Every Friday I will be posting an audio message for your enjoyment. I am working on getting video going, too, so look forward to that coming soon.

Feel free to comment below and let me know if you have experienced anything close to what I am talking about in this week’s post.  There may be 2 more posts in this series so hang tight while we get to The Silencer…the Pill.  Cool?  Woop woop!

Previous Series Post

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 Why Our Cycles Are Important [8:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I have truly mellowed out in my old age.  Back in the day, I assure you, I was a much feistier gal.  I would like to say that that was a good thing, but alas…it wasn’t.  I have many a dead body behind me of those who entered into an argument with me and I wouldn’t say they “lost” but they lost something (i.e. limb, voice, money, life—who knows.  It wasn’t pretty.).  And those losses didn’t come because I knew something and was smarter than them—because that’s definitely not the case.  They came because I was ferocious at defending my end of the argument at all cost.  Whatever I knew to be true was true as far as I was concerned…and then I got older.

Getting older meant that I had to concede that I may know the truth or I may be “right”, but there could be a whole segment of information that I have never been exposed to that could stomp on whatever I am presenting as fact at that moment.  This doesn’t mean that I didn’t know what I was talking about; it means that I had limited knowledge in the topic being discussed.  This happens to all of us in some way, shape or form.  Think about how dumb we used to think our parents were when really, we were the dummies.  Or, say you are a trainer and a client tells you something that sounds odd to you and in your mind you call “bullcrap” because you think she just doesn’t want to diet or workout hard.  Then like a year later you find out that not only was she telling the truth, but now you have what she was talking about and you’re upset because now no one believes you.  Things like this happen all the time and I expect some of this to crop up during this series.  I need to debunk a lot of junk (wow, can I use that somewhere else?) that is floating around out there in the land of Greek Mythology, aka girl talk, surrounding our cycles and I expect some raised eyebrows.  There’s a ton of misinformation and we need to slog through the details to get to the truth.  Here are a few to start with:

1. Getting to the truth.

There’s no such thing.  There isn’t a central location of hormonal information that you will find that all of the medical community is going to agree upon.  There are two types of medicine that I am familiar with and I refer to them all the time:  Western medicine and naturopaths.  Western medicine is your traditional doctor who tells you what the insurance companies let them tell you.  They are not bad people, just limited by the system.   I will qualify this later so don’t get your underwear in knots if you don’t agree.  Hang tight.  Naturopaths are not exactly MD’s but they have a much more open view of tackling medical issues which is what you need when it comes to hormones.  The problem is, when you need a drug—you ain’t getting’ one there.

These two professions tend to be at odds with each other.  This is tough on us, the little guy, because we look to them for the answers and then find ourselves having to make a choice between the two without any real information to back up our decisions.  YUCK.

2. My cycle has always been messed up.  It’s just the way it is.

Umm…no it’s not.  And don’t accept that either.  Here is where I qualify my above statement.  Unfortunately for doctors, they do not have the resources to make you well.   They only have the capability to make you better.  That is not the same as being well.  Doctors look at the symptoms you present and make them go away.  They do not necessarily cure you.  And when it comes to a syndrome or chronic condition, they can only ask for so many things to be done that insurance will cover because after a while, they start getting vetoed.  Again, not their fault—it’s the system’s.  Hormonal issues require patience, lots of lab work and a good eye for detail.

3. My doctor diagnosed me with “fill in the blank” so that’s what I have.

Maybe so.  I have no right to argue that in any way.  I am not a doctor and do not profess to be.  But I am an advocate and I challenge you to get a second opinion.  Especially if what they told you that you had was a syndrome.  Things like PCOS, fibromyalgia and so on that do not have definitive tests (although PCOS does but few get the ultrasound done) but more like a list of things that you seem to have in common with them.  Syndromes are a great way to say, “I-have-no-idea-what’s-wrong-with-you-but-I-know-you-need-a-diagnosis-or-you-won’t-be-happy-so-I’m-going-to-tell-you-this-so-you’ll-leave-my-office.”  They have no true way to “fix” them but they give you something tangible to hang on to because it makes you feel better.  Not become well.  Just feel better.  And even then, you may not feel better, you may just be symptom free.

Why do I bring this entire subject up?  Why do I care so much?  I know some of you are thinking, “I was just fine before you started kicking up all this dirt.  Now you have my head spinning.”  (Or maybe that’s just Kas thinking that  I bring it up because if you are not optimal at normal body fat levels, you are REALLY not optimal when you get lean.  And for some of you, it’s what’s keeping you from getting the body that you desire.  Your cycle screams “I am not well” and to lose weight, change body composition or be the best you can be:  you need to be well.

Much more to come.  This is a big topic when it comes to changing your body for the better.  If you have any horror stories, you know I love them.  Hit me up below.  Woop woop!

Next Post in Series

Since I laid some ground rules down for nutrition in terms of an obstacle race, I feel it only prudent to do the same for active recovery and injuries.  The only thing that tops being injured is being sick.  I have had a sick 6 year old at home now for 3 days and he is reminding how miserable it is to be sick.  But injuries are annoying because you really want to work out at full capacity but you can’t and the whole time you can hear the pounds collecting on the scale.  So let’s put this in perspective, shall we?

