YOU DON'T EAT CARBS?!?!??

When people hear that they can't have carbs on a diet they automatically panic. At least, I know I did. All of my favorite foods are full of carbs; pizza, pasta, chilis chips and salsa, sandwiches, a mcgriddle.... yep. All of my favorites. Cutting carbs is definitely the hardest part of my diet for me. The good news is...we can still have carbs...just the good kind! In fact, your body needs them. When I say good carbs I'm talking about complex carbs. These are the natural carbohydrates, the ones with a lot of fiber, that your body absorbs slower. Things like whole grains, fruits and vegetables are good carbohydrates. I know I know, everyone has already had this lesson a million times in health classes.... but if you're new to dieting, it can be tricky to know which ones you can eat and which ones are bad for you. In simple terms, the "bad carbs" are the ones that are refined. They have added sugars, which absorb quickly into your body to give you a quick burst of energy. But that's about all they're good for. One problem for many people is that when they see the words "whole grain," on a product, they automatically think it's healthy, when a lot of the time it's not. It's safe to stick with things like quinoa, oats and brown rice... you can literally see that they're a WHOLE grain just by looking at them. Remember, eating good carbs may not taste as good in the moment (although, they can)... but they will keep you full for longer and prolong your energy and help you to lose weight. BUUUUUT....I also believe that a little pasta or pizza now and then can be a good thing ;) 

                                                Here is a list to help you tell right from wrong:

Good carbs:
sweet potatoes
ezekiel bread
squash
oats
brown rice
quinoa
kidney beans
black beans
green leafy vegetables
fresh fruit and berries (be careful of natural sugars)

Bad carbs:
cane sugar
white bread
white rice
pasta
bottled sauces
cakes/biscuits
soda
Most juices

*one more note: just because a product says "whole grain" doesn't mean it's healthy. Look for something that says "100% whole wheat" or "100% whole grain." Look at the ingredients... WHOLE wheat or WHOLE grain should be the very first ingredient listed.

Want to Lose Weight??? Then EAT!!!!

I've learned so much over the past few months about healthy weight loss and muscle gain. One of the things that I think is SO incredibly important, is also something that not many people realize.... YOU NEED TO EAT TO LOSE WEIGHT AND PUT ON MUSCLE!!!!!!!!! I can't even explain how important it is. I always heard that you shouldn't skip meals if you're trying to lose weight, but I never realized how much you really need to fuel your body. In my opinion and from what I've learned and experienced (again, I'm not a PT or dietician), it is SO important to get those 6 small meals in a day. First, you need to make sure your body is getting enough protein to increase and maintain muscle growth. But, protein isn't just for trying to build muscle (but who doesn't want to build muscle), it's also important for weight loss. I don't know a whole lot about protein but I know that your body needs a lot of it. My main protein sources have been chicken, egg whites, and protein shakes. I'll talk more about meals later on but for now I just want to stress the importance of eating enough. You also need to include healthy fats (avacados, almonds, olive oil, peanut butter) and good carbs (sweet potatoes, squash, other veggies and quinoa) in your meals.If you're not putting healthy fats into your body, it will hold on to any unhealthy fats it can get!  If you're eating all 6 meals everyday, you won't be hungry for other foods. You'll also have plenty of energy throughout the whole day and be able to have a good workout. It can be hard to eat 6 meals a day. You have to plan ahead and prepare your meals, especially if you have a job....... at The Pizza Factory... hahahaha. I will go into a lot more detail in future posts. I'm sorry that right now my posts are all over the place, but the bottom line is... your body cannot progress if you're not fueling it properly. Good luck!! :)

I've Lost Half of My Body Fat!!

I'm not a dietitian and I am not a personal trainer. But for those who aren't familiar with body fat percentage, I will try to sum it up. One website explained it this way: Your body fat percentage is exactly what it sounds like...the percentage of fat your body contains.  Our bodies needs a certain amount of essential fat. If you are 150 pounds and 10% fat, it  means that your body consists of 15 pounds fat and 135 pounds lean body mass (bone, muscle, organ tissue, blood and everything else). So, a person who looks very skinny may still have a higher body fat percentage because they may not have a lot of muscle (lean body mass). Like I mentioned in my first post, I have been dieting for a few months now. My diet is very low in carbs and fats. It's also very high in protein. Let me tell you.... I'm getting pretty sick of egg whites. When I did my first evaluation at the beginning of October, my body fat percentage was at 21.3%. That's a pretty healthy percentage for my age and what my activity level was at. But I am proud to say..... I am now down to 11.5% body fat!!! I've almost cut my body fat in half. I realize that 11.5 is quite low and maybe not so healthy to maintain on a regular basis, but for my competition, it's almost low enough. The crazy part is... I am now 4 pounds heavier than I was at the beginning. I weigh 118 lbs right now. That means I've put on muscle! I feel a lot better about my body than I did in October. It goes to show that the number on the scale really doesn't matter. You need to pay attention to your body fat. And the more muscle you're building, the more calories your body is consistently burning! :)    This is a chart of healthy body fat percentage:
 

Description	Women	Men
Essential fat	10–13%	2–5%
Athletes	14–20%	6–13%
Fitness	21–24%	14–17%
Average	25–31%	18–24%
Obese	32%+	25%+

October 2013

February 2014

If it Was Easy, Everyone Would Do it.

