8 Week Transformation Challenge

Join me in my first 8 Week Challenge with Lifting Ladies supplemented by Evogen Nutrition

I've launched and am looking to build my online personal training business so I'm having a "challenge". There will be openings for ten lucky people to receive personalized training plans from me which will include a training plan and diet plan (macro based) for the next 8 Weeks. Each will be individualized to each person's needs. You'll be required to follow the plan, check in every single week with photos, and release liability for me to use these photos for marketing (can crop face :) ). Be ready for change, to be challenged, and to get some awesome results! My method is tried and true and you'll be sure to get the body you deserve. The best thing about this all is that the training for you ten lucky people is only $150. AND the person who has the best overall transformation will win $200 and a fitness goodie box featuring Evogen Nutrition products to fit your needs! Super cheap training for an awesome body and a chance to win $200 and FREE fitness products?! Why not! 

 

How to enter: 

*Follow @MellaFit and @Lifting_Ladies on Instagram

*Head over to BodiesByMel.com, select "Join challenge", submit info and before photo. 

*Join challenge will be closed after ten people have registered. 

 

~The cap is ten people for the sake of time and individualization. I want to make sure I am 100% personal with each and every one of you. It wouldn't be fair to divide my time unevenly. 

~Previous clients are not eligible, sorry! 

~Before photos must include front relaxed, side relaxed, and back relaxed pose. This is the standard for following check ins. 

~MUST check in every week

~ Use code "MellaFit" for 15% EvogenNutrition.com orders 

~Be ready to commit to the plan for the next 8 weeks! 

If you have any questions, email me directly at Melanie@LiftingLadiesFitness.com

Bikini Prep Update 2015 + Why I Didn't Place

Hello! It is October 19th today and I just feel like I REALLY need to blog, and vent, and update the world on what I'm up to (to the .0093774 of people that care). Right now I am 3 weeks out from the Las Vegas Classic which will take place on November 7th. However, I have decided that I will not be doing this show, and as of now any more shows this year. Why? Many reasons. The first reason is we had WAY too much fun in San Francisco last week and spent way too much money. Having another show IN VEGAS right at the beginning of the month is not smart financially and it's just not worth it to be struggling. I want to be able to travel for the holidays, have fun, enjoy life, without worrying about saving enough money for a show and worrying about being on prep. Quality of life. I just feel like my money could be best used elsewhere than trying to bring home a trophy. I have nothing to prove to anyone, except for myself and I've already exceeded my expectations of myself and more. I still work hard everyday to improve more and more on my physique and I just shock myself every time I take pics, it's so rewarding! So a trophy does not validate anything, placing doesn't validate anything, although it would be nice to take home first.

With that said, my last show, San Francisco Championships with Muscle Sport Productions, was one week ago. It was great, I felt great, I had a BLAST, but I did not place. Yet again! That makes five shows now that I walk away with nothing. Am I mad? Yes. Disappointed? Yes? In myself? No way! I look and feel amazing and am just simply not what the judges are looking for. If you're an over planner like me, you STUDY everything and what the judges are looking for. After "studying" the winners of my class in the last show... I've come to realize they just want skinny girls. Plain and simple. I'm not "fat" by any means and I'm not "not skinny", I'm just not THAT skinny. I have A LOT of muscle, I'm 10% (skin fold said 8% so I rounded up) body fat right now. My glutes and thighs are still a problem, as they are too big and my quads show separation with every step I take. Judges don't like that for bikini. They will choose a soft skinny girl over a muscle girl any day, which is what I've learned while doing these shows. I'll be the one to tell you girls, bikini prep is really just leg day and cardio (like crazy) to be honest. They do not care about your muscle. Now once you get to Nationals, muscle up and you'd better bring it because at nationals they are leaning towards the muscular, LEAN girls. Contradicting, I know. Maybe I'm in the wrong state? I see such amazing muscular winners of my class all the time and I just wonder why the shows I do are not this way. For the SF Champs, ALL of the other classes had muscle girls as winners except class C, our class was a softer girl. And the overall winner of the show was exactly what a bikini girl should look like. So it's confusing to guess what the judges like when one class they go for something and the next class they choose something completely different. There were PLENTY of muscle girls in my class, believe me. Also, the judges said it was a really hard class... yet they still chose the other girls. Not to offend those beautiful women who won, it just makes no sense at all.

Winners of Class C, So you can get an idea of the physique they were going for. You guys know what I look like. Picture me next to these girls. 

 Class C Winner. Julia, you're beautiful and great so take no offense :) 

  Now these are the number one girls in each class. Class C is in green. 

Overall winner below! She looks amazing, awesome job girl!

