Road to a Healthier & Happier Life: OFFICIALLY 12 WEEKS OUT!! Pains = STRUGGLE!

So getting back at my normal routine and going into it FULL FORCE with NO EXCUSES this week! Officially 12 weeks out as we speak today. Remember my stage reveal is on Oct. 18, 2014 just in case you just started following my first Figure Competition Journey! Last week, my struggles were with traveling and sticking to my figure comp plan. Both diet and exercise is tough but doable with traveling. A tiny struggle this week was a slight change in my diet and I'll mention what that change was later on as that isn't the main focus of todays post.

This week my main struggles were with pain. And not pain in a bad way where I injured myself and need to stop. But joint pain. I've been active most of my life, so I can feel it catching up to me with my ripe old age of almost 30 haha! But lots of impact from running long distances that I have in my past have given me bad arthritis in both my knees. I have had left knee surgery before, thankfully not a crazy surgery or anything that involved ACL/MCL repairs. But still, doctors have told me I have pretty bad arthritis in both my knees. I also have a weird clicking that goes on in both my shoulders. Whenever I do a full rotation of them or I'm doing a pull-up or that same motion, there's clicking. No pain, which is good. It just sometimes prevents me from doing a full range of motion on a certain move from time to time. I think it sounds like arthritis as well. I don't think it's a tear because I don't have pain. Another challenge I'm enduring as well is lower back pain. Being a nurse by trade, I've had to lift patients incredibly heavy for my size and of course, with proper form, you can prevent injuries. That did not happen as I wanted it in the past, and I lifted improperly because the situation happened too quickly. One I will just have to deal with now. So training for me currently as I'm trying to increase my weight is using proper form and taking care of my joints.

Here are some tips that I'm learning to incorporate to help with the daily aches and pains, and how to prevent yourself from injury!

1. Joint Support Formula
First off, for anybody doing any type of exercise that has a lot of impact on your joints, I highly recommend taking some type of joint support formula. I'm not here to sell you any products. You can do your research and see what would work best for you, but I'm just putting it out there so you can protect your joints. Injuries happen and you don't want to stop all your hard work due to an injury! But I've tried several and the only one so far that has really helped me and I can feel a different when I use it and when I don't is called Wobenzym N. (keep in mind I don't work for this company... this is my true opinion). Last week when I traveled, I ran out and figured I'll just restart when I get home. I was soooo arthritic and stiff! I restarted it this week and I'm starting to feel the difference now being on it. So I am a believer! But Wobenzym N works to provide clinically demonstrated support for joint and inflammation health. It works holistically to support your body's natural response to inflammation. It is normal for inflammation(such as soreness and aches) to occur in your body when you're putting it under stress by weight lifting and exercise, so this helps me to function and keep going with my active lifestyle. Again, look into joint support products and choose one that's right for you.

2. Warm Up and Stretch
Great practice to get into before hitting an exercise full on is warming your body up properly. You don't want to start lifting weights especially without stretching out your muscles and getting some lubrication into your joints. That is how injuries happen. So for example, for your shoulders, do full shoulder rotations to get some synovial fluid to your joints. This will help warm them up and give your joints some cushion there. Jumping jacks are another nice way to warm up shoulders, legs and also get your heart rate up as well to warm up your body and prep it for exercise. It doesn't need to be long, just do it!

3. Proper Form
I cannot stress proper form enough. I cringe at some of the people I see at the gym just lifting and doing moves incorrectly. I just know they are trying to lift as heavy as possible because that's what they think is the right way to do it. What they'll end up with is an injury eventually. So when trying to build muscle, because that's usually what everyone is trying to do whether it be to bulk up or just lean out, form is everything. So until you perfect the form, I wouldn't suggest increasing in weight to sacrifice the form. That's where I see a lot of people go wrong. You have to lift smart! Suggestion I have is to research the proper form either through google or through a bodybuilding book. Another way is I record myself or have somebody critique my form to make sure that I'm doing it correctly.

4. Use a Lifting Belt, Gloves and Wrist wraps!
This has saved my back!! LIFESAVER! When you are lifting heavy, your back is vulnerable to injury. One small wrong movement can really tweak your back and can stop your progress and cause more problems later. This ensures that my lower back stays aligned by having the belt wrapped tight around my lower back. You don't want to risk injury, trust me! Another thing I use on a daily basis from weight lifting is definitely gloves. It helps cushion your hands and saves you from some of the callouses. Also what I've started to use since I've started lifting a little bit heavier is wrist wraps. The week before this week, I was so disappointed because my forearms and hands were getting tired before my legs were tired (during my squats). I was finding that the weights I was lifting were too heavy for my arms, BUT not too heavy for my legs. So I felt that I was giving enough for my legs. Now with the wrist wraps, I definitely as able to squat heavier.

These were some of my struggles this week, but I still think I conquered them pretty well!! Despite some of my diet changes, I'm still holding up well without having too much cravings just yet. Here are some of my diet changes that I faced this week!!
Meal #1- Shakeology, whey protein, oats and flaxseed (my PEANUT BUTTER WAS TAKEN AWAY!!)
Meal #2- Chicken, Green Beans, and almonds
Meal #3- Tilapia, Green Beans and Sweet potatoes
Meal #4- Chicken, Green Beans and almonds
Meal #5- Tilapia, spinach salad, avocados and almonds
Meal #6- Egg whites and Peanut Butter (at least I still have half a serving!)

The reds were my changes this week and I just got my diet changes for the next week!! OMG, I have NO PEANUT BUTTER in my diet AHHHHHHHHH!!!! