Category: nutrition

Posted in ashley horner, Charlie Mike, fitness, glutes, nutrition, Sweet Cakes

Less than 30 days – my transformation so far

Posted on by janineop

I promised myself to take photo every 30 days to monitor my fitness progress. So as embarrassing as it is, here ya go! My specific goal is to gain some muscle, specifically in my glutes. I have been using Ashley Horner’s Charlie Mike Program (free app) along with her “Sweet Cakes” program ($50). Granted, I haven’t finished certain parts of the program when it calls for extended cardio because I don’t want to lose any weight. For example, today was three rounds of a 1 mile run. No thanks. But I added in 100 walking lunges just to fill in a little bit of the gap I left.  And the other day her Sweet Cakes program asked for 3 sets of Pulsing split lunges with weight x 10 each side (10 pulses on EACH SIDE = 1 REP….). I just didn’t have time for 600 lunges that day.  But I have been following them 80% of the time. This program is a no BS one that kicks me in the gut every time. And the workouts are all DIFFERENT! I get bored so easy in the gym that this is critical for me.

I workout 4-5  days a week. But since I’m older, recovery takes longer. But I’m so excited to build a new body that I keep at it. And I keep my workouts to around an hour. I do make sleep a priority to help with recovery and take magnesium citrate every night. Ill post about sleep hygiene and some awesome sleep tools later.

Now here is the hard part….nutrition. I eat super healthy every day just because that’s how Im programmed. But my macros are somewhere around 2300 calories a day split into anywhere from 60g F 220P 220P to 60g fat 180P 260gC. I’ve had it professionally calculated and also have used several macro tools (bodybuilding.com has a great one).  The common factor is the low fat. I love fat. Not unhealthy fat but the good kind: avocados, olive oil, butter, ghee, MCT oil, cod liver oil, you name it. So eating high protein and carbs is hard for me. I did find a kind of secret weapon to help me: natural weight gainer with only FIVE natural ingredients and a killer flavor filler to make it taste extra delicious.  One serving is 1200 calories, 50g P and 250g C. I use HALF (600 calories, 25g P and 125g C).  It has like 1g F thus the flavor filler! It is made of tapioca, whey AND casein, coconut sugar and vanilla. That’s IT! It costs me about $3 per serving. Not bad.

So, Ill be taking this consistently for the next 30 days and cutting down my fat intake (sigh). Im curious to see what the January picture will look like!

Posted in brain focus, business, education, nootropics, nutrition, Uncategorized

Need focus and increased sleep quality?

Posted on by janineop

I am DEEP into ‘Tools of Titans’ in between studying and working out.  I read about Yogi Soothing Caramel Bedtime tea as a trick to improve sleep quality. I read the ingredients and was pleased to find L-Theanine as one of the ingredients. This is an amino acid that helps with focus, relaxation and weight loss. I don’t need to lose weight, but I sure love any natural way to increase focus and sleep quality. Since taking magnesium every single night as part of my routine, my sleep has deepened. I have great dreams and feel rested. But I always love finding other ways to support this. The Energy Teas have both L-Theanine and great ingredients like Ashwagandha and Green tea extract.  FYI-The combination of L-Theanine and Green Tea is a common formula in many nootropics for brain clarity.  Give these a try. They are $3 a pack.

Yogi Vanilla Spice Perfect Energy

Yogi Raspberry Passion Perfect Energy

Yogi Soothing Caramel Bedtime

Posted in cool stuff, fitness, glutes, growth, nutrition

Sweet Cakes i.e. nice glutes

Posted on by janineop

I’ll admit it. I have a flat, sad little butt. Probably from sitting for the last 20 years. To try and inflate it a bit, I enlisted the help of Ashley Horner’s “Sweet Cakes” Glute program. I  am not a fan of the porno pic on the cover (although I am sure the FedEx print guys were super happy) but the workouts are very targeted. Its $50 (a lot, I know) for 13+ pages. But I guess if you shell out that kind of cash for 13 pages, you probably will use it out of guilt.

