Blog Archives

The hard work just isn’t paying off

There is nothing more frustrating than seeing a person that kills themself day in and day out at the gym, but doesn’t get results.

And the sad part is, I see people like this all the time.

I see women that spend 30 grueling minutes on the treadmill followed by some 2 hour Barbie weight training program whose bodies never change – no muscles gained, no weight lost.

And they are working super hard.

And they keep working hard – Repeating the same grueling workout at least 5 times a week and eating the same foods that they’ve always eaten. And they believe they are being super healthy yet nothing changes.

Sometimes I want to walk up to those people, shake them and say, “How’s that working out for you? Seriously, how is that workout and “healthy” lifestyle really working for you!?!”

I want to shake them because they are wasting their time doing something that obviously isn’t working.

And if they do decide something isn’t working, they usually blame the workout. They may then even hire a trainer who writes up a new and wonderful routine for them.

And they work hard every time they meet with the trainer and even go to the gym on their own.

But they still aren’t seeing results.

And why aren’t they seeing results? Well they will most likely blame the trainer and the workout routine. When in reality, diet (and potentially even overtraining) is what is leading to their lack of results.

When people want to lose weight or fat, they turn to exercise. They can depend so much on exercise in fact that they start training so much that they actually hurt their progress.

But exercise is really only 20% of the weight loss/body composition battle. The other 80% is diet.

So if you aren’t getting results stop doing the same old thing and killing yourself day in at day out at the gym. If you are working hard in the gym, maybe your diet is to blame.

Here is one recipe from the Recipe Box to help you kick-start a new healthy eating program that will help you get the results you deserve for all of your hard work!

The Meat House Country Scramble

Ok so this doesn't look beautiful but it tasted delicious!

Ingredients:

2 potatoes
1/2lbs of The Meat House Country Sausage
2 oz Wild Boar Salami (courtesy of The Meat House)
3 strips of bacon
1/2 onion
1 tsp cumin
Salt, chili powder and pepper to taste
4 eggs

In a pan, heat bacon and onions. When onions are translucent, add in chopped potatoes. When potatoes start to brown a bit, add in the country sausage. Season with cumin, salt and pepper and add in wild boar salami.

Once sausage is cooked and potatoes are golden brown and crispy, divide hash onto plates. Cook eggs in the same pan till over easy. Serve over the hash with a sprinkle of chili powder.

If you are looking to make this low carb, but equally delicious, cut out the potatoes.

P.S. We use salami from The Meat House because it is nitrite free. AND all of their sausages are made in-house and have all-natural ingredients while being gluten-free!! Please don’t substitute in any sausage or salami as it will deduct from the nutritional benefit of the dish!

Show Me Yours – Anywhere, Anytime

So I got some great emails AND pictures this week.

One was from Lisa:

Hey Cori, so fun story…. I won my cornhole championship tonight and everyone was commenting on my biceps as I one-handedly drank the trophy of beer! (The trophy is heavy.) It spurred the thought to push-up drink from the trophy in the middle of the bar… The waitresses hated me…everyone else was amused. Someone asked about the story behind the ruckus… I said ” It’s for Man Bicep, a movement about breaking the taboos about women lifting weights, which I love to do.” Then I said… “Drinking beer is so much better in  full decline push up position….just because I can.”. 🙂

Lisa doing a very nice decline push up!

Two more great bicep pictures were submitted by Ada and Toni this past week.

The Toni Bicep! Love it! Keep up the weight training!

The Ada Bicep! A great way to build the bicep...PULL UPS!

Also, a BIG Happy Belated Birthday to Man Biceper Kristen who just recently started lifting weights.

Kristen stated recently, “I have really been enjoying what I’ve been doing thus far and feel great!  Tomorrow is my birthday and I feel better than I have in quite a few birthdays!”

Motivated now to workout? Try this workout of the week!!!

Dieting and Body Image

So I’ve been reading the “Body Image Warrior Week” posts over at Fit and Feminist. They are great and they got me to really thinking about dieting and body image.

Usually negative body image and dieting go hand in hand. But dieting doesn’t solve negative body image.

If you can’t accept your body as it is now, you won’t accept it even if you find a diet that makes you look exactly the way you always wanted to. No matter how “good” you look, if you have a negative self-image, you will always be able to find some flaw.

So stop looking for the flaws. Stop thinking that if you just find the right diet you will be able to lose enough weight or fat to correct them. Stop thinking that dieting is the solution.

You can’t change the body you were given.

A healthy diet will make you look good, but you already have to be content. No matter how great the transformation in your body, a diet won’t create a positive self-image.

BUT, if you find a diet that will make you healthier, that will make you feel better, you will find a diet that makes your body look the best that it can!

That is why I’ve been so gung-ho about the Man Bicep diet. I found something that has made me healthier and feel better with the added bonus that my abs show.

My body may not be what someone else considers to be perfect, but guess what?…I like how I look! (Although I’m still weirded out when I log in and see like 50 bazillion pictures of myself EVERYWHERE, but it’s proof right!?! haha)

Is that cocky? No. Is it confident? Yes. Am I happy? Most definitely.

But I’m not only happy with my body because I feel it “looks good.” I’m happy with my body because I like that I can lift more weight than is necessary. I like that I can sprint and paddle board and even occasionally eat till I have a food baby and can only roll around in pain and moan.

I love my body’s strength and feeling of health. Yes it has flaws, but there isn’t a person out there who doesn’t see a flaw no matter how “perfect” someone else thinks their body is.

And while I feel better and healthier when my abs are showing, I’m just as happy in my own skin when Chinese food and ice cream have hidden them (Ok so not quite as happy, but that is mainly because I usually feel pretty ill from the bad food binge-ing!)

So stop looking for the flaws in your body and realize how wonderful it is.

And I’m not undermining the importance of committing to a healthy lifestyle. I’m just saying a diet won’t correct a negative body image.

A healthy diet, however, does have a big pay-off – one bigger than 6 pack abs…You will feel freaking healthy and good!