You cannot stick with your diet, you don’t understand you need to diet at all, that you have fat to lose, that you are not as muscular as you wish, that you cannot buy yourself a trainer, that you are tired in the morning to do cardio, tired to do cardio at night, that you don’t sleep well if you need to work out in the am.

It’s not my fault that:

You feel it’s unfair you need to work just as hard as everyone else has to. You feel you are not “genetically gifted” or that you are not living in California. Or you are too old or too weak or too slow or too poor or too rich.

You gotta get real. You gotta stop looking for cookie cutter plans or perfect plans. Stop making plans that are perfect on paper just to see you never start doing them for real. A plan is a plan is a plan. it is on a paper for christ’s sake! the doing you need to actually DO, wow, that was a new one huh?

You think I love doing every workout? You think I never lose motivation? Think I am happy happy go lucky every day? You think I don’t have to work on staying positive?

You ask me about solutions or perfect combos of diet, training, cardio. I am not a know-it-all, I am not a dictionary! I know nothing more than you do really! I mean, all the info is out there to go find! We got internet people! We got books! We have dvds! Seminars! You name it! I know LESS today than I did a year ago it feels like! It’s always like that: you learn something just to figure out you know even less in general.

I do not know the perfect solution on how to get ripped, get lean, stay muscular, stay motivated. All I have is MY way of doing it. It’s a concept, YES, but still it is JUST A PLAN ON A PAPER until you USE it. You got to USE it.

I am fed up with dreamers or planners who work hours on the perfect workout and diet regimen. It’s so perfect that it intimidates you so hard you always find a solution on how to wait another day; Like “what if there is an even more optimum way to do it?” Well, listen to this: there is no perfect way to both be muscular and cut and happy!!!!!! it’s an eternal balance lever!

I’ve had it with people who want all the results and believe I will bring it to them. So when those people cannot live up to what they need to DO, who’s to blame: well, Pauline is, right?

In my whole life I never felt someone owed me. I never felt someone needs to guide me. There was never people who I felt they were supposed to help me. I never assumed someone was supposed to give back. What is that “giving back” we always talk about? Someone accomplishes a goal and then BOOM that should be free info and free resource? With that mindset, let all successful restaurants serve free food only, let all doctors do free surgeries only, let all lawyers fight lawsuits for free, and all banks should borrow people money for free! YUP! what a wonderful world!

It does not WORK this way. Start doing more yourself instead of blaming others for “you not making it”. Damn, all these excuses… it’s like they never stop coming!!! Who invents them??????

My very very low readings “show” I am on the limit of dying, LOL, because the body needs some essential fats. BUT THAT JUST PROVES MY POINT that ALL readings are misreading in general. I mean, no way all I have is 4% body fat. I must have more of it inside my body etc. My joints feel great, my skin is soft etc, so whatever my body fat says, IT IS JUST A REFERENCE POINT for me to use when I track changes.

I cannot say the above enough because I do not want anyone to assume I walk around believing “yeah I’m 4% for REAL”. I do not care! I care about the changes from one time to another! And for me it meant I lost the right weight, heck it could have been all muscle I lost and same fat right? I did not seem to lose any muscle at all! Just the little fat I had to start with.

I am very happy. I achieved the look I wanted. It took way more work than I expected  but it makes perfect sense since the leaner you are the harder you got to work to get even leaner. I feel terrific. I am once again petite, I can be a muscular chick in the right lightning and setting AND I can be a lean, almost skinny model or a curvy lady if I want. I am proud of what I accomplished because what I just did was a full competition prep I realize.

I’ve never done this much intense cardio every day day in and day out before. A few years back I was just smaller, then I got the muscle maturity, got too BIG to audition for gigs etc, NOW I feel my body is BACK!!!

