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| Maria Dunlop - 20th October 2008 04:27pm
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A few weeks have past since Maria Dunlop's Competition. She provides some post comp thoughts and insights on her life now that the event is over. What sort of physcial and emotional roller coaster happens to her post-comp? What ideas and lessons does she share with others?
GETTING BACK TO NORMAL
IS IT EASIER SAID THAN DONE?
It is quite common for people especially women to go through a tough time after competing, especially if it is for the first time.
Your whole competition build up has required structure, routine, focus, you have had a direction to head in, a date to aim for, a strict eating plan to follow with no compromise.
So when it is all over you are left without structure, routine, focus and you have no direction straight away, no date set, and your eating is free range again, which can be a nightmare.
This is a very important part of your competition and if under a personal trainer you really need to get them to help you for about 4 weeks after your comp so you can let your body and mind adjust.
The only time I have had trouble after a comp was the first comp I did since having Rheumatoid Arthritis. I was so upset with how much the arthritis controlled the competition. I went through all the phases of loss again, depression, anger, denial. It lasted for about 2 months. I have never had difficulty with getting my mind around eating more after a comp.
When I first started competing years and years ago (before my disease) my trainer set everything out nice and clear.
We had a "on season" which is comp season and a "off season" which is growing season. We were kept so motivated throughout both seasons. Not a negative word was ever said.
After our competitions we were motivated into putting on more size and visualizing how much better we will be next comp. To put more size on we had to eat. I was buzzing so much after competing and always turned up to start training again straight away. We were instantly set up with a new program, new focus, which meant a new structure, new direction to head.
So hence I find "off season" quite exciting. And yes I have started a new training program and have a new focus, a new direction to head in.
I usually put on 2-3 kg in the first week. Most of this is fluid as I always sodium deplete to drop my fluid out of the body.
Over the next few weeks I will put on another 2-3 kgs, this is the body filling up nicely, getting back to normal, filling up the tanks so I can train and grow.
When we are on stage, we are in that shape just for the day, thats all. The recipe I use is to look a certain way on that day and that day only. It is unrealistic and not healthy to stay that way.
This needs to be told to first time competitors over and over so they realize what the goal is. It will make it alot easier later if it is understood.
SUGGESTIONS FOR "OFF SEASON"
Off season starts right after you have finished competing.
You need to take it easy on the food thing, which is hard to do the day after the comp, especially if you are travelling home from somewhere.
Have small amounts of what you like. Try and stick to eating small regular meals still.
Have your structured "on season" breakfast but modify it to suit you. I always have 8-10 eggwhites and 1 whole egg on vogels toast every morning and almost all the way through my "on season".
If you have oats then after comp still have your oats but you can add trim milk and more fruit etc or you can follow it with a nice piece of jam on toast. Try and keep hold of the structured pieces that work for you. There is probably alot you can blend from one season to the next.
Limit your carb intake at night still. Stick to veggies and meat etc and dont get into the habit of having a pile of mash potatoes or pasta at night.
Never miss out your protein shake as this will leave you hungry and make it easy to stray to often.
Enjoy those meals out and special occasions. Lifes too short not too.
Buy a new training diary, one that inspires you to write in it, or stick pictures all over it to help motivate yourself.
Get a new workout drawn up straight away.
Remind yourself regularly about what you accomplished last year.
Keep a portfolio of your competitions, these are fun to do and great to look back over later on.
Keep your contestant number, pictures, write where you went, what motel you stayed in, what building the comp was held in, who you met, how you did, what you would do different next time (if anything).
Below: One of Maria's favourite comp pic from Masterton:
If you are going to compete again over the next year, start listening to music that you would like to pose too.
This all puts your focus forward in a positive way.
If any negative thoughts come your way, or if someone says something negititve about your last comp, quickly workout wheather it is a helpful comment and if not then push it out of your head immediately.
This is a good skill to practice, not allowing negativity into your life.
It does take practice though.
If someone says something non supportive to me now I visualize myself bouncing it up and down like a basketball until I have decided if it is too negitive and not supportive to my goal and then I simply throw it away. Sometimes I throw it straight back at them....he he he.
Competition time you have to be so focused and even selfish, off season you need to look around you and make the most of other people and things in your life.
Get some moderation and balance happening.
These are all the things I have been working on over the last 3 weeks. I have had to clean up diet right up again as the rheumatoid has flared up bad. It started playing up with all the sugary things I was eating but then I went with Arthurs Girls to have a hot parrafin wax treatment on the hands and the therapist massaged my hands.
When she was massaging it hurt quite abit but I hung in there incase it had a positive outcome at the end. Well 4 days later and I am ready to cut both my hands off.
I havent had pain this bad for awhile. You just end up being such a mess as you cant stop the pain, no matter where you put yourself or what you try to do it wont budge. I've ended up increasing my predisone and hope to get it under control over the next few days.
In saying all that , I am still training hard. Cycling morning and night mildly to keep my circulation going, doing calfs 4 nights a week and abs every night still.
My training program is a 5 day split which goes like this:
Chest and Triceps
Shoulders and biceps
Legs
Back
Shoulders and biceps.
I am doing shoulders and biceps twice a week to improve the muscle groups. Biceps are the hardest to train for me and my arthritis. Shoulders are the next hardest so i am training them as best I can twice a week without over stressing the joints each time.
AND STILL THEY KEEP COMING
I have had contact with 2 more arthritis sufferers this week. I cant believe that they are still coming forward. Its amazing and sad at the same time.
I think I need to organise an "Arthurs Girls Convention" so we can come from all over the Country and meet each other.
THE BIG 4 0
Oh my my.......I turn 40 in 11 days time :)
I got my pictures from the comp delivered and there is some great ones in it.
I remember before I got rheumatoid that I told myself I wanted to have the body of my dreams by the time I was 40. Taking into consideration that I got stuck with a chronic incureable disease and I have had 2 children I think I have achieved my goal.
So of course I really should be planning a big party........I will post some before 40 pics and then life after 40 pics.......I wonder if I will look any different :)
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die...Life is no brief candle to me.
It's a sort of splendid torch which I've got to hold up for the moment
and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
George Bernard Shaw
Irish dramatist, essayist and critic
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| Maria Dunlop - 5th October 2008 06:29am
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For the past 30 weeks Maria Dunlop has provided insights of hercountdown to the NZFBB Masterton Champs (scroll down for her earlier weekly diaries).
The event took place on 27th September.
This is her story of her desire to compete, whilst also being a mother, a personal trainer, wife and not to mention ....sufferer of arthritis.
People sponsored Maria's comp countdown - a few dollars each week or a donation - and this helped her to raise money and awareness of Arthritis - all the money she raised will be going to Arthritis NZ. email her at: ree.rockbodz@clear.net.nz
MY FINAL UPDATE .....
My Weekend in Masterton
Last week went as smoothly as it possibly could of. Wednesday was the hardest day with Eva-Marie's MRI Scan. I found it real hard and dropped close to 1 1/2 kg on that day.
Seeing my little girl put to sleep and then having to leave the room was one of the most upsetting things I have had to do. My legs just wouldnt move me, the nurse had to forcefully help me walk out. Then the tears came, my body was so tence. Afterwards Eva was very upset and clung on to me for 3 hours solid. My arms were ready to fall off.
Once Friday hit and everything was back to normal I started to focus on my weekend. My main vision was to have as much fun as possible.
I started eating Kumera on Thursday and went through $40 worth in 2 days. They were so yummy. The drive to Masterton went well and I even drove some of the way without it flaring up the R.A.
We booked into our Motel which had a lovely relaxed feel about it. My first mission was to decide on what colour suit to wear.
I had a black one or an orange one. My hubby, mother and I decided the orange one stole the show and deflected from the body. With the black suit I didnt have to worry about tan staining it and lucky me got my monthly cycle on friday so black was diffiantley safer.
Once black was it, it decided to fall to bits on me so I had to do a quick glue job to stick things in place again.
I went and registered on the Friday night so I didnt have to bother with it the next morning.