The workouts are supposed to be used the end of a regular leg day. I would recommend that you don’t do this. They are about 45 minutes of intense work if you don’t stop to gab, look at your phone or lurk at people.  I don’t have 2 hours to spend in the gym so I do these workouts 3 days a week by themselves.

I am halfway through and although my butt looks nothing like the front cover, I can say that my glutes are smoked at the end of each workout. I took my ‘before’ shots (eecchh) and hope to take some ‘after’ ones in about 6 months.  Or sooner…

My opinion? Buy it if you are serious about building your glutes.

And don’t forget, nutrition needs to follow your intense workout. So plan to re-feed your muscles when you are done (20g protein, 20-40g carbs, 5g or less of fat).

Posted in books, business, cooking/recipes, fitness, nutrition

Chasing a mirage: my observations of the fitness and entrepreneur industry

Posted on by janineop

EVERYONE out there is out to make a profit. Keep this in mind. Some are better marketers than others and have mastered the art of selling. My goal is to build a business based primarily on honest, real referrals. No tactics and overselling. I am also so tired of seeing perfect physiques on social media selling products with the promise that this is all it takes or will make your transformation so much easier. It won’t.

Here are some quick key things I have learned (and paid dearly for this knowledge) that I hope you can learn from.

Fitness professionals with PERFECT BODIES

Here is your reality check: Those perfect bodies that you drool over on the internet have a few things in common that you may not have.

  • They are young and genetically gifted to have a certain muscular development. Yes, some don’t have to work so hard to get that booty or massive arms. Most are ‘mesomorphs’, which means their muscular development comes easier. And as you get older (me!), its harder to gain muscle and retain it. Most older fitness pros work on maintenance more than anything. Don’t believe me? Just google some older fitness stars from past like Cory Everson or even Arnold. Our bodies are changing as we get older. You can still look fantastic, but you’ll have to work harder and lower your expectations. Recovery time is longer, you have to eat a lot cleaner and you just can’t do as much as you used to. Give your body a break. There’s a saying that says “You can have performance or longevity. You can’t have both”.  Why? Because high performance takes a toll on your body.
  • Eating is a FULL-TIME job for them. Yes, they work out as well but nutrition macros, timing and quantity are key for those perfect frames. And its hard to do. These are the people that get one cheat meal a week, can’t spontaneously eat out and weigh/measure or have learned portions for everything they eat.
  • The photos are usually taken after weeks of prep work. Now there are some unicorns out there that look great all the time. But I don’t work off exceptions. I work off the rules. Look at some of your favorite fitness pros off season. They look kinda soft in comparison. Thats because its almost impossible to look photo-op perfect all the time. One of my favorite fitness pros is Ashley Horner. I have seen her eBook photos (amazing) and some Instagram photos she has sent where she wasn’t as cut and doesn’t look as dazzling. Its normal and be grateful that they have the same struggles as you and I.
  • Stick to your specific goals (ie dropping body fat from 30% to 25% in 3 months) instead of trying to look like somebody else. You never will and you will be just disappointed and probably broke after buying so much crap from them. Look your best self so other can be inspired by YOU!

Foodie and Cooking sites

Do you honestly think your favorite Instagram foodie post person or cookbook author cook this way everyday? Think again. These are again photo prep shots that take time.

  1. I own 100,000 cookbooks. I have made maybe 10 recipes from them. Why? Because who has time to plan, buy weird ingredients from Amazon or 16 different markets and then time to cook for 3 hours? Not me!
  2. Here are few books that I use a lot because they are fast and real: One Pot Paleo Pressure Cooker Perfection (*you will need a pressure cooker but trust me, you will want one if you have limited time to cook) Whole 30 Cookbook NomNomPaleo  The Best Simple Recipes
  3. Unless you have a professional chef in your house or someone whose job is to only cook all day, most people do just like you and I do: cook these recipes for special occasions and stick to the simple, quick recipes for real-time.  Its okay to cook your famous 30 minute lasagna that tastes great but looks really pathetic if you took a pic. And eating a salad filled with whatever you have in the fridge is fine too. Just give yourself a break already.