Hello!! I'm Tiara. I'm 20 years old. Okay... I'll be 20 in 2 weeks. I have been training for the NPC bikini competition since the beginning of October. That is almost 21 weeks!! The competition is in 4 weeks. FOUR WEEKS!!!!!!!!!! I can't even believe that. This 21 weeks has gone by soooo fast and I can only imagine how fast the next 4 will go by!
Soooo here's a little background for you. Back in October, I was quite bored with my life. I am taking the semester off from school and I was just working. I was happy.... just bored. Most of my friends are in school and I was spending a lot of time sitting at home. I was spending a little time at the gym, but not as much as I wanted to. I've always been passionate about fitness. I love working out. I love learning about nutrition and about how the body works. Buuuuut... I had been in a rut for a while. I was only going to the gym about... once every two weeks. yup. So I decided to start going more often. My mom works at the Sportsplex. It's a gym about 5 minutes from my house, which is super convenient! One day one of the trainers there (and one of our good friends), Keaton Hoskins, told my mom that I should compete. I remember when she called and told me that, I laughed. I had always wanted to do a competition, so I told her I would consider it. Wellll after a whole night of consideration.... I decided that I should go for it. It was the perfect time for me to do it. I wasn't going to school, I had lots of free time, and I would love to push myself and see what I can do. So the next day I told her to tell Keaton I would do it. As soon as I told her, I knew there was no backing out. Once I set my mind to something, I have to do it. I started training that next week.
October 1st, 2013. I met with Keaton and he did my evaluation. He tested my body fat and it was at 21.3%. (21-33% is pretty normal for my age and activity level). I am 5'4. and I weighed 114 pounds. Meaning.... I had 24 lbs of fat on me and 90 lbs of lean muscle tissue. He told me that I needed to gain 6 pounds of muscle to compete in the March show. He told me that I really needed to focus on my shoulders and on my butt. Then he lead me through my workout. He only had me do half of the reps. Afterward I couldn't breathe and I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. I felt soooo light headed. I didn't realize that I was so out of shape. I felt stupid... but I let it motivate me. The beginning is always the hardest. He put me on a strict, low-carb, diet. He told me I could have one cheat meal a week. The first 4 days were SOOOO hard for me. I thought about quitting so many times. It's difficult to cook and prepare healthy meals. It's also really difficult to not eat something when you go out with your friends. My friends liked to say I was.... HANGRY. Hungry + Angry.  I was ornery all the time and I felt weak. I kept thinking... is this even worth it?? When I complained to Keaton about it, he told me something that has stuck with me, and probably always will. If it was easy, everyone would do it. He was right. I was doing this for myself. I knew that it would be difficult for me, and that's what would make the whole experience worth it.
After those first 4 days I felt AMAZING. The cravings weren't so constant and I was starting to learn that if I ate everything I was supposed to eat (6 small meals a day with lots of protein... details later), I wasn't hungry. In fact, It was hard for me to make myself eat as much as I was supposed to. My body felt great. I had so much energy and I could do my full workout instead of just half. It's amazing how the body learns and grows so quickly. I was already pushing myself to new limits and I felt so good. In the first two weeks I had dropped 3% body fat!! I will go through details about everything in future posts. I just wanted to give a bit of background.
 I wish I would have started blogging at the very beginning of this journey. I have kept a written journal through the whole thing. I would highly recommend doing that if you are starting your own fitness journey. This has been the most amazing experience and I'm ready to make the next 4 weeks (and many after that) count. Thanks for reading! :)

Workout from October 1, 2013-February 4, 2014
               This is my beginning workout. I have added lots more weight since then. Update later.
M/W/F:
squats-4x15 (I started out with only the bar)
deadlifts-4x15 (started with 40 lbs)
row machine-4x15 (started with 40 lbs)
military press-4x15 (20 lbs)
bicep curls-4x15 (10 lbs)
shoulder raises- 4x15 (5 lbs)
50 lunges
15 sprints (half track, rest 30 sec between)
I also did some on the treadmill. sprint 30 seconds, rest 30 seconds.

T/TR:
hammerstrength shoulder press-4x15 (10 lbs)
tricep extension-4x15 (50 lbs)
rear delt raises-4x15 (10 lbs each side)
hanging leg lifts-4x25
wind gates on bike (hard and fast for 30 sec, rest for 30 sec) 6 minutes.

The diet:

Before. This is what you call... skinny fat. 

before

before