What thighs lose, belly finds

I don’t believe in quick fixes and if it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not. I believe that hard work and perseverance will prevail, and good wins over bad. I also believe in Karma.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with someone having cosmetic surgery if that’s what they want to do. But to think it is a replacement for a healthy diet and regular exercise, well that’s just not very realistic is it?  This was a very interesting article regarding liposuction. Personally, the thought of having this type of procedure literally makes me nauseous, but then I have never been faced with the dilemma of "saddlebags", so perhaps if I were, I might have a different opinion on this. 

It's really something to give careful thought to if you are considering the cost and pain of this. Will you make changes afterward? Or will you end up with fat somewhere else?

By the way, this is NOT my butt!

By Gina Kolata

New York Times

The woman's hips bulged in unsightly saddlebags. Then she had liposuction and, presto, those saddlebags disappeared.

Photo after photo on plastic surgery websites make liposuction look easy, its results transformative. It has become the most popular plastic surgery, with more than 450,000 operations a year, each costing a few thousand dollars.

But does the fat come back? And if it does, where does it show up?

Until now, no one knew. But a new study, led by Drs. Teri Hernandez and Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado, has answered those questions. And what he found is not good news.

In the study, the researchers randomly assigned non-obese women to have liposuction on their protuberant thighs and lower abdomen or to refrain from having the procedure, serving as controls. 

The result, published in the latest issue of Obesity, was that fat came back after it was suctioned out. It took a year, but it all returned. But it did not reappear in the women's thighs. Instead, Eckel said, "it was redistributed upstairs," mostly in the upper abdomen, but also around the shoulders and triceps of the arms.

Dr. Felmont Eaves III, a plastic surgeon in Charlotte, N.C., and president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, said the study was "very well done," and the results were surprising. He said he would mention it to his patients in the context of other information on liposuction.

The finding raises questions about plastic surgery. Liposuction has been around since 1974 and is heavily advertised. Why did it take so long for anyone to do this study?

Maybe it's because such a study is very difficult, said Dr. Samuel Klein, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Washington University School of Medicine. It takes a team of researchers, and money. Fat must be measured precisely, with scans.

And surgery, said Jonathan Moreno, an ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied the field, is not like other areas of medicine.

"A lot of it has to do with the culture of surgery, which is literally hands-on," he said. Surgeons, he added, often feel a connection to patients that makes it difficult to agree to trials that involve randomizing them.

6 weeks to go

Six weeks left and I still feel great! There is actually no reason not to, I allow myself plenty of calories, and I happen to love vegetables so that makes it much easier.

I can see there is very little body fat left in my upper body, and the skin on my stomach is starting to feel "thin", that's really the best way to describe it when you are trying to lose the fat.

Pinch the skin that is right above your waistband, feel the thickness? Now pinch the skin on the back of your hand. That's more like what I will feel like in the abdomen area in 6 more weeks.

Back is looking good, check out the baggy little pants! Ha Ha! These are smalls, time to move into the extra smalls (they are actually swim suit bottoms but don't tell anyone!)

Starting to be able to see the serratus muscles along my side, (I would really need to remove my top for you to see, so trust me on this one), and the nice deep "V" running down the side from the suprailiac (the part that is oh so attractive on some shirtless males).

Shoulders are still round and full and the arms continue to amaze me!

Fitting in the daily hospital visits with twice a day training will prove to be a rather challenging task, but what the heck, I am up to the challenge!

8 Weeks To Go

 

Sunday morning at the gym, shoulders. I set my alarm for the same time as usual, even though David said I should sleep in because of daylight savings time, nope, I want to be there when they open, that's just what I do.

I was feeling a little discouraged. I am looking at myself all the time as I lift, I hit a few poses in between and I wasn't really happy with what I was seeing. My skin was looking a bit soft, I wasn't lean enough and my weight hasn't changed since last week.

So, we had to have a talk. Who is "we"? It's me, my ego and my logical self, all three of us get into heated debates quite often. I really have some of the best conversations with these two- we argue, debate, rationalize, laugh and cry. In the end we all walk away a bit wiser and friends, we love each other very much.

I had a high calorie day yesterday, I did not have what some call a "cheat meal", I had the same foods, just a bit more. It's important to change up calories and foods to make the body adapt. Eating the exact same thing everyday is not recommended by any nutritionist, bodybuilder, Figure competitor or coach, it's not going to produce the best results.

 

I reminded "Ego" that and she quickly acknowledged the fact that might be why I was a little soft around the middle.

Anne stopped by when I was near the end of my training, she saw me posing in between cable sets and said I needed rhinestones on my shoes. We had a little laugh and I was describing my feelings of lack of progress when I pointed at something and her eyes got huge.