I hope now there's an understanding of what happened at the show, why I didn't place, etc. I want you all to understand, of course the show went the way it did, but I don't want you to think I'm just writing it off as "well I'm perfect and should have won, there's nothing I need to work on, blah blah blah". Because obviously I need to lose size in order to fit what the judges want. I think I'm very close, but not enough to win. I'm just at a point where I ask myself, "is it worth it to lose the muscle I've built, to get smaller just to win a trophy". Of course my plan and goal is to become a pro so it would HAVE to happen. It's just not worth the money right now to keep doing shows when the judges don't like my physique. So that's reason number two.

So what does "time off" mean? Most girls take time off to build muscle and get bigger for nationals. Luckily, I have no problem in the muscle area :) My time off means cardio cardio cardio. Keeping up my cardio plan while reverse dieting back into a healthy calorie range. From this day I'm staying on prep diet and plan for this week, then starting my reverse dieting next week. I'll be adding 10% carbs and 5% fats (every other week) based on my progress. Right now I'm at 1350 range of calories with carbs at 120. My goal for my reverse diet is to get to 200+ carbs daily and 60+ fats daily. To somewhat maintain my physique while losing the last bit of fat in my legs and butt. According to the body fat test I have 10lbs of fat in my body out of 122lbs, which doesn't leave much to lose which means I'll most likely be burning some muscle... Sadly, but we'll see.

I will definitely keep you guys updated because I've never done a reverse diet and I'm excited to see the changes. I'm keeping my cardio at 5 fasted sessions a week and lifting will be 3 lifting circuits a week. One leg day circuit, one upper body, and one full body. I love circuits! They're fun and keep your heart rate up for the entire duration of you're workout. Plus they're short and sweet... well not too sweet, they're killer, but effective. Circuits are a way to implement your lifting routine while also burning more calories. With circuits you're not lifting for weight, so no heavy lifts, aiming for 12-20 reps per exercise while also incorporating cardio moves like jumping jacks and pop squats. I actually don't lift heavy on anything anymore except back (actually I do heavy deadlifts still and heavy hip thrusts and bridges). I don't target quads specifically, nor do I target inner thighs, I only go light on hamstrings now. So yeah my workouts are pretty limited, so circuits it is! I build muscle fast and as far as my physique goes, I'm done building muscle, I don't want any more. I know that sounds silly to some people. I can always appreciate more back muscles though, I love my back!

So here are some photos below of me on stage from my boyfriend in the the crowd. I wanted to save on money so didn't spend the $85 on professional stage shots. I find $85 to be ridiculous... it might have been worth it though lol.

There you have it guys! No more shows for me this year, more traveling, more money, and MORE FOOD by the end of the year. Sounds like a good plan. I plan on doing another show in February or so before our EUROTRIP, but we'll see. We're also moving at the end of January aaaand updating our apartment to hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances and a huuuuge bathroom. I think all of that is better than paying for a.... trophy, right? :)

Keep following for updates and IIFYM reverse dieting, pre prep, and lifestyle upgrades! Thanks for reading :)

Full Day of Eating: Low Carb Day

New VLOG up! My full day of low carb eating. I break down my macros, total calories, and all of the food I eat on these wonderful energy filled days. JK on the energy, but I definitely made sure I was full throughout the day, I didn't feel like I was "starving", and I ate good food! Yup, down there you see a turkey burger, bread, guacamole, and yes, those are tortilla chips. I use the If It Fits Your Macros approach in order to achieve my goals for this prep and I'm very happy with it. No, I don't try or claim to fit donuts and poptarts in, but I DO make sure I hit those specific macros in a clean way. See more macro fun in my refeed video on my YouTube channel. I do a 2500 calorie refeed day with the majority of the foods being clean (I fit a poptart and pancakes in :) )







If you guys enjoy my videos, please like and subscribe to my channel, it's greatly appreciated!



Mel

Five Weeks Out and New Updates!

What's new? Lots! Let me start with my upcoming bikini competition. I'm competing in the Tahoe Show again this year on August 22nd in Lake Tahoe. Let me just say that this show is the most amazing NPC show I've ever been to! They put so much love into their production and it shows! They take care of their competitors and it's evident that it's about more than money for them. This is important to me so I don't mind traveling to the show to support them. My boyfriend and I decided we're driving there instead of flying to save the $700+ it would take to fly. It's a 7 hour drive so ROADTRIP!!! And meal prep lol. This is good though because I can now pack whatever I want without worrying about it fitting in a suitcase (like my own weights to pump up in my hotel room). See I told you I'm still cheap. :)