Active Recovery

Active recovery is a fancy schmancy word for “knock it off and rest, will ya?”  In support of us psychos who feel like we’re being lazy because we only worked out 7 days this week (as opposed to the 8 days available to us overachievers), this is a vital tool to be added to our tool box.  Unlike a regular athlete who has full calories available to them at all times, we have to recover in two ways:  fake “high” caloric days and consolidating exercise.

Since our lives are guided by the motto “less is more”, our prep for the race should be a bit less than the average athlete.  For one, a ton of running will kill a physique.  Therefore, that should cut the schedule back a bit.  Secondly, we will need to consolidate lifts with functional training because lifting more would be hard to due to the lack of food in the diet.  And lastly, we do not have enough starch in the diet to go hog wild in terms of energy output without wondering if we’re burning through some major muscle so we need to get smart about adding fat.  Here are some ways to manipulate your schedule:

• Go to full body lifts for now.
• Add functional movements in between the lifts.
• Wear a weighted vest in your workout instead of heavy DB’s or BB’s.
• Leave at least 2 days completely free from all exercise and instead, make them stretch days.
• Eat the most on those days, but not so much that you break the caloric bank.
• Add sprints to your schedule (like 200’s and 400’s) but do not put them after a killer leg workout.  Even if you are doing full body workouts, you may have more of a “leg day” than another day.  Avoid sprinting after that.
• You can make the high cal days high by adding more Omega 3 fats instead of adding more starch.  This will definitely aid in active recovery.
• Drop a day of cardio and make your lifts more dynamic so you suck wind during them.

Injuries

Injuries are a pain in the butt.  And I mean that literally!  I would rather (yes! I got my “I’d rather” in) remove a deep splinter with a butter knife than sit through my summer (again!) with a major injury like a broken limb.  I broke my foot last June and it was miserable.  I refused to be sidelined so I hobbled all over Boston with a huge boot, but it still wasn’t the same.  Because we are on a compromised diet in the first place, our joints and tendons are ripe for the picking in terms of injury.  Fat is scarce in our diet and it is what lubricates our joint capsules  so we have little give and take when we misstep or land funny.  Rolling ankles are almost a given as well as rotator cuff issues.  Be smart!  Make sure you recover and get plenty of sleep.  Should an injury occur, here is what you need to know:

• Your first reaction is to cut all the starch out of your diet.  Don’t do it.  Go to 1/day at least 4 days/week.
• Eat exactly what you need each day.  This means do not go to bed hungry or full.  Either one is bad for different reasons.
• Do not work out on the injured body part until you are completely well.  Trust me when I say this.  We heal jacked up if we do not fully recover.  For the rest of your life, your knee will ache every time you turn on the garbage disposal.  Seriously.
• You will not gain weight if you keep the junk out.  This is not the time to “munchy” yourself into next week.   With that being said, do not try to starve yourself, either.  See above.
• You will feel smooshy.  Itiswhatitis.  You are not losing muscle.  You are losing your “pump”.  Accept it and just know when you lift the right way again, all will be well.
• Don’t be a cardio hero.  If you can’t lift right but somehow can still do cardio, don’t try to make up for lifting with cardio.  Baaaaaaad decision right there.  Just say no.

I feel better now that I put this on paper.  If you go out and act crazy on the course, I have nothing to do with it.   You have been warned.  Hahaha!  Let me know if you are doing one any time soon.  I’d love to know.  Woop woop. )

Ahhh…there’s nothing like a fresh batch of peer pressure to make us do something completely uninformed and irrational.  Gotta love it.

Everybody loves a challenge—especially us.  We love them more than the average person does, to be honest with you.  We can seriously get a little sick with it by setting crazy goals like 5 marathons in 5 weeks and of course, at the time it sounds completely rational.  It even sounds doable.  However, about halfway through the goal we know we are in trouble but we keep on going for pride sake. How about we avoid this calamity by giving you some things to take into account as we head into another year of the obstacle course races?

Let me remind you of who you are.   If you are reading this blog, then you are someone who may or may not realize that you are an athlete but you definitely realize that your physique is part of your overall health and fitness goal.  So it’s not ‘by any means necessary’ to reach the finish line because none of us here would be willing to go up 10 pounds to make the goal happen.  Instead, we will rethink it when we realize that it could take weeks to get the 10 pounds off again and we’ll most likely move on to another goal.  It is what it is.  This gives you an idea of what this series is about because it is not about getting you ready for the Tough Mudder or any other killer race.  No, it is about getting you ready for them safely while taking into account that you will need to be smart about how you fuel for the training, actively recover from the training and psychologically deal with the training. This is not the same as just plain old running or bodybuilding type lifting and if you are not aware of that you may either blow your diet, go crazy or the worst of them all: get injured.