Friday night there was a big party across the road with lots of young drunk people partying till 1.30am on Saturday. This didn't really bother me as I made my body relax and since I was awake I just kept eating. I woke at 5am and by 6 decided to get up and check my tan and start to get ready nice and slowly.
I was still pain free.
We headed to the venue at 9.30 and I met up with some local people who were competing as well.
Once back stage I started to pump up slowly.I had eaten myself silly on kumera , ricecakes with honey for the last 4 hours and couldnt possibly eat anymore. this was handy as I didnt have to waste time eating. Most of the ladies were eating chocolate of some sort and sipping wine. This year I was avoiding the chocolate as I had a feeling that was what flared up the R.A last year. I also cannot drink alcohol anymore so slowly sipped my water.
I find if I take it easy and slowly keep moving through the muscle groups with my exercise band and do enough pushups I can pump up well enough. By the time they called our class to head to the pump up area I was already to go.
When I walked out on stage my Hubby yelled out real loud and I wanted to cry right there and then.
We both knew that at the moment I had achieved my goal.
I had made it to the stage.
Anything from that point on was a bonus.
I went through my poses with ease and once off stage I had to go sit quietly in the toilets and have a little cry as I was overwhelmed with what I had accomplished.
I guess it sounds silly but they were tears of absolute joy.
I was still pain free.
Below: The "been there" tee-shirt
I then went out to enjoy the show and met up with a lovely lady named Kate who I have been talking on line with for months and months. She had travelled up from Wellington to support me. Between the day and night shows we met chatted awayl. We have so much in common and it was one of the highlights of my weekend to me her.
Below: Me & Kate
4.30 I headed back to the venue. Backstage had a totally different feel, everyone was so much more relaxed. Boy it was noisey, lots of talking happening.
The lady before me forgot her routine but mine went very well. I had help getting my shoes back on (backstage help was great) and when I won Silver I was so happy.
At the end of the night when they then called my name for Best Performane Award I really got a surprise. There were so many great routines that night.
It was the icing on the cake.
Best of all, I was still pain free.
After the show My hubby, Kate and I went out for a feed and chatted away again till close to midnight. I thought I would find it hard to sleep but drifted off in no time.
Below: A moment in Masterton to remember
With daylight savings we felt like we had to check out way to early. We were on the road heading home and got back into Beautiful New Plymouth at about 5pm. It took abit longer than usual as we had to stop and eat all the time...he he he.
SO NOW ITS OVER
How do I feel now that its all over?
Absolutely Fantastic.
Will I go to the Nationals?
Not this year. I put all I had into that one comp and at this point in time my body couldn't handle doing another show. If I did do the nationals I wouldnt enjoy it and wouldn't look as good as I wanted to look. I am just starting out in this sport again and believe that in 5 years time I will have a gold medal body.
How do I feel about the results?
I look back at my body in 2006, 2007 and now in 2008. I can see great improvement. Best of all I achieved competing with no pain, this was the first time in 3 years.
Below: 2006 (Maria with blonde hair on right)
In 2006 I was in so much pain on stage I could hardly pose. 2007 was better, it just flared up at the night show. 2008 Pain free.
Below: Maria in 2007 at the NZFBB Taranki's
The recipe I have devised has worked. It may still need alittle tweaking, but thats what next years for :)
THANK YOU
A Big Thank you to Anne Probert for letting me post weekly updates.
Thanks to everyone who has helped me raise money for Arthritis New Zealand. I will be collecting the funds over the next week or so and handing it over to our New Plymouth Branch.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me messages of support and encouragement especially Sonia in Australia and Kate in Wellington. Somedays those emails were the only thing keeping me going.
I will be setting some new goals over the next few months.
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| Maria Dunlop - 24th September 2008 06:07am
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MARIA'S FINAL PRE-COMP REPORT !!!!!
MO-JO .....
All the times I have competed over the years I have always been so focused from 5 weeks out.
This time was so different for me. I just couldn't get and stay focused. Two weeks out and I was ready to call it quits.
I knew that if I couldn't find my mo-jo I was history.
I was encouraged to go to my final posing practice with the Taranaki Bodybuilders on Sunday and I am pleased I did. It is nice to hear some of the other ladies saying how they were feeling all out of sorts, it reasured me , even though I knew it was probably the diet that was doing me in, and I decided to hang in there.
Never before has my weight stabilized for 5 weeks in a row especially not in the last 5weeks .
It took all my skills to hang in there. Especially with my sons birthday party and yummy food everywhere and also worrying about my little girls MRI scan on Wednsday.
I usually have dreams about food or losing my posing suit or forgetting my routine on stage but my dreams have been about my little girl which made me realize where my main focus was and of course this didnt surprise me.
Never the less I am still here and will be in Masterton on stage posing my heart out on Saturday.
ASSESSMENT
Monday I weighed myself and I had finally lost 1 1/2kgs. And yes my legs are finally close to being ready. I am confident that by Saturday I will be pleased with how I look.
Tuesday morning I did a caliper test and I am 8% bodyfat.
MY MISSION
My 30 week countdown has achieved so much.
I have met 30 women suffering from the same or similar disease. Thats averaging 1 lady a week. All of those except 2 are from my region. It blows me away to think of how many ladies are suffering in silence in other cities around New Zealand.
I have helped raise thousands and thousands of dollars for Arthritis New Zealand , created awareness of this disease and promoted weight training for women.
I am very pleased with all the results.
Arthurs Girls is up and running and going from strength to strength and I am so happy to have contact with these awesome strong women.
MY DIET
Monday to Wednesday I de-carbed and I am starting to carb up on Thursday. So looking forward to that.
To de-carb I have eaten eggwhites, tuna, rockmelon, strawberries, weight watchers jellies, chicken, salad. Mostly eggwhites.
TRAINING
The hardest part of training was the high rep workouts on Monday- Wednesday. I did close to 100 reps per bodypart. The workouts only took about 20 mins but were very intense and has made the body ready for those carbs.
My last workout was Wednesday.....yippee....now I just sit back and enjoy the ride (while eating kumera).
WHAT I AM HOPING TO ACHIEVE ON SATURDAY
I am hoping to have a lot of fun, thats the only expectation I have of myself.
I believe there is no reason to compete if you don't enjoy it to the fullest.
I am already so proud of myself. There is no other feeling like it, to be absolutely proud of yourself.
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| Maria Dunlop - 18th September 2008 08:33pm
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10 SLEEPS TO GO...
10 Sleeps to go and today I am having doubts as to whether I will make it to the comp.
The last few weeks I havent reported my assessments as nothing has changed on the scales. I am still weighing 45kg.
I haven't done my fat percentage for 3 weeks as when you are on predisone your skin bruises easy and it takes a long time for the bruise to go. The calipers pinch and leave big bruises so I have stopped doing them. The last reading was 9.5%.
I am feeling like my legs are never going to come to the party.
I am doing all I can to try and be ready for 27th September.
I know how I want to look and don't want to let myself down.
ARTHRITIS
The arthritis has settled abit but has flared up a few times over the last few days, mostly in my right foot.....probably from posing on Sunday in those dreaded shoes. I had trouble with pain in my hands due to colouring in all the batman things that I have made for my sons party. Holding pens etc is a real hard thing to do when you have rheumatoid.
Sleep is my best friend at the moment....next to eggwhites that is :)
TRAINING
Training this week has changed.
I have added a step workout in and combined it with higher reps on my exercises.Mainly to help drop the weight from my thighs. The step part of the workout only lasts 20-30 mins and has been alot of fun.
With my motivation dropping I had to change it up or give up....it was nice for a change and I am now doing 10-15 reps on most exercises.
DIET
I don't want to drop my calories much more as I am trying my best to hold on to the muscle that I have.
So this week all I am doing is changing my fruit.
Instead of banana I am having strawberries, I have taken the orange out at night and are having a kiwifruit for afternoon snack. I seem to be eating a lot of weight watchers jellies too. I might slurge and buy a couple of rockmelons this week...man they are expensive.
