Trying to Stay Sane . . .

OH . MY . GOODNESS !

This week can NOT be over with fast enough and it is only WEDNESDAY! This is a brief rundown of my manic situation . . . I'll just give you the highlights.

Tuesday morning starts with an early morning phone call my father-in-law is in the hospital.

Screw any plans of getting anywhere with the car cuz Hubby needs it and that obviously takes priority.

My computer is infected with a virus . . fighting that.

I am expecting more in-laws to come visit this long weekend. 6 people in fact. I have a bed for 2 of them. The boys will have to tent in the back yard, and my kids will sleep on the floor . . . we'll make it work . . .

BUT . . because of the hospitalization 2 more family members drove to town in a panic and they are staying at my house as well.

AND my son is sick with "slapcheek" or " 5th disease" whatever you wanna call it, and his rash gets WAYYYY worse when he is in the sun. So despite the fact that we have been having a record heat wave for the past week and a half, my kids are stuck inside and driving me MAD!

And today my little chihuahua yorkie - Tucker was choking (on what i don't know )and fell over, recovered but then was still in distress so I had to call my husband home from work so he could rush us to the vet. Tucker is on prednisone to reduce the swelling in his throat and is on a soft food diet for a few days. He is still making gulping moves while sticking his head wayyy forward like he is tryig to swallow something. The vet thinks he swallowed whatever it was and now his throat is just irritated. Hopefully he improves in the next day or so or they may have to do further exploring. So whatever he swallwed is now in his little tummy and we have no idea what it is and what it will do to him, so he is under close observation . . .

My sister is getting married in a few weeks and I have topiaries and trellis' and favors and tulle ALL OVER my house cuz I am making a crap load of stuff.

I had no clean towels for company so I am frantically doing laundry. I open the dryer to discover the socks and underwear have been fused together, and hard clumps of glue are stuck to the dryer drum cuz a hot glue gun stick SOMEHOW ended up in the dryer . . . . . .


So, nothing "inspirational" will be spewing from my lips for a few days, thanks for "listening" I am just gonna go scream into a pillow now . . . .

Along For The Ride

This is so cool! My cute little friend Shannon Davies is featured as Competitor of the Week on Bodybuilding.com!!

She sent me the link cuz she included a picture of me and Credwyn with her (we are all from the same town) from our last competition together! HOW SWEET IS SHE?!!

http://www.bodybuilders.com/fitness.htm

The last picture in the profile, I am the one on the left; royal purple suit. :)
Credwyn placed 2nd in masters figure and this was her 1st competition! I placed 5th in medium figure. Shannon won figure short and figure overall at that competition and qualified for provincials. She is really gonna go far in the industry, and she is such a lovely person.

CONGRATS to Shannon!

Oh! How I Missed Thee . .

Protein Pancakes! Cottage Cheese! Oh how I missed thee!

I have just been stuck in this rut of competition dieting for the past 3 years and I have never put cottage cheese back into my diet! I have been scared of dairy.

. . . but I have to admit I was a cottage cheese addict. Hi, my name is Sylvia and I am a recovering cottage cheese aholic. I would eat cottage cheese for breakfast in my pancakes, for my mid morning snack with apples and oats , I would blend it up with seasonings and make a dip for my veggies, a dip that I could eat an entire CUP of! YUM! . . . I ate cottage cheese with everything! I think there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

I loved how my physique made changes after eliminating dairy from my diet. I had been stuck with no progress for so long then, bam! My butt and thighs finally went down a bit. So I developed an addiction, or obsession with the skinny lean feeling and became scared of dairy.

But I am adding it back into my diet with moderation.

Today I made my FAVORITE protein pancakes!

( . . . yeah I am not able to do the keto diet, it makes my tummy feel too gross.)

....so anyway my pancakes . . so fluffy, and yummy, and big and satisfying ! I don't even want regular pancakes when I can have these!

Protein Pancakes
makes 2 servings

Put in a blender in this order:

4 egg whites
1/2 C. Cottage Cheese
1/2 C. oats
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder

Blend well. Pour half the batter in a lightly oiled, large non-stick pan. Cook well on each side, these are thick and fluffy they take a while to cook thru, so don't be in a hurry to flip it.

Today I sprinkled fresh picked saskatoon berries on the raw pancake in the pan to ensure even distribution of my berries. I like to top them with frozen blueberries, I microwave them till they are hot and juicy and I add 1 pkt of splenda and pour it over my pancake.