Over the next three days I want to tackle 4 things:

• Tough Guy syndrome
• Nutritional challenges (how to work the STarch thing)
• Active recovery
• Injuries and their ramifications

In less than a month I turn 42 years old.  WOW.  I don’t feel a day over 41 30 yo when I do things, but the next day I feel like I am 75.  I honestly remember the time when I could wake up, decide to run a 10K that day (even though I was not training for one and never ran more than the 10 feet it takes me to get into the shower) and then get up the next morning and do it all over again.  Crazy.  If I did that today someone would be peeling me off the asphalt—and that would be at registration!  Shame.  I need to warm up for my warm up and I know that’s from years of abuse brought on by Tough Guy syndrome.  This malady affects almost all trainers, some group fitness instructors, avid runners and nearly every single physique athlete out there.

Tough Guy syndrome (TGS) is a peculiar syndrome because it crosses the blood brain barrier and renders us dumb as dirt as to the workings of the body and metabolism even though we could school a client on it in a heartbeat.  Somehow, we’re impervious to this information.  We can dispense it, but we can’t use it and because of this, we tend to do some of the dumbest things known to mankind.  It’s unbelievable.

TGS’s power is exacted by finding the weak spot in our immune systems: our egos.  Once it finds that chink in the armor, it quickly spreads throughout the Central Nervous System causing awful symptoms like signing up for and completing the Tough Mudder without any training for it and then systematically bragging about it like you’re a hero or something.  Frightening.  Fevers and chills can result if it goes undetected as people are hot with jealously or cold with disdain around you because you decided to just “pop into” the race.  And because TGS is a syndrome, there is no “one-size-fits-all” cure and normally diagnosis comes only with the egregious symptoms coming to light such as injury or accidents.

But there is hope.  You can take preventative measures to keep from developing this syndrome by realizing a few things:

1)      If you are under 18% bodyfat, you are of the lean community.  You cannot, and should not, put your body to the ultimate test without properly preparing it and fueling it.  Do not eat the same diet you are used to now and then just “jump into” an obstacle course type race.

2)      If you are allergic to starchy carbohydrates because you think they make you gain weight and want to just eat starch the week of the event, you’re in for a big surprise.  We’ll talk about this tomorrow.  Just know that you need to eat them long before the week of the event if you want to use them to fuel your race.

3)      You do not recover the same when you are lean.  You have fewer reserves in the tank and you must keep that in mind.  If you deplete them now, they will not be available to you when go back to working on your physique or just even maintaining it.

4)      You run the risk of injury—major injury—when you are leaner.  This truth comes in handy when you feel the urge to bounce out of bed and conquer the world.  One day of heroism could cost you 10 weeks of working out.  There’s a sobering thought.

This will be a short series.  I am only going to yell at you a little bit (I’m really yelling at myself but I’m using you as the punching bag.  Sorry.) so meet me here for the next 2 days as we get ready for an obstacle race.  Cool?  Woop woop!

It is 2 days before our wedding date and guess what?  We didn’t make our goal.  Our seamstress didn’t have to let the gown out any more, but we don’t look like the cover model that we thought we would and we didn’t hit our goal weight either.

Dang it!

Yes, I know…sad.  But true, nonetheless.  And we didn’t make goal in a few ways, not just on the scale, because our virtual diet is going to have a real ending as opposed to those commercials that make you think everyone is successful.  Everyone that is…except you.

Our lives improve only when we take chances – and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.  Walter Anderson

I want to stress this point until I sprain a finger typing on my laptop keyboard:  realistic goals = success.  Dreams are great motivators only to the degree that the 1 size-too-small pair of pants hanging in your closet is.  In theory they are great to keep us going, but in reality they cause tremendous disappointment because they are so out of proportion to what we can expect as the outcome that nothing could satisfy our hearts at the end.  I am all for motivating quotes and rah rah shishcoombah type encouragement but only to a certain extent.  Then after that, we need to be yanked out of the clouds and have someone slap some sense into our heads.  Here are some facts:

• You will not diet into a great shape the first or second time around.  Maybe the third, though.  Even then, you will still be able to pinch something, jiggle something or point to something that you do not like because it’s not your body that is lacking, it’s your sanity that is.
• You will not maintain it without some level of work.  If you want something extraordinary, you have to put the ‘extra’ in to get it.
• The scale weight does not necessarily reflect the way your body looks.  This goes both ways.  I have seen folks excited that they hit goal weight and they look like someone beat them down with a bag of flour and I have seen women fall short by 5 pounds but be absolute stunners in the process.  Get over the number.  If it means that much to you, tape it on the scale and it will always read that and you’ll be good to go.
• Just because you “stopped eating” the junk does not mean that you will automatically begin to lose.  Where’s your sacrifice?

Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.  Peter F. Drucker

We would be able to go back and see where the disconnect happened in our plan if we were 100% on it.  I’m not saying that we cheated or anything, no—we were “following” it the whole time.  But the plan we were on was a hybrid plan.  See, we all do it.  We get our plan from our coach or from whomever we charged with the responsibility of dieting us at the time and upon opening it, decided that they were no longer qualified to do the job.  What were they thinking to tell us what to eat and when?  And don’t they know that that would make us hungry or possibly even cranky so there is no way we’re going to stick with that?  And we don’t have to let them know that we know better than they do, we’ve been dieting ourselves for years.  They just learned about us yesterday.  So we’re going to eat whatever we want for meals 3 and 4, do as much cardio as necessary and lift the way that we want to lift and if it doesn’t work out….well that’s their fault.  They should know we didn’t really want a plan to get us to the goal, we wanted our own plan—the one that fictitiously works in our mind—validated.  Affirm us that we were on the right track and all we needed was for someone to tell us about some new egg whites and oatmeal that we have never heard about before so we could get on with the weight loss thing.  Sheesh.