My protein this week will be in the form of eggwhites and tuna more than chicken.
My veggies will be broccoli or silverbeet.
The next 10 days will be very challenging.
But thats what achieving goals is all about, it wouldnt be so rewarding if you didnt have to go through the tough times.
SUPPORT MEANS MILLIONS
My hubby is being so supportive and giving me little pep talks.
I dont think he realises how much his little talks actually help me. Last night I was on the verge of giving up and he gently told me not to, to hang in there till the end,
He asked me what I would advise a client if they were feeling like I was, and he told me not to panic.
I had been through this thought process earlier over and over but just hearing someone else say it seemed to make a difference.
It is hard training at home alone and heading for a comp on my own. Last year a had my best mate Tarsh with me and we did it together.......really miss her this year :(
NOT MUCH ELSE
Not much else to say. This week will be all about the thighs and trying to survive and not give up.
Bens party is on Saturday so that will be full on. (Below - his Batman frame for his birthday cake!)
Next week is full of specialist appointments for my daughter. She is walking everywhere now which is great so I am hoping she was just a late bloomer when it came to walking.
I do alot with my kids. When on the bike I constantly interact with them, when I am dieting I love to bake and fatten up everyone else and my kids love to cook with me especially Eva, she has turned into a right little chef over the last 2 months.
Ben and Eva play very well together and this week I have enjoyed sitting in the sun with my black coffee and watching their imaginations sore.
I'm not feeling to positive this week that I will make it to Masterton. 10 days doesnt seem long enough.
Hopefully next week my update will be full of positivity and I will be heading out of town to compete.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Despair doubles our strength
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| Maria Dunlop - 10th September 2008 11:17am
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17 SLEEPS TO GO....
17 sleeps, that means
12-14 workouts left,
17-30 possible fat burning sessions left,
8500 ab crunches to do.
Wow thats not much when you want your thighs to start catching up to your upper bodies leanest.
Thats all I am waiting on now.
WORKOUTS
Last week I stuck to the pyramid style training but come Monday I hit a motivational wall and didnt really even want to train. This was due to a very busy weekend and a very late night Saturday night, or should I say early Sunday morning. So on Monday I trained Chest and Triceps but did what ever exercises I felt like doing and today....well they are killing me....yippee love "muscle train" pain.
This week I will take it day by day as to what I train. I had a very painful couple of days with the rheumatoid due to the late night and busy days over the weekend but today "Tuesday" all seems to be calming down again. This is a quick recovery which is a good sign, means my body is handling training etc but didnt enjoy the lack of sleep.
Speaking of sleep, wow I slept like a baby last night, No pain at night, well it didnt wake me up if there was any.
Maybe I should party more often......lol.
Done my cardio each day and abs as usual so all is good.
EATING
My days eating looks like this:
Breakfast is 8 egg whites, 1 whole egg poached on 1 toasted vogels
3 hours later another 6-8 eggwhites and 1 banana
3 hours later a tin of tuna or chicken on a bed of salad
2-3 hour later 1 kiwifruit and another 6 -8 eggwhites
for dinner I have a plate full of steamed green veggies and chicken and flaxseed oil
After dinner and night cardio I have 1 orange
There is always chicken cooked in fridge and if I feel I need to I nibble on some during the day, but this hasnt happened much. I havent been hungry at all really just craving stuff a little and only because I cant have it not because my body wants it.
I am drinking black coffee or hot parsley water.
I have started making up weight watchers jelllies to have when I feel like something sweet.
POSING PRACTICE
I went along to posing on sunday again and really enjoyed the drill. It is so good to do. I forgot my music so couldnt do my routine but will take it for sure this weekend as it is such good practice to do it infront of people before the big day.
THE WEEKS AHEAD
This week I am focusing on my sons 4th birthday which is on the 20th September. He is having a super hero party. I am spending my spare time (yeh right,what spare time) making batman things. I am attempting to make a big batman car that they can sit in for a picture. So far so good but my hubby tells me that the lastest bat mobile is way cooler than the one I have modelled off. Hey my son is 4, surely he wont know that.
I have completed the cake setup which is also the bat mobile and I have made lots of bats.....My son wants Batman to be the main theme,( in case you didnt guess that.)
The week leading up to my comp I have 2 important specialist appointments for my daughter. So my focus will be on her more than me. I am glad I have competed before and can just do what I have to do without any dramas.
TICK TOCK TICK TOCK
This close to comp and I can almost hear the tick tock of the clock counting down the time.
Boy oh boy I hope My legs catch up, I know what I want to look like and are so close yet so far .
Its so exciting :) Only bodybuilders will understand that comment.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
If only I could stand on a street corner with my hat in my hand, and get people to throw their wasted time into it!
Bernand berenson (1865-1959)
American Art Critic
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| Maria Dunlop - 3rd September 2008 01:35pm
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4 WEEKS....
DIET BRAIN
Boy oh boy talk about diet brain.
I am having trouble recalling what I have done over the last week.
This week I havent really dropped calories but changed the order of my food around.
In previous weeks I have had my fruit at night as a fruit salad. I am now having my banana at morning tea with eggwhites, and my kiwifruit in the afternoon with eggwhites. And for supper I have an orange.I have swapped the protein drinks for eggwhites. Easily eating 1 1/2 dozen eggwhites a day.
By the next morning I am soooooo ready for my breakfast.The rest of my meals are the same, just chicken and veggies.
TRAINING
Still training pryamid style for another week. Strength is still increasing.
Cardio sessions have been abit hard to start off with but after about 10-15 mins I seem to find my groove and finish each session.
I am doing 500 ab crunches a day which is down a bit on what I was doing but they are still getting in there, good quality crunches. I usually do them after my evening cardio infront of the t.v.
LIKE MINDED PEOPLE
Spending time with like minded people is so good for you.
On Saturday night I went to a 40th party of one of my good friends. I spent the night laughing with similar fun loving personalities. It didnt matter that I couldnt drink, we had so much fun. My poor friend who turned 40 would of woken up to a bedroom which had been toilet papered, a telephone which had been marmited, a mirror which had lots of messages on it for him in lipstick, and all his c.d's in different cases. They were going to rice his bed but couldnt find any so broke up noodles in it instead.
I turn 40 in October and are having second thoughts about celebrating in now as payback is a bitch :)
On Sunday I felt like I had drunk a keg. I usually try to be home before midnight as I think I turn into a pumpkin. I managed to stay out till 12.30 and diffiantely turned into some kind of vegetable on Sunday.
I managed to make it to Posing Practice with the Taranaki Bodybuilders on Sunday. It was so great to be with people all aiming for competitions.
We were drilled hard and then some of us did our routines at the end. It was so rewarding and I am looking forward to going again this week.
After posing practice I met up with "Arthurs Girls".
We had a very encouraging meeting and I left feeling very supported, energised and focused. Thank you ladies.
BUSY WEEK AHEAD
I have a busy week ahead.
Tonight we are off to watch the All Blacks. Friday a friend is staying for the weekend. Saturday night we are hitting the town and Sunday I am going to posing practice again.
Last week I got my tanning products sorted and my music done. This week I will get my bag out and start sorting what I need to take. It is easier to do it when you are not so carb depleted.
THE RHEUMATOID
The arthritis has been surprisingly good, touch wood :)
Maybe the clean diet is helping more now, whatever the reason I hope it continues.
QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
Discipline is the soul of an army.
It makes small numbers formidable, procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.
George Washington (1732-1799) |
 Blast from the past - Maria competing several years ago! |
| Maria Dunlop - 28th August 2008 02:50pm
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5 WEEKS TO GO ...
CREATING AWARENESS MEANS BEING TOTALLY HONEST.
When I started out on this mission 25 weeks ago I promised myself that I would be totally honest.
How else could people learn what it is like to have Rheumatoid Arthritis.
I have talked about the pain, the fatigue, the anger, denial and depression, I have even talked about how it makes my monthly cycle extra challenging.