I'm five weeks out from the Tahoe Show which means strict strict strict! Up until now, I have done the IIFYM approach (in a clean way, not adding donuts and oreos). I eat a lot throughout the day and work out and burn A LOT of calories and there are a lot of different elements about this prep than last year's. For instance, last year's preps were 100% clean, no cheats, no "maybe this can fit", nothing that wasn't a whole food, grown, or natural. Which there's nothing wrong with that approach at all! It worked greatly, but I wanted to try something different. This prep I had a cheat day every Friday which included eating whatever I wanted with no guilt. Needless to say, this prep has been pretty easy for me. It IS my first show this year so I'm not burned out yet, thankfully! In my opinion, five weeks out is the time where you should be where you want to be despite water weight and final tweaks. At five weeks out, you essentially have three more weeks to be 100% stage ready (which pretty much means cardio). At two weeks out, you need to be stage ready. If you're still trying to make tweaks or build muscle, it's too late. Keep in mind the peak week strategies that can make or break your stage presence. Peak week can be approached in many ways, personally I will be cutting salts, sweeteners, extra fiber, and protein shakes because I know how my body reacts to these things. Water I'll slowly cut towards the end of the week, I'm not going to dehydrate myself all week. I'm very excited and feel that my progress and body looks way better than last years! We'll see how the show goes! 

Of course there will be way more posts about my prep for the next 5 weeks, but guess what, I started a YouTube Channel! Oh yes! So you'll get to see my Vlogs as well in case you don't feel like reading. :) Of course the two say different things but hey, people have their preferences. Please subscribe if you like my videos and want to see my progress and show coverage. There will also be workouts, full days of eating, and bikini prep tips! Here's my intro video I posted a couple of hours ago. 

I'm also a day out from launching my online training platform (BodiesbyMel.com). Right now I'm a personal trainer in Orange County and train my lovely clients in person one on one. However, if you don't live in sunny California, I can train you online. No matter what your goals are, I can help get you to your dream body. We'll have a consultation call or Skype at first so we can get to know each other and we can go from there. OR if you'd just like to buy the plan, by all means, buy away! 

LiftingLadiesFitness.com is now live and more to come from there. I went fabric shopping last weekend for fabric for.... LEGGINGS! That's right! I'm starting  legging line because I'm so tired of buying leggings that show my ass when I bend over. Also, having leggings for girls with big butts, bigger thighs, and little waists who don't want to resort in wearing high waist all the time (I'll have high waist designs too). This will branch off into jeans I'm sure. Isn't it so hard to find jeans having a 36 inch butt and 26 waist? Solutions are coming! Lifting Ladies is the platform for online training and merchandise (t shirts, sports bras, leggings, crop tops, launching soon!). Custom bikinis are also in order. So head over to my sites, check them out, subscribe, like, and thanks for following my fitness journey! 

Mel

Powering Through the Sickness

'Tis the season to be sick, get colds, and slack off! Well, the first two things, no slacking off this winter. With the weather getting colder (or fluctuating from hot to cold in Cali), the risk of getting sick is higher and higher. While there are many things you can do to prevent the bug getting you, sometimes it just comes out of nowhere despite your careful planning. So how do you stay motivated when you're sick? Are you just going to throw out your plans and goals for a week in your bed? Are you going to power through and go to the gym sick? I'd say neither is a good plan, though there has to be balance. You can't just show up to the gym putting everyone in danger of catching what you have. Think about it, you cough into your hand, you touch a dumbbell, do your set, put it back. Someone new picks up the same dumbbell, gets an itch on his face or eye, or randomly decides to put his hand in his mouth, bam! He's got it too! The gym is a bacteria frenzy! Okay I know I've scared you now and yes there's a lot of risk in the gym, but you can take matters into your own hands by taking extra precautions during your workout.

1. Take a towel (or two) everywhere. For you to breath or cough into, and to wipe down the machines after use. 
2. Before use, use a wet wipe or spray and towel to wipe off everything you'll be touching. You never know what the person before you did on there or their condition. 
3. Don't go to the gym if you feel too sick. Which brings me back to what motivates you.

When you're coughing, sneezing, wiping your runny nose, I'm sure it's hard to build up the motivation to even get out of bed. If you have a goal in site like a prep or a fitness challenge you've joined, you'll need to get back into the gym asap. If you don't have a goal in site, by all means, take that time off to recover and get well. This is more for those of us who need to fast forward getting well so we can get back in the gym and attack those goals. You don't want to reschedule a show because you got sick. Could you imagine? Some great things you can do to keep your prep moving forward is move around! Go walking on the treadmill. I know it's hard taking a step from our hardcore workouts and jumping on a treadmill just to walk, but do you feel like running? That's what I thought. So walk for 30 minutes to an hour, keep your body conditioned throughout your sickness. A stationary bike is also a great choice! Sitting down might be all you want to do so it's probably the best choice. I mean, if there were a lying down cardio machine, I'm sure we'd all be in line for it. Don't want to leave the house? Below is an at home workout I've put together that's sure to get your heart beating, while letting you workout in the comfort of your own home.

