alkalyn and a Protein Shake. Soon after PButter Pita and loads of water!!

Must try hard not to sleep with arms bent under pillow tonight as it will be agony tomorrow morning!

[Sar-Wah]

Fantasic Workout Kim....

I used to find that after I did Chest etc... it would hurt to put my moisturiser on my face & wash my hair the next morning

I found that doing the stupid little everyday things hurt more than then next workout!!

Have a brilliant day tomorrow... i hope Mebourne is having some decent weather!!

[terracotta]

welcome

[ubermumma]

Morning world! Just back from 25 mins of HIIT on treadmill and got plenty of zing in my step! Hit a new PB on the treadmill for last spint at 14kph.

I am hoping it is the supplements and not that I am not training hard enough, but have woken up only slightly tender in the chest. Bi's are fine. Not that I am complaining, just want to know I am working hard enough. Suppose I was a quivering mass of jelly by the end of yesterday's workout, so that would be a good indication right there!!

Terracotta, thanks for stopping by - I have learnt so much from your very amazing web site and its great links.

Sara, so pleased for you (and jealous!) that you are going to have all your nutritional needs worked on by Emma. I am sure you will be amazed by the results.

Have great days everyone, I will!

[ubermumma]

This morning's HIIT wiped me out, or maybe it was the kitten climbing the curtains in our room all night, or then again maybe our 3 year old daughter tossing and turning in our bed from 2.00am??? Hmm, whatever it was I had a perfect "nana nap" this afternoon and was full of beans for the Bar Class I taught tonight AND the best bit....my back didn't hurt at all - yipee!!!

Felt so darn good I participated in Body Jam after, which was a ton of fun and probably far less catabolic than spin.

Macros for today are not great:

Calories: 1603
CHO 45%
PRO 27% (105 grams)
FAT 28%

Got caught at the shops this morning, hungry, and ended up sharing a bag of chips with my daugher - something neither of us ever eats. Oh well, I am pre-menstrual so I am not gonna beat myself up over it!

Am finding a disturbing trend since tracking everthing on FitDay and trying to eat more calories - I am sneaking in more treats, whereas previously I have been eating very clean, but low calories.

[Sar-Wah]

Am finding a disturbing trend since tracking everthing on FitDay and trying to eat more calories - I am sneaking in more treats, whereas previously I have been eating very clean, but low calories.

I understand your problem!! For example tonight I had to eat 200 calories to be within the calorie range.... I thought .... how easy would it be to have those few pieces of chocolate to fill the gap.... but then I was a good girl!!

I had a shake & a plum!!

I hope you get a better sleep tonight... I am just checking these one last time & then writing my journal and then sleepy nigh nighs for me!!

Have a great day tomorrow!!

[ubermumma]

Full moon and raging hormones = carb cravings to kill for!! So today's macros are:

Calories: 1996
CHO : 44%
PRO : 30% (138 grams)
FAT : 26%

Most of it pretty clean, but just caved for a peanut butter pita after fighting with my son for over an hour about homework.

Probably didn't drink enough water last night and woke up today quite tired and achey. Limped into the gym and just did some light rowing and stretching before teaching Pilates for 1 hour.

Tomorrow's plan is a killer leg workout in the morning. Will teach pilates tomorrow night - might get 30 mins of HIIT before class, but will guage how tired I am after leg workout.

Feeling huge and bloated.....not how I want to be feeling for Sunday when I catch up with a whole load of group fitness instructors I used to work with - they are supposed to be amazed at my strong, sculpted body - yeah right!!!!

Nye, nye for now

[Sar-Wah]

Full moon and raging hormones = carb cravings to kill for!!

Maybe that was my problem today...the full moon....

Have fun tomorrow morning leg workout... I will be very interested to see what you do... i am having lots of trouble with these at the moment!

Good night!!

Wah

[ubermumma]

Woke up refreshed this morning with no aches to speak of. Knew the scales would be yuk cause of the hormones and yesterday's carb festival..and they were...62.6k, BF%24.

Tried to use a protein shake on my muesli, but tipped the bottle too quickly and ended up with soup - eek!

Today's warm up: 5 mins on rower
Hack Squats: 4x12 at 165lb
Leg Press: 4x15 at 280lb
Aductors: 4x15 at 100lb
DBell Squats (narrow): 3 x 15 12.5k
Jump Squats: 1x15 1x12 1x10
Tri Pulldowns: 4x15 at 65
Tri Dips: 3x12
Dbell Tri Extension: 3x10 8k
5 mins rower, cool down

Post workout - 1 protein shake, vanilla ff yogurt, banana & 1tbs peanut butter

Am going to post in forum now about whether I should be trying to lose fat or gain muscle - confidence crisis looming

[twinnett]

Do you always do such high reps or do you switch up your routines? Just wondering what the grams of your diet are??

[ubermumma]

Hi Twinnett,

Short answer I don't always do anything - which is part of the problem perhaps, too much switching around! I've only been muddling along for a few weeks training without my PT. I was aiming for reps more like 3x12, but it all felt easy today so I upped the reps.

My grams yesterday were:

Total cals 2000
CHO 220g (OMG!!!) 44%
PRO 138g 29%
FAT 57g 27%

These aren't typical though, I was on the war path for carbs (probably cause I hadn't eaten enough protein!!).