This week I went to talk to a group of arthritis sufferers about my life with R.A.
Before I even sat down I was informed that I had affended some people with what I had said in the Daily News article. I had said "we are young people not a lot of old biddies".
Arthritis New Zealand received calls about it too.
When I was diagnosed at 30 years of age, one of the hardest things to come to terms with was that I thought I had an old persons diesease. What made it worse was that most of the community thought so to.
Part of the anger, denial and depression was to do with that particular topic.
Everywhere I went whether it was the gym or to meet friends the same thing was said everytime I had to tell people what was wrong with me "Oh Arthritis, my grandmother has that". It didn't matter how nice and young I looked, I came crashing down to a pile of devastation. I just wanted to run and hide from the world. I ended up having anxiety attacks a lot, I even had trouble getting the guts up to go put petrol in my car.
The few arthritis meetings I went to were full of elderly people which just made it worse.
If I could I would shout it from the highest mountain for all the world to hear "I am not an old biddy".
I have met many younger women who have felt the very same way when dealing with their illness. Over the last 5 months of so I have put my face out there and told everyone that I have Rheumatiod Arthritis. This was not easy.
I am greatly saddened that people have taken it as an insult when they should be taking it on board and using the information to reach out to younger people.
The way to help people is to listen and try and understand what they are trying to deal with. But nobody really listens at all.
No wonder there is so many younger women and probably men suffering in silence.
This left me with a feeling of utter hopelessness.
TRAINING
Even though I was trying to rid myself of this nasty super flu I managed to do all my workouts and increase my weights on my back and bicep day.
The pyramid training is enjoyable and does encourage me to put up the weights.
I was hoping to join the Taranaki bodybuilders posing practice on Sunday but forgot my hubby needed the car.
I have set it all up to go along this Sunday so really hope it happens.
My daughter is still having trouble walking and has to go for lots of tests, scans and x-rays . I am trying my best each day to encourage her to walk and this week I managed to get her interested in helping me practice in my high heels. I walk across the kitchen floor first and my shoes go clonk clonk clonk on the wooden floor, she then stands in her mickey mouse sneakers and walks towards me, as she is walking she says clonk clonk clonk.
Its so cute and a new way to motivate her.
All cardio and ab workouts were achieved.
EATING
It was so hard to eat eggwhites when feeling so lousy......but I did it.
I really struggled to get in all the food that I needed. I felt like I needed to eat alot more to help me through the flu.
I had lots of medicine and lots of lemon drinks with lots of honey in them. By Monday morning this week I actually woke up with an appetite and couldnt wait to have my eggwhites etc.
THE RHEUMATOID PAIN
The pain has still been bad at night in my right hand. It is still a numbing freezing cold pain thats wakes me around 2pm and keeps me awake till about 6am .
I then get woken up by my gorgeous son at 7 am .
My hubby was home sick last week as well and did get up to the kids 2 mornings and let me drift off to sleep for a few more hours. (heaven )
ASSESSMENT
Well with having the flu I have dropped way to much weight this week weighing in at 45kg.
I know it was because I wasnt well.
I haven't done the caliper test as didnt need anything else to topple my motivation over, I know that I must of lost a bit of muscle along with bodyfat unfortunately.
Theres nothing that I can do about that now. I need to focus on the week ahead.
LOOKING AHEAD
The next 5 weeks are going to be full on.
I have a friends 40th this weekend, posing practice at the gym, and an Arthurs Girls meeting. Next week a good friend comes to stay to celebrate more birthdays and I am going to watch the All Blacks play.
Then its my sons 4th birthday the weekend before the comp, and my daughter goes to an important doctors appointment a few days before I leave for Masterton.Heres hoping all goes well:)
LIVING WITH ARTHRITIS ON THOSE SPECIAL DAYS
I used to promote weight training for women by doing bodybuilding demo routines at beach canivals, rodeo's etc but this was a high anxiety time for me as I was just diagnosed with arthritis. I really didnt feel like I looked.
Special times in my life have been so hard due to the rheumatoid especially my wedding day. Having to sit at the ceremony because of the pain in my hip, my hubby helping me walk past our guests (he always holds on to me so tight)
I look back now and can see how sick I was but still wouldnt change anything as the day was superb.
I just got out of hospital 3 days before the wedding and ended up in hospital on our honeymoon again. This was due to the medication making me very unwell.
The birth of my children and trying to learn how to hold them and bath them without dropping them, all extra challenging but again worth every once of pain.
QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
The most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech
Diogenes
Greek Philosopher
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| Maria Dunlop - 21st August 2008 12:39pm
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6 WEEKS OUT FROM MASTERTON NORTH ISLAND CHAMPS ......
Wow I cant believe it is only 6 weeks to go.
I started my countdown at 30 weeks. The last 6 weeks have probably gone the fastest.
When you hit the diet down stage you have to stick to your plan. I start 12 weeks out and slowly cleaned up my eating. I know that the last 2 kg's will be the hardest to move as the body will be reluctant to let it go. 12 weeks allows my body time to plateau/stabilize and then carry on burning fat.
If you have the time you don't panic and enjoy the whole process of watching your piece of art develop.
Displaying your piece of art is important to, which is why you need to master your compulsory poses and piece together a routine that shows your body to its full potential.
Alot of people following my blog have no idea what the poses are all about so this week I want to quickly explain each pose.
When we first step on stage we are judged on our body's symmetry, you want to try and build a nice symmetrical body. To show our symmetry we perform "quarter turns".
We then head into our compulsory poses which cover the whole physique.
Chest Pose (from either side) This pose contracts the chest muscles together.
Tricep Pose (from either side) The triceps job is to straighten the arm so this pose is with the arm straight also showing delts, obliques, all legs.
Open Hand Front Pose (bodybuilders have close fists for their compulsories) This shows off the biceps, abs, quads etc.
Open Hand Back Pose This is for the all back muscles including arms, abs, hamstrings and calfs.
Front Abdominal Pose. This shows Abs, legs etc.
Inbetween poses being called we are asked to relax, this is also a pose. Every minute you are on stage your muscles have to be taunt.
 This is a workout on its own especially under the stage lights.
The whole body is judged from head to toe on each pose.
Routine poses can be anything that compliments your body. Lat spreads are usually done by bodybuilders but good for routines in figure classes.
Your routines go for 60 seconds which isnt long but can feel like eternity when you are piecing one together.
Posing practice needs to be done to perfect the poses and so you get used to the intensity of posing. If you have a big class on stage then it will take longer so be tougher to stay flexed the whole time.
Best to be prepared.
MY WEEK
My week has been a challenging one again but also a forfilling and success one.
The challenging side of it was having very very sick children. Boy they were so sick and still are recovering now. My husband and I are now coming down with it. I am doing everything in my power not to get as sick as my kids. Its like a super duper flu with an extra kick of super to it.
I have had quite a few nights without much sleep but hey I am kind of use to that with the rheumatoid.
The successful side of my week was having The Taranaki Daily News do a story on my quest.
The midweek article reached alot of women in the New Plymouth district which I now have contact with and is how "Arthurs Girls" was formed.
But I felt if there was that many women in New Plymouth then surely there must be more outside our district.
The article was a success as I have been contacted by more ladies in there 30's who are coping with Rheumatoid Arthritis.
I had a great chat to one lady in South Taranaki on Friday Night and so related to everything she was saying.
Another lady in her early 30's has had this disease since she was 2 1/2 years old.
I also had a motivating email from a lady in her 30's who has just ran a 30km run to raise money for children with arthritis, she is all the way over in Canada.
Her email motivated me so much as she is so active like me and succeeding in life.
These are the stories we need to hear as the give as hope and courage to go on.
So a big thank you to our daily/weekly newspapers for their support.
THE TRAINING
I had 4 days off from my weight training because the children were sick and my husband was away for 3 of those days and I couldnt get out into the gym.