Low Impact Burpees: Go through the motions of a regular burpee, only walk your legs one at a time back, push up, then back up. Stand up with hands in air, don't jump. (Unless of course you're up to do the high impact jumping)(As many as you can for one minute)

Jumping Jacks (One minute)

Body weight squats (One minute)

Stationary lunges (One minute)

Lying toe touches (One minute)

Repeat this cycle 3 times or as many time desired. That makes 15 minutes of moving around, getting active, and staying accountable. Don't let that cold knock you off your feet, you're better than that! In the same right, don't push yourself so far that you get even sicker and end up being out of the gym even longer. Listen to your body, if you feel you can do it, do it. If not, take a break. Now onto diet, because it's not all about the gym.

When sick, what is the LAST thing you want to do? Eat! And what is right behind that? Meal prep,

eat right, eat all healthy food. Who wants to be in the kitchen all day prepping meals? YOU do if you want to stay on track with your goals. This whole week when I was sick, I prepped every single meal and every single meal was clean. I thought, well if I'm going to be out of the gym, I'm at least going to be on point with my eating. You have push yourself to eat well, you must. The main problem when sick is that you don't want to eat. It's such a chore especially eating like clockwork like we do. My advice is to just do it the second it crosses your mind before you have a chance to think about it. Get up, cook, and soon you'll be able to lie down again. If you're lucky, maybe you'll have someone to cook six meals for you. That would be nice, but who has time for that? You have to want it, live it breathe it! No sickness will get you down. How wonderful it would have been to just order food all day and eat just that. Nope, we can't do that because we have goals to conquer! So dig deep and do what needs to be done in order to stay on track. You can do it! I did :)

Thanks for reading! I hope this inspires you when you're sick to get up and keep fighting for your goals. Bookmark this for when you are sick to try the workout and let me know how it goes!


Mel

Fall Challenges (Workout and Diet)

Hello guys! It's been a while. I took a little break, but I'm back and I'll be posting more. Especially for my clients and people who want to see workouts and clean eating recipes. I'd love to help! So what's new with me? Well I've taken the fall season off from competing so I can have a life and not have to be so strict on myself. It's fall! Time for pumpkin flavored everything, cuddling with hot chocolate, maybe some bonfires, and relaxing without worrying about being so strict. Well... that was the plan. Last week Bodybuilding.com released a new challenge called Shred vs Bulk challenge by BSN Supplements. Contestants have 6 weeks to either present the best bulk or the best shred. Both winners will win $10,000! So yes I have started that. I just can't stay away! From the end of August until now, I have been having cheat days more frequently however, my diet was about 80% clean. My brain and willpower won't let me overindulge. I have goals for next year and I'm not trying to gain weight and ruin my chances. My goal is to kill it next year! I have a great chance, I just need to tighten my glutes even more (I'll get into that later with coverage of the Tahoe Show).

So I started this shred at 130lbs, 7 pounds up from competition weight August 23rd. No big! Nothing I can't handle. The great thing about competing this year and doing prep on my own is that I have gotten to know my body so well and how it reacts to every little thing that goes in it. I know exactly what to do to get rid of my extra water weight. I know exactly what foods make me bloated and what foods flatten me out. I know what not to eat the day of a shoot, event, or show. So I'm excited and I know I'm going to look amazing by November 30th (the end date of competition), but wish me luck! $10,000 would be freaking amazing right now! Especially when supplementing my business Lifting Ladies. I have a lot planned and am super excited about it. Money would help kick start it a lot!

Anyway, I've been doing more of a balanced diet style for this cut so I can enjoy the fall while keeping my bikini diet. It's more of a 90% clean, 10% cheat diet. My days look something like this:

Meal 1: 1 cup of oatmeal (half of my carbs for the day except Wednesdays which is no carb day and rest day)
Meal 2: Chicken, 2tbs avocado, baby carrots, mozzarella cheese (I don't cut dairy because I don't cut things I love :) )
Meal 3: Chicken, half sweet potato (2 eggs on Wednesday instead), 1tbs Peanut Butter
Meal 4: Shrimp, 2 cups broccoli
Meal 5: Ground turkey tacos, 2-3 eggs,(on Wednesday I make a GT bowl with eggs, cilantro, and salsa)