• Either you’re in or you’re out.  Get off the fence and stop being a couch coach.
• Get over yourself.  Yes, you read a lot.  Yes, you know a thing or two about nutrition.  But objectivity is impossible when you diet yourself so you are not hiring someone who necessarily “knows” more than you or even “knows” you; you are hiring someone who is not you.
• Once you change a plan you negate the outcome.  Period.

Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield.—Mark Knopfler

We’ve done everything right, according to the book and we had a very realistic goal and we still didn’t make it.  What gives?

• If you’re healthy and nothing medically stands out, you have been dieting too long.  Time for a break.
• You may have something medically going on that you are not aware of.  Only healthy people lose weight easily. Keep that in mind.
• Things you may not be aware of:  birth control, thyroid meds, food intolerances, stress, liver issues, chemicals in your diet, heavy metals in your body and the list goes on.  Depends on how your diet goes to be able to figure it out.  There will be telling signs.

That was the longest diet I have been on in years.  What was that, 7 days total?  I think I cheated at least 4 times since we started.  Shame.  Next series is on obstacle races like the Tough Mudder and such.  Not sure when that starts but it’ll be within the next few days.  Hang tight and hit me up below with questions or via my email if you like:  Jodi@trans4mationstation.com.  Cool?  Woop woop!

Previous Series Post

If you live in New England, I am sure you noticed that today is markedly different than last week’s balmy December weather.  We’ve gone from global warming to bun warming in less than a week with you sitting on your car engine to provide the bun warming.  It’s right about now that you start to question your resolve for “getting out for a good run”.  But then knowing that sends me into Dr. Mercola mode (you know, Chicken Little, the sky is falling, everything is going to make you flabby and so on) where I have to give you the ins and outs of using running as a means to sculpting a great body lest you go crazy and run yourself into the ground on a treadmill instead.   Using running as your only means of cardio can be done but in the long run it’s a lot of work and it doesn’t always pay off.   Depending on what kind of runner you are dictates what type of approach you should take to make or maintain your shape.  Read on…

(Is it bad that I have the space heater blowing directly on my legs right now as I type?  Brrrrr…)

Best heater ever.  I’m about medium well right now.  Almost done.

Plug and Chug

I read somewhere that the average woman runs a 9:30-10:00 min mile and in the running world, that’s not very fast.  And in the physique world, that’s not even cardio.  And I am not saying that to be mean, I am saying that to be honest.  You know if I let you go the whole winter doing that and knew it wasn’t going to get you anywhere, you’d be mad that I didn’t tell you.  So let’s unruffle the feathers here and get to changing your body, yes?  For instance, I have a favorite “walk spot” that I go to when I need to clear out my mind and if I’m really worked up over something I can find myself walking at a heinous pace.  Whenever this happens I always seem to pass someone on a ‘run’ by a good clip.  Now there is something wrong with that and although they’re most likely going to be on their run longer than I’ll be doing my walk, I’m still doing more work than them.  The take-home from this?  Make sure your run is challenging, first and foremost.  No puttering.

Second, if you’re slow, you’re slow.  Don’t try to go faster, you’ll most likely injure yourself but then you cannot run 5 days a week as your cardio—you’re going to have to mix that up.  You can either:  add in hills, cross train with another piece of cardio or add specific bouts of speed into the mix at specific times so that they are limited and controlled.   I’ll be honest; I’m never a fan of 5 days of running unless you are preparing for a marathon.  At that point I’ll cut you some slack otherwise mix it up.   See below for how to add controlled speed into the program.

Going Nowhere Fast

Have I mentioned lately that it’s cold?  And if you are not “all about the run” or getting ready for an event, chances are you have moved your run indoors.  If you want to do that that’s cool but there are some things you need to know if your body is the main reason why you run.

• Running on the treadmill is not the same as running outdoors.  Now I know that “runners” may know this because you are dramatically faster on a treadmill than you are outside but you may not think about this if you don’t care how fast you are.  When you run outside you propel yourself forward and engage more of the backside but when you run on a treadmill, you are just jumping up and down in place.  Not the same thing.

• Sprinting on a treadmill is bad news and sprinting on a treadmill on an incline is even badder.  Can I say that? Well, maybe not, but truly, it is worse because it completely changes your gait.  Why do you care?  Because cardio never ends for us; there is no place for injury or any time for program interruption.  Jack up your knee and you’re going to lose your mind.  You’re not a run nut so you won’t work out through pain, instead you’ll bring yourself down to chicken and green beans for your entire knee rehab and that’s crazy.

• But since you are on a treadmill, odds are that you can hop off and go do some really crazy stuff like plyos and cranks and then hop back on.  Or maybe you can do a triathlon in your gym by swimming first (elliptical w/arms), biking second (upright is better than recumbent) and then running third.  Going from one to the other can be challenging and you’ll have a better workout session because you are not just slogging through forty minutes on the treadmill alone.

Out and About

If it is all about you and the pavement and you are somewhat on the faster side, then these guidelines can help you to get somewhere in terms of your physique this winter:

• Sprint two days per week in your runs by adding anywhere from 400m to 800m speed work in your run.  I know, you have no idea what 400m looks like so let’s add 90 sec to 3 min speed surges to your run after you have been on the road for at least 10 min.  Add them in so that you can do at least 5 of them in your total run and leave at least 5 min on the run that you can use to cool down.

• Run one whole day at a pace 0:30 sec faster than usual.  This doesn’t sound like a lot until you actually do it and then you realize it’s a major challenge.  Added challenge:  add 60 sec surges in to this run.  You’ll be dying by the end but this is exactly what you want and need.

The Big Picture

What is this really all about?  Doing the same cardio, same time, same run route and same pace day in and day out is the best and fastest way to plateau on your physique goal.  If you really want to change your body or keep on changing your body you have to change your run or it will not help you—it will hurt you.  I know what you’re thinking…you don’t do the same run, there are days you go longer than others.  Yes, but it’s still the same run unless you have changed your pace dramatically. Out of 4 days of running, you have to have at least 2 of those runs make you pant harder than a dog hanging out a car window or you’re wasting your time.  However, if you are the polar opposite and every run you do is an Olympic tryout, then you must have 2 runs per week at a slightly easier pace to mix it up.  If you keep it stagnate, your body will, too.

Remember, what we are all about is longevity in the life of leanness.  And this series is about using the 5K to lose 5 pounds or more.  Overall, this journey is a marathon—not a sprint–and if you want a body that lasts and lasts while being lean, you have more factors to think about besides just the here and now.   If you’re stuck and need pointers, comment below and I’ll be happy to help you out.  Cool?  Woop woop!:o)

Previous Series Post

I know you heard the saying “you are what you eat” but I am here to take it a bit further and say you are what you do, as well.

I think many of us sort of evolved down the same path to the way we eat and workout:  we wanted more out of our body and whatever we were doing at the time just didn’t cut it.  Like I mentioned in my last post, there are two types of weight gain out there and you would probably think then that there would be two types of weight loss, too, but no…there’s a bunch.  (There are also more types of weight gain but that really gives a good synopsis.)

Ok, so maybe you’re not running in the Olympics but some of you are racking up that kind of mileage without any “Olympic” results.

One of the ways I see all the time (and watch endless frustration with) is running to get a great body.  Now notice I did not say to lose weight.  You definitely can decide to get up tomorrow and start running and possibly lose some weight but the odds of you getting that body that you desire are slim and the risk you run with injury and overuse is quite high.  Running for a hot body without a concise plan is like heading to the bakery “to pick something up” for a party you’re going to later on—we all know that ends badly with bread tasting and cupcake snacking so let’s just be honest about it.  Go with a dessert already set in your mind, get in and get out or bring someone with you to bail you out when you go down hard.

Running is addictive to many women.  It’s easy, cheap, hard in the beginning so it is a great challenge, relaxing, rewarding and… *completely unsatisfying in the weight maintenance department* so the more we run, the more we have to.  We keep looking at the covers of the running magazines wondering why they have a hot body and we don’t although we log mile after mile after mile.  Yes, from the waist up you are getting there…from the waist down though you look like a Land O Lakes advertisement for their latest cheese product.  With cellulite and dimples abound, you run and run and run and run.  You have every color capris there is to own and you are an expert at tying your jacket around your waist.

But now you have solved that problem—or so you thought–because you became a savvy reader.  You started following the girls out there who have the hot bodies and began to mimic what they do.  You dropped your starches, cleaned up the diet, you lift now and yet, still…nothing.  Instead, you have no energy, you binge on carbs every 2 or 3 days because you just can’t take not eating them and you don’t know how to fit lifting into your schedule the way they do it.  What gives??

YOU HAVE AN IDENTITY CRISIS

• You are not a runner. You are a woman who enjoys using running as a means to getting the body that she desires.

• You are not a figure girl. You have no desire to get on stage—you want to run—but you want that body too.

• You are not your average consumer. You are willing to put in the work of eating clean and working out so following magazines that are telling you the same ole same ole like “top 10 superfoods” and so on is not helping much.

• You’re not a world class runner. You are quite competitive and have no desire to be the slowest runner out there but you are not a run-nut either.  You don’t own the latest heart rate monitor and you just want to enjoy your run.

Honestly, girl.  You need to know who you are so you can get what you want.  Taking pieces of everyone’s plans and trying to make them work is frustrating and unproductive.  I’m sure you’ve also noticed that the more you run the harder it is to lose weight.  So what does the running world say about that?  Run more.  Ummm…how’s that working for you?  Because at some point, you need to go to work.

We have much to develop over the next few weeks: nutrition, training, psychological warfare, supplements and so on.

Obviously this is an issue we need to really put on the table with some serious solutions for you.  This is one of the top questions I am asking no matter where I go.  Follow this series that I will talk about over the next few weeks and we’ll talk about taking off 5 pounds per 5K and tightening that bum.  Cool?

I’m looking forward to it!!  Woop woop!

