#Vmfityear2014 MARCH FITNESS MADNESS: Glute lifting edition

Welcome to another month in this #VMFITYEAR2014!
Ready to keep on going in this lifestyle journey of yours?!

New Mentality for the New Year

2014 is around the corner!

HELLO WORLD! #vmfityear2014 and GIVEAWAYS!

Hello hello hello!

If you don't follow me on instagram or twitter, then you probably think I've fallen off the face of the earth! Well don't worry I'm RIGHT HERE!

Been swamped getting back into college life, homework, exams, attempting to be social :P, and more. It's been a whirlwind! But things are finally starting to calm down with the end of the semester and Christmas break coming around!

Well an update with me.....

I took a break from macros.
I tried intuitive eating.
Started overeating a little bit more and more.
Backtracked slightly the progress that I had made over the end of the summer.
Really wanted to reach the balanced lifestyle of intuitive eating: eat when I'm hungry, don't when I'm full, but it seems like my mind wasn't in the right place, so I had to go back to IIFYM for a while.
Just got back from a week cruise vacation getaway where I definitely enjoyed the relaxation, sun, and FOOD. While on my cruise I started reading "Intuitive Eating" to try to learn more about why I feel the need to overeat and how exactly I can STOP it. It's been helping and the book is a great read! For anyone dealing with dieting issues or yo-yoing and how to stop for GOOD, I definitely recommend this book to read!
Taking it day by day trying to get in tune with my body and simply just eat for fuel, and not overstuff myself like a Thanksgiving Turkey!

So yup that's what I'm doing now!
Obviously.. I'm not very consistent. I have ups and downs, progress and backtracks, but that's life. It's never perfect! And I know you all share similar experiences! I don't want you to think you're failing or are a failure because you can't stay on track. Just know it's part of the lifestyle journey and process. You haven't failed, you've just learned ways that haven't worked!
Keep going. You'll make it.
It's a journey. It's not a set path. There will be bumps on the way, but you CAN and WILL make it.

NOWWWW
What exactly is this #vmfityear2014??

What do I have in store for YOU ALL and MYSELF for the 2014 year?!!?
Well not only is it a new year, but it's also MY 21ST BIRTHDAY ON JANUARY 2!
So I needed to come up with something AMAZING this year!
Like a COMEBACK YEAR.

 

That's right, I've been working on something realllll special for you all!

I know this last month is always tough with the holidays and whatnot, and you end up starting the new year fluffy, guilty, out of shape, and ready for New Years resolutions. I wanted to do a challenge for you all, but decided not to for winter because I want you all to SUCCEED! And we all know how those holiday temptations and gatherings can get! So I present to you :

#vmfityear2014

 

EVERY SINGLE MONTH 

I'll be releasing a program with:  

• Monthly calendar:
• FULL of workouts to get you ON TRACK TO THE FITTEST YOU YOU CAN BE! 
• grocery guide
• #vmfityear2014 journal for progress updates
• food log 

Andddd each month there will be 

• ️ONE WINNER that will receive 2 QUEST boxes OF THEIR CHOICE as well as an article of  Quest apparel! 
• ONE WINNER that will receive P28 Food Products  (either bagels, bread, nutbutter, or wraps!)
• ONE WINNER that will receive a delicious nutubtter from You Fresh Naturals!

That's right: 3 WINNERS EVERY MONTH!

WHO WOULDNT LOVE THAT! 

Rules will be in the monthly plan on how to win the prize for that month!

Do you want to get back on track, bounce back from the holidays, and make a LIFESTYLE change?!? This isn't a diet. This won't be a quick scheme. I'm trying to prepare you for LIFE.

A Lifestyle Change.

Then get ready for DECEMBER 26, 2013 when I'll be releasing the first month: 

JANUARY: BOUNCE BACK 

There WILL be a price for the monthly plans, I'm aiming around $7 to $9!! 

 Which if you ask me is pretty SWEEET considering some month plans are anywhere from $50-$200! But I GOTCHU, I'm a broke college student too! Are you IN?!?? 

Mark your calendars for Dec 26, and give yourself the present of a New Years resolution you'll stick to!!! 

Cutting/Leaning/Fat Loss OH MY! And Kickstarting My Healthy Lifestyle Journey.... Again

So a lot of you have asked me about:

Cutting / Leaning Out Stage

However, I feel these terms are more for bodybuilders or competitors. They usually follow bulks or off season with on season leaning out to get to very low body fat percentages for competitions! And they are veryyy strict with their diets and workout, which in my experience, when I did this, didn't turn out so well for me because I rebounded back to the beginning of my journey - same [if not more] weight, measurements, and body fat.

So instead I like to call it the

Fat Loss Stage

aka. the 

Healthy Lifestyle

I say the Healthy Lifestyle, because basically if you're living the healthy lifestyle:

Eating right, keeping consistent workouts, and being body, mind, and health conscious, 

you should be losing fat because you're not stuffing it with the usual processed nasty fatty foods!

