Q&A

Let me start this entry by saying I am not a doctor, a nutritionist, a personal trainer, or an expert in the fitness field. All I can offer is the knowledge that I've gained over the course of my own weight loss journey and what has worked for me. What has worked for me might not necessarily work for you. Every single person's journey is different because every single person is different. You have to find what works for you, mostly though trial and error, and research. With that said let me address some of the questions I've received so far...


What is IIFYM?
 



     IIFYM stands for If It Fits Your Macros (Macros being short for macronutrients). The major macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates, and fat (fiber is also important). It is a far jump away from the normal "dieting" which involves majorly restricting your caloric intake. It's about fueling your body efficiently for fat loss. It is also called flexible dieting because as long as you're hitting your macronutrient goals (getting the right amount of protein, carbs, and HEALTHY fats) you can eat whatever you want within reason. By not forcing yourself to strict to a super strict diet you can really focus on something that's going to be sustainable long term and become that lifestyle change and not just a short term band wagon you're going to fall off of. The whole point is to fuel your muscles without damaging them, burn fat, and keep your daily energy at a good level (if you've ever majorly cut your carbs you know your energy level drops like a rock in a pond).
    I have done tons of different "diets" trying to lose weight (from Atkins, Weight Watchers, Paleo...) and while they certainly helped me to lose weight it ended up being something that was so restrictive for me that I couldn't sustain it long term. I'd follow it to the T but then that one time I'd have a "cheat meal" it would turn into a cheat day which turned into a cheat week which basically just amounted to me going back to my old ways. With tracking your macronutrients you can have that piece of pizza as long as you work it into your daily total without feeling guilty about it. The funny thing is you'll actually be eating more calories than you can imagine! My range (which is based on my specific current body fat % and my specific goals) goes from 1900-2650... that's a HUGEEEE difference from the 1600 I was trying to stay below (and My Fitness Pal told me I should be eating only 1200?!?!) I've only been doing this for a week so far but I am actually losing weight by eating more!!! It's just all about what you're eating. If you don't believe me do some research and see, it has worked for a ton of people looking to lean out and lose that fat without losing their lean muscle mass (which is what happens when you're body is in too severe of a caloric deficit. Your muscles will start to catabolize-eat themselves!!! And no one wants that!)
    Right now I'm eating every couple of hours and I've obviously added a lot more protein into my diet than I was eating. I try to get a mixture of protein, carbs, and healthy fats at every meal. Your protein can range from chicken, turkey, fish, beef, whey, to greek yogurt...eat things you like! Obviously you're going to want most of your carbs to come from fruits and vegetables but it's ok to have treats here and there (like a cookie or some goldfishies!) without feeling like you've completely sabotaged your entire diet. As long as you're hitting your daily goals it's all good! Lastly your healthy fats will be coming from nuts, eggs, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Oil... what have you.

For more information watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6H2edyPLU8 which goes into "clean dieting" vs IIFYM

One article I found that was superrrrr informative and based on someone's personal experience is http://corinanielsen.com/livefit/?p=362

And for more go to www.IIFYM.com which will give you a broader base to start at as well as containing a calculator that can help you determine your macronutrient needs for your goal. The most accurate way to calculate it is off of lean body mass (and the most accurate way to get that number is through a hydrostatic body fat test) but if you don't know your % and don't want to get the test there's also another option which is Mifflin-St Jeor-the difference being this one goes off of your total mass (your lean mass and fat mass) vs just your lean body mass.



 SUPPLEMENTS
   
    *Once again-not a doctor, nutritionist, personal trainer, or licensed anything lol these are products that I've started to take based on my own research and belief that they will help me achieve my goal*

 

 

 

 

1.) Creatine- The purpose of creatine is to build muscular growth and promote muscular endurance and recovery. It pulls water into your muscle's cells to hydrate and fill them. I take this in the morning before I do weight training.

 

2.) Glutamine- Glutamine is extremely important for your body's recovery. It promotes muscle growth, a healthy immune system, and helps reduce muscle breakdown. I take this in the morning after my workout and I take it at night before I go to bed.

 

3.) Digestive Enzymes- Digestive Enzymes help you break down food so that your body can most accurately obtain the nutrients from your food it needs. It supports a healthy immune system, helps with the digestion of protein and milk products, and helps keep you regular while inhibiting gas and bloating (which can occur when you're taking in a lot of protein or dairy, especially if your body isn't used to it). I take one capsule before every meal and I've definitely noticed I feel a lot better after my meals/throughout the day. 

 

 

If you've seen my posts on Facebook or Instagram you've seen I've developed an obsession with Cellucor products!!!

 

1.) Super HD- Super HD is a thermogenic that burns fat, boosts your metabolism, and gives you energy and increases your mental alertness. It comes in pill or powder form but through my research I've seen that it seems to go into effect a lot quicker in powder form. It's best to take this first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

 

2.) C4- C4 is one of the most popular pre-workouts on the market. It's fast absorbing and gives you a powerful boost of energy to really help you annihilate your workout. I've been taking this before my cardio and HIIT sessions and I can definitely tell the difference! Just make sure you're taking in a lotttt of water!