Next Post in Series

Since I shared the first half of my craziness with you last week, I thought I would share how the remainder of the back-and-forth-to-Vermont went.  Wednesday after work, which was supposed to be 5pm but turned out to be 6:45, I left for VT and arrived around 9:15.  I got in, fed the cat and went to bed.  I was up and at em early Thursday, but not to workout.  I wanted to run or hike with the dog, who I couldn’t pick up from doggy daycare until 7am (I start working between 7:30 and 8 so before work was out of the question).  So instead I slept in a bit and picked Rosco up at 7.  Unfortunately, right after that I had to work.

(Despite having to work, how nice is the view from where I was sitting?  This is right outside our living room window)

Finally at 4:30 pm I was able to get up from the computer and head outside.  The weather was beautiful.  Our workout started with a hike on the trails which quickly turned into a run.  It only took us about 20 minutes to run some of our trails and I was nowhere near done with my card.  Thus, enter my madness.  Our driveway is 1/2 mile predominately uphill (and dirt).  I hadn’t picked up the mail, which is at the bottom of the driveway, so decided I’d run down, grab the mail, and walk/run back up.  (There is a short spurt of the driveway which is only moderately steep but more flat, so for that portion, we ran).  Let me tell you, it takes about 12 minutes to go down and back, with going back up taking the majority of the time and by the time I reached the top, I was full on panting.  After we got the mail I decided we needed another go at it.

(Part of the driveway, although picture taken from the car)

Rosco and I ran down and hiked back up the driveway twice more.  The poor dog was so confused.  Each time I turned to go back down, he looked at me like I was crazy.  But he couldn’t not come with me.  However, each time, he trailed further and further behind me.  I think he figured why rush.  But by the time I got to the bottom, he would sprint down to me in time for us to go right back up.  Needless to say, after that workout, we were both pooped!  After our cardio I got in a short stretch/yoga and we were done.

As you might recall, I got in two heavy lifts earlier in the week, so my plan was to get in a hybrid-lift done, while in VT.  Enter Friday.  I made plans to go on a short hike with my neighbor at 7 am and so I got up at 5:30 for my hybrid lift.  For this lift I did a mix between the workout I wrote about here and Heather’s workout she wrote about here.  I did two rounds of the workout I wrote, except that I did the two following cycles, separated by jumping-jacks and done stick-of-butter style:

• 5 Squat Jumps
• 5 Squat Thrusts
• 5 Burpees
• 5 Squats

And

• 5 Push-Ups
• 5 Wood-Chops (each side)
• 5 DB OH Press
• 5 Lat Pull Downs (we do have a lat pull down at home)

For the second round, I reversed the order of each set such that I did 4 sets of the lat pull down and only one of the push-up.  (If you are confused, definitely check out the post I referenced above as it will all become clear).

After those two rounds, I did Heather’s workout, minus the abs.  Thus I did 1 round of her workout, rested 120 seconds and did the second round.  Needless to say, that kicked my butt!  I then got in 20 minutes of stretching and was ready for my hike by 7 am.

Rosco and I then met my neighbor and went for a 40 minute hike, although it was nice and leisurely.  However, while we take a leisurely hike, the dog runs up and down and through the woods and back to meet us and off again, so he got in his exercise.  After all this I was home by 7:45 and showered and eating breakfast in front of the computer by 8.

Saturday rolled around and friends of mine came up for a hike on the Appalachian Trail.  I had forgotten that the direction we were taking was a steady incline the entire way.  Because of that incline, an hour into our hike, we were panting!  Thankfully I carried a backpack with a bowl and water for Rosco (and it was nice and convenient for my water bottle too).  When it was all said and done, we hiked for about two and a half hours.  By the time we got back, both the dog and I were ready for a nap!

Sunday was my last day up in VT.  I was planning on doing cardio on the elliptical and then taking the dog for a hike.  But that would have been such a cop out as it was beautiful out and I had no excuse not to get outside.  I have all my lifting planned for this week while in Boston, so Sunday would either be a plyo or sprinting day or only cardio/yoga.  That is when it dawned on me, why not sprint up the steepest part of the driveway and get in sprint work, follow it with 2 runs up and down the driveway, then take the dog for a hike….and that is what we did.  If you have ever heard Jodi talk about sprinting uphill and how good it is for your backside, you have probably already sprinted uphill and know how hard it is.  After 9 sprints, twice up and down the driveway, Rosco and I got on the trails to finish up with a 20 minute hike.  We then went inside and I did a quick yoga stretch for about 20 minutes.

(The end of my sprint – and I gotta say, this picture doesn’t do the steepness justice)

And there you have it.  I am now back in Boston ready for a full normal week.  But to be honest, I really miss having such an outdoor playground right next to me.  2 years ago I never would have been able to spend so much time away from the gym.  But I’ve learned how to be creative and get in some amazing workouts anywhere.  Oh, did I mention what running/jogging downhill does for your quads?  And all the uphill hiking and sprinting makes for beautiful hamstrings and glutes.  So the next vacation your take, or the next time you are way and can’t get to the gym; I hope you can be creative and enjoy yourself instead of stressing out that you are not getting in your planned/traditional workout!

