22 weeks later

Before the story begins, I would be remised if I did not thank the two foundation pieces in this journey, my wife and ace in the hole Erin as well as Omar, my contest prep coach and friend.  In addition, thank you to God, my family, friends, coworkers and Team Hendy.  This journey would not have stayed on course if not for everyone I listed.    

The story started in the beginning of December when my beautiful wife said to me, “Omar said you should do the Belding show.”  I knew what she was referring to, and quite frankly I was puzzled.  Her subconscious must have betrayed her, because she and I both know that when I set out to do something I tend to get “tunnel vision” which impacts everything else in my life, particularly her. 

22 weeks, 154 days, 40 refeed meals, 4 cheat meals, numerous hours in the gym and even more time in the kitchen here I am, transformed into a Natural bodybuilder getting ready to step up on stage wearing damn near nothing.

Like most men, I tend to be stubborn, particularly when it comes to what I was doing in the gym as well as out of it…what many of you may not know is that at the heaviest point in my life I was 190 lbs.  I managed to get the first 20 or so off by myself before our wedding day.  But the last 20 or so…well that is where Omar from Body By “O” came into play.  While I do not know my stage weight at this time (Erin does, I had her check the scale and write it down) I stopped weighing myself at 2 weeks out from today.  I can tell you this…at that time I was 149 lbs.  I lost nearly 20 lbs during this prep.

Now, mind you Omar didn’t give me “magic” nutrition information, nothing that if I knew what I was doing at the time I couldn’t have figured out.  But what he did give me was an accountability point person.  He gave me “no-frills” feedback and his no-bs approach is often what I needed.  In addition to the truthful feedback, he saw my potential and believed in my ability to wreak havoc on my competition this weekend before I did.  For that I am forever grateful. 

While the journey has been filled with great moments, I consider it incomplete until I write the ending of chapter 1…which is where I am setting off to this morning.  It's SHOWTIME!  Pictures will soon follow…and as always, where there is a chapter 1, there is a chapter 2…look for that on May 21^st.   

Discipline…Dedication…Doin’ Work…that’s what it takes! 

MC

Food is fuel

Fuel at the current time is not used in a positive connotation very often.  Particularly, when talking about fuel prices.  So how fitting that I would write a post about fuel.  But the fuel I am referring to is our daily food intake. 

Ask yourself?  How many times do we see food as a reward or comfort?  Are you really rewarding yourself by chowing down on a bowl of ice cream before bed every night?  Eventually over the course of time, night after night your "reward" catches up to you and your body pays the price. I don't know about you, but I don't want to face the health consequences of poor eating habits later in life that I had an opportunity to control/fix at some point earlier in my life.   

Processed foods and sugar-laden foods are like engine sludge every time you put them in your body.  Think about this, God would not have put people on this earth without a way to eat and fuel ourselves.  But yet we have taken our natural food chain and transformed it into the quick, easy and cheap food chain.  Nah I don't want the asparagus...just give me a handful of those potato chips. 

But if we take the time to realize that whatever foods and liquids we put into our body are what our body functions off of, maybe, just maybe we would think twice.  Start viewing food as the essential fuel that your body functions off of, instead of rewarding yourself or your children with unhealthy shit. 

10 tips to reducing saturated fat intake

10 tips to reduce your saturated fat intake. 

The majority of your fat intake should be from unsaturated fats, not saturated fats.  Why?  Saturated fats increase cholesterol and do not break down very well.  Unsaturated fats can easily be used as energy, decrease cholesterol and necessary to produce hormones that promote optimal health.

Here are some simple things for you to start doing today!  Enjoy your Monday!

1.  Use non-stick cooking spray or unsaturated oils when cooking.

2.  Ditch the fryer!  Boil, bake, steam, roast your foods.

3.  Use egg whites in place of whole eggs.  2 egg whites=1 whole egg.

4.  Use skim milk in place of 2% or whole milk.

5.  Choose low or no fat yogurt, mayo, dressings.

6.  Use spices and fat free condiments such as natural salsa.

7.  Use applesauce in place of butter in baked goods.

8.  Make sure your canned tuna is packed in water not oil.

9.  Choose the leanest cuts of meat that you can.

10.  Trim the fat from the meat.

Don't trust your memory

How many times have you hit a plateau, gotten frustrated and when you can't figure it out you finally just give up and ruin the great gains you just made?  Too many times to count right?  Why is that?  Because, for most of us our memory is not that good.  I have a recommended solution. 

Journal it!  If you are serious about becoming a healthy, powerful, fit and unique individual then keep a journal...do not trust your memory.  Now I must admit, I don't always do a good job of this...and throughout the last 21 weeks of my contest prep I am sure "O" has wanted to karate chop me because I was not as diligent.  Do not misunderstand me...I started with the food journal, jotting everything down...until I got to the point where I was eating a majority of the same meals on such a regular basis that I knew where I stood.  When I would make changes I would revisit the journaling to see where I stood.  Now mind you, I did the journaling prior to actually eating the food (a small piece of advice).  Heck, even the Mrs. who is absolutely stunning uses a journal when she hits a sticking point. 