As you can see they are HUGE that is not a cute little saucer that is a full size DINNER PLATE! I suppose I coulda made several cute little pancakes and made an adorable little stack, but . . . . nnaaaa! . . . this is easier. Who has time for bein' all "Martha Stewart" when I am gonna wolf it down in 2 minutes anyway LOL! Besides I think an entire plate covered in one big pancake IS a wonderful thing . . . . don't you?!

Nutitional Data
1 LARGE Pancake

Calories 122
Protein 16
Carbs 11g
Fiber 1g
Sugar 2.5g
Fat 2.5g

Random Words of Wisdom

My son, who is turning 7 next month, is such a chatterbox, he talks NON-STOP, he is never without something to say. I am not exagerating in the least. He is alwayyyyys talking!

Sometimes it can be pretty entertaining cuz he says the most random things. I really shoulda kept a blog of his random tid bits of wisdom and insight which usually come from the back seat of the car and start with " Hey, Mom, you know what would be cool? . . . "

Yesterday I was in the kitchen, he walks in and says:

" Hey Mom, wouldn't it be cool if everyone on earth could fly, but they would still eat cereal, but I wouldn't lay eggs, but laying eggs is better than having a baby in your belly"

Previous to this no one was talking about birds, we had not been talking about cereal or babies he just randomly comes up with these thoughts and strings them all together in a sentence.

. . . priceless!

If The World Could Just Revolve Around Me . . .

I am trying to decide what to do today. Well, not really what to do, but which and how much . . .
My gym schedule got messed up a bit this week. I am working out in the evenings for the summer to try and save money and not use childminding so much. Tuesday it was my turn to go to the gym while hubby watched the kids.

BUT

I got suckered invited to a meeting for a marketing scam opportunity. It was only supposed to be 30min long . . . yyyyyeah . . . the first 30 min were spend trying to get the computer presentation sound to work . . . then another 40min later they fianally tell ya what this "company" is all about and inform YOU that YOU could be rich to if you buy in for $500 . . . erg!

I kept looking at my watch and seeing my gym time slipping away . . but I am too polite to walk out of the middle of a presentation and on the friend who invited me. *sigh*

At the end 2hours I ended up crying , cuz of all the pressure AND my pent up anger and frustration of people talking about $500 like woop- deee- dooo it's only $500 ! Well to me that is a small fortune, that I don't have and am not gonna fork over so willingly , not to mention if I ain't convinced this is a good idea I am not gonna go ask for anyone else $500! . . . I was emotionally drained and mad and frustrated when I left I am surprise I didn't go home and faceplant into and oreo cake!

So long story short I missed my workout LOL!

Thurs I can't get to the gym cuz it is hubbys day to use the car and Thurs evenings are busy.

So what I am trying to decide is if I should combine 2 workouts today so I don't have to go to the gym on Sat. Cuz I have OTHER STUFF to do on Sat.

Hubby was told to take half of the day off today YAY! he gets to leave at 12. So we booked childminding and we will go together.

Today is supposed to be legs, and I can't skip a leg workout they neeeeed it. My other workout to be accomplished is shoulders which I am also trying to build and don't want to miss.

So I am thinking I am gonna try to do a HUGE superset, circuit workout . . leg exercise, shoulder exercise, cardio interval . . ('scuse me I think I just threw up a little ) it is gonna be harsh cuz I have a lot to get done in a relatively short ammount of time.

I just hate it when things don't go according to schedule, but who am I kidding?! I don't have a schedule, I have a wish list of things, a tentative plan, of what I would like to get done as long as there are no interruptions, emergencies, lack of clean towels or underwear, delays, sickness, or someone elses more important needs . . LOL?

Bottom line I have to be flexible and find a way to at least get my workouts in - you can always buy more clean underwear from the dollar store LOL! (I can't afford to buy a new body)

So as much as I complain about me having to bust my a$$ this afternoon and combine workouts . . . .


. . . . . . I am probably gonna love it!

Great Fittin' Jeans . . . Eventually

Well, my off-season goal of fitting in my cute jeans needs better approach. Cuz, apparently eatin' whatever I feel like is not workin' LOL!
6 1/2 weeks after competing and I can't even do up the jeans I was rockin' more than 6 weeks before competing.

Ugh! I am wondering if I should really start my blog with such a crappy image . . .