Calories: 1430-1600 Friday: 2000+

Friday I have a cheat meal because it's my super cardio day and I have to load up on calories, Saturday and Sunday are the same as Monday-Thursday. This is important guys! ONE cheat day a week, not the whole weekend because you're "rewarding" yourself for the hectic week you had. You have a week every week, do you think you need to be "rewarded" EVERY week? Reward yourself with an awesome body! :)

For my workouts I'm trying a new circuit style training by Ashley Conrad on Bodybuilding.com  (click link for complete plan). It's a 21 day cut, which I'm following the workout but not the diet. The diet is a little boring for my taste. If you want to survive in eating clean all the time, you need to be able to customize it to your liking. You don't need to eat bland boring food everyday to be fit, that's silly. This doesn't mean having cheat meals of course, it simply mean find a healthy alternative for each undesirable factor in the plan. If you enjoy following diet plans, then by all means, follow the plan word for word. Anyway, the workout plan looks like this:

Monday: Lift
Tuesday: Cardio
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Lift
Friday: Cardio
Saturday: Lift
Sunday: Rest


Lift days are a circuit in which you repeat the workouts below in a row with a 30 second rest in between. Once done, repeat the circuit 3-6 times depending on physical abilities.

1. Clean and press
2. Overhead medicine ball throws
3. Dumbbell rear lunge
4. Push ups
5. Bench dips
6. Sprint in place
7. Body weight squats
8. Wide grip lat pull down
9. Medicine ball jumping jacks
10. Incline push ups
11. Dumbbell bicep curl
12. Lateral dumbbell raises
13. One arm dumbbell row

Do each workout for 12-15 reps and repeat cycle for desired times. It's a great workout! I would definitely try it, especially if you're in need of something new. That's why I'm doing it instead of writing my own workout for the cut. I put in my own workouts to better fit my needs. For instance, instead of the medicine ball throws, I do kettle bell swings, Instead of rear lunge, I do walking lunges. I replace the incline push ups (because there is a ridiculous amount of push ups in this circuit) with stiff leg dead lifts or hanging leg raises for abs. I try to put more leg stuff in singe my goals are in my legs.

For cardio day: 
Interval training on treadmill:
Walk (level 5) 60 seconds
Jog (level 7) 30 seconds
Sprint (level 10) 60 seconds (dead sprint as hard as you can!
Repeat 10 times (25 minutes total)

Cool down: Incline walk 5 minutes.

If you only do one thing in this blog, do the cardio! It's great! I'm in week 2 now of 6 of the shred. It's going well and I think I look great so far. cleaning up my diet from 80 to 90% has done wonders in just a week. It's awesome! I think it's cool that Bodybuilding.com can release a challenge with 3-4 days to register pretty much saying "hey everyone, I know it's the fall and Halloween and Thanksgiving are coming up but we'll give you $10,000 if you drop everything and lean out or bulk up for the next 6 weeks!" And everyone drops whatever they're doing, joins the challenge, and starts cutting (or bulking). It's crazy to me, awesome, and inspiring. Good luck to everyone who joined!

As always, thanks for reading!


Mel
BodiesbyMel.com <--- Live in SoCal? Need personal training?

Clean Eating

I hate the perception that if you have to eat clean, it has to be boring and nasty. Some of the best meals I've had are clean meals. Steak and potatoes, when made with the right ingredients, clean and delicious. Have you taken on clean eating? Are you discouraged and eating the same, boring meals everyday for lack of imagination or don't want to cook for hours? Well I'll help you!

When I first started eating clean, I did the meal prep thing. Cook tons of chicken, pounds of rice and veggies and just grab and go throughout the week. I would recommend it! It's easy, a one time thing every week, and great for working people or busy people. I used to do that, but not anymore. Personally, I prefer to make my food meal by meal. The food that was prepped Sunday, on Thursday it gets to be a little dry. Plus the mental note that you HAVE to eat that food is annoying to me. Instead, I like to throw random things together every night after the gym. Don't get me wrong, I'm ALWAYS tired and never feel like cooking. You just have to get into your head and remember that nothing is more important than getting your nutrients. Be mentally strong and get past that lazy barrier. Most of all, DO NOT sit down! lol You won't get back up.

I typically use the same variation of ingredients: chicken (or swai fish or shrimp), some kind of vegetable (I choose broccoli, lots of spinach, and sweet potatoes), egg whites, salsa, whole wheat tortillas, bananas, peanut butter, protein shake. I take a shake twice a day. So with these ingredients I can combine them all to make a big bowl, make tacos, add some kind of whole grain pasta and make a pasta dish, make burritos, omelette, the list goes on. It may sound lame to you, but wow it's so good! For seasoning, I use Mrs. Dash, pepper, and onion powder on everything. I rarely use salt anymore.