If you aren't convinced about trying out a food journal (if you're not sure, don't go buy a fancy journal...just use a notebook you have laying around the house, or if you use your computer alot make an excel template), then maybe the points below will help.

• A journal lets you monitor your caloric intake.  Losing weight in the very basic form is calories in vs. calories out. 
• Writing the food down encourages you to see your food choices on paper.  This helps us to maintain our focus.
• It could help you control the urge to binge...because if you eat it you better write it down and who in the hell wants to write down that they just ate a whole bag of potato chips? 
• It allows you to track your progress and if you hit a sticking point it allows you to make slight adjustments that much easier.
• It reinforces your commitment to yourself to maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle.

Fueling the competitive desire

Today I asked a friend who used to be a competitive athlete as a child what they do now in their adulthood to fuel their competitive desire.  They responded with "oh it is still there", with great vigor I might add.  With such a firm answer, I dug a little deeper (mind you I had a reason, I tend not to ask questions for no reason).  I asked, "yeah I believe that, but what do you do fuel it?  How do you channel it?"  I think I made this person think about how they fuel it.  

It also caused me to think about how we as humans fuel our competitive desires.  Some of us join adult recreation leagues if our bodies still allow us.  Some of us pour our competitive nature into our careers.  Some of us compete with ourselves everyday.  Unfortunately, some choose to live vicariously through their children.  We all know people who channel their competitive spirit in different ways. 

For those of you that may not know or haven't figured it out by now, I am two weeks away from competing in my first bodybuilding show. (This is also my warning that you will see pictures of me in a bikini, so unfriend me now if you want).  I have plenty more to share about the experience at a later date.  But this is how I have chosen to channel my competitive nature.  Sure on show day I'm competing against everyone else there.  But everyday and every show, I'm really just competing against myself. 

When you really look at it you'll see that competing with yourself is the only constant choice in competition.  Teammates change, career changes happen, your children grow up and stop playing organized sports, but the one thing that is there waiting for you every morning when you wake up is YOU.  Your body, mind and soul.  Compete with yourself everyday!   

Protein Pumpkin Pancakes

While they aren't in the nutrition plan at the moment, I absolutely love these!  What initially started as just protein pancakes, evolved into Protein Pumpkin Pancakes due to a recommendation from a fellow competitor.  What I am going to list makes one pancake.  I recommend using a small omelet pan to cook it.

Now, if you remember from our F&F's top 5 kitchen tools that we love our scale.  So everything I have listed is based off of weight measurements.  I apologize that I have never converted them.  If you would like to, feel free to do so.

122 grams of canned pumpkin
138 grams of pasteurized egg whites
32 grams of vanilla protein powder
10 grams of dry oatmeal
splash of vanilla extract
add cinnamon, splenda to flavor
1 tsp of baking soda to help it rise

Mix, spray the pan, pour the contents in the pan, cover the pan, turn the heat to medium and treat it like you would when making a pancake. 

The macro nutrient breakdown is as follows.
Calories 280
Fat 4.5 g
Carbs 20.5 g
Protein 38.5 g

I liked to top mine with 20 grams of almond butter and some Waldon Farms zero calorie pancake syrup!  Here is an old picture from when I first started making these.

Stuff you may not know or maybe you do know

We hope everyone had a wonderful Wednesday, filled with clean eating and physical activity.  Quite often we file one liners and facts that we hear...we would like to share some of them...

1.  Protein at breakfast is more important than at lunch or dinner.  You're less likely to overeat the rest of the day.
2.  Eating eggs for breakfast can significantly reduce your calorie intake for the rest of the day.
3.  51% of children's food products have fruit on the box but NO fruit inside.
4.  Cereals with cartoons on the front of the box are mostly filled with cheap carbs.  Avoid the empty and expensive calories. 
5.  Granola is the best actor in the world.  It has convinced us for years that it is healthy.  A cup is 400+ calories of mostly sugar and fat!
6.  Words like "juice drink" and "juice cocktail" are industry euphemisms for a huge dose of sugar water.
7.  While we we spend more on food labeled "natural", it usually means nothing.  Remember tornadoes are natural too...
8.  Eating 6 ounces of fat-free yogurt daily boosts your weight loss by 81%.
9.  Diabetes:  Your risk rises 94% if you don't get enough magnesium.  Solution:  spinach, tofu, beans, turkey, almonds.
10.  For every pound you lose, you alleviate pressure on your knees by 4 lbs.

We hope some of these simple tidbits make you think...feel free to share your thoughts!