Here are the caliper readings for those who want to compare:

TODAY:

triceps 3,

bi 2,

hip4,

back 4,

thigh 5,

ab 3.5.

sum of 3 & 4: bf 4% & 8%

weight 115 lbs

BEFORE my 115 project:

Tri 5

bi 3,

hip 3.5,

ab 4,

back 4, t

high 9.5

body fat sum of 3 and 4:  7%  & 10%

Weight 121 lbs

And no, I did not celebrate my accomplishment with pizza or ice cream…;-)

So, how did I do this? Did I change my diet? NO, I always follow my FD concept. I increased my cardio with 300%. And I did not miss ANY session and trained 6 to 7 days a week for 13 weeks straight. Now today I celebrate with a day off…. Feels wonderful.

I have plenty of photos etc, will take more tomorrow, but I am having problem with uploading, so it will have to wait. You do find them on facebook though!:-)

But, Trident, Orbits and the other big brands contain stuff I don’t want. So it was time to move on and find gum that better fits my lifestyle. So, here you go ZAPP!

New in the webshop, click and buy!

There is a difference between being a pure health nut and being on a mission to own a body that looks like it’s chiseled out of stone and imported directly from the statues in Ancient Greece.

My health is my top priority, without it what do I have? But, at the same time my goal is to look a certain way: very little body fat, striated muscle, cuts and definition. So, that means I cannot just add this power food and this super nutrient and that immune booster or that recovery product. Why? Because the sum of it will lead to a surplus of calories. A surplus means harder time to get lean.

The more variety of food you got, the bigger the risk you will over eat. You will have too many flavors and tastes to choose from so you will eat more because it tastes more and it tastes new. New tastes trigger a bigger appetite.

Fighter Diet is based upon some of the most nutrient rich yet low in calorie foods we have: broccoli. cabbage. Mustard. Lean proteins. I eat an abundance of vegetables of different colors and families. That is where I get my power food.

Here are some of the most overrated foods for what my goals are and remember once again, I did not say they are not healthy, BUT healthy foods can increase your body fat just as well as junk food.  How else did you think humans survived when the food was scarce?

If you have a hard time realizing and accepting that healthy foods can make you just as fat as junk (but your blood panel will look better with healthy foods though), you are setting yourself up for never achieving your goals in the gym. You cannot eat a lot just because it is healthy, unless your metabolism is a bonfire….:

HONEY  -it’s sugar. And it has fructose in it. Fructose does not restore your muscles with fuel as well as other sugars and starches.

DARK CHOCOLATE – cocoa is very healthy and I eat a lot of it. But not CHOCOLATE. I don’t care it is dark, there is still sugar and other add-ons to the raw cocoa that defeats the purpose of eating chocolate for the antioxidant benefits.

FRUIT – oh yes, I know people hate when I mention I think fruit is overrated. Vegetables are always healthier than fruit, fruit has usually double or triple the amount of calories. And it is sweet. You think that is what you get the best results from?….

MILK -if you use it to up your calories, to get some carbs in your protein shake etc, fine, but having it for quenching thirst? That is for babies!!! Milk contains sugars too, milk sugars, which release insulin. So when you try to get leaner that effect can hold you back if you overuse it.

MEAT  -those who say you need red meat to grow. Come on, the micronutrients found in beef you can get from a multivitamin. There is no reason to eat meat to build muscle. You can grow just as well with eggs, fish, dairy etc. I don’t eat meat due to ethical reasons (I do not want to be one more burden on the horrible meat industry) and I am just as fine without it.

FAST CARBS POST WORKOUT: yeah yeah yeah, I know they are super super for recovery and to reverse the catabolic effect of training. BUT when you are trying to get leaner, remember to count those calories in your pre and post workout nutrition! They are not “special” because they come after you’ve been training. You cannot be optimal for both leaning out and gaining at the same time, you CAN do both but it takes a lot longer time and it is easier to screw up that process… But realize there are rules and then there are times to bend them.