I use Truvia for sugar. This is a big one people have a problem in changing. "Ew sweeteners are so gross!" Okay here's how to help that. Whatever you add sugar to, whether it be your oatmeal, coffee, or anything, try it without sugar. Have one day of the food without sugar. Add Truvia (Stevia) afterwards. Your mouth will be reintroduce to a different way to taste sweet. It sounds silly, but it works!  Kind of like how I did my juicing cleanse last year. I tried it because my friend recommended it to me after watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on Netflix (check it out!). It intrigued me, so I tried it. I went FIVE DAYS juicing! NO food! It was the craziest yet most rewarding week of my life. It tatight me disciple and I learned a lot about what fruits and vegetables do for you in terms of energy and nutrients. It was fun thinking of recipes! That definitely made it better! The first couple of days were the hardest, but after that it was like a new lifestyle. Anyway, after the cleanse, I didn't even want  a cheat day. I wanted clean food! I couldn't even imagine eating a burger, EW. Even to this day I am completely turned off to the thought of greasy food (except fries... I love fries!). I haven't had In and Out Burger in a year and a couple months! Since right before my cleanse. So yeah, clear your taste buds of what you're used to, then reintroduce it to better things!

Still think clean eating is boring? Check out these YUMMY pumpkin protein muffins I made! SO good. I got the recipe from DashingDish, but it's also below :)

So good! Try it out, I hope you enjoy! If this wasn't enough to motivate you, go to Instagram and search the hashtag "cleaneating". SO much motivation, ideas, inspiration, it's awesome! Or check out the website cleaneatingmag.com, so much inspiration! I love it. It never gets boring, so spice up your healthy life and get cooking!

Pumpkin Protein Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup	Canned pumpkin
1/2 cup	Applesauce  (I took this out)
1/2 cup	Plain lowfat Greek yogurt (I like Chobani)
3	Egg whites
1 3/4 cup	Old Fashioned Oats
1/4 cup	Protein powder
1/2 cup	Baking stevia OR 1 cup sweetener of choice that measures like sugar 1
1 tsp	Baking soda
2 tsp	Baking powder
1/4 tsp	Salt
1 1/2 tsp	Cinnamon
1/2 tsp	Pumpkin pie OR Apple pie spice
Optional	Add-Ins: 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds, mini chocolate chips, raisins or dried cranberries!

1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with foil cupcake liners, or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

2

In a blender, (or food processor), mix all of the ingredients together. Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth. ( I usually help move mixture around in my blender carefully with a spoon!)

3

Divide mixture among muffins tins, and place into pre-heated oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tops are lightly golden brown.

*Note this batter is very moist, and a toothpick may not come out clean…Don’t worry it is baked through if the tops are golden brown! 

4

Cool muffins before removing from pan. ENJOY!!!

So good! Try it out, I hope you enjoy! If this wasn't enough to motivate you, go to Instagram and search the hash tag "cleaneating". SO much motivation, ideas, inspiration, it's awesome! Or check out the website cleaneatingmag.com, so much inspiration! I love it. It never gets boring and neither should you, so spice up your healthy life and get cooking! 

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment, follow, ask questions, etc. :) 

Mel

Update! Final Four Weeks Plans

Omg guys it's been five days! I feel like that's a long time. Some things have changed in terms of goals. So I'm FOUR WEEKS OUT NOW! So crazy and exciting, I can't even contain myself. I seriously have been researching, watching videos, and obsessing over competition prep. Constantly looking for something I may have done wrong or may be doing wrong. It just seems so easy, I feel like it's TOO easy lol. I'm certain that prepping for figure would be WAY more intense. I guess it's because I've been living a "prep lifestyle" for over a year now by working out 4-5 times a week and eating clean. With the exception of one cheat day a meal of course. I was totally fine with that lifestyle, and now with no cheat days, somehow it's been fine. Weird. So naturally I've been researching to see if I'm doing everything right. It turns out I am! lol I'm totally fine and am freaking out for no reason. My body looks great and I could step on stage today. I'm very confident and excited!