She said "do that again!" "You're huge!" So I hit a pose like this:

I asked if my back was wide enough, and told her I have been really working on back and shoulders quite a bit. She said "Definitely, they look great!" I told her I was concerned about my bodyfat, and she said "I have the utmost confidence in you, you have always been very successful and won't have a problem".

This is true, Anne is right, she gave me a smile and went on her way.

So why am I worried? I am smart enough to know that the added starches yesterday means I am carrying more weight and softness as I have more glycogen in my muscles, I tell this all the time to others, so "Miss Logical" gave me a little "told ya so!" and left it at that, she can be quite the bitch sometimes to both me and Ego. We try to be patient with her, but she can be quite annoying at times.

Then a fellow who was lifting there tried to get my attention, I pulled my ear buds out, I was done with lifting so I could talk.

He asked about losing body fat and explained when he would get lean, he would get so hungry, how do I do it? He said he struggles, he can't keep it up.

I explained it is difficult, I also get hungry. A great deal of it is psychological, you are not allowed to eat something, so you want it more, you think of food all the time.

I also explained that when you diet, your body produces hormones specifically to increase your appetite, so you don't starve yourself, the human body is oh so very finely tuned to survive.

I said "It all depends on how desperately you want it. It's mind over matter and it's not easy." He said he was glad to hear that, he thought that it was very easy for me, I laughed, "no, it's not but I prefer to be upbeat and pretend everything is fine, I don't believe in being a whiner."

After we all had these conversations, and I looked at my pictures I realized that competing has taught me many good things. Patience, self confidence, belief in my abilities, self love and desire to constantly improve.

It's now noon, I am prepping food for the week, taking a break to write. I  look great and realize I am on track, I am at peace.

The pictures I take are more for me than anyone else, it allows me to see the subtle changes that occur, to keep pushing myself and not give in or give up.

To be the best I can be, always.

The pictures also help me see where I need to make changes in posing- see the back shot?, my shoulders are sloping down, they need to be up and out across the top, I need to hold them up more so I will work on that now and see the change next week.

And Ego? She says "Looking good Mama!"

Steroids

Today I was on the stairmill at the end of my workout, it was Saturday so I had time to walk for 30 minutes.I was next to a much younger woman, I see her on occasion, we talk only briefly, we are both very serious about our training, she looks great. She is obviously an athlete, a sleek gazelle like body. The first time I saw her on the stairmill she was going at such an amazingly fast pace for so long, when she finished I had to ask how long she had done it.

45 minutes. I mean she was pushing hard, and sweating, but not puffing, she does this quite a bit. I told her she was in amazing condition, she slowly looked me up and down and said "you're not in such bad shape yourself", we both smiled, laughed and have exchanged knowing smiles ever since.

She was there today before me, and there after me too.

A fellow stopped by to talk to me about my vacation, we stay in the same hotel each year, he at Christmas time for two weeks, me in February for one. At some point in our lives we must have stayed there at the same time, that's how I know him.

We were talking about the location, and the new restaurant at the hotel. I said that the chef was quite accommodating, willing to make any changes if we requested them, and some how I brought up the fact I ended up sitting on the beach drinking water and eating tuna out of a can. I believe I was telling him how I would get hungry in between meals, and am prepping for a competition so I really needed the protein.

He asked what I compete in, I said "Figure, it's sort of like Bodybuilding, but you don't get as big and muscular, you don't take all the steroids." Then I added, "well, actually lots of Figure gals take steroids too."

He looked at me and said "Are you sure you don't?"

I looked down and right in his eyes and said "If I did I would look a hell of a lot better than this!"

He said "You look pretty good to me now."

Conversations  like this happen on occasion, and it gets me thinking a bit.  I know that drugs are rampant in the industry, and those who tell you it is not either don't want to admit it or they are naive. Everyone does not take drugs, but many do, many want so desperately to have that freaky unobtainable body that they are willing to harm themselves. Some even get prescriptions, and then justify it by saying it is a necessity as their doctor prescribed it, well I have news for you, if it is on the banned list from the IOC (International Olympic Committee), they don't care who prescribed it or why, it is still banned.

Not all bodybuilders take drugs, but many do, women just don't have the testosterone that men do, so to get as big as a big bodybuilding man, they have to take drugs, simple as that.

Figure gals will take them for different reasons, not necessarily to get big, but those drugs are just as harmful and expensive.

I was pleased to listen to Erin Stern recently on Natural Bodybuilding Radio (a podcast  for drug free athletes) discuss how she is natural, and she won the 2010 Figure Olympia! It's the episode on 10/19/2010 and she discusses her training with Olympic lifts!