I still did my morning and night cardio sessions. They were more challenging than normal as I had to keep getting off my exercycle to wipe boogie noses. I counted the times I had to get off my bike on sunday morning and it was 25 times. After 5 times I thought that it was impossible to keep cycling but I hung in there and added extra minutes to my session to make up for the interuptions. I will always stop training if my children need me.
I also achieved all my ab workouts.
When monday rolled around even though I felt sick with this super flu I went out to the gym and trained chest and triceps and increased my weights on all exercises, yippee.... so the 4 day break must of done my muscles good. I am now lifting better than I ever have.
Today I managed a great leg workout which consisted of lunges, squats, leg extensions 1 leg and 2 legged, stiff deadlifts, hammie pullbacks, leg curls and calf raises.Keeping to the pryamid style workout.
THE DREADED ASSESSMENT
I wasnt going to do bodyfat assessments each week as it can be unmotivating at times but I cant help myself and every Tuesday morning a get out my calipers and do the test.
So the results are:
46.25 kg
10.4%
The scales were playing games with me this week and when I weighed on Sunday they said 47.50 kg. The first thought I had was "No F***en Way!!!!!!"
Then the Personal Trainer in me took over and I accessed my week and lack of sleep and knew that it wasnt a correct weigh and to wait till Tuesday morning.
My weightloss this week is perfect, Nice and slow exactly what I needed.
DIET
My eating has been good, more protein drinks and I increased my eggwhites in the morning. Last week was "THE LAST WEEK" for eating things that I shouldn't such as lean mince, an extra poached egg, rice cakes with jam on them (I love Jam) and the odd piece of cheese or a cup of tea with milk.
6 weeks out is always the cut off point for me as I know it goes so fast and I know what shape I want to be in on the 27th September.
So bye bye strawberry jam :(
When I diet down hard I miss the simple things such as jam and honey sandwiches, cereals, a cup of tea. The hardest time will be at that time of the month when sugar and salt cravings kick in. I do take supplements to stop these but they dont always do the trick. It will be this time that I will crave fudgecake, chocolate, and fattier foods.
But hey 6 weeks to go that means only one cycle to get through......I CAN DO THAT :)
THE WEEK AHEAD
My main goal this week is to control this flu. I really dont feel that great, but hope to sweat it out on the exercycle and down loads of lemon drinks.
I have a busy week ahead.
On Thursday I am going to tell my story to the Stratford Arthritis Support Group. The Stratford Press is also going to do an article on my mission.
I really want to keep creating awareness of this disease and promote weight training for women.
With only 6 weeks to go, theres no slacking off now.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
I'm grateful for all my problems.
As each of them was overcome I became stronger and more able to meet those yet to come.
I grew on my difficulties.
J.C Penney (1875-1971)
American retailing magnate.
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| Maria Dunlop - 12th August 2008 05:04pm
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7 WEEKS TO GO......
HANGING IN THERE UNTIL THE STORM PASSES
When your motivation is at the all time low it seems easier just to give up. But like everything else in life you are given choices, so you can choose to give up or you can choose to keep doing what you know you need to do to survive and reach your goal.
"Just keep swimming". It is that easy. All you got to do is to just keep going. One foot infront of the other until you see the light again.
The things I knew would help motivation and start the ball rolling again were filling in the journal, positive thoughts and disrecarding negitives straight away.Posing practice, shoe practice (much needed), music and good solid workouts.
This week the journal was filled in, somedays not much but by yesterday I had recorded workouts, weights lifted, cardio, abs, appointments etc.
Practiced posing and routine and wearing the dreaded shoes.
Music featured highly each day with My kids and I dancing around the house most days.
The sun shining a few days did help as well. The children could play outside which made training a bit easier.
Don't get me wrong, it was a huge effort to do these things. It took alot of self talk.
THE RHEUMATOID
The pain has decreased this week but fatigue hit hard for 2 days. I ran out of iron tablets last week and this week had my monthly cycle which meant that with lower iron levels and my period I got body slammed pretty hard. I took a few cardio night sessions off, made those days my rest days with no weights and spent some hours lying watching t.v with the kids in the late afternoons.
I just hung in there until the storm passed.
TRAINING
I have turned my 4 day split into a pyramid training program.
This means I start with a lower weight and do 10 reps, then go heavier and do 8 reps, then go to my heaviest and do 2 sets of 6 reps.
My strength has been improving throughout my journey so I decided to focus on it for 4 weeks.
I want to avoid high rep work (which is usually done at this stage of competition countdown to help cut and define the muscles).
High reps aggravate my joints and My body is showing up cuts and definition nicely so no need to go there.
With all the wet weather I have now brought a set of dumbells inside so I can train at night when the children have gone to bed. My husbands been on night shift for a couple of weeks now which means I dont have time away from the kids to train. They have to be in the gym when I train clients and sometimes its to much to ask them to go out into the cold while I train.
Shoulders are the perfect exercise to do inside with dumbells as there is alot of different exercises you can do to hammer them.
Biceps are another and believe me I need all the bicep help I can get. It is the hardest muscle to train as it depends on the degree of joint pain in the wrists and fingers.
I now have one of my exercycles, set of dumbells and one of my ab rollers in the lounge.No excuses you see.
We have the biggest bedroom ever and it is perfect for practicing my routine.So one of our stereos is now in the bedroom for practice sessions.
MY EATING
With my monthly cycle came salt and sugar cravings. These were intensified with the massive wave of fatigue and I did eat a few meals off track this week.
I really listen to my body and if the cravings are genuine I allow myself to forfill them to a certain degree. Salty hot chips and some fried chicken went down a treat on my worse fatigue day. It was just what the doctor ordered.
Protein drinks have been increased and I have enjoyed eating lots of fruit and veg.
Still struggle with no appetite especially at dinner time.
ASSESSMENT
I have lost 500 grams this week.
Bodyfat down to 10.8%.
I have noticed the change in my legs mainly this week. Hamstrings starting to show up more.
I will invest in some tan lotion and then can take some pictures of the whole body without the glear of my lilly white legs breaking the camera.
Speaking of breaking cameras I actually did break mine. I dropped it on the gym floor and the lens wouldnt open and close and it just refused to work.
I rang around the camera specialists and they told me that it would be cheaper to buy a new camera than repair mine ($350 at least to fix what the say is a common problem). So out came my ladies toolkit. Armed with a deadly screw driver I fixed (more like attacked) the camera and now it is working again. Sure it looks like it has been through World War 1 and 2, but hey it is working and enables me to keep posting pictures on my updates.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Every tomorrow has 2 handles.
You can take hold of the handle of anxiety or the handle of enthusiasm.
Upon your choice so will be the day.
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| Maria Dunlop - 7th August 2008 05:15pm
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8 WEEKS TO GO AND COUNTING....
GOODBYE TREE
If you read my update last week you'd know the hassle of the tree verses sewage.
Well the tree lost out on Sunday.
What started with a small whole soon turned into a big whole which then turned into a massive whole with the digger getting closer and closer to the house.
They got rid of the tree only to find that its mate growing along from him had the same craving for poo's and wee's.
At this point they couldnt dig up anymore of the front lawn as it was already dug up...........all the tools came out and the massive amounts of tree roots were dealt to.
They started work in the morning and didnt leave till 5.30pm that night hopefully having solved the problem.
For the first time since moving in to this place we can pee in peace.
Below: The tree saga - the outcome and the process !
SO MANY KINDS OF PAIN
Diseases all have their own pain. Rheumatoid has a whole lot of different pains.
Usually when real bad I just want to cut off my limb thats affected, it actually feels like someone is cutting it off with a pocket knife or blunt saw.
At the moment the pain in my hands at night is a deathly pain ,meaning it feels like my forearm,wrist,fingers are dying. They go real cold and it starts to spread up my arm.
This is a horrible feeling like your arm is in a freezer and you cant get it out. Along with the cold feeling is the pain. Its a throbbing pain coupled with sharp spears of pain in my fingers.If I get out of bed and walk to the kitchen have pain killers and go back to bed the cold pain has decreased because I have got the circulation moving. I drift off back to sleep and within 30 minutes are awake again with the deathly cold feeling and pain.