I remember about 4 years ago I stopped having carbs post workout. The reason was I rather have triple amounts of veggies at night instead of some lousy fast sugary carbs post workout. All I wanted was to be able to EAT myself FULL every DAY. I was scared to death first, thought I’d shrink. Nope. Nope. Nope. As you know I gained 5 lbs of lean muscle since I stopped competing in 2007…… And I’ve never used carbs post workout.

What do I want to say by that? Well, nutrient timing is fantastic if you are a hardgainer. But if you are female, have a pretty slow metabolism and you have plenty of muscle, ditch the carbs post workout and see how more cut and lean you’ll get! Don’t do something because everyone tells you you NEED to do it. It’s not proven that you NEED to do SHIT! Go with your intuition and pick who you listen to.

I know I need to refeed more often because I train more than ever and I hit the wall FAST. And the closer I get to 115 the more frequent I hit the wall. Most of the times I get drained and feel unmotivated when the scale shows two pounds up (like today) and I am super puffy. I’m sorry but I detest walking around like a water baloon.

I trained back and I felt small and weak. But it did not look it in the mirror. So, I felt like a sissy pussy trainer, muscles were tired and not up for it. I did execute all I had set up for myself. But every set was “just one more, it is the last one”.

Cardio again…. Too tired to get the heart rate up. So it took darn long time to burn off the calories! I switched machine to machine. “Why not just go home and be more energized tomorrow” my mind told me. NO. Because I decided I was gonna do it. It’s just to DO it. It’ll be easier tomorrow, but these workouts that feel like workout from hell, are the ones that build character. I cannot quit prematurely. I do not stop until each ONE calorie is expended as PLANNED. I do NOT want to write in my training diary that “Pauline was too tired so she stopped and went home”. it does not look good. I just gotta do. DO.

I was so exhausted I did not even bother to put my music on. That of course did not help either. But I cannot listen to songs I’ve listened to too often, it’s worse than no music at all. I’ve had no time to itune-update my library and all songs are bland now….

Walking home was another cardio workout it felt. The stairs sucked. Man, I am BEAT. I need a refeed. I do. It’s just I am so used to tough it out. But now, I do way more intense cardio than I used to do. Before it was 30 minutes intense 6 days a week. No, about 4 times that at different intensity levels. I can tell I am a bit worn out and need a day off because I cannot get my heart rate up for my peaks. I’m so stubborn and right now I need to either take a day off to recover OR refeed. I think I’ll rest first…..

I suppose tomorrow I’ll wake up all energized again. PLEASE PLEASE let that be, I will think about that state of mind and that feeling when I go to bed so I wake up that way. YOU GOT TO PLAN HOW YOU WANNA FEEL. I WANT to feel energized.

I did not manage to do it today BUT I still stuck to the plan so I can go to sleep tonight without any disappointment with myself.

Gentlemen, if we don’t return your smile it means NOT INTERESTED. And if you don’t get any attention, whatever you do do not walk up to us, knock on our shoulder and say “hello, I want to introduce myself!”. The headphones mean “leave me alone”.

Gentlemen, just because we want to work in with a machine it does not mean we want to start a conversation. It does not mean we want spotting. And if we use heavier weights than you it is not to de-MAN you, honestly I’m sure we are not even aware of what you are doing or with what.

Gentlemen, please understand that NO ring on the finger does NOT mean “available”. And we do not appreciate those “ooh sorry”-bumping into us that we do notice you try to do several times.

Men, many stretching moves LOOK a bit inviting, BUT it is just a groin stretch or something like that, we are not showing off and especially not to get guys looking.

Gentlemen, please do not run up to us when we do chest presses and say “it looked like you need a spotter”. If we did we’d bring our boyfriend or guy best friend. No woman wants a stranger to spot her.

Guys, standing in the restroom line does not mean we want to start a convo here either. So please do not rush up to the restroom line just to get a chance to talk.

Gentlemen, no, fit women do not fall in love with bodybuilders ONLY. A lot of us do not even LIKE bodybuilders. Do not ever believe that if you only had more meat on your frame you’d get more dates.