 

3.) Alpha Aminos- Alpha Aminos is a supped up version of their BCAAs (Branch Chain Amino Acids). It helps increase endurance, reduce muscle soreness, prevent muscle breakdown, and keep you super hydrated. You can drink this during/after your workout. It's 0 calories and sugar free and is a great replacement to other sports drinks. You can also just sip on it throughout the day, not gonna lie the Blue Raspberry tastes like a slurpee!!! and helps curb my sugar cravings during the day.

 

 

Last but not least PROTEIN POWDER!!! I've tasted alllll sorts of protein powders from About Time to Visalus to Herbalife to Optimum Nutrition and Cellucor's protein powders are without a doubt (in my opinion lol) THE BEST TASTING!!! Clearly I'm a little obsessed! I've tried Corfetti (which is like funfetti cake batter!), Cinnamon Swirl (loveee), Cookies n Cream, and Peanut Butter Marshmellow and I they're all delicious!!! They contain BCAAs that your body needs, digestive enzymes (so you don't get that yucky gassy feeling a lot of protein powders leave you with), and oh did I mention IT TASTES GREAT!!! It blends great with water or almond milk and you can mix it into anything (greek yogurt...cottage cheese...oatmeal) and you can even bake with it! I make protein packed French toast with the Cinnamon Swirl and protein packed cupcakes with the Cookies n Cream and they were soooooooo good <3

 

Thus ends my rant about the amazingness of Cellucor lol

If you want to try some of their products my Instagram friend @Brieraefit sent me some samples and if you ask her super nice I'm sure she'd send you some too! So go follow her on Instagram http://instagram.com/brieraefit (and me while you're at it- JBuckle87), tell her we're buddies, and ask her if she'd pretty please share some samples with you and what her discount code is for ordering from www.cellucor.com! She's also going to be starting an 8 week challenge on Monday with awesomeee prizes to give away to the winner so there's that too...although I'm hoping to win ; P

 

 

 

Well I hope that answered some questions. Again I'm no expert this is just stuff I've found through my own research and things I think will help me reach my goal, they may not be right for you or maybe they are, the only way you'll find out is through trial and error. As always, thanks for tuning in ; )

 

 

 

 



Chapter 1

They say it takes four weeks for you to see a change in your body, eight weeks for your friends and family to, and twelve weeks for the rest of the world to. So it begins, day 1 of my 12 week challenge to go from 24.5% body fat to 18%, to lean out and gain more lean muscle mass, to become that bombshell buried inside. I ordered an awesome tank top from FitPanther that says "Earned Not Given" in a medium as kind of my motivator/goal to rock at the end of my 12 week challenge. I will have a hydrostatic body test done in six weeks to see my progress and see if things need to be changed and then again at the end of the twelve weeks to see if I've accomplished my goal.

A friend told me "Fail to plan, plan to fail" which is really true especially if you're taking on a challenge like this. It's important to have a workout plan and it's important to have a meal plan so you stay on track and make the progress you want. I will be following the weight training program found at www.bidybuilding.com/fun/womans_lean_sexy_bible.htm and adding in some HIIT and longer runs for some cardio. My cousin Brett put together a macronutrient profile to follow which will have me carb cycling (having the highest amount of carbs on leg day, a medium amount on the days I work my arms, and the least amount on rest days)

 

So it comes together to look a little something like this. Once that was done I needed to start planning out my meals for the week that would fit into it. Then came the grocery store!

 



Meat, nuts, dairy, fruits, vegetables, little bit of whole wheat pasta, and of course one needs copious amounts of Tupperware!!! (And a food scale is mighty helpful)

So on the menu for this week we have:

Spaghetti Squash Pizza Pie:

I got the idea for this recipe from http://paleomg.com/almost-5-ingredient-pizza-spaghetti-pie/

I used lean Italian turkey sausage and ten minutes before it was to be done I added a bit of fat free cheese and lean turkey pepperoni and let me tell you IT WAS AMAZING!!!

 

Cauliflower Pepperoni Mac N Cheese

Got the recipe from Deceptively Delicious but I used fat free cheese, fat free cream cheese, almond milk, and coconut flour. I also added in some more lean turkey pepperoni because hey why not?!

 

Spinach&Feta stuffed Chicken Breasts

 

 

 

 

Pretty simple things but food prep does take a lot of time. I don't usually have time to do two sessions in a week so I do it all at once but I find I stay more on track when I do plan ahead. I also have Brussels sprouts, salad, and sweet potatoes in store for my veggie fix. For snacks I have greek yogurt ( I add different things in it to keep the flavor interesting), different types of nuts to give me those healthy fats, protein shakes (my fav brand right now is Cellucor!!! It blends great with water or you can add it to yogurt, cereal, baking, you name it!) I also drink a tooooooon of water throughout the day...no exaggeration...I pee like every twenty minutes haha

Well I guess that wraps it up for my plan as far as the challenge goes. If you want to see my daily self fitness motivators or how I put these recipes into action follow me on instagram: JBuckle87
Thanks for tuning in ; )

Preface

Several of my friends have told me I should start a blog and since I'm going to be starting my own personal 12 week challenge tomorrow I figure now's as good a time as any. Here's a little preface to my upcoming journey.