I take a heat pack and 2 hotwater bottles with me to bed and it doesnt stop the process at all.
This is the time when the disease can really take a hold on me. If I let the fatigue get me I am defeated.
This is where my workouts are actually saving my life. And that is what I have told myself every minute of each morning that I have struggled out of bed and done my morning cardio. Its not that the rheumatoid will kill me but it will win, I will be powerless, vunerable and the pain will grab hold and drag me down with no quality of life.
This is where being stubborn really helps.
HIGHLIGHTS OF MY WEEK
I am so lucky to have the greatest clients. I really enjoy training them and they do so well.
One lovely client has been in town for 5 weeks as she now lives overseas and she turned up today with a bunch of flowers for me. Little gestures mean so much.
My clients really motivate and energize me and make me love what I do even more.
All the clients that I have ever trained for competition are up on my gym wall. The memories of their comps and how well they did are still fresh in my mind. I dont think people realize that it is not only a journey for the competitor but also for the trainer. Its amazing to see someone transform.
I have made the most amazing friends through bodybuilding and hope to make many more.
Another highlight this week was a phone call from a bestmate in Aussie. We had a good catch up, it was fantastic.
My hubby no longer has to play rugby on Saturdays so I feel like I actually get a weekend now and on Saturday I made the most of it and painted some of the gym walls. One thing I learnt is that I really cant paint. I got covered from head to toe.
Im lucky because outside the gym door is a patio area and then the childrens playhouse and a nice lawn for them to play on. With a few sunnier days its been easier to train and watch the kids enjoy the back yard and fresh air.
ASSESSMENT
Well here are the figures this week.
47kg
11.6% bodyfat
5.45 kg fat and water
41.55 kg lean
My upper body is looking great so its just up to the legs to fall into line now. I carry most of my bodyfat and fluid on my thighs and when you get down to a low level like this it takes a little longer to get the results you want. So with 8 weeks to go I think I will be fine.
I have downed alot more protein drinks this week and had one night totally focused on the All Blacks and chip and dip and chocolate he he he . It was great especially because we won.
MY TRAINING PROGRAM
I have gone on to a 4 day split program that looks like this
chest and triceps
legs
back and biceps
shoulders
Abs everyday 700
Calves when ever I have time at the end of a workout.
Performing 3-4 heavy sets of 6-10 reps.
Cardio morning and night 30-40 minutes.
QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
If you are not getting as much from life as you want to,
then examine the state of your enthusiasm.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993)
American writer and minister
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| Maria Dunlop - 30th July 2008 04:47pm
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9 Weeks to Go
I don't even know where to start this week.
We have been living here for 3 weeks and have had people round to fix the sewer 3 times. There is a big tree in our front lawn that has taken a liking to sewage and broke through the pipes which keeps blocking them up an we end up with all kinds of things on our back lawn.
This time was even more upsetting as it took so long to get someone here to unblock it (which is hard with 2 young kids). When they were trying to fix it they broke our toilet and sewage was splatted from floor to ceiling in the loo. At this point I just wanted to cry. It was horrible. So after hours of work they managed to tape up our toilet and someone came back the next night to fit a new one.
If the dam tree doesn't come down it will all happen again in a week or 2.
The wind on Saturday blew my gym roller door off its runners and broke the lock so it doesn't lock or roll up and also lets all the rain in.This has meant that I have had to move a lot of stuff off the ground and bring some stuff inside. Not motivating at all for me and my clients. It will probably take 3-4 weeks to fix which is a pain in the bum.
So needless to say it has been a pretty crap week.
Heres a quick summary of what else happened:
The Pain is hitting my right hand especially at night when I want to sleep.
The training has been happening but I can't really remember what I've done.
I haven't been writing in my journal.
Done cardio morning and night to try and combat and stop the fatigue setting in.
I did increase my ab workout to 700 a day.
Out of 35 meals in my week I have had 3 off track.
Did practice my routine and posing for a short time.
Bodyfat down to 11.6% ( will hopefully be more motivated next week to work out all the figures)
Motivation is at an all time low.
So that's it for this week. It hurts my right hand to type so will have to keep it short.
Hope to be feeling more alive soon.
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| Maria Dunlop - 24th July 2008 04:49pm
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10 WEEKS OUT FROM MASTERTON CHAMPS
PAIN PAIN GO AWAY
Pain, fatigue, no sleep for the last 4-5 days has given me major doubts as to whether or not I will make it to my goal.
My mood has been very low due to the frustration of this disease.
The pain has mainly been in my right hand with it getting quite severe at 2am each morning. I haven't been training much and have let the cardio night session slip due to lack of motivation.
Sunday night I felt real ill and my hubby and I were expecting a trip to the hospital....but I hung in there and got through the next couple of days and today apart from the severe pain in my left hand (yes its changed sides) I feel more motivated.
I even managed to train Chest/Triceps/Quads today and maintained my heaviest lifts so that was great. I have learnt that even if you are fatigued it doesnt mean that your strength actually suffers so through all this nasty rheumatoid illness I have managed to get myself back to what I was lifting before this diesease struck me down 9 years ago.
And of course fatigue is helped by exercise, if you workout wisely.
So the question mark will still hang at the end of this sentence "will I make it"
COUNTDOWN DIET and WEIGH-IN RESULTS
The diet has been easy as when you are in incredible pain you don't feel hungry but the reverse side of that is that you don't eat enough and that is what has happened this week causing me to canabilize a bit.
I weighed in this week at 47.5kg down to 12.3% bodyfat.
If you do the maths on that it means my muscle mass has dropped which is NOT what I am aiming to do. But hey, I felt like it was a bit out of my control, if I had eatin more, I doubt with the all the pain I was in that it would of stayed there for long.
I was aiming for 300grams a week.
I started at 49.50 and this week are 47.50.
2 kg's in 2 weeks, average of 1kg a week.
13.1% down to 12.3%.
Obviously the focus this week will be to try and eat more.
I had a lovely surprise on Saturday when a friend of mine turned up with 4 containers of protein powder for me. This is great and will help me out heaps.So this week I will try and drink more protein shakes especially if I have trouble eating calories.
So as long as this dreaded pain eases and I can get some good nights sleep I should be right.
I am good at cooking and dont have any trouble putting together a healthy alternative to what I have cooked my family.
One night they had spaggetti bolognaise and I saved 2 tbsp of the tomato puree and cooked my lean chicken in it with some onion, served on a small portion of spaggetti, it was lovely.
I also make a mean meatball with lean red meat, onion, eggwhites, and mixed together with some rolled oats and herbs etc, oven baked and served on steamed veggies, very nice on a winter night.
Each night I finish off with a big plate of fresh fruit salad made of banana, orange, kiwifruit and whatever else is in the fruit bowl.
If I am having a sweet craving I will enjoy a nice hot cup of low-fat hot chocolate. Of course the closer I get to the big day the more my diet will tighten up.
MOTIVATION
Well what can I say, the motivation is down, The tools that I should of been using, I aren't and when I am in pain I don't really care.
The tools that I will hopefully start using straight away will be filling in my journal again, using music to lift my energy and ......god I honestly cant think of anything that will work unless the pain disappears.
I did find another old posing suit which I decorated one day. It is the same bright orange colour that Arthritis New Zealand uses as their colour. I thought that it would be nice to wear their colour to tie in with what I am doing. I also think that their National Awareness day is Friday September 26th which is the Friday before my competition. I never planned it that way so its kind of cool how it worked out.
Anyway it looks real nice and gives me another one to chose from.
ARTHURS GIRLS MEETING
We all met again, this time at a different cafe. We had one new lady turn up. I was expecting 5 new ones but hopefully they can make it next time. It was a nice couple of hours and I am looking forward to the next meeting in a months time. Most of us are in a fair bit of pain at the moment. It was nice to know that I wasn't the only one having a hard time lately.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
The liquid drops of tears that you have shed
Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl,
Advantaging their loan with interest
Of ten times double gain of happiness.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
English Playwright and poet
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| Maria Dunlop - 15th July 2008 11:54am
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11 WEEKS OUT FROM MASTERTON
RELOCATING
The last week was spent moving house.