I actually feel good that people think I look like I do! That means they think I look unnaturally big, or muscular, just the look I have been working towards for years.

But, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Minutes later, as I was leaving the locker room, I ran into a woman I met recently, Marni. She said "You look great! You look so small!"

hmmm...two different opinions huh?

I thanked her and told her things are a little odd. My weight has plateaued, I am right about the same, but I can see the body fat is slowly melting away, and my arms? They are getting bigger! The muscles are full, really full even though I am restricting my starchy carbs a bit. The skin is tight, I feel good. Just take a look at those arms in the picture, it was taken at 6:00 p.m. and today was leg day way back at 6:00 a.m, so they aren't pumped full of blood from any heavy curls. (I guess it could have been the 5 sets of 10 deadlifts I did with 135 pounds), that was just the start of my morning, I know that's not heavy, but that was 50 reps, I am going for some volume right now!

I mentioned I have changed my training and my diet. The training has been a pretty significant change, the diet not so much, but enough that my body is changing, taking a different shape.

I may find that in 8 weeks I cannot compete, I won't have the look the judges want, but I may have the look I want, and that's all that matters.

Interesting times are ahead! I see a fork in the road, and each path looks inviting and filled with excitement, which one I end up taking will be as much a surprise to me as it will be to you.

Training that "Fits"

Do you walk into a shoe store and sit down and tell the salesperson "give me shoes I will like that make me look taller and slimmer"? And then you expect him to bring you exactly what you needed, the same shoe he would bring everyone else?

No, you probably go find some shoes that you like, then ask to try them on, and feel how they fit, then decide if you like them. Maybe you don't like them, maybe you do. They need to fit just right or you won't buy them.

You need to do the same with a trainer or a training program.

I like to watch the trainers at my gym, I think might learn something. Unfortunately, more often than not, I only learn what not to do. Not every time mind you, but quite often.

Most of them stick to the same old thing time after time. In fact, I see some who have all of their clients do the same workout! Can you imagine? Obviously that isn't tailored for the clients is it? It is tailored for the trainer's convenience. How can any trainer even think that the same workout will be appropriate for different ages, body types, skill sets, goals?

Then there are some who never leave a small patch of padded flooring, they always have their clients use a ball or a mat or those plastic discs or some other gadget that basically does nothing, and he stands there talking. I haven't seen changes in his clients in over a year.

When you decide to hire a trainer, you first need to get an idea of what your goals are so you can actually articulate this to them. Then, you need to interview them and ask what they would do to help you accomplish this goal.

Do you need someone who will push you and be with you? Or do you need someone to teach you proper form? Do you just want someone to spot you? Do you even know what you want? You have to be able to tell them what you expect if you are expecting anything from them.

Talk to some of their other clients, ask them what they like about their trainer and what could use improving.

I talked to a woman the other day who is overweight, by more than a few pounds. She said she hurt herself doing plyometrics that her trainer instructed her to do. A trainer has no business telling an overweight person to do box jumps or squat jumps, obviously they will get injured.

If your trainer tells you that he or she can help you lose weight and gain muscle at the same time with their expertise, question it. If you are not in an "elite" category already, and first need to get down to an average body fat, they are handing you a pack of lies.

We all want to lose body fat and gain lean muscle mass at once, and it is possible, but extremely difficult and it takes years of training and experimenting with your diet to find the exact program that works for you.

Your average trainer at a gym most likely cannot do this for you, you will need a qualified nutritionist, one who specializes in athletes.

While training is vital, you will not show gains without proper nutrition, all the time. You cannot out train a bad diet!

Some food for thought.

Fat Loss

A friend of mine said to me "It's easy for you to lose body fat".  She was serious.

I want to publicly state for the record, that I never said it was easy to lose all your body fat. I am sorry if I ever implied it was easy or if I ever gave anyone the impression that it was no big deal.

It's hard as hell.

It's probably one of the most difficult things I have ever done. But I have done it many times and I am always successful. This doesn't mean it is easy though.

Anyone can lose body fat and get down to a ridiculously low figure, in the picture above I am fairly low, it's a week before a competition so I am about 6%. I am at the gym practicing my posing and laughing as one of the other members cracks a joke.

It takes will power, determination, patience and the desire to win. It also takes a huge amount of support from the people around you.

It means being hungry. That's hard, people don't deal with hunger very well. A lot of it is psychological, I mean, we are really an over fed nation, but we are greedy and want it all.

It means not partaking of meals with friends and family, you bring your own and are happy with it or you isolate yourself.

It means not having a great deal of energy at times, depending on where you are in your diet. You just want to give up.

