I want to change. I am not satisfied and I strive for better things.

I started getting into working out about a year ago. At that time it was mainly just cardio about 3 – 4 days a week and a few weights here and there. I didn’t really understand how the body worked, lean muscle mass, or post + pre workout importance. As I got more involved, I started reading a lot and experimenting with various routines and diets. I remember one of my good friends, Natasha, and I were at spin class and we were talking about fitness and I was sharing my struggles. Her advice resonated with me, she told me that I have to want it, I have to want to be in shape and I have to want to take care of myself more than I want anything else. From then on I never looked back – I became hungry. From there I contacted my younger sister, Stephanie, and began picking her and her husbands brain (they are both in fantastic shape and her husband has been lifting and working out for 10+ years).

One of the milestones for my fitness career was joining a gym. I began weight weight training in the morning and cardio in the evening. This was a lot and I never thought that it was possible to overtrain your body. I was sore all the time, which I saw gains, but not like I wanted. I was a strict raw/vegan at the time and I saw very little gains in my muscle and strength. After about a month of this, I sat down with a personal trainer and mapped out a plan that would be best for my goals. This was like a huge eye-opener; basically because I had lost a significant amount of weight, my muscle were very weak because I wasn’t really training them correctly or consistently, and I had been overtraining. The trainer really helped me understand that 5 pounds of lean muscle mass burns up to 500 calories a day. For the next two months I concentrated on building my strength and taking my nutrition one step at a time (I was still raw/vegan). One of my friends, Amy Jo Beaver, really turned me on to lifting. She is a former fitness competitor that has mad strength! She is the main one who taught me form in the lifting arena and she taught me how to sculpt my glutes .

The more research I was doing the more I thought about incorporating egg whites and whey protein into my diet. I knew that they animal proteins would help me make more hard gains, and they were light enough for my system to digest. I slowly started seeing little gains, but I wanted more. Thats when I found Jamie Eason’s 12-Week LiveFit Trainer. Basically I would be Bulking – eating clean and weight training (phase 1), Shredding - incorporating cardio, cutting carbs, and fat burning (phase 2), and Maintaining – carb cycling  HIIT (high intensity interval training), and super-setting (phase 3). I would be eating every 2-3 hours very controlled portions. Basically I had nothing to lose, so I took a leap of faith.

So that brings me to now, currently today I am in Week 3/Day 6. I have been bulking for 20 days. I feel fat, bloated, and retaining water most of the time, but I know it will be worth it when I start phase 2. I have seen massive strength gains.

Workouts: For the first 2 weeks of phase 1 I was working out 4 days a week, but now I have increased to 5 days a week. I am resting 60 secs in between sets to give my muscles time to breathe. I am lifting at 60% max effort. I have one more week of phase 1, then on to phase 2 (finally!). I will break down phase 2 diets further along in the blog…

Diet: eating 5 – 6x a day.

Meal 1 (within 1 hour of waking): 5x egg whites, 1 starch, unlimited veggies (and berries if I want)

Meal 2: 4 homemade protein bars, 2 turkey muffins, or a small meal (e.g. 1/2 starch + 4oz lean protein)

Meal 3: 6-8 oz lean protein, 1 starch, unlimited veggies

Meal 4: 4 homemade protein bars, 2 turkey muffins, or a small meal (e.g. 1/2 starch + 4oz lean protein)

Meal 5: 6-8o z lean protein, 1 starch, unlimited veggies (No starch/carbs at least 3 hours before bed)

Meal 6 (often eaten pre-bed, or close to bedtime): 5 egg whites and veggies or a protein shake

What i’ve made:

Pumpkin Protein Bars

Lemon Protein Bars

3-Bean Turkey Chili

Turkey Muffins

Supplements:

Omega-3 Fish Oil

Womens Multi-vitamin

BCAAs

Calcium

Pre-workout C4 (only on days I workout)

Progress Pics, (so far): I am terrible at taking progress pictures, but I have some:

Phase 1. Week 2.

Can’t wait to share the rest from week to week!