Fit Lizzio Fitness

Where did this weekend go?! I feel like it was just Friday, but now I sit here on Sunday evening, planning my workouts for the week.

I had a great weekend. I can’t tell you how amazing I feel. Ever since I decided not to do OCB, the weight has been lifted, and I am no longer feeling like a crazy woman. Now that I am not on a competition diet, I have been extremely well with no cravings. I am eating what I want to eat, which happens to be basically the same foods that I eat during comp. prep. I knew it was all mental. I am definitely eating more carbs than I was, but my body is thanking me. I have a little extra weight on me right now(I know from the extreme low/high calorie intakes that were going on.) but it will balance out. I am learning to really appreciate my body and it is something that I have never been able to do before. I am actually okay with my body even though I am not as lean as I’d like to be. I know that when it is time to start comp. prep, I will be ready. My metabolism seems to be getting back on track and I truly feel great. No urges to binge AT ALL this weekend. Lovely 🙂

I am also LOVING my new workouts. I have been going really heavy in the weight room, and my cardio is just in “bursts” right now. I am also doing a two day on, 1 day off plan for now. I used to do a monday through friday weight lift, and weekends were optional. I think this will be really good for me to do. My days “off” will consist of active rest. Saturday was an active rest day and I went on a nice hike with a friend. Today I did a 20 minute warm-up jog, Chest and Ab workout(DB incline press, med. ball pushups, decline pushups, cable flys, band ball crunches, russian twists, HLR and side HLR), and for my cardio: up the stairs 30 times. It’s a pretty big staircase and i broke it up into 3 sets. It was definitely very tough, but it was quick(about 15-20 minutes)

I am so interested to see how my body responds to the short, hard cardio. I have been doing long, steady state cardio for the most part the last few months, so my body is not accustomed to this at all. Love being a guinea pig 🙂

How was everyone’s weekend? I went out Friday night with some of the girls I competed with. We had SO much fun. We just went to Z’Tejas and chatted about all things fitness and competition. It is SO NICE to have friends that are doing the same thing as me, there are so many things that you just can’t talk to other people about because they simply don’t get it. I went out with friends afterwards too and had a blasty 🙂

Saturday night, I tried to go out and was absolutely beat by 10pm. I even took a nap on Saturday, but I guess my body was sleepy. I’m tired today too, and I just cleaned my entire kitchen(scrubbed the floors even!) and cooked up my chicken for the week, so I am hoping to hit the hay early.

So glad to feel happy and balanced and not like the world is sitting on my shoulders.

I had an AWESOME workout this morning.
I warmed up for 15 minutes on the treadmill, and then hit bi’s, tri’s and abs. I went VERY heavy and it felt AWESOME. i was fighting the last few reps of each set. I spent an hour and 15 minutes in the weight room today 🙂

Afterwards for cardio: Ran 10 laps around the basketball court sprinting at the sidelines, then did 10 sets of stairs, and finished up with 10 minutes on the treadmill..this was tough..15% incline and i did 30 second sprints. Holy hills baby. I did a little plyo work and was DONE. such a great quick cardio sesh, i’m liking this already 🙂

So the blueberry cereal!!!

I was at Trader Joe’s today and grabbed a pack of their freeze dried blueberries(120 cals). I had never had these(only the strawberries) and I ate one and it was such a fun crunch! It reminded me of Kix cereal…and that’s when I decided to pour the rest of the package into a bowl with a half cup of milk. YUM. It was like blueberry cereal..so good!!!!

If you have kids, just tell them that their milk will turn BLUE and i can guarantee they will eat this new “cereal” too 🙂

Jack Shit is at it again.

Okay, feeling SO much better. I pulled my head out of my ass, and feel good again. 🙂

Another part of that is I also got a weight lifted off of my shoulders. I talked to my posing coach today and we decided that I should NOT do OCB on September 5th. My body and mind are telling me to TAKE A BREAK from comp. prep. i know this and so does she. Instead, this is my plan.