I love my kids (pardon me while I convince myself of this…;).  They always come up with something that is so on point for the moment.  The other day I was roasting some veggies in the oven when my littlest one comes up (he’s 5) and says, “Are those vejtabbles?”  Of course I answer in the sweetest mother tone I could muster up, “Yeah it is you clown no go outside…brat.”  Ok…I didn’t say that…but I thought it momentarily.  But really, in my best Seanna impersonation ever, I said, “Yeah, baby.  I cook them once a week.”  (You need to see her when she’s like this.  Super angelic an’ all.  Birds flying around her and everything.  I would have the same only mine would be crows, lol.)  And with the most innocent face that was also purely exasperated he yells, “Are you on a diet again?  JEEZE!!”  And then stormed out of the kitchen.  Ummm…hold on while I laugh my head off for a while.

After I stopped laughing about 20 minutes later a not-so-cool feeling kind of came over me.  First:  I do not diet.  It’s just not my thing and even if I did, I would never announce it.  So he got that from somewhere else and I would probably say school although I don’t know for sure.  But kids pick up on everything and then mimic adults in their actions and in their speech so someone’s mom is most likely on a diet.  Second: it’s a shame that he already recognizes at his age that vegetables signify diet and not just food for the week.  WOW.  He’s too young for that.

But this is an issue…and I mean a huge one.  No matter who I talk to when they are coming on as a client, they are either in a diet or just got off of a diet and are looking to diet again because they want better results.  By the age of 18, most girls have been on at least 3 significant diets for an extended amount of time and only seem to be getting heavier.  Now I’m not going to get into this aspect of the topic at hand because this just isn’t the forum for it, but I do want to talk about what those diets do to us as women.

The last two posts have been about some of the mindsets we develop as we enter the life of clean living and clean eating because we are trying to walk the fence on eating right and exercising.  Fooling around with cheat meals and cardio are two of the ways that we begin the long walk down the corridor labeled ’disordered eating’ but those are small as compared to some of the whacked out stuff we pick up in our lives from just plain old dieting.  Let’s explore a few…

Alcohol and diet drinks: WOW what a huge waste of time.  Questions like “What’s the lowest amount of cals…wine or vodka?”  Are you kidding me?  Neither because what ’s bad is the actual alcohol–not the calories.  And what does it matter when you’ve had 3 glasses and you can no longer remember that you ate all the mozzarella sticks and pot stickers on the table (you know, the things you wouldn’t eat when you knew what you were doing) before you then tried to “burn” some of it off by sprinting in the parking lot of the bar.  OH BOY.

Sugar Free anything: This is such a scary one that it’s awful.  The world has us snowed, ladies, into believing that sugar free is better than fat free.  If either one is man-created then they are both equally bad but if one is naturally fat free then it is better than sugar free any day.  AVOID SPLENDA AND EQUAL at all costs!  Not only are they not fully calorie free but they also promote fat the more you eat them.  So with that being said, let me answer the next question.  THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH REAL SUGAR.  However, there is something wrong with us as a people that we can’t just have a little of it.  And the way the world is today, we speak to the masses only.  So we are spoken to as if we ALL need to cut out sodium (NOT TRUE!), stop eating sugar and never have fat.  It’s frightening!!  One of the WORST items to buy in the category is Walden Farms salad dressing.  Addictive and dangerous.

Eating So Called Low Carb items: Things like low carb tortillas and ice cream will make you fat faster than a 40 ounce coke served with a bucket of fries.  Why?  Because you won’t eat all the fries and soda but you will eat all of the tortillas and ice cream thinking “they’re not so bad”.  I have never dieted a girl successfully to the hot body she wanted with tortillas in her food diary.  Just putting that out there.

Thinking Shakes Fix Everything: Umm…they don’t.  Stop throwing them in to make you feel thin during the day because you feel more empty and less bloated.  You’re fooling yourself.  Fake food will never do more for you than real food.  Have as many shakes as you need to make you feel “dieted”, and then when you are done fooling around…let’s eat some food that will really change your body.

So you may ask yourself “What is disordered eating?”  Disordered eating is less than a full eating disorder, but you are not fully functional with food and may possibly need some help from someone.

You are playing games with caloric intake, macronutrient break downs (won’t have starch, etc) and exercise all to manipulate how your body looks and responds on a daily basis.  People around you notice it but it’s not enough to draw concern, yet.  You’re just ‘quirky’.  It’s easily dismissed.  But really, it is stealing from the quality of your life and it’s awful.  Constant worry, shuffling food and meals around and tireless thought over the whole subject seem to personify this condition.  There are times when you are fully irrational concerning food.  You need a diet to keep you on track, you need stringent rules, however you do not follow the rules and then later use them to justify why you cannot stay on track.  It’s maddening.  It’s stressful.

It’s DISORDERED EATING.

You know how I flow…  I need you to sit on this first before I go on because THIS is behind why we cannot have the body we want and we need to get to it stat!

Peace, love and hair grease my loves.  Stay tuned for more…

the boogeyman?  Well, not since the 70’s…but that’s not what I’m referring to.

No I mean there is no such thing as “control”. 

