Two months ago I was working full time and training twice a day, now I am in my off season and still looking for the right opportunity. Needless to say my days are pretty free and after getting back to Victoria realized I'm lost and needing routine. Most people would be enjoying this time off and after two months, I decided to give in. Brett suggested we go to the library and take some books out. I think he can see I'm slowing going nuts by not working. That is why we are such a great pair. He balances my Type A-ness out.
On Tuesday we had a date day. We went for breakfast, hit the library and a movie. I haven't been to a library in forever but it's amazing. There are a lot of great books and I even have a few on hold! After checking out a few books, eight to be exact, I was excited to get home and crack the spine on my rented books. I didn't know where to begin.One book I took out was all about blogging and how to get more reach and I will be changing my blog over to a website soon so bare with me in this transition. I want to make my site as user friendly as possible and the only way to do that is to ask you, the reader, what you'd like to see. I will be putting a survey together to collect data about who and where my readers are. This is all very exciting to me.
Another great book I took out was about health meals on a budget. It was hard to sit and focus on one book at a time because I'd then start to read another book. They all have so many interesting things to say! Yesterday I spent the day reading and it felt good to be doing something in addition to looking at the same job postings for hours. I have decided to dedicate a certain amount of time each day to training, job hunting and learning. This will help me create a routine.
Now that I am in my off season, my goal is develop more muscle and eat well. I have a few books right now that talk about fat and how it works in your body and how it uses fat before and after workouts. Very interesting. Two books I am very interested in getting are currently on hold at the library are about Food and Physiology. Learning about how the body works and thinks about food will be helpful during my off season. The one obsession I kicked this last competition is my inability to buy peanut butter. I can proudly say that I can control my almond butter and make it last longer than 3 days...I think I've had my jar in the fridge for a month now and it's only half empty! Pat on the back...
The other routine that is a bit of an adjustment is not going to the gym twice a day. Since I am trying to build muscle I don't need to be doing an hour of cardio everyday. I need to have 4 or 5 heavy strength training days and a few sessions of active cardio such as walking. Food will also be important when putting on muscle. If your body doesn't have enough fat which is used as an energy source it will start burning muscle as energy which I don't want. I am going to continue eating as raw as possible. Raw is eating food in the most original or unprocessed form.
Unprocessed foods are foods such as rice, chicken, vegetables and processed foods are ones that have been altered. These foods included bread, sandwich meats and anything else that doesn't look real. This doesn't mean you can only eat a chicken breast or rice on its own. The best part is using vegetable such as peppers, onions, broccoli and making a stir fry! Way better than Lean Cusine because it's lower in sodium and sugar. Have you ever looked to see how much sugar is frozed foods! Cray cray.
I feel like I am going to start ranting so I will leave you will three things to think about when you go to reach for something in your fridge.
1. If you are eating something like a muffin or frozen meal and separated all the ingredients, would you eat them each ingredient on their own. Example: if you broke down all the ingredients in a muffin or doughnut and there was 2 tbsp's of butter would you eat that on its own? Hello heart attack and diabetes.
2. If something is in the fridge and has been their for more than a few weeks and hasn't gone bad, why would you eat it??? If food doesn't spoils (which is should if its real) then it is probably filled with chemicals and presevatives to make it last. This brings me to number three...
3. Pull any condiment from your fridge and look at the ingredients. Do you know and can you pernounce what each ingredient is? Why do some ingredients sound like stuff that sound be in fertilizer or come from a lumber yard.
I feel like I've got my wheels spinning here and need to get focus on how I can help share my knowledge with you as I enjoy a very short off season before my next show in March, the Inside Fitness Model Search! I have a lot of work to do and need to build some serious muscle for my next competition in May in Kelowna. I am determined to get my BC qualification back! I hope you continue to follow my journey. Fitness is a lifelong journey...
Have a great day!
Nic out!
xoxox
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