It means learning to not be a whiner. No one likes to listen to you complain about your damn diet!  You chose to do this, so do it and shut up! (special dispensation is allowed for fellow competitors in the same boat, sometimes we need to chat each other to make it through the day).

But you can do it, anyone can. I don't want anyone to fail because I made them think it was easy. It's one of the hardest things you will ever accomplish.

Take the journey with me, follow along and you will experience my hills and valleys along the way.

Cleaning up the diet

I started my "diet" on Monday, here I am on Tuesday. I am at 127 pounds and in my opinion, not carrying a great deal of fat. As you can see, my stomach is where it all is, and I have no problems with my hips or thighs, its all right there in the tummy.

I have to lose body fat for a May 7 competition.

I compete anywhere from 118 to 120 pounds, it all depends on how much lean body mass I have. I really worked hard this past winter to add muscle and keep off the fat, I think I did a really good job, but it won't really be evident until I drop down to about 4% body fat, where I get at competition time.

I get unusually low body fat, and yes, it has been verified with calipers and hydrostatic testing.
I have some friends who have gained quite a bit. They will have a harder time losing it. There was a time the school of thought was to "bulk up" and pack on all you can. Some people still hold on to this, but many have proven that you can successfully add mass and not a great deal of fat if you eat properly.

To gain muscle you need to ingest more calories than you expend. That's how you gain fat too. So how do you ensure you gain muscle and not a great deal of fat? You eat the right foods, not a bunch of crap. You also need to figure out how many calories you are expending and then eat more, don't just guess and keep loading up your plate!


Typically a competitor will start their diet 12 weeks out, that gives them time to slowly lose the fat at a safe rate to keep the skin tight and elastic and maintain muscle. Lose too fast and your skin gets saggy and loose, and the muscle drops off with the fat.

I am starting a bit early because I will be in Mexico on vacation for a week, and I am not sure if it will totally trash my preparation or not. I certainly don't plan to diet on vacation, but I will eat healthy as I do year round anyway.

I figure if I start a bit early, maybe vacation won't set me back too far.

So what do I mean by "cleaning up my diet"?

I stick to a good, clean diet year round. When I am not purposely eating to lose body fat (what most competitors like to refer to as the off-season. I don't care for that term, makes me think of a dog in heat), I will eat some things that I wouldn't normally, but not many.

For instance, when my son and husband have ribs, I will have a couple bites. When they are eating chips I might snag a couple as I walk by. I will eat bagels after training, and sandwiches occasionally.

I will eat some fruit, and a glass of wine on weekends.

But now, I won't do any of that. I will stop snagging bites and won't drink any alcohol. Bye bye fruit and bread.

I will adhere to my regular diet and portions, so it's the same thing basically without all the snacks in between. And that will make me drop body fat fairly quickly.

I will start doing a bit more cardio, but never much. For instance, today I walked on the treadmill for 10 minutes, it was all the time I had. If I can drop the fat without a lot of extra cardio, I will.

I still run my stairs and jump rope at lunch, but that is only 20 minutes and is necessary for my sanity, it's about the only time I get out of the office!

I will keep you posted with progress, you can count on me to have more pictures!

10 Commandments of Getting Cut Part 3 of 3

Part III of The 10 Commandments of Getting Cut
Losing Fat, Not Just Weight

by Chris McClinch
  
Food Logs & Formulating a Cardio Plan

6. Thou shalt keep a food journal.

No matter how good your plan is, the only way to make sure you're following it exactly is to keep a record of everything that goes in your mouth. Is that a pain in the butt? Yes, at first. Is it essential? Absolutely. Why? Two reasons. One, you're trying to create a consistent caloric deficit, which is tough to do if you don't know exactly how many calories you're consuming in a given day. Two, most of the eating plans that control insulin and help you lose weight are very specific about the ratios of carbohydrates, protein, and fat that you're consuming. Writing down what you eat is the best way to make sure that your ratios are correct.

The best way to set up your food journal is whatever way makes it the most painless for you. You need to keep track of how many calories, grams of protein, grams of carbohydrates, and grams of fat you're taking in at what time of the day. That's the bare minimum. It's even better if you also track hunger levels, energy levels, and mood. This will help you fine-tune your diet to include more of the foods that fill you up and make you feel good.

I like keeping my journal in a physical notebook--I use a Mead composition book--but others use Excel spreadsheets or Web journals like the one available at www.fitday.com. There is no best way: whatever makes it most convenient for you is the proper way to go.