If you haven’t figured it out already, I am a talker.  I am incredibly social, very open with folks and I tend to be everywhere all the time so I run into a ton of women who seem to have no problem telling me everything about themselves.  I have no idea why this is but you would understand if you hung out with me for a week or so and just see what I am talking about.  I do not mind it at all because I need to know what you ladies think when you are unguarded (most people I chat with have no idea what I do for a living so they just share-away) and not trying to give the “perfect answer” to the person who is holding you accountable to your daily dirt.  Well this week was no different than any other week and I had a gem of a conversation with someone (who is not a client of ours I have to add!) that begged the question, “Are you really in control or are you pleasantly managing chaos and mayhem?”

All of us have little quirky things that we do that we think “fix” a certain issue.  The most common one that I think all of us have done or are currently doing now is the cheat meal manipulation.  In fact, Kas (Tues blogger) and I just had a great conversation about this recently and she had to put her own smackdown on the habit herself.  But the cheat meal manipulation conversation (say that 3 times fast) that I had with someone this week went something like this:  It starts out with us having a cheat meal/week.  Say we have it on Saturday.  All is good in the land of dieting.  Then either the week gets away from you and have another cheat meal (man broke up with you, tough day at work, office party–who knows why) or the cheat meal itself set you up for disaster (see my post about cheat meals in here somewhere) and you go bezerk on your pantry one evening–whichever scenario applies here because it doesn’t really matter.  What matters is that all is no longer good in the land of dieting and the first thing we think is, “We have to erase that.”  We need to ‘make that go away’.  Immediately we begin to change our diet around to reflect our folly:

• If we are doing a low, med, high rotation of some sort, we will stay all low for the week.
• If you are scheduled to do 4 cardio sessions in a week, you’ll add one on for every indiscretion.
• If you eat starch (you have to ask now) then you will drop all starch for the week.
• You may try to torture yourself with a mini diet for 4 to 5 days of something very restrictive like white fish and a green veggie.
• If you were doing a “diet” of some kind, you’ll start from the beginnig again so that it continues to “work” or you get “the maximum benefit”.

Regardless of your weapon of choice, all of these things are done as *damage control*.  They are meant to minimize or fully negate the act of violence we just perpetrated on our bodies by having extra of whatever food it was that tickled our fancy at that moment.  But there is no such thing as “control” when it is done after the fact.  You are not controlling anything.  In fact, at that point, it’s controlling you!  But some of you have this so ingrained in your brain that it would be easier wrestling a bone out of a rabid raccoon’s mouth on your back deck than breaking you of this dangerous pattern of thinking.  If you find yourself doing this, STOP!  NOW.  SERIOUSLY.

YOU CANNOT MAKE UP FOR ANY FOOD FOLLY THROUGH FOOD MANIPULATION OR EXERCISE!  KNOCK IT OFF!

If you want to see the mama bear in me come out, tell me you are doing this and you will see a big, frantic afro coming at you that is attached to a loud, but sweet woman who may be slightly scary at this point with you.  This, my dear, is the beginning of disordered eating.  Not necessarily a full blown eating disorder, but disordered eating for sure.  Next week I will tell you why your efforts are futile, at best, but this week is more about showing you that your behavior is on a fast track to nowhere.

If you are in the early stages of this craziness, you may think that you’ve ‘got this’.  You’re good.  “No really, Jodi, I know what I’m doing.  I make sure that…blah, blah, blah.”  Ahhh…the bliss of arrogance.  See, you are thinking about what you are doing right now.  You are not thinking of what this becomes.  The mind is a terrible thing and left to its own devices will drive you into the ground like a sledge hammer to a stake.  Sugar begets sugar.  Junk begets junk.  Soon you are making excuses for everything and you can no longer keep track of what’s making up for what. 

• You become paranoid.  I am not exaggerating here. 
• You become irrational.
• You become a master deceiver.  Of even yourself.
• People close to you notice you doing weird stuff like eating just a piece of chicken for lunch and dinner because you are busy “making up for” the cheesecake you had the night before.
• You scale watch because you just *know* that what you had is going to show up the next day. 

STOP!

Have I adequately scared you?  I pray that I have.  Marinate on this this week.  Next week we will talk about how your efforts are a waste of time. 

In the mean time, Nicole, our Friday blogger is stepping off the blogging team for a while.  The girl is a hot commodity and has taken on a new challenge in her career that demands a tremendous amount of her time.  She is still part of our consulting team so if you need her, let me know.  I have not decided fully what I am going to put in there but if you have a suggestion, hit me at jodi@trans4mationstation.com. 

Heather has some exciting new stuff coming your way and we may put that stuff in the Friday spot.  She is another hot commodity who is blowing up as we speak!  Woop woop!  Keep your eyes peeled for that if you are interested in a hot AND healthy body.  They are not one in the same!

Ladies…we love you.  We cannot say this enough.  It’s one thing to want a great body.  Every body talks about that on their sites.  It’s another thing to actually walk it out.  The fear, the control, the cravings.  WE HAVE ALL BEEN HERE AT LEAST ONCE IN OUR JOURNEY.  Let us keep you from destroying yourself in the quest for a hot body.  Stay safe.  Stay sane.  Keep reading.  LOVE YOU!