Aug 23 2012
3 Weeks to Awesome – Fitness Measurements & Final Check In Success!
Today is your final check in! Measure up by taking your own fitness measurements. You are a different person compared to who you were when you started this program 3 weeks ago.
You have worked out hard. You have learned so much about nutrition. You dug deep within yourself to find motivation, perseverance, dedication, determination and success. Today I want you reflect on your accomplishments. Today you measure up, then celebrate!
xoxo ~ Cori
VIDEO: 3 Weeks to Awesome – Final Check In Success!
VIDEO: 3 Weeks to Awesome – Final Check in Success!
Invoke Your Super Power: Stay Accountable with Fitness Measurements and Pics
Throughout this program you have learned how to take your own measurements properly. Today you take your final measurements for this program, but I want you to stay accountable by taking measurements about once a month from here on out. You could take them as often as once a week, but not more often than that!
I actually want you to commit to not taking measurements or weighing yourself more often than once a week. I want you to keep accountable by measuring your success, but not become obsessed by the measurement. Become passionate about the journey. Enjoy the ride. Don’t get hung up on the numbers.
Keeping track of your measurements is a tool when used properly, with the right approach and a healthy frame of mind. Keep it healthy. Don’t let it become unhealthy.
You can follow my guide on how to take your own measurements here: Guide to Taking Measurements
Take your measurements. Take your pictures. Front. Back. Right. Left. If you’re feeling brave, post your measurements on the Guide to Taking Measurements blog post right under mine. You can update them as you take them. It’s a great way to hold yourself accountable.
If that is a little too intimidating for you right now, I also made this BPM.Tv Measurement Sheet for you. It’s a google doc that you can download. Just click the picture or the link.
You can also see my measurements and my progress toward my goal by clicking on the image below.
Wondering what fitness model measurements look like in the off season?
Want to know what my own personal bikini competitor measurements were?
Curious to see where my figure competitor measurements were during competition and during off season?
Check it out. These are my real measurements. I use the exact same progress sheet I’m sharing with you. Make sure you are measuring yourself based on your own goals. Don’t compare yourself to me or anyone else. Compare yourself to the version of you that measured up 3 weeks ago.
I’m making great progress, but I will change my program slightly based on my most current measurements. It looks like I’m going to need to reduce my beloved cardio just a little in order to help my body put some more muscle on.
My diet seems to be working well. I might make a few adjustments to my workout regime to help my upper body develop.
That’s how I want you to use your own measurements. They don’t define you. They are a tool to help to guide you on your journey.
Follow Through
I like to post something about cardio and nutrition at the end of every post because it is important.
Cardio and nutrition are going to be two of the most important parts of achieving your results, no matter what what your goal is. You can not work off your nutritional decisions with exercise. What? You can’t eat a donut, then just do 2 hours of cardio and *poof* it will be like it never happened? That’s what I’m saying. Come on. No. You can’t.
Your body doesn’t work like a simple addition or subtraction problem. It is not calories in vs. calories out. What you eat has a chemical effect on your body. Even if you do cardio to ‘burn it off’ the chemical effect is still present. Different sugars have an affect. Different proteins have an effect. Different fats have an effect. When you take a vitamin, you understand that it has an effect in your body that cardio will not ‘work off,’ right? Food works the same way. Different foods have positive and negative chemical effects within our body. You can’t just work them off.
You have to unlock and unleash the body fat by working with your body in every aspect. Your body works in harmony like a symphony. When one instrument is off, the entire song doesn’t sound right. A good steady drumbeat can’t make up for a guitar that’s out of tune. 2 hours of cardio cannot make up for a donut. Or pizza. Or macaroni and cheese. Or wine and a baguette. Got it?
Cardio
I do a minimum of 45 minutes of stairs with intervals as cardio each and every day. When I’m trying to lose fat I usually do two separate 45 minute cardio sessions a day. Even while I have been recuperating from the car crash, I have still been able to do at least one session of my daily cardio. I love my cardio and I like to stay conditioned. I personally prefer to do a little more cardio than the average figure competitor, then also eat a little more. It takes more time and effort, but I feel the pay off is well worth it. The pay off is that I feel awesome. I feel energized by cardio. I love it.