7. Thou shalt do smart cardio. Eating properly is only half the battle in losing body fat. The other half is physical activity. Most people understand that some type of cardiovascular activity is a good idea for fat loss, but unfortunately most do their cardio in a way that actually sabotages their chances of making progress.

What do you think of when I mention cardio? An hour-long jog? A long, steady session on the exercise bike? Sweatin' to the oldies? If it's any of those things, you're doing cardio, but you're not doing smart cardio. There are lots of things you can do to burn calories, but if you're reading this article, you know that you want the calories you burn to come from fat, not lean mass. Traditional long, slow distance cardio burns muscle and fat pretty indiscriminately. In fact, if you do enough, you may find that your body burns muscle preferentially to ease the demands of doing so much aerobic work. That's exactly the opposite of what you want.

So how do you do cardio without sacrificing precious muscle? The answer is interval work. Definitely get yourself cleared by a doctor before jumping into intervals, though, because the whole idea is to rapidly and repeatedly raise your heart rate, alternating the high heart rate work with brief recovery periods. The optimal way to do interval work is probably to do walkback sprints. Sprint all-out for 15 seconds, then turn around and walk back to where you started. It should take about 45 seconds to walk back. Once you're back where you started, sprint for 15 seconds again. Do seven sprints your first week, and add one sprint per week until you're up to 20 sprints per session.

If you're not up for sprints, you can approximate them on an exercycle or an elliptical machine. Simply go all-out for 15 seconds, then pedal or walk at a recovery pace for 45. The same build-up pattern applies.

Finally, if neither of these ideas appeals to you, you can try boxer-style cardio. Pull on a pair of bag gloves and pound the heavy bag for a minute, rest for a minute, jump rope for a minute, rest a minute, hit the heavy bag for a minute, etc. for the duration of your cardio session.

Cardio should be done 2-3 days per week, preferably on days when you don't lift. If you have to do cardio on lifting days, try to do cardio in the morning and lift in the evening. If you have to do them in the same session, lift first. Under no circumstances should you ever do cardio before lifting, as you will be dramatically weaker.

Weight Training for Fat Loss

8. Thou shalt train hard and heavy with the weights.

Time to explode another old training myth. For years, people have been saying that you need to use heavy weights and low reps to bulk up, and lighter weights and higher reps to get cut. This is just plain wrong. Getting cut has much more to do with how you eat than how you train. Ditto for bulking up. With that said, you want to train in such a way that your body will retain as much muscle mass as possible; just like you can't flex fat, you can't look ripped without muscle.

So what do I mean by hard and heavy? During this time, you want to be doing primarily compound exercises that involve a lot of muscle: squats, deadlifts, bench presses, bent-over rows, pull-ups, power cleans, snatches, military presses, dips. And you want to be training for strength. This is not the time for doing three sets of 12. Bump up the weight and go for five sets of five or even 10 sets of 3. Hold your rest in between sets to about a minute, and make the weight heavy enough that you're struggling to finish that final set.

9. Thou shalt not fall victim to the myth of spot reduction.

This is the big one that seems to get people who want to lose weight or see their abdominal muscles for the first time. Doing a billion crunches won't do a thing to burn the fat obscuring your abdominal muscles. The abductor/adductor machine (the "leg spreader") won't do a thing to reduce the size of your thighs. Step-ups will firm up the muscles of the butt and upper hamstrings, but they won't burn the fat there. Fat is burned by creating a caloric deficit and training the entire body with resistance exercise and smart cardio. That's the only effective way to deal with your "problem areas," whatever areas they may be.

10. Thou shalt keep a training journal.

A training journal is never as important as when you're trying to lose body fat. Your training journal is going to provide some of your most valuable feedback on how well your diet is working for you. You're not likely to get a lot stronger while dieting down unless you're relatively new to lifting weights, but if your training journal shows that your lifts are going down, it's a pretty good indication that you're restricting calories too severely and possibly burning muscle as well as fat.

Again, you can keep your training journal in a variety of formats. The most important information to record is the time of day, the exercises you do, the poundages you use for those exercises, the number of sets and reps you complete, and how it feels. This information will provide you with valuable feedback not just about your diet but about how your body responds to exercise. It's also the beginning of a continuous log that will show you how much progress you've made since you started working out and let you see at a glance what your most effective workout programs have been.

These commandments aren't glamorous, and they call for a good deal of hard work, but if you follow them religiously, you just might find that they'll lead you to the promised land of a lean, sexy physique.

Chris McClinch is an Arlington, VA-based bodybuilder and personal trainer. He won the middleweight title at the 2001 International Natural Bodybuilding Federation's collegiate national championships. As a trainer, he specializes in physique transformation and sport-specific strength training preparation, and is an active member of the IronOnline bulletin board.