November 20-21, Las Vegas, Fitness America Weekend. This is a HUGE show, guys. 400-500 athletes. So, for now I am going to keep eating clean and healthy, but not be so super restrictive. I will be meeting with my posing coach(Tiffani Bachus..3rd place at Fitness America last year! Look her up!) every couple of weeks and we will decide when I should start my leaning out. If i stay at this weight(which I plan to) we are guessing probably 4-6 weeks out.

As far as training goes, you all know that I have been revving my engine. Although I don’t often say it on here, I KNOW i over train. Weight training to cardio ratio is definitely not how it should be. I have noticed my muscles wasting away in my arms. 1 hour of weight training to 2 hours of cardio a day will do that to ya. Add being on a comp. prep diet, and say goodbye to those muskulls.

The new plan is to cut WAY back on cardio. Will still do my 5 day split of weight training, I change it up all the time, but make sure to hit each muscle group at least once a week, twice sometimes too. The cardio will be cut back to more like a half hour a day. Some days it will be steady state, but there will be much more HIIT going down in my world. That was a decision that I made based off of my trainer at Funktional Fitness. He is a smart guy and gave me his input. Get ready to see a little more muscle on this chica 🙂

By the way, I am one lucky gal. I have so many people helping me out. A year ago, I didn’t have this support system, but I started to put myself out there, ask questions, take people up on their offers, etc.

For those of you who are wanting to compete, put yourself out there. ASK questions, be OPEN to suggestions. I have learned SO much from reading through articles, research, and books, blogs, but doesn’t replace LISTENING to what others who have competed, or have a serious background in fitness and health have to say. I can’t tell you how much advice and training I get for FREE just because I ask. The free training that I get from my trainer Dae, came from him seeing me work my ass off in the gym and wanting to help me out. The free training I get at Funktional Fitness came from me sending him an e-mail about what I am doing. The free training I get from my boxing instructor came from consistenly going to his class and being open to what he had to say. Many times, trainers at smaller studios will do trade with you. Do you have a business or some way to hook them up? You hook them up, they will probably hook you up too. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are a LOT of stupid people out there claiming to be trainers, nutritionists, experts, etc. I can tell you that I wouldn’t hire half of the personal trainers at most gyms. A lot of them don’t know what they are talking about and have little to no experience. This is where it becomes SO important to ask questions. Ask them about certifications, training, philosophy, etc. You may not know what they are talking about, but you can always research it. Ask to speak to previous and/or current clients. There are MANY good trainers out there, but you just have to find them. (Kind of like men :))

I also suggest changing it up. If you have been with the same trainer for 6 or more months, I know we often get attached to that person, but try to mix it up with a new trainer. Not all trainers are created equally and I have yet to meet two trainers who do things the exact same way. (I’m really starting to sound like I’m giving dating advice huh?)

Anyways, just some tips that I wanted to share, and let you know what is going on with me. I feel awesome, ready to kick butt in the weight room, eat my healthy foods, eat a little fruit for god sakes 🙂 I feel good and just wait until November. I am going to knock everyone’s socks off!
(I maybe haven’t run a marathon yet, but I can definitely WRITE a marathon. Sheesh sorry!)

These past few months I have learned a lot about addiction. Dealing with the issues of my brother has opened my eyes in more ways than I could have expected. Although this is not the firs time I have dealt with addiction(mother), it is the first time I have put all my effort into helping someone with an addiction. With my mother, it was the “norm” as a young child and there wasn’t much I could do about it. Crying and whining that she should stop drinking wasn’t the answer. By the time I got older, I just figured it was too late. You also can’t help someone who won’t admit to a problem.

Addiction is something that has always run through my family. Grandfather, mother, aunt and younger brother. Addiction makes you do things you don’t really want to do. The addiction, however, wants you to do it. The addiction takes over, and it tries to control you.

So where am I going with this? Every addict has triggers. My brother, for example, can’t take any type of pills, because these are a trigger to him. Smoking cigarettes and pot are also triggers for him. He is working on avoiding these things so that the addiction does not try to coax him into taking oxycontin.

