FEM CAMP DAY 2 - X Men of Society!

I'm on a break right now for day 2 of camp. I am soon to be going back downstairs for another 3 hours...just got in a healthy dinner and a nap and figured I'd post an update.

This morning kicked off at 9am talking to this guy here named Nathan. He is a nutritionist and used to compete himself. He also personal trains. But he was here to talk about nutrition. Man, was it good. He didn't tell us anything about specific diets to follow. But explained that when he helps people he looks at their blood stabilization. I'm going to explain this as best I can without a picture. But basically, when your glucose levels get too high then your body will start to hold onto fat. Conversely, if they get too low, that is when you get shaky and have cravings. So if you have low glucose, then you end up eating something sweet...well it sends the levels through the roof and then guess what you are not burning fat anymore. So it is really important to eat to where this balance is maintained. Similarly with stress and watching cortisol levels. I'm really fortunate that I don't eat when I'm stressed. Because I guess that is what most people do and it means that you have spiked the cortisol levels as well as the glucose levels.

Also, Nathan explained that many fad diets don't work because people never take the time to understand what they do after the diet is over. And the problem is your body lost weight really fast so it remembers more what you did before you were on the diet because that really wasn't that long ago. So it is sooooo easy to gain it all right back. The same is true for competitors. You have to be careful not to be done with the contest and then just binge because you will gain a ton of weight right away. And every time you cycle like this it gets harder and harder to loose the weight the next time. He told us some pretty scary stories. So that is a reason to try and stick to this lifestyle for good and not to go back to old habits!

Also, he said some really motivational things. That hit me close to home because I've definitely had times like he was describing:
1. No one should talk about "off-season". This is a bad term because it means you think you don't have to try as hard when you aren't getting ready for a contest.
2. No one should use the term "cheat" meal. It has a bad connotation as well. So you "cheat" and you feel like you did something wrong, and then you go to the gym as punishment when really the gym is something you have always loved to do. So instead, you should say "reward" meal.
3. Nathan explained that we are the "X-men" of society. Meaning, only 3 percentile of the population do what we do. Just take a trip to the mall (I've done this!) and watch people. You will realize that you are way better looking than the majority. And other people will also be looking at you because you look like, well, a freak. We don't look normal compared the majority of the US which is overweight. But with this territory comes a lot of difficulty and a major change in your lifestyle. He explained that you need to just shut the door on your previous life and tell yourself it's over and you are never going back. This is something that I feel like I've been really close to doing but needed someone to tell me. My friends keep talking about how I'll be back at all these parties and back to normal soon...and I've been thinking "no, not really, I like myself better now"....so I was glad to have someone tell me that I needed to "shut the door". I'm ready to do that.

I'm meeting one on one with Nathan tomorrow. I'm going to discuss my current nutrition plan with him and what I've been doing, and show him a picture from January and one from a couple weeks ago. I want his thoughts on what I'm doing and before I pay Amy $800 I want to see if I should consider going with someone like Nathan. After all, if I'm going to spend a ton of money, lets make sure the help is the best. Also because Amy is pretty liberal, and I sometimes think I could be doing better than I am but because she isn't that tough on me I get away with too much. She lets me eat some processed foods and isn't 100% clean...when I lost 20 pounds last year all on my own, it was because I ate 100% clean. So I'm a big fan of clean eating and a true believer in it.

Also, at posing today, Nathan had the opportunity to look at my poses closely in prep for our meeting tomorrow. He is looking for my strengths and weaknesses in body parts to see what I should change and where I need the most help. This is another thing I've never been able to do with Amy as we have never met one on one. What an opportunity to see if someone even thinks I have what it takes to compete in 19 weeks! I can not wait to see what he has to say!

Alright I will post about the remainder of the day later. I was extra excited about the nutrition portion so I knew it would take up a lot.