My First BIKINI COMPETITION and @MrGeecue

That's right! IT'S OFFICIAL!
I announced on my Instagram the other day when my competition will be!

I posted it mainly as motivation for myself, so that I CAN NOT back out! I was planning on doing an earlier show, but I felt I would NOT be ready in time. Instead of stressing out about it and killing myself over the anxiety and cardio and stress, I decided to do a longer, more comfortable prep for the

JUNE 22

NPC Maryland State & East Coast Classic

It'll be in Rockville, MD and if any of you want to come out and support, that is MIGHTYYY FINEEE BY ME! <3

#VMFITYEAR Food Plan

Again, repost of my earlier 16 week plan! That post messed up my blog layout! So here it is again!


To see my workout plan, click here

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--> FOOD/ MEAL PLAN:

PHASE 1 – BUILD – 2 weeks - around 1800-2000 calories a day

·      Carbs included in:

o   Breakfast

o   Post workout with shake

o   Post workout meal

PHASE 2 – BUILD – 3 weeks - same calories from phase 1

·      Carbs included in:

o   Post workout with shake

o   Post workout meal

PHASE 3 – BUILD & LEAN – 3 weeks - High: 1800-2000 calories, Medium: 1700, Low: 1500, No: 1400

·      Carb cycle: 1 high, 2 medium, 2 low, 2 no

SPRING BREAK – 1 week - WISDOM TEETH REMOVAL – LIQUID/SOFT CLEAN DIET

PHASE 4 – LEAN – 3 weeks - High: 1700-1800 calories, Low:1600-1700, No: 1400

·      Carb cycle: High, Low, No - repeat

PHASE 5 – LEAN – 4 weeks - Low-No: 1400-1500 calories, High: 1700

·      Carb cycle: 3 days low-no, 1 day high – repeat

4-5 meals a day – I like to eat a bit fuller meals, so I won't be eating every 2 hours. More like 2-4 hours. Instead of 6-7 meals with fewer cals, I'll be having 4-5 with a bit fuller calories. 

IF YOU CLICK THE IMAGE, IT WILL BECOME LARGER! 

• During the building stage I'll have proteins and carbs high, fats low.

• During the carb cycling stage, my low days will have higher fat for energy and low carbs, and the opposite on high carb days. Protein still high.
• I'll have a separate post when it gets closer to the lean out stage on how my meals will be different with the carb cycling implemented  

• I'll be having Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Post W/O shake, Dinner [sometimes the snack may be in a different order]
• Lots of veggies in every meal
• Will be going STRICTLY GLUTEN FREE [due to thyroid]
• due to thyroid conditions, will NOT be eating any soy products or raw goitrogenic foods
• Carbs post workout & breakfast choices: GF oats, sweet potato, brown rice, GF pasta, brown rice cakes, fruit, etc [good complex carbs]
• Protein choices: eggs, chicken breast, turkey breast or ground turkey, sirloin, shrimp, salmon, tilapia, whey protein, etc.
• Fat sources: nut butters, avocado, egg yolk, nuts, flax oil, coconut oil 
• Snack can be whenever you're hungry, can be after lunch, before lunch, after dinner, whenever!
• I'll try and post all my food on Instagram for all of you to get some ideas from! :D  

 I am keeping my calories HIGH

I don't usually count calories and you alll know how much I advocate that! So I won't be using any kind of calorie counter, just "eyeballing" my portion sizes and guestimating.

Some reasons to keep your calories high during the first few weeks of your program:

• If you eat too few calories, your body will go into starvation mode, causing it to HOLD ON TO ANYTHING IT DOES GET as fat to protect itself! NO GOOD
• If I reach a plateau, I can either decrease my calories or increase my workouts. 
• Imagine if you're already on a dangerously low deficit of 1100-1200 calories. You decrease to 1000. Now you've reached another plateau. Do you think going down to 900 or 700 will be good for you? NO. So think about it in the long-term! 
• This will help your body continue to bust through plateaus while still having enough food to sustain yourself and be healthy
• It's going to be higher in the beginning because I want to BUILD muscle, therefor I can't have too big a deficit in calories! Then as the phases go on and I want to lean, the added cardio will make the deficit, NOT lessening food calories drastically to dangerous levels.
• It is better to have a deficit from WORKING OUT, rather than decreasing food intake! If you decrease the food intake drastically, this can 
• make you catabolic - or break down your hearearned muscle
• be harder to get to maintenance mode
• starvation mode
• stall your metabolism

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This is my big plan for 2013! 

What do you all think?? I'm hoping to see some MAJOR changes! And I'm very excited! I've been SLACKING off SOOOOO hard these past few weeks/months, and it definitely shows! And with my new SLOW metabolism from killing my thyroid, it's going to be ESPECIALLY hard trying to lose all the extra fat I've accumulated. But I'm keeping my head up, trying to be positive, and hopefully everything will take care of itself!