I eat healthy every day and I love it. People ask me if I get bored of eating chicken and vegetables and egg whites all the time and I truly do not. I also noticed last week when I was carb depleting, that all of my cravings were completely gone by Thursday of last week. When thinking about wanting something to eat, all that I wanted to eat was oatmeal. Not ice cream or cookies, just some oats or some fruit. Something healthy but something with carbs, obviously.

So why am I going through this stupid binge cycle with this crap food that I don’t even like that much? Because I have been having cheats so frequently(it’s not exactly frequent, but weekends have been tough), my body is starting to crave sugar. Once I get it out of my system, I’m okay, but there are certain foods that I feel that trigger me to want to just EAT my little heart out. When I eat chicken, avocado with salsa and vegetables, I am completely satisfied afterwards and don’t even want anything else to eat. When I eat a tablespoon of almond butter? I want 834290384 more. So, that being said…here is my list of trigger foods that I am aware of. These are all foods that are healthy in moderation, but for now, I am going to steer clear of them in order to get the ball rolling again.

This is me going on 30 days, guilt free healthy living(of course I have a little contest prep left in there, so I will allow 1 cheat meal the night of or the day after the show. Notice I said MEAL, not day.)

Trigger foods:
-Peanut butter and Almond butter(i will miss you both)
-Fruits(I am fine as long as I don’t eat them too often. If i grab an apple at the store every few days, that works, just not going to keep a ton of fruit in the house.)
– Egg whites/Eggs(I am not going to stop eating this. When I eat this for breakfast I am good to go, but if I eat it in the afternoon for a meal, i crave more food afterwards.)
-Sweet potatoes(i know these aren’t supposed to spike your blood sugar, but i feel like they do for me. haven’t been eating them much lately anyways)

My Key Foods:(these are foods that satiate me and leave me totally satisfied. No cravings.)
Proteins:
-chicken
-canned salmon or tuna
-egg whites(in the morning for the most part.)

Complex Carbs:
-brown rice
-veggies(red pepper, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and green beans)
-quinoa
-plain oats

Fats:
-avocado
-coconut oil
-EVOO

So for now, I will stick to these foods. Like I said, fruit is okay with me as long as I don’t have a ton of fruit lying around the house. Because I WILL eat it all 🙂 Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, and I am not saying there is ANYTHING wrong with fruit, but I want to just keep things easy, and eating the above foods for a few weeks will make things easy.

I am going to try to photograph my meals too. Let’s see if I can handle it! What are the easiest ways to upload photos on to blogger? I am terrible at it(hence the lack of pics on this blog!)

Thanks for reading the long-ass-novel post. 🙂 If you read all the way through, you must really love me :):) haha
-almonds

I need my head to be screwed back on straight.

It’s funny how in my last post I spoke about buckling down and working on what I need to. I had great intentions yesterday and today. Yesterday I stuck to my goals, whereas today, I did not.

I’m not sure exactly what came over me, but I decided that eating a ton of crap was what I should do.

I’m struggling guys, not going to try and hide that. I don’t know what it is honestly. I DO know, that I need to get my head screwed back on straight. At this point I want to crawl into a hole in the ground and bury myself for a while. Hey, at least then I won’t be eating a bunch of crap right?

Okay, so since burying myself in a hole is not an option, moving forward is my only choice.
My best plan of action is to pretend like this is someone else writing this post, and to give them my best advice. So here goes:

“Dear friend, every day is a new day, you may have made poor choices today, but starting tomorrow you can make good choices and have the chance to turn it all around. Don’t give up, just pick yourself up off the ground and get back into gear.”

Easy peasy right? I am just upset today. Figures the same day I am featured on a very popular website, I am struggling. Ah, just need to stop being a baby and get my head in the right place. That’s what it truly comes down to.

Going to go through the motions of putting the pieces back together. Going to wake up tomorrow like any other day and do my workout, going to eat healthy like my body wants me to, and going to try to get my head out of this funk. THAT will be the hardest part.

I am going to sit down and have a talk with the man upstairs tonight. I need some guidance right now. I just don’t seem to be sticking to my healthy eating goals lately the way I should be. Too many cheat DAYS(not meals, DAYS) and they add up. They are pushing me further from my goal. It SCARES me. Because I have gained weight before(after losing it) and vowed that I would never do that again. This is how it all started though, and I am telling you right now that will NOT happen again. I am going to get back to the healthy lifestyle that I truly love(although lately I am a poor example of it.)

