THE QUEST TO FIND MY ABS!

 

Anyone who knows me will understand my passion and love for health and fitness. I read copious amounts of research, ask way too many questions, google the buggery out of stuff and am constantly on the hunt for new and exciting information in the fitness world.

So how did this love for health & fitness morph into wanting to grate cheese on my abs? Well, lets be honest, I had been busting my patootee,  teaching around 9 Les Mills classes a week, and although I am a massive group fitness junkie, it seemed that after three years of the same type of exercise I had reached a plateau in my physique and fitness.

I had been following Justine Switalla (a sports model) who undertook a seven-week Bikini body challenge. After seven weeks of intense training and nutrition, Justine had dropped a significant amount of body fat & noticeably changed her figure. Check out her blog, I'm like 70% sure I have a crush on her.http://justineswitalla.com/

So this got me thinking.. Surely I can do something similar right? So I looked at the calendar and figured out that it was about eight weeks until my birthday. PERFECT! Eight weeks to get ripped up, shredded and take bulk ab selfies on my iPhone. That was it; I cracked my mental whip and made a plan to make it happen. BOO YEH! (Insert fist pump here)

If I was going to do this it had to be legit.. so legit I couldn’t quit.. (that’s for u T-Pain). I started by getting a DEXA scan, this looks at your muscle mass, body fat percentage, and metabolic rate. It is actually designed to check your bone density. Anyway turns out I had 22% body fat, this is around average, but let's see what I could do. I set dates and started to talk to people about what I should be doing to make this happen. 

 

After I had decided on my goal, I then needed to find out what exactly i needed to do.. So I got in contact with my old friend ‘signore googlal’ to find out what I should be eating, cos' as any shredded individual will tell you, ‘Abs are made in the kitchen’.

My diet was already quite good, however, if I wanted to finely slice Parmesan for a pizza I needed to shake things up. So I did a bit of research, I read 90 or so articles and books on bodybuilding, shredding diets, fasting, fitness blogs, carb loading, clean eating, juice diets, fat loss supplements, I mean, you name it, I probably read it.

From taking on everything I'd read I figured out a bit of a plan, cutting out all dairy, all sugars (including fruit), caffeine and even the occasional drink. Basically just eat a whole lotta protein at every meal, carbs before and after training and get amongst all the healthy fats. Make it clean - if it is processed, or could possibly explode when near an open flame, then don't eat it. Oh yes, and water.. lots and lots of water.. and if you know me, you’ll know I have a bladder the size of an infant. Once I got up six times in the night.. six times!? Yup, that totally happened.

The next component I had to deal with was my training. The DEXA scan actually showed that I had a pretty low lean muscle mass, I know right? I was shocked too. I sculpt my guns in my office like, every day.

 

I needed advice on weight training, because, judging by my mum, two minutes a day on the Ab Swing Pro didn’t seem to be doing much (no offense Mum). So I turned to Chrissy Clay for a weights program, and after some highly intellectual banter he and Jimmy reluctantly wrote me a plan that didn’t include steroids (a little upsetting ill admit) I would be lifting heavy three times a week, full body workout supersets. 8-10 reps.

So I smashed out the eight weeks of this, flogged myself in spin classes and at the gym, tracked my calories in and out and slowwly saw some changes in my physique.. But after 8 weeks, I wasn’t satistied- and no where near grating cheese..

By this time I was used to the food and training and so insanely motivated to achieve the goal that I'd do it until the end of the year if it took that long! So I decided to seek out some advice, I ended up contacting Amanda who I had been following on Facebook,  she had lost over 25kg and recently competed in a fitness modeling competition. (Check out her blog for some serious inspiration!) 
http://mevsthebulge.com/

After numerous email conversations, sending her my pictures and current diet plan Amanda told me what I wanted to hear, exactly what I should be doing to get the physique I wanted. (.. surprisingly I needed to eat more!)

At the same time I was chatting to Anthony a Personal Trainer (from one of the gyms I work at) about my goals, he was interested in what I was trying to achieve and offered to help me with a specific training program. So he got out those cold calipers and took my body fat percentage. He also did a postural assessment and gave me a training program based on my body and where I needed to strengthen up (I have a crook hip, and my lower back is a bit on the dodgy side). He trained me every Tuesday morning & also wrote me an amazing program that I would be doing three times a week. He also hooked me up with all my supplements & HEAPS of advice -  so thank you Anthony, you’re an absolute superstar. If you're in the market for a great trainer, he is your man!! Visit his website at: http://elevationperformance.com.au/

So what did I eat? A 'typical day' would look something like this..