So are you going to join me to a fab fitter 2013 year? I hope so! 

Remember, these numbers are for ME and my current body weight and goals, switch yours around accordingly! And my schedule is based off MY needs, and are scheduled around my classes, when I work, and what foods work best for my body. Please make adjustments where needed!  

#VMFITYEAR 16 Week Workout Plan

Sorry guys! I had to repost this original post split in 2 parts - workouts and then food, because it was messing with my blogger layout!

To see my food plan, click here

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So another year DOWN. Goodbye 2012,  

HELLOOO 2013! 

We're a pretty strong bunch #fitfam. We survived the dreaded Mayan end of the world!

So now what?

Well now it's time for a NEW YEAR.

Did you all slip this past holiday season? These past few weeks, months, or even year?

You know what's great about a New Year? Those little things called

New Years Resolutions!

Eh but who are we kidding? No one EVER sticks to those do they?

So now I am setting my 2013 PLAN, as in, I WILL achieve it! Not a resolution where I'll stick with it for maybe a few weeks, 2 months tops, and then quit.

No no my friends, this time I'm ACTUALLY sticking to these goals I'm setting!

YES. SELF-MOTIVATION! And not to mention motivation from my shmexy Fab 5 friends, and all of YOU, my wonderful followers!

I'm going to stick to my plan because I deserve to be the happiest I can during this New Year right?!

AND SO DO YOU! 

Also It's my birthday tomorrow, January 2nd! I think it'd be a nice birthday present to actually succeed at one of my long term goals!

Remember to use the hashtag on Instagram - #VMFITYEAR - I want to keep track of my progress this year, but alsooooo see all of YOUR journeys and progress! Lets kill this year fitfam! It'll have no idea what hit it!

I've made myself a

 16-week plan 

What?! That long of a plan for a girl who can never stick to something for more than 4 weeks?!

AHAH YES!

This 16 weeks will be my entire Spring Semester as a College Sophomore.

The time will pass anyway, 

so why not be productive and use that time to get in the best shape of my life?!  

BOOM.

Mind blown...

So here I've put my plan out there for all of you to see!

Feel free to use it as a base for ideas if you're stuck with what to do, but you should never copy them EXACTLY. Switch them around to fit YOUR specific needs and goals! I'm having these workouts and foods because of how my semester is planned out with classes, and because of how my body reacts to certain foods.

I'm doing these next 16 weeks in "phases" so that they don't draaaaag out.

I have a habit of getting bored easily, so doing them in phases will help to keep me still interested and motivated!

My plan is a mixture of short term goals [each phase] and one long term goal [16 weeks total!]

Haha I guess I can kinda say "16 weeks out" right?

Like those fitness competitors do for competitions! Makes me feel more "legit" teehehe.

[Switched shoulders & bis/tris day! Fits better with my schedule]

IF YOU CLICK THE IMAGE, IT WILL BECOME LARGER! 

Birthday Festivities & New Year Goals

It's my birthday I can cry if I want to!
Ha but I don't want to, so don't worry fitfam!! 

How was everyone's New Year?! I hope it was a BANG and that you had a blast.
Guess what?!?! I've reached my

3rd decade of life

How crazy does that sound!?! Ahaha, the big 2-0!! YES out of the teen years thank goodness! On my way to adulthood! Kinda scary, kind of exciting, definitely all new! I wonder what's in store for me these next 10 years! So crazy to think about...

I posted this photo a few days ago on my Instagram and a lot of you found it helpful:

With the new year coming up, we all have those resolutions. Something we want to get done, to change, etc. but think about 10 years from now. If you were the same, would you be happy? No? I know I wouldn't be. There's SOOO much left to do: to change, to improve on, to learn, to progress, to make mistakes and learn from them, to move on from, SOOO MANY THINGS to experience! And how do you experience things? By CHANGING. Don't be afraid to live a little. Back in August I was terrified of trying weights - "I'll get bulky, look like a man, yadda yadda" but from weights I got in the best healthy state my body had been in in my 8 months of a healthy lifestyle. Don't be afraid to try new things. You may end up LOVING it. Try something new today, try something new this New 2013 Year, you won't regret it. What could the next 3 months bring? What changes could you see? You never know if you don't get out there and TRY.

What are your goals for this 2013 year?

I know what mine as a whole are! My birthday wishes and 2013 year goals kinda meshed into one.

• make the best of my 2013 year. make these next 12 months COUNT.
• do well in my spring semester sophomore year of college
• follow through on all the phases of my 16 week workout and meal plans
• be happier
• No binges 
• More research in health and fitness (workouts, nutrition, psychological aspects - especially in regards to binging)
• more family time
• live life to the fullest

Those are just some of my goals!! They're kinda broad and open, but I do have more specific ones written down in my fitness diary :] 

I hope you all have some great goals set out and I hope you achieve them all!

Here's a great post by Muffin Topless on how to achieve your New Year's goals and resolutions, check it out! 

#vmfityear <3