So now I have decided to try a ketogenic diet, something I have NEVER done before. To be honest, I find it scary. BUT, I seen other figure competitors and bodybuilders have amazing results. So I am going to see how my body reacts.

My sister is getting married on Aug 29. When I started that gave me 6 weeks to get in those jeans. Not that I am wearing the jeans to the wedding :P I just know that when I fit those jeans I look good and feel good about they way I look. :)

I am almost done my first week and the scale in goin' down . . . I have NOT tried on the jeans, I will refrain from daily torture.

I am doing 4 weight workouts a week, with intense cardio intervals between sets (skipping, pop-squats, up-and overs, step ups, burpees etc ) keeping my heart rate up and incorporating my cardio the entire time I am at the gym. (40-50 min)

I have decided to start my re-feed on Saturday. So before I do my re-feed I will try on the jeans and do a weight update. Then I want to do another jean fitting and weigh in on Monday to compare results before and after re-feed.

Is This Supposed To Be Hard?!

Ya'll have NO IDEA how long it took me to find a template and fumble my way thru html. PHEW!

I know NOTHING about html.

So please hang it there while I figure this all out and get all my links and tabs working etc.

But I am bloggin and I am EXCITED!

About Me

My name is Sylvia . I am a married, have 2 children ages 6 and 7 and I just turned 30 this July. He is a bit more of my story . . . .


3 years ago was when I decided to start competing. I was at my worst all time shape and I needed a real kick a$$ goal to get me outta my funk.

I had been into weights and healthy eating even as a teenager, but didn't really have the knowledge I needed. I ended up developing unhealthy habits. I even tried severe food restriction, and then that let to binging and purging, and then laxative abuse . . These unhealthy habits continued even into the beginning of my marriage.

Then at the age of 21 after being married for a year. I got a job at the local pool/recreation center. I had FREE access to the weight room!! I love free stuff, and loved exercise, so I wanted to take full advantage of it.

It was around that time that I found my first Muscle and Fitness Hers! I didn't even know that those kind of physiques were POSSIBLE for women, and the competition aspect was FASCINATING!! This was a huge eye opener, a world of possibilities were open to me now! I loved the workouts, the diet info etc! It was the knowledge I needed.

I was really making good changes in my body and my diet was improving. Although I still had some unhealthy tendencies to battle .... I was still growing

At 22 I was pregnant with my first child. (well, actually 2 months before that I had had a miscarriage at 10 weeks, I always forget to count that as my "first" pregnancy - terrible reminder...anyway.. that is another post) I continued to lift weights until about 6-7 months when I was getting some serious ab separation. I knew I wouldn’t respect my bodies limits in the gym, and wouldn't take the proper precautions. SO, I left the weights for awhile and switched to aqua fit.

I still gained 40lbs during that pregnancy. I lost all of it and MORE after my son was born, (nursing was like a metabolism jet fuel!) I have video footage of me riding my recumbent bike at home bouncing my son on my knee. LOL! In 4 months I weighed less than I did before I got pregnant...and then I discovered I was pregnant AGAIN!

At 9 weeks pregnant I weighed less than my pre pregnancy weight before! I only gained 28lbs with my second pregnancy, lost that AND more in 3 months. I was weighing 117lbs. ( I think the last time I weighed 117lbs I was 13!) A FAT jiggly 117lbs. I had lost ALOT of muscle. I knew I was "skinny" but I didn't like the way my body looked.

...and now having 3 pregnancy in the span of about 2 years and all the hormonal ups and downs I was now having post partum.

I was back at the gym. It made me feel good, I was noticing some muscle definition etc. I was still super dooper skinny though. Never experienced that kind of skinny. (loved breast feeding)

But then at 13 months I weaned my daughter. Shortly after that we moved to Prince George. We lived in a hotel for 2 months (company paid ALL our expenses) so for 2 months I lived off of room service, and had no gym! We moved into our house and my bad eating habits and the increased depression from the move and isolation from my family and having 2 toddlers at home I was ballooning.

I had lost so much muscle from nursing, and I had added on so much fat. My body needed serious repair.


















That takes me to Aug 11. I joined a local gym, I signed up to compete, and joined the M&F Fitness Hers forum and started journaling.

My Journal On M&F Hers

10 months I stepped on the stage and realised a dream.

I will write more about my competition history later.

In the meantime feel free to pop into my journal (TUffchick) at M&F Hers.