Gentlemen, just because you have a killer body does not mean we are into you or you have all we want. If we don’t look at you we are not interested! We actually don’t care about your six pack if it is not combined with a CLEVER brain.

Gentlemen, women are not super impressed with strength feats. We are super impressed with good social skills! Pick up on our vibes! Just because you make us smile, laugh or TALK to you does not mean we are ready to go on a date or even want to ever go on dates with you.

ok, NOW OVER TO THE LADIES….

Ladies, do not come to the gym in tiny hot pants and a skimpy sport bra and expect respect. Nobody trains hard wearing that because you will need to be so self aware and conscious about your outfit since the odds are something’s gonna pop out or fall out of place.

Ladies, if you squat with white pants with camel toe and no thong, of course guys gonna watch. Heck, even I watch that! It’s just very attention demanding and it smells desperation! Cover up, please!

Ladies, if you flaunt all you got, don’t get all worked up that guys hit on you in the gym. You are showing with your whole body you are asking for attention. Unless that is what you want, pick and choose what you flaunt so you don’t flaunt everything at once….

Ladies, I know some of you love to go train to flirt and check out guys. I understand… BUT all that makeup you should wear out on town, NOT while sweating! Who are you trying to impress with that stage face on?

Ladies, if you cannot work up a sweat because you want to look perfect while working out, you will be taken for a bimbo.

If you want respect, give it.

I have never had any real problems with guys treating me with respect. I believe it must be because I am not sending out the vibes I am there to meet men! So, make sure you got the right mindset and reason for going at all. Your true colors will shine through!

Anyway, I am now setting up my video cam in order to chat online face to face with clients instead of just emailing. It’s more efficient because writing does take a lot of typing lol. Talking is easier for both the client and for me. Add the benefit of having to face me each week to talk about the week that past…lol. Gotta stay on track then huh, cannot hide behind words in an email!

Of course, regular emails will still be the number one communication tool, so don’t worry if your computer has no video cam.

I will also offer my chats as video chats too: 30 minute sessions. More info will come.

Now it’s final night in NYC, so gotta make the most out of it before heading home!

Some people get so stuck in this convenience zone they never get out of town! I always refused to be one of them because when I am old and waiting to die I don’t want to see my life as “well, I never missed a workout anyway!” lol. I am not living my life in the gym fish bowl. I love seeing new places.

Before I moved to America I went to visit here several times. I used up all my saved money and went for vacation or more like researching my future country.

As strict as I am with my training and diet, I would not let that be an obstacle for traveling. All it takes is planning and prepping. I happen to be a pro at that.

I research the area where I am going long time ahead. Get all info about the gyms close by, I call to check their hours as well as I call the gym to make sure they really DO have more than one treadmill as it says on their website…. Food wise, it depends on how long I will be gone. A few days and I can just rely on discipline: I rather starve than eat something off my plan, but this is NOT something I recommend. I do remember when I was younger I did give in and had crappy food when I got too hungry.

I research the destination for wholefood markets if I am in the U.S, I google for asian markets in order to get my shirataki, I bring rescue pink salmon and protein powder, I always bring wheat bran and BCAAs. I prepack my pre and post workout protein and aminos. I measure up my pistachio nuts in bags.

I do travel with some compulsivities, yes: I do bring my scale. I do bring my diet note book and my training log.

Hotel rooms always have a water boiler, so with that I am good, I can rinse my noodles and eat to stay full. I usually call and ask for a microwave delivered to the room, but if I am going by car, I usually bring my own! Just to be sure.

So, what do I do with my veggies? Well, I research for the closest super market and get a cab there when I arrive. THAT or I actually bring my cabbage! It does not spoil. And I bring mustard.

I am planning a trip to Asia later this year. The food is well known to be splendid but tasting new foods is not my prime motiv to travel, so I won’t really get into that. I will look for exotic veggies though.

It is all about planning. Life is too short to be too convenient, but that does not mean you need to compromise!