We are the same height and I was looking through your progress photos last night Twinnett - you look fabulous, and have some great definition in your legs!

I was aiming for 2000 to put some mass on, (I'm a pear) but my legs feel so huge today that I know I am gonna run back to 1500 if I don't sort out quickly what I am doing!!!

[twinnett]

Don't cut too much too quickly...give it some time! And thanks for the compliment! I'm eating around 2500-2600 calories!

[ubermumma]

This morning's thoughts are to focus more on cutting body fat without losing too much muscle. I will still weight train as "aggressively" but keep the calories closer to 1700 this week. This number is derived from Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. 2000 calories has seen me pile on 2ks and there is no way this is muscle - I can feel the waddle and HATE it.

I taught pilates last night and it was a fantastic class, great numbers and lots of positive energy. Now that I don't have to teach the kickbox class before, I had time for a quick HIIT session and was on fire!! Upped all the last intervals by 30 seconds and sprinted flat out for a further 30 seconds at 14.5kph!!

I am going to squeeze in another HIIT session this morning, but won't be aiming for PB's. Then it's a rest (aka housework) day.

[Sar-Wah]

This morning's thoughts are to focus more on cutting body fat without losing too much muscle. I will still weight train as "aggressively" but keep the calories closer to 1700 this week. This number is derived from Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. 2000 calories has seen me pile on 2ks and there is no way this is muscle - I can feel the waddle and HATE it.

Kim.... that is closer to my calories... and it seams to be working for me... I just realised that we are the same height So therefore in theory what works for you could work for me!!

Then it's a rest (aka housework) day.

LOL.... that's a workout in itself!!

When you say that you teach 'bar' classes... is that pump??

Have a fantastic weekend

[ubermumma]

Snap Sara on the height - I hadn't realised either!! The 2000 was just a number thrown at me by my PT on the way out one day - purely for bulking but I cannot see the bulking through until I've got my thighs under control!!

The bar class I teach is a little like Pump but NOT!! We do three bar tracks; 1. for squats/lunges, 2. chest/back and 3. bi's/tri's. Between these we do pilates core work. It's a great work out and members challenge their weights a little more than pump cause the reps aren't as high per muscle group.

Have you ever heard of or done Power Fit - that is a bar class that really rocks?!

[Sar-Wah]

The bar class I teach is a little like Pump but NOT!! We do three bar tracks; 1. for squats/lunges, 2. chest/back and 3. bi's/tri's. Between these we do pilates core work. It's a great work out and members challenge their weights a little more than pump cause the reps aren't as high per muscle group.

Have you ever heard of or done Power Fit - that is a bar class that really rocks?!

Your Bar class sounds great!! I love pump but I find it hard to go up in the weights because of the high reps....

Power Fit?? nope never heard of it... remember I live in the middle of NO-WHERE!! I was so excited when I saw the les mills sign as I drove through town the first time!

Snap Sara on the height - I hadn't realised either!! The 2000 was just a number thrown at me by my PT on the way out one day - purely for bulking but I cannot see the bulking through until I've got my thighs under control!!

I forgot to add though that I am trying to lose weight, not bulk so maybe that is why your PT has you on higher cals...


Hope your weekend is going well!

[ubermumma]

Morning world!

Had a great weekend and feeling refreshed and ready to go. Caught up with some people I worked with yesterday at a Radical Fitness Update in Melbourne which was fun. Did the Power Fit class which used to kill me, and I was practically throwing the weights around they felt so light - so yay, I must be getting stronger!

Did a quick 22mins of HIIT at 6.00am. I have upped all my reps by 30 seconds, but think I can still push my last interval more now.

Teaching Pilates tonight and then we've got an hour PT. Want to do some legs and bi's. Need to get my confidence up on the Smith cause I don't think I've been going low enough on the Hack squats.

Been closer to 1700 cals the last few days and thank goodness this has been reflected in my butt! Jeans much more comfortable today!

Fri 1784
CHO 54%
PRO 27%
FAT 195

Sat 1629
CHO 54%
PRO 32%
FAT 14%

Sun 1793
CHO 44%
PRO 30%
FAT 25%

Will definitely eat more protein today with a pre and post workout shake tonight and another planned mid-morning btw the school run and shopping etc.

Hey Sara, hope you have a great day. Can I ask what your goal BF% and weight is (seeing as we are the same height, just curious!!)?

[Sar-Wah]

Hey Sara, hope you have a great day. Can I ask what your goal BF% and weight is (seeing as we are the same height, just curious!!)?

Hmmmmm this is a tough question... it seams like I am always changing my goals!!

When I was at my biggest, I wanted to be 65kgs... and I had no clue about bf% then..... (65kgs just seemed like a good number to aim for! - I thought i would be soooo skinny!!) Now I am there, I don't have the body I want so....

Now I am thinking 60-65kgs... with 20% bf....but obviously this will reduce as I start to cut leading up to my comp in September.... but then again, I see that you are about 62kgs... so I wonder if I can carry a lower weight and still look ok... so maybe 57-63 (I would love to be in the 50's !!!)

Clear as mud....right!!

yourself??