7am- Oats with eggs and raspberries.. maybe some chicken10am- Tuna or chicken on ricecakes or an apple.

12am- Chicken or Fish with loads Veggies & Brown rice (Usually i made a massive soup or stir fry)

4pm- Protein Shake or chicken or eggs or tuna.. 

7pm- Chicken or Fish with Veggies with sweet potato or quinoa

9pm- Protein shake if hungry.

(note that this is really just a base, towards the end I got really bored & included more fats.. mainly greek yoghurt & nuts) 

Also.. (and this is for all the people who were giving me hell for losing weight), I actually ate more then I ever have before on this plan!!!!! 



Hellooo Cauliflower Pizza Base!
Check out my facebook page for the recipe:
https://www.facebook.com/melvfitness

Although the food looks plain, the diet plan gave me a personal mission to prove that healthy eating could be delicious. This challenge certainly unleashed my inner nonna on some damn good food! I honestly believe there is a healthy alternative to any food.. you’ve just got to be creative.

How much did I train?

I aimed to have 2 rest days a week, an average week looked like this:
Monday: Weights 30mins to an hour
Tuesday: Training with Anthony & Combat Class (1 hr cardio)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Pump Class & Weights Session

Friday: Weights Session 3O mins to an hour

Saturday: Sprints or Spin Class

Sunday: Rest

A week out from the photoshoot I sat down with Anthony and we finalized my last week of nutrition which involved a delightful process of water loading which had me drinking 5litres of water for 3 days, and cutting carbs, then switching from that to carb loading and water depletion.. I went from pee’ing every 2 minutes to wanting to lick the inside of the freezer..

So how’d I go? Here are the results from the DEXA scan

The yellow is the fat
Left is April- Right is now. 
A little less junk in the trunk!

Component	13/4/2012	25/9/2012	Total Loss
Fat	12kg	8kg	-4kg
% Bodyfat	22%	17%	5%

These are self taken measurements (I didn’t have one from the start date, however I had from March this year)

Date	27/3/12	26/9/12	Loss
Waist	66	63	-3cm
Hip	82	70	-12cm
R Thigh	55	51	-4cm
L Thigh	55	51	-4cm
Bust	83	76	-7cm
Butt	94	86	-8cm
		TOTAL	-38cm

Well I am not quite at cheese grating standard, but I can honestly say I am happy with my figure the way it is. I feel like it finally reflects the amount of training I do, I now have goals to work on building muscle so that next time I lean out there will be actually be some muscle underneath!

Ive made a lot of sacrifices to get what i wanted, I ate an absolute truckload of chickens & drank more then my body-weight in protein shakes, but if it was supposed to be 'as easy as 2 minutes a day on the Ab Swing Pro' my mum would have an 8 pack by now. (again, no offense mum)

One of the hardest things is to have willpower when it comes to food, especially in the teaching profession (they just love a good old fashion sugar filled morning tea!) Its hard to say no to food, whether it be because it tastes good, youve never tried it before, or the fact that someone has made it especially for you. Its hard to be 23 and have a social life that doesnt revolve around food and alcohol.. but as time went on, it got easier and eventually people didn't bother offering me the food because they knew i wouldn't have it. "Willpower is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets"- I dont know who said it, but they were so right.

I have many people to thank, and a whole lot of chickens! But seriously, a big thank you to all my friends and family who have just been awesome, and cooked me healthy meals! A special mention to Charin, Sarah Cucuzzella, Simone Lanz, Gareth & Chrissy Clay for all the advice, chats & support you've given me.. and of course to my trainer Anthony who had a little obsession with smashing my hamstrings, they are still burning..

Ive learnt so much by taking on this challenge.. Especially in regards to smart training & quality nutrition. I personally believe there are two key elements to understand when you want to change your body, those being consistency and patience. Reality TV may have you thinking its achievable to loose 10kg in a few weeks, but in the real world, its going to take a hell of a lot longer then that. If you are consistent with your training & focus on eating clean natural & nutritious foods, the changes will come, but it will happen slowly.. I thought I could do this in 8 weeks and it ended up taking about 25…

So that is it, mission accomplished- and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Dedication certainly pays off.. now if you don’t mind, I think I might go eat an entire avocado..  Mel xx 

If you are after a DEXA scan you can book online to have it done in the city (Melbourne) through this website: http://www.bodyscan.com.au

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