Starting over beginning right now. Okay…deep breaths.

Ahh, so much to say and so little time to post! Let me fill you in on what’s been going on.

I took Sunday off from exercise AND dieting and pigged my ass off 🙂 I also compared pictures from this competition and my July 18th competition. Well, I was right when I told my friend George that I thought I had taken a few too many cheats in between last competition and this one. My legs were not as lean this time around. It motivated me to get my ass back in gear!

The reason so many “cheats” were had was because I wasn’t prepared, and I also lost some flame. I had been working so hard and dieting so hard that I just wanted a break. Trying to take a break while preparing for a contest=no-can-do captain. I lived, and learned. I didn’t gain that much weight by any means, but I noticed it in the pictures. I don’t know how much can be taken off before my Sept. 5th show, but there will be no more cheats. I was doing fine the last 2 weeks before the FAP, but it was the 2 weeks that followed the NPC show that really did me in. Moving on…

I believe I am going to be doing the Fitness America Weekend 2009 in Las Vegas in November! A bunch of the girls that I competed with this past weekend are doing it, and I think it will be a fun time. It also will give me the chance to REALLY get my body in shape. This show is 300-400 athletes and some BIG NAMES will be there. I will have about 3 months from the Sept. 5th show to get ready for it. I plan on taking the week off after sept. 5th(off as in, not strict dieting…clean eating stays though for the most part..i’ll still be working out…i love working out..taking a break would be like punishment) Then I will start dieting 10 weeks out. I want to have a nice 6 pack going into this show, as it seems that is what FAP really likes. A great set of abs. I am going to show them just that!!

School started yesterday so I am extra busy. Sorry if I am not blogging as much, but I’m still reading and will try to blog and comment as often as possible. Thanks for sticking with me guys! You are awesome!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/female-transformation-lizzy-ostro.htm

A few girls from our posing group……..me, Michelle(1st place….sweet girl just me her last night), Elena(3rd place..i think she should have won our class!! beautiful girl), Belle, and Laura.

Some of our Posing Group!
Belle, Patty, Kim, Cyndi, Elena, Me, Mara(CUTEST woman ever, seriuosly amazing woman..always happy and positive. love her!), Lisa, and Jill

I didn’t mean to come off so negatively last night in my post. I really did have a wonderful time. I was with 9 girls who i have practiced posing with for the last few months and it was wonderful to see them all get on stage as well. We all had a blast. There were definitely some drawbacks with the show/promoter, but I learned a LOT from this show. I actually feel more confident than I did after the NPC show. It made me realize many things and I have a TON of drive inside of me.

One part of the show that was not typical was that they interviewed each of us on stage. Most of the girls stammered a little bit, and I figured I would too. When it came my turn, I just decided I wanted to have fun with it and when he asked me about my hard rock/ heavy metal music choices, I just decided to be playful and joke around with him. He and the audience got a good laugh and it helped me to open up. My personality is full of sarcasm and that came through on stage with that.

Any and every experience, good or bad, on stage is HELPFUL. More experience with things that don’t go as well as you hope makes you a better and stronger competitor. I am actually very pleased with everything. Now that I have had time to sleep on it, I just realized that this has given me even MORE of a reason to work harder. Not only harder, but smarter. There were only 6 people in my class, but it was a tough class and although I would have placed myself 3rd or 4th, I am happy with my 5th place. It gives me plenty of room for improvement.

I can’t WAIT for OCB in 2 weeks(sept. 5th)

Things I plan to improve for the future(EXCITED to work towards these goals):
Gotta get these abs more defined! 🙂
Lean out a bit more
Get a new suit, get more creative with my outfits
Practice my posing and T-walk even more and really let my personality shine on stage

I don’t plan on stopping any time soon and I am also SO thankful for the wonderful people I have met so far. I met so many new friends last night at the show, and so many inspirational people that keep me going.

The future totally excites me. Thank you all for being supportive with me on this journey of life that i’m LOVING 🙂