We had a slumber party with the kids in the new house on Thursday night which was fun for them. All the bedrooms were set up but we didnt have the beds etc.
I had taken most of the small stuff to the new house and Hookers came and moved all the big heavy things on Friday morning.
It rained cats and dogs which wasnt fun but nothing got too wet.By Friday night we had most things sorted and by Saturday it looked like we had been living there for months.
I spent most of Sunday and Monday sorting out the gym rooms. Before I was in one large double garage and now I have 2 smaller rooms.
It has worked out quite well and I have had 2 workouts in there so far and trained 1 client. All worked o.k with only a few adjustments needed.
It feels cozier and alot more personal.My daughter Eva seems to like it.
We had a few stressy moments, one when the lounge suite wouldnt fit into the lounge and another when the washing machine wouldnt fit into the laundry.
They finally managed to get the lounge suite in but we had to buy a smaller washing machine.
TRAINING
Most of my workouts have been done and alot of increases in weights which was nice.
We didnt pack the gym up until Thursday afternoon so it was only out of action for 2 1/2 days. These few days definatley werent spent lazying around. I was on the go the whole time.(this shows in my weigh in this week).
I am still supersetting exercises together to compact the workouts and give me more time for other things which was perfect for shifting house.
My cardio sessions were done most days, only Thursday/Friday were missed.
My muscle most lacking training would have to be my calves. I have had a lot of pain in one foot due to climbing up and down stairs and walking boxes to and from the car etc and I havent always achieved my ab workouts each day but thats about all that lapsed.
THE FIRST WEEK OF COUNTDOWN DIET
The first 3 days went real well. By Wednesday night I felt like I had dropped at least half a kg. I was tired and ran out of steam about 5pm. I had a client booked for 6pm and we ended up getting Burger King for dinner.
I felt so good after the feed and once my client went I had an awesome shoulder workout. Thursday and Fridays eating was way off track with moving house but come Saturday I was able to cook the foods I needed and was back on the plan.
Because I have done this many times before I know what to look for when accessing my body in the mirror. If I look too flat, too empty in the muscles, which usually ties in with how I am feeling at the time I know I need a good feed. I know when I have eatin just for the sake of eating and instead of beating myself up I will do extra cardio if needed. Its no good wasting energy on negitive thoughts, you need to keep moving towards your goal.
I needed extra calories last week so all in all it worked out well.
THE WEEKLY WEIGH IN
I was expecting the first weigh in to be a big loss as you usually lose a bit of fluid when you clean up your eating.
My hubby was laughing as he saw me chowing down on burger king and was visualizing my update this week when I had to admit to putting on a kg.
But alas it was what I expected not what he expected.
Last week I weighed in at 49.50kg and this week I weighed in at 48kg.
Am I happy with this result?
Kind of, I would of liked it to have been only a kg.
I will be doing another caliper assessment next Monday so are hoping it will all even out abit next week.
PLANS FOR THE COMPETITION
Today I booked my accomodation for the Masterton Comp. This felt great and puts the focus forward in my mind.
I have a nice area to practice posing in and have set up the stereo with speakers in the roof to blast my routine music loud.
ARTHURS GIRLS
Since my article in our local midweeker I have met and formed "Arthurs Girls" which consists of fellow sufferers around the same age as myself.
The group is getting bigger . It started out with 4 of us and now we are at 10. We are meeting this Sunday again and I am looking forward to meeting some new girls.
It still surprises me how many other people just around my area are suffering with the same disease and alot of them are suffering in silence.
Instead of a quote this week I will leave you with this:
WHAT A LIFE
Remember, old folk are worth a fortune
With silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet and gas in their stomachs.
I have become a little older since I saw you last and a few changes have come in to my life. Frankly I have become a frivolous old girl.
I'm seeing 5 gentlemen every day. As soon as I wake up Will Power helps me out of bed. Then I go to see John. Next it's time for Billy Tea. They leave and Arthur Ritis shows up and stays the rest of the day. He doesn't like to stay in one place very long so takes me from joint to joint. After such a busy day I'm really tired and glad to go to bed with Johny Walker.
What a Life.
P.S. The Preacher came to call the other day. He said that at my age I should be thinking about the hereafter. I told him, Oh I do, all the time.
No matter where I am, if I'm in the parlour, upstairs, in the kitchen or down in the basement, I ask myself: Now what am I here after?.
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| Maria Dunlop - 8th July 2008 04:43pm
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12 WEEKS OUT FROM MASTERTON
AND SO IT BEGINS
It is very exciting to be at the start of what we call the pre-competition phase of training.
This is where we burn the bodyfat off and hopefully hold on to the precious muscle that we have put on since out last competition.
My countdown will be done on a tight budget.
I am not taking fat burners of any kind as I don't want to upset the medication that I am on. I think it is wiser to go it alone, it may take a little more sweat but thats o.k.
I have made sure I haven't put on to much off season bodyfat to make it easier for myself. Training will change to work in with the diet changes that I will slowly make.
I have decorated old posing suits to save money which I will try on soon to see how they look. (when its a little bit warmer)
THE FIRST OF MY BODYFAT ASSESSMENTS
Well Monday morning rolled around fast and I had to retrieve my scales and bodyfat calipers from the new house, bring them back to the old house do my assessment and then return them to their new home again. A couple of times I thought I'd just leave it till next week but that "Personal Trainer" in me just doesnt allow easier cop-outs like that.
So last week I ate everything that I know I am going to miss over the next 12 weeks, felt like shit on Monday morning because of this but stood on the scales for the first time in awhile.I was expecting to be about 52kg.
This is my assessment
Body weight in KG's = 49.50
Fat Percentage = 13.1 %
Lean Bodyweight in KG's = 43.02
Fat and Water = 6.48
If you havent met me you now know that I am no giant. But hey good things come in little packages :)
I have mangaged to put on 1.5kg muscle since November which is real exciting for me as training hard and heavy can be a challenge at times with the Rheumatoid.
I felt like the training programs were working and was glad to see that the results proved it.
I want my fatloss to be real slow. My goal each week will be to lose 300grams a week.
I hold a lot of water on my legs and so will need to drop that in the last week of prep. This means a kg or so will be dropped in the last few days.
My eating plan is pretty basic and for the next few weeks will go like this:
Breakfast
5 eggwhites
1 whole poached egg
2 vogels toast (without butter of course)
Mid morning
Banana and protein shake
Lunch
Salad, chicken or tuna
Rice or Potato
Afternoon snack
Fruit and protein drink
Dinner
Chicken/Steak/Fish and steamed veggies
1 Potato or kumera
Supper
Fresh fruit salad.
This will change little by little if I need to keep the body burning fat.
Eating like this you aren't really hungry, you just miss Carbs, I will probably go through a few weeks of de-card cravings(de-chocolating).
The main changes for me from last week till this week is taking out the cups of tea with milk and other dairy foods.
This alone will probably make a change straight away to my body which will be motivating.
An important part of this eating plan is to supplement with your vitamins/minerals/calcium/iron etc.
I believe that you need to enjoy your journey to your comp, not dread it.
THE NEW GYM SET UP
My clients are so great. They have said they don't care where we train as long as we train.
The shed we are going to be training in is not as nice as where we are at the mo.
My Mum and I have been having a laugh trying to make it a nice place to be. I must admit that it is great to train in a nice gym but it doesnt make a difference to the workout unless the area is full of positive energy. I am full of positive energy when it comes to training so I think we will all be training well in our new little Rockbodz Shed.
THE MOVING
All is going well with moving. Had a few major hic-cups but they were sorted out yesterday.
I have just about moved everything, just the big stuff now and Hookers will have a workout moving all that gym equipment on Friday morning.
This time next week we will all be settled in and back into a normal routine.
SUPPORT IS IMPORTANT
It is so important that the person closest to you supports what you are doing and remains positive.