With that said, as far as my own goals go, I still want to lose at least 1-2% of body fat and my butt still jiggles more than I want it to. I have some back fat associated with my ridiculous ass and my abs aren't completely exposed. They're there but not like I want them to be. So for the next four weeks I will be switching up my diet. Let me explain how my diet is set up right now. My macro split is 40/40/20, 20 being the fat. In all honesty it really ends up being around 42/38/20 with carbs being high. I love carbs lol and I find it hard to imagine life without them. I have been eating scrambled egg whites with my veggies and chicken instead of brown rice. My calories per day is set at 1580. If I don't work out that day (which is Saturdays or Sundays), I take in 1580 calories. If I work out that day, I take in the extra calories I've burned. So If I burned 500 calories that day, I need to take in 2080 calories to make up for the deficit. Why? Because my calories eaten are set at a -500 calorie deficit per week which is one pound per week. 3500 calories= 1 pound. -500 calorie deficit per day= 1 pound loss per week. If I burn those calories working out without eating them, that would put me at a net calorie (total calories per day) intake of 1080, which is too low! The deficit of the day would then be 1000 calories and loss of two pounds per week.

So now knowing the above, my next four weeks will go as follows. I'd like to take a more aggressive approach with the cardio in the morning. I haven't been doing the fasting cardio, I've just been doing it at night after my workout or having cardio days at night. So for week one I'll be doing morning cardio every day. For those days I'll take in 2000 calories for the day assuming I'll burn around 500-700 calories for the day. This might be on the low side, but I'd like to try it to see my results. If effective, I will continue to do that the second week. I've been doing low sodium for the most of the prep because I got tired of being bloated. For the last two weeks, no salt, and I'll be carb cycling. I'm thinking one day 150-180 carbs and next day 80-100 carbs. Something like that. My protein is always between 120 and 180 which is awesome so we'll keep that. Fat never goes above 40.

I've looked into tanning and have decided on just using bronzer for the show. I'm going to buy some this weekend to try it out. I'll show you guys the before and after photos. For all of you black competitors out there, I hope to help out with the tanning aspect. My take on it is that if girls are tanning to be MY color, why on earth would I tan to be darker? It makes no sense to me. I do agree that the dark skin helps with seeing those beautiful muscles!

I've been practicing walking and I've gotten very good and confident at it! I havlol. Oh well, I'll power through.

e to say, my feet still hurt in the shoes. My toes just weren't made for those shoes

In addition to my prep, I've been working on a pretty big project with Lifting Ladies. For those of you who don't know, I'm trying to make this a big thing. Even thinking of making a competition team! It's going to be great so stay tuned. In the mean time, please support by following Lifting Ladies on Twitter and Instagram, LIKE Lifting Ladies on Facebook, and stay tuned for many awesome things to come!

Thanks for reading!

Mel

The Mel Movement :)

Hello there! So I've decided to take yesterday and today off. It's been an intense and good week of lifting and cardio. Next week is going to rock too! I am SO pumped for this competition! I love it. Okay this is going to sound mean, and you're going to learn that I am a very confident, competitive, outspoken, person who is not modest at all. With that said, I should have done the contest this past weekend. When I started my prep five weeks ago, March 8th seemed WAY too close! Well after seeing the results, the line up, and the winners of the contest in LA, I should have done it! I totally would have placed. I wish I could talk to all of the girls that competed to hear about their experiences and how they prepped and stuff. A lot of people approach it differently and have different goals. I know that some girl who might not look the best may look the best in her opinion and through her journey and that's all that matters. As in, maybe she weighed 200lbs before and now she's competing for the experience, that's great! As for me, I'm going up there giving it MY all. I cannot say I don't want first place. I WANT FIRST PLACE! "And if I don't get it I'll be happy for the experience" blah blah blah, all of that cliche stuff you say when you don't win. No. If I don't win top five, I'm doing another competition two weeks later. If (when) I do place, I'm competing a month later for my pro card. I want to do this and my goal is to somehow become sponsored soon as well. I'll try my best! I'm really excited, and once I'm done, I'm going to help other girls train to become the best versions of themselves, become confident, and get that first place too. We shall call this, The Mel Movement :) Stay tuned!

Loving The Process

Hey everyone! Things are going so great, I love it. I feel like I'm not even prepping for anything because it's become such a lifestyle. I don't even think twice when it comes to eating healthy food. Going to the gym isn't even a second though. The thought of skipping the gym is so far from my mind it's crazy! I can't even imagine a day without going tot he gym. My rest day last weekend consisted of practicing in my heels and googling fitness info. There are a lot of warnings and precautions about cheat day after the competition. It's so funny because I cannot even see myself not living this lifestyle. I love it!