When I first started working out at Wardance Training Center a little over three years ago I weighed 282 pounds...pretty sad. It's hard to look back at pictures of me then and think about the fact that I thought I looked good at the time. I mean I knew I was big I guess I just never realized exactly how bad it was.

 

 

 

 

I lost about 12lbs through kick boxing classes and trying to eat better but then my work started a weight loss challenge and I really wanted to lose weight and win the challenge so I started doing bootcamp workouts every weekday. That combined with kickboxing, softball, and a stricter diet helped me lose 55lbs in three months and I won the challenge weighing in at 215lbs.

 

 

 

Right after that I started having severe back pain. I went to a massage therapist, a chiropractor, my regular physician, a deep tissue therapist, a spine specialist, an acupuncturist...I had xrays done, a CT scan, and MRI...you name it, I did it. The pain kept me from working out like I had been (like I wanted to) and the frustration from not being able to workout mixed with the pain caused me to start slacking on my diet and in the end I ended up gaining a lot of the weight back. Over the next summer I lost it back but then come winter I gained it again. At the start of 2013 I was 250lbs which was really close to where I had been to start off. Between January and Sept lost and gained again which left me at 236lbs...not a whole hell of a lot better than I had been at the beginning of the year. I knew things had to change. I decided I was going to have what I called a "Fit Fall" instead of gaining weight like I had done the past two winters I decided I was going to rally against the nonstop pain that worsened in the cold months and I was in fact going to lose weight. Well I did just that. With a mixture of a better diet and working out once again at Wardance Training Center I am down to 180.4 pounds which officially puts me at 100lbs lost since my first endeavor into fitness (or 55lbs if you only want to count from my re-dedication in September). I no longer had to buy clothes from the plus size section and I even ran a half marathon!!! Who would have EVERRR believed that I would go from 282lbs to running a half marathon and with a time under 2.5hrs?!?! Certainly not me!

 

 

 

 

 

Initially I had told myself my goal weight was 160lbs. Being that I'd never been small I had literally no idea what that looked like, I just knew that I still felt too big and didn't have that toned muscle look that athletic girls had that I covet so. I started doing a lot of research on the best way to lean out and in my research I've found that the best way to do that is through weight training and focusing more on my macronutrients than specifically on a super limited number of calories. I want to lose fat but I don't want to lose my lean muscle mass with it which is what happens when you focus solely on cardio and limit your caloric intake too much. Your body needs fuel but it also needs food to repair the damage that is done to muscles through exercise. Talking to my cousin Brett has been super helpful. He knows a lot about being a lean mean machine (because he is!) and has shared a lot of his knowledge as well as an overwhelming amount of support and encouragement.

 

 

Through his suggestion I decided I am going to do a personal 12 week challenge. I am going to focus on weights and HIIT (with a little half marathon training thrown in, my next race day challenge is coming up at the end of August) as well as following a macronutrient profile that he helped set up for me. The first step was going to have a hydrostatic body fat test done. This would tell me my lean muscle mass vs the amount of fat I had.





 

 

I was absolutely in shock when she read me the results! I for sure thought I was at least at about 38% body fat (which all of my friends disagreed with wholeheartedly but hey they gotta be nice right?) but apparently it's true when they say you're your own worst critic because I am at 24.5% body fat (which is in the average range). So after more talking with my cousin I decided that I would shoot to make the goal of my 12 week challenge to get to 18% body fat (which would put me in the athletic category). I only need to lose 14.4 lbs of fat (which would put me at 166lbs) to get there if my lean body mass stays the same. Obviously if I gain muscle mass I'll have less fat but it doesn't necessarily mean that my weight will fluctuate as much as any girl would hope. So tomorrow starts day 1. I will follow the macro profile he put together for me and I will be following the weight training program found at www.bodybuilding.com/fun/womans_lean_sexy_bible.htm  I will include a couple HIIT cardio sessions (which stands for High Intensity Interval Training) as well as a couple longer runs for half marathon prep. In 6 weeks I will have the hydrostatic body fat test again to see where I'm at and then once more at the 12 week mark.

 

Here begins the journey of going from 24.5% body fat to 18%

Losing fat but gaining lean muscle mass

Becoming the person I never thought I was capable of being

 

You're welcome to follow the journey with me if you're interested. You can also follow me on instagram my username is JBuckle87 most of my meal photos will probably be put on there but I will try to keep this blog as updated as I can (Two jobs plus a full college course load does not make for a lot of free time lol)

 

Thanks for tuning in ; )