My hubby is great. He pushes me to train when I suggest that I dont want too. He throws positive compliments to me which boast me up. And this week he came home from Tegal with a 15kg box of lean chicken fillets for my pre-comp eating. And he bagged them all up for me.
He has helped hang up the posing mirrors in the gym as this will be an important part of my prep work a bit later on and the first thing to get set up on Friday will be the gym gear so My clients and I can keep training.
Keeping Negativity away is important as it can lead to self doubt and effect your eating and training.
THE FUNDRAISING
The fundraising has hit another drought due to being busy moving house. Hopefully I can pick it up again in a few weeks.
This week i want to acknowledge my clients that suffer from Arthritis.
They are doing so well and are training much harder than most women do.
They are enjoying the benefits of resistance training and I am so very proud of them.
QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
My business is not to remake myself,
But make the absolute best of what God made.
Robert Browning (1812-1889)
English Poet
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| Maria Dunlop - 2nd July 2008 06:22pm
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13 WEEKS OUT FROM MASTERTON CHAMPS
THE LAST WEEK OF "EATING WHATEVER"
Wow 13 weeks to go. A short update this week as I have so much to do :)
This week I will be enjoying eating all the things that I really enjoy, the things I know I will crave as I clean up my eating heading towards the big day.
When I diet down I mainly miss the simple things like toast and jam, cheese, cups of tea. And then I miss the favourites like cheese cake and fudge.
I will be aiming to lose 100 - 200 grams only a week.
My main goal through the cutting up phase of this competition will be to stop the body panicing in any way. This will allow for easy fatloss and control the flares of Rheumatiod.
My cups of tea will be swapped for black coffee and lots of hot parsley water. I will cut out dairy foods (milk, cheese, yoghurt). I will be supplementing ,again to keep the body happy. Fruits and Green Vegetables will increase alot.
I am really good at knowing the difference between cravings and genuine hunger so will be monitoring and changing things when I need to.
Each week from 12 weeks out I will record my weight in kg's. ( I havent weighed for quite awhile now so that will be interesting)
I will do a caliper assessment to record my bodyfat in kg's and my lean body mass in kg's.(if I can find the calipers as everything is packed away) This is to keep a check that I am burning off bodyfat and not muscle.
And also hopefully I will do pictures to show the results, but I will only do these every few weeks as I will not be having a big weight loss each week.
CHALLENGES
The main challenge this week is to get time to do everything.
I started moving things into our new home yesterday. The days are going to be really full on but it should make for a easier move in the long run.
A bit of work to be done to get my gym up and running. I will not have the same amount of room but are hoping to make it work.I mean "I WILL MAKE IT WORK".
I have achieved all workouts and cardio sessions last week and my weights have increased again so thats great. I am still supersetting my muscle groups which is working well as I have so much more to do now.
THE RHEUMATOID
I had a few days where my hands were pretty sore last week and really believe that it was due to the weather.
Today Wednesday I am pain free all over.....yes thats right PAIN FREE. I cant believe it. It feels so great.
I have increased my fishoil and added in magnesium so dont know if thats why or if its just the wheather as it isnt as cold today as it has been.
My visit to meet the CEO of Arthritis New Zealand went well. It was good to listen to what's happening with the foundation.
I was a little shocked when I walked into the room and it was mostly people my grandmothers age but it re-inforced the importance of me staying in contact with the ladies I have meet since starting my countdown, ladies around my own age. So the group that we have named "Arthurs Girls" is going to be an important part of my future.
FACT ABOUT RHEUMATOID
Cutting up pumpkin is hard at the best of times but when you have R.A it is almost impossible.
I ended up with my knives stuck in a pumpkin this week, I couldnt get them out no matter how hard I tried.
Another challenge is the peel back top on cans. They are meant to be easier than a can opener but they certainly are not!!!!
QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
It is familiarity with life that makes time speed quickly.
When every day is a step into the unknown, as for children, the days are long with the gatherings of experience.
George Robert Gissing (1857-1903)
English novelist
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| Maria Dunlop - 25th June 2008 09:05am
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14 WEEKS OUT FROM MASTERTON CHAMPS
MY TRAINING
The last week has been one of the best weeks so far in my countdown.
My energy levels have soared.
The last 2 weeks I have been supersetting my exercises each session to give me more free time to do other things, so I had cut my workouts down to 3 hard-out sessions per week covering all muscle groups , but I have felt so great this week and had the time to train so have done double the workouts.
This has also increased my appetite which is so awesome. I have actually been hungry during the day and eating whatever I could get my hands on.
My recovery rate has been good and the arthritis pain has been low.(yippee)
So why the good week?
Who cares why! Im just taking it :)
MOVING HOUSE
I'm a very tidy and organised person and the last few days my gym has turned into a depot for boxes.
We are moving house in 2 weeks and I have started packing. I have a plan so I can move without getting too stressed. I have moved homes 43 times since I moved to New Plymouth. 42 of those were before we had children. Our last move was so much harder because you couldnt just get stuck in, you had 2 little ones to worry about as well. Thank goodness for Nana's and Gran's.
Hopefully everything will go to plan.
Its not too motivating in my gym though as I am running out of room fast and also looking around my gym at all the things (most heavy)that we have to shift.
I've taken down and packed all the pictures of my ex-clients and myself that inspire me each day.
Packed trophies and medals away but when it came to my Vision Board I thought I'd better leave it there and take it with me on the last day.
ANOTHER MOTIVATIONAL TOOL - VISION BOARDS
Vision Boards or Motivation Boards are fantastic. You can use them for whatever goals you may have.
I scribbled on mine about 20 weeks ago that I would compete in Masterton and raise money for Arthritis New Zealand along the way.
As the weeks have gone by I have added photos to it that inspire me, put a contest calendar on it etc but the main goal is in big black printing for me to see everytime I step into my gym.
Even if I dont realize it, it subconciously keeps me focused.
MAGAZINE ARTICLE
This week I received a copy of the New Zealand Multisport magazine which incorporates The Femme Fitness and Lifestyle magazine inside it.
The article they have done on me is perfect. It is under the inspirational section.
I wrote my own story and thought they might change it or cut it or whatever editors do but it is exactly how I wrote it.
I hope now that it inspires/helps/encourages at least one person to exercise.
THE ARTHRITIS
Last week I emailed my Arthritis Doc to order "more drugs" and told him that my left hand/wrist has been so painful. He suggested a cortisone injection.
He then rang me a day or so later to see if I wanted to follow through on it. For some reason (maybe the fear of needles) my wrist and hand has been so much better. Better than it has been in weeks. He must of scared the pain right out of there.
I'm very lucky because My Arthritis Doctor is just the best. You can be in the utmost pain, very fatigued, feeling so bad and he makes your appointment enjoyable.
That means alot to those of us suffering with all different types of arthritis.
MY FRIDAY CHALLENGE
This Friday I have been invited to meet the CEO of Arthritis New Zealand and the Financial Services Manager.
The last time I went to an Arthritis New Zealand Function, (actually it was the first and last time) I left the building in tears. It was about 8 years ago and I wasnt ready to face what was happening to me, I thought I was but when I came face to face with other sufferers it scared the pants off me. I guess I tried to outrun it. That denial lasted a very long time.
So this Friday is like facing a fear.....am I really past the denial? have I accepted it? I thought I was past it 2 years ago when it suddenly hit me like a sack of potatoes when I was on stage competing in 2006 and I went through the stages of denial, anger, depression all over again.
It sounds pathetic buts this Friday is a real test for me.
FACT ABOUT LIVING WITH RHEUMATOID
This is the time of year where alot of people fight influenza.
Health Officials urge rheumatiod arthritis sufferers to get their free jab. Yep thats right its free for New Zealanders at high risk of complications until the 30th June.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Determination, patience and courage are the only things needed to improve any situation.
And, if you want a situation changed badly enough, you will find these three things.
Anonymous
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| Maria Dunlop - 18th June 2008 06:19pm
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