 

Business and Entrepreneurs 

I follow a lot of business podcasters and entrepreneurs. And they all have the same thing in common: they will get your attention, draw you in and then sell you something! So here are some tips:

  • A lot of these people give away priceless information FOR FREE. So take advantage of these gifts and stop when the sales pitch starts. You could literally go in debt buying eBooks, webinars, courses etc.  Start with the free information and go from there. Need more in-depth knowledge? Try free courses on Coursera.com or sign up for Udemy’s email list to take advantage of $10 courses (normally $200) that pop up. Reality check: you won’t read/watch all these stuff you want to buy from these marketers. And they are master sellers too. I have purchased courses which have fallen short or still sit in my in-box.
  • Go to Smartpassiveincome.com and download his free eBooks and podcasts. He is giving away a ton of information FOR FREE. Download the pdf transcriptions/show notes and learn from that too.  SideHustle.com is also a great one for free resources. I also love Chalene Johnson’s podcast. She gives you updates on social media and marketing tips FOR FREE.

 

The key takeaways are this. Give yourself a break. You can’t cook picture perfect meals every day (nobody can unless its their full-time job), perfect figures come at a price or are genetic abnormalities and don’t buy every little gadget someone sells you because you think it’ll be the magic product. Hard work, real life and realistic expectations are what you should shoot for.

*I will end with this: go BIG in your dreams and goals! But make them YOUR specific personal goals. For me, I want to build a solid business based on honesty and results within one year. And I am not afraid of failures.  I also want to build my idea of a perfect physique (more muscle, nice butt) in one year to help others with their goals.  And when I am successful, I will have more freedom to donate my time and money to charities I believe in that struggle. My end goal is not to get rich, its to help others. Period.

Posted in apps, cool stuff, education, fitness, growth, nutrition

Day 1 – Nov 30th

Posted on by janineop

Here are some gadgets, books and other tools I am using to help with my transformation:

  • “Strong” app for workout tracking
  • Jessie Hilgenberg and Ashley Horner training programs
  • Bodybuilding.com’s exercise database
  • Gauge Girl Training Macro Substitution Guide
  • progress photos (ugh….they sure tell the truth)

 

Here are some gadgets, books and other tools I am using to help with my business:

My year long internship!

  • Udemy courses on marketing, graphic design, and business (8 total)
  • Chalene Johnson’s Instagram Impact (I LOVED this!!)
  • pixaby for free stock photos
  • Mail Chimp (must learn)
  • Squarespace for my business website (love it!)
  • 99 designs for my logo (this could have waited

 

Here are some gadgets, books and other tools I am using for overall well being:

  • “headspace” app to meditate
  • reading “The One Thing”
  • notifications on my phone for: drinking water, meditation, being present, standing up straight and breathing.

My workout today:

Deadlifts (80% of 1 rm. 3 sets of 8)
Wall crawls (I died)
battle rope
pulls ups (assisted)
renegade rows
one arm rows
back extensions

*tried to do more but people kept talking to me and I had a time limit at the gym. Grrr.

Nutrition:
Clean except for two chocolates. I really need to eat more calories.

Meditation:
I am using Headspace. It wasn’t cheap ($100 for the year) but I figured I needed something good to get me started. Sat down…mind immediately wandered. Realized that my hip hurt  so I started stretching. I got maybe 4 minutes into it before I got up and began doing small chores.  Its only a 10 minute mediation and I failed miserably. Ill try again la mañana. 

Focus for tomorrow:

  1. Rest and recovery. I think I need to dial the weight training down to four days a week. Its harder to recover as I get older. The Ashley Horner program is really challenging but designed for those young folks who can spend 1-2 hours a day in the gym. Ill keep doing it.
  2. Mediation – I really need to meditate…Im stressed.
  3. Start internship tomorrow but I still want to start my Udemy courses too. Now I see why I need meditation…