Things That Help Me Survive My Fitness Journey

Today I'm writing about the things I use to help me along my fitness journey. Maybe they will be helpful to other people as well.

1. Extra Dessert Delights Sugarfree Gum

This gum comes in several flavors. My absolute favorite is Apple Pie, with Key Lime Pie coming in second place. Some people are grossed out by the concept of dessert-flavored gum, but I think it's awesome! I have a major sweet tooth, so whenever I feel a craving for something sugary, I immediately grab a piece of this gum. It satisfies my craving and keeps me from reaching for a cookie or other treat.

2. Tea and Truvia

As I mentioned earlier, I have a raging sweet tooth. Along with the gum, I use tea with Truvia to keep me satisfied if I'm hungry before my next scheduled meal (my favorite flavors are Vanilla Chai and Vanilla Caramel; you can find them in most grocery stores.)

Regarding the Truvia: I've tried a million different sweeteners and this is my favorite. I love the taste of Splenda but I like using a more natural product. Truvia is made from stevia, which is a leaf.

3. Lululemon workout gear

Lululemon = best workout gear ever.

Sometimes I use Lululemon purchases as "rewards", for example: I tell myself if I complete all the scheduled workouts for 2 full weeks, I get to buy a new workout top. Creating "mini-goals" can be very helpful.

4. Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine subscription

This is my favorite magazine of all time. It is filled with useful articles about workouts and nutrition, as well as coverage of the latest figure, bikini & fitness competitions. I find it extremely inspirational. Just about any time I'm doing cardio on a machine, I bring an issue of M&F Hers solely for motivation.

4. A cooler, food scale, and tupperware

Most competitors eat about 6-7 meals per day every 2-3 hours. If you do this, it can be hard to stay on track and always have your scheduled meals ready. Thus, I spend a few hours every weekend cooking mass quantities of food and portioning them out into tupperware containers (or plastic bags). I freeze them, and then they are ready to be grabbed and eaten throughout the week.

I use a food scale because it's really tough to guess quantities. 4 ounces of tilapia doesn't look the same size at 4 ounces of steak. I rely on my scale to keep me on point with my diet plan. My scale was about $25 from Amazon and it's been awesome.

5. Visualization Board

If you don't know where you want to go, how are you going to get there?

A visualization board is the answer to this question. It's a board with pictures of people I look up to in the fitness industry, as well as some motivational quotes. I also have a dry-erase board where I write down my goals.

On your own visualization board, you can put up pictures of anything you want for your life. They don't have to be fitness related. Put it somewhere where you'll see it often as a reminder of why you're working so hard.

Consistency + Patience = Results

I struggled this week with school and figure competition training. I've reflected on that for the last couple of hours (during a pedicure which my gross, callused feet desperately needed), and I can see that the universe has been trying to teach me 2 important lessons: faith and patience.

Struggles in School...

Regarding law school, the first few weeks were pretty exciting because it was a brand new endeavor. But now I'm realizing that the pace and workload are going to increase significantly as we get closer to December. Final exams will be here before I know it, and on top of that everyone will be trying to secure a great 1L summer job. Because of these reasons, it would not be wise to let myself start getting behind in my reading. I've got to keep reading cases until my eyes fall out of my head. Is the end result of all this work going to be worth it?

... And in the Weight Room

In terms of my figure competition training, I've been getting a little discouraged about how long it takes to see results in my body. When you work SO hard for something, it's natural to want to see overnight results. I want Nicole Wilkins' muscles right NOW! Bodies, however, do not change overnight. One of my awesome Team Bombshell coaches, Gen Strobo (who is competing at the Figure Olympia as I write this! GO GEN!) reminded me of this as I complained in an email to her that I'd been struggling. She insisted that with consistency in my diet and workouts, day in & day out, I WILL see results.

But It'll All Work Out...

The struggles I've had this week both in the classroom and the weight room have illustrated that, first of all, nothing worth having is easy, nor does it come instantly. Second, in order to stay motivated and focused on my goals, I must keep reminding myself to have faith in my everyday efforts, even though they seem small. Sure, individual court cases in my textbooks can seem unimportant and boring ... but every single case counts toward learning the law & ultimately becoming a great lawyer. And every time I curl a dumbbell or do a lat pulldown or a squat, my body is a little bit closer to the awesome figure competitor shape that I want. All the effort counts.

"...What are you training for? What is a figure competition?"

The title of this post sums up many of the questions I get about why the heck I'm working out so much and following such a strict diet. I'm going to try to answer these questions here...

First: What is a Figure Competition?

I am training for a figure competition. What is that, you ask? It's a female body competition that includes less heavy muscle mass than bodybuilding, but more muscle mass than the bikini division. The easiest way to understand is by comparing pictures, so I included some below. The first picture is of Nicole Wilkins, a figure competitor & one of my biggest fitness idols.

This next picture is Nicole Nagrani, a bikini competitor. In bikini, the poses are different and there is less muscle mass.

And this photo is Iris Kyle, a bodybuilder. Can you now see the difference between the three divisions?

The division I have chosen is figure. Figure competitors are judged on muscular symmetry and tone, and muscle size is downplayed. In the competition, the women stand onstage in front of judges, wearing a special swimsuit designed for these competitions, and clear high-heels. They stand side-by-side and make quarter-turns so the judges can compare them in terms of symmetry, conditioning, leanness, muscularity, femininity, presentation, and even skin tone, makeup & hair.

Next question ... Why are you doing this?

Now that I've shown you what my ultimate goal looks like, the next question might be ... why? Well, because I LOVE the fitness lifestyle. It's certainly not cut out for everybody, but I love it for a long list of reasons, including:

- I love setting high goals and working toward them
- I love the regimented, planned-out lifestyle (it's the "Type A" in me)
- I love being able to eat 6 times per day (no starvation!)
- I love lifting weights and the empowering feeling that comes with that
- I love watching my body change from month to month
... I could go on and on!

When I tell people about certain elements of my fitness lifestyle (the strict diet, the 5AM cardio sessions, the early bedtime, etc), I get some raised eyebrows. This is understandable. The way I have chosen to live is certainly not considered "normal", and it's definitely not easy. But I love it, and will never "go back" to my old ways, which included...

- Obsessive amounts of boring cardio with a constant focus on calories burned
- Practically starving myself and struggling to find the "right" diet (Vegan/vegetarian? Raw food only? Juicing? Counting every calorie? I tried 'em all.)
- Never being skinny enough. Hating my body and punishing it every day.

Today, I feel strong physically and emotionally. I finally found my sport, and I hope to pursue it for many years. My goal is to eventually become an "IFBB Pro" (IFBB stands for "International Federation of Bodybuilders"). In order to do this, I must first earn my IFBB Pro Card by winning some upper-level competitions! This might take me a couple of years, but I have no doubt in my mind that I'll do it!