Post Workout Nutrition
When I was trying to gain muscle I finished every workout with a protein shake, animal protein, and some complex and simple carbs. These are healthy choices for gaining or for performance. These are not the right choices for me for trying to lose fat, define and sculpt muscle. Trying to define and sculpt muscle is different from gaining muscle. This means I need to eat something different.
When I am trying to lose fat and sculpt muscle, I am much more strict with my diet. Only true food sources. No protein powder.
I finish up every workout with lean protein from true food sources (a little red meat, white chicken, white fish and egg whites are best) and some dark green veggies or Super Greens mixed with water only. Again, no protein powder. If you are a vegetarian you would most likely need to supplement with protein powder. If you are not, let me say again that true food sources work best for losing body fat.
Even when I am trying to lose fat, I still FEED my body.
Want more information about nutrition? Check out BPM.tv Nutrition 101.
You can also look at my current personal fat loss diet in order to get ideas on how to develop your own nutrition plan.
Cori Ann’s Prepping Fat Loss Diet:
You can click on the image above to link to my fat loss diet to get details about what works for me, but here is the basic breakdown.
This is my meal plan while I am trying to lose fat and define muscle. My carbohydrates come from complex sources only and are kept to about 100 grams per day.
My sugar is kept at about 18 grams per day. That’s it. That is less than what is in one banana. That means fruit is not in my fat loss nutrition plan. My sugars come from minimal amounts that naturally occur in veggies and in the complex carbs I eat each day. No matter what your goal, I highly recommend you watch your sugar intake, even ‘healthy’ sugar like fruit, and moderate it to a minimum based on your own personal goals.
My protein is kept at about 250 grams per day and comes from high quality, organic, free range (or wild) lean animal sources. My fats are kept at about 40 grams per day and come from my protein and complex carbohydrate choices (not additional plant sources like olive oil, coconut, nuts, or avocado).
That equals about 1800 calories per day. I don’t drop it much lower than that.
I eat natural, organic, whole foods that I cook myself, or if possible I eat them raw. I drink 1 to 2 gallons of water and a couple cups of either coffee or tea. There is no mysterious, magical diet. If you want to lose bodyfat you need to eat a fair amount of lean protein and A LOT of green veggies at every meal. Period.
Did you like this post? Tell me in the comments!
Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments. Don’t be shy! Your comments may help to inspire another. Your questions may help someone else who has the exact same question, but is too shy to ask. I love hearing from you!
Sep 04, 2012 @ 09:14:51
Doing measurements right now though don’t feel confident to take photos yet
. But sooner than later.
Sep 21, 2012 @ 06:36:33
Cori, this has truly been an awesome 3 weeks. I have learned so much and most importantly learned the value of consistency. That value was my main goal to achieve in this program and I did it! Over the course of 3 weeks I have lost 13.75 inches and have more energy than I thought possible. I personally love the name “3 Weeks to Awesome” and could not think of a more perfect title.
Sep 21, 2012 @ 07:42:19
Tanya your progress in 3 weeks shows your determination and consistency! You ARE awesome!
Can’t wait to see your progress over the next few months!
Sep 21, 2012 @ 08:51:13
Thank you Cori for all your help during these past three weeks. I have learned a lot, especially about nutrition. Like you said, there is a lot of information out there and you have given us the tools to understand making the search not so daunting and scary. I appreciate you giving kudos and providing links to those sites/fitness people you like and admire as it shows true leadership qualities in wanting to share those things with others. As far as the name ‘Three weeks to Awesome’. I say leave it.. it suits your spunky and energetic personality and you know what they say ‘Imitiation is the highest form of flatery’ so nerd fitness should feel very flattered
Even though I hit a speed bump with my own fitness this week, I look forward to the next few weeks in working around it and getting my body in tip top, healthy shape! Thank you again!