So yesterday was back day and I made a video of me squatting 205 for three reps, yay yay! Watch, like, enjoy! Yesterday morning I also did 30 minutes of running when I woke up. I had a banana and a half a cup of coffee so it wasn't completely fasted cardio. I feel like my lungs are getting better and my stamina is increasing. I can run for longer without getting super tired which makes running more fun and doable. When I first woke up and did cardio I felt like shit all day, no joke. It was so tiring and just daunting on my whole day. Now I feel like I can conquer the world! lol So I will continue doing the morning cardio every other day, opposite of night kickboxing cardio. I'm hoping cardio will get rid of the fat in my lower back. My ass is so ridiculous it's going up my back lol. I know a lot of you will be like, what fat? It's there, I see it and know it's there! So I'm going to run it all off. Speaking of things I need to work on, my ass. Again, a lot of you will be like "whaaat? I love your ass!". Yeah it's great, but I'm disappointed. It still jiggles and it's annoying, it's just not where I want it to be at all. So commence "butt day" twice a week for the next five weeks. That should do it! Other than that, I'm very confident about my physique, I love my body, and cannot freaking wait for the competition.

A recent discovery: Egg whites are amazing! By themselves: blah, with other things as a main or secondary ingredient: amazing! Omg. I have been making egg whites and salsa for the past couple of days. That's it, no other ingredients! Try it, it tastes way too good :) I eat it as a brown rice replacement on low carb day.

Today I did three tricep super sets before my hour kickboxing class. 

Tricep and cardio Day 

1. Tricep cable push down (light weight)
35lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

Tricep reverse grip cable push down
25lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

2. Dumbbell overhead extension
30lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

One arm overhead sideways tricep extension 
10lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

3. Machine Tricep dips
50lbs x 12 reps x 4 sets

Body weight tricep dips
12 dips x 4 sets

1 hour cardio 

Thanks for reading guys! If you're not following me on Twitter yet, please do so, that would be awesome :)

Mel

Those Legs!

So today was leg day, gotta love it. Okay so a lot has changed in terms of my workouts and plans. My legs are getting ridiculous. I'm getting progress and gaining muscle way too fast. I need to completely stop lifting heavy and do all high rep workouts, low weight. Same for arms, my guns are getting too big. Which goes to show I SHOULD be prepping for figure, but I want to do a bikini show. I'm definitely a figure girl at heart though, I love lifting heavy. I've found that high reps are boring since I have to count up so high and blah blah blah. It's tiring of course and a great workout no matter what, I just prefer low reps. Unfortunately, I can't do the heavy weight anymore which makes me feel like a weakling at the gym lol. I'm so used to people looking at me like "wtf, that girl is lifting SO heavy". Oh well! I have 7 weeks to trim or maintain these legs, I can't afford to make them any bigger.

I'm also carb cycling now. My macros are set now to 40/40/20 (40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fats) putting me at at least 158 grams of protein a day, around 158 grams of carbs, and 35 grams of fat. The fat isn't hard for me since I don't eat fatty foods anyway. I literally did not have to cut any foods out of my diet for prep, which is awesome! Well, I switched from buttery popcorn to kettle corn if that counts. Carbs, carbs, carbs. I love carbs. Everything I eat has carbs and it's just crazy thinking about lowering them lol. So I've been trying some low carb dinners which pretty much consists of a large amount of chicken, shrimp, or lean ground beef, lots of veggies, and egg whites. It's not bad, it's actually very good. It's nice to have a change from the brown rice. I get so tired of the brown rice, it's so boring. I love trying out new foods and switching up the ingredients. Yum yum! Seriously though, everything I eat is whole grain and carbs. Wheat Thins, bread, oatmeal, popcorn, peanut butter, yogurt, tortillas, I don't understand how or why on earth people would want to cut our carbs. It's silly. And unnecessary. You NEED carbs! Not just because they are good but because they are good FOR you.

So besides carb cycling, calming down my legs with high reps, and switching up my diet, I'm on track and excited for my competition. SEVEN MORE WEEKS!! It's going to fly by, I already know. So exciting.

Leg Day- Hamstrings, Inner thighs

Super Set
Dumbbell one leg stiff leg deadlifts
25lbs x 15 reps per leg x 4 sets

Super wide sumo squats with dumbbell in middle
25 lbs x 20 reps x 4 sets

Lunges on Smith Machine
135lbs x 12 reps x 4 sets

Stiff leg deadlift on Smith Machine
135lbs x 10reps x 4 sets

Wide stance 45 degree leg press machine
90lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Lying down leg curls
40lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Adductor Machine
40lbs 25 reps x 4 sets

Sitting leg curls
45lbs x 12 reps x 4 sets

Close and high stance leg press machine
90lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

6 Minute HIIT
1 Minute of wide stance kettle bell swings
1 minute of shuffles on short platform
Repeat three times

Wow I did a lot lol GREAT workout!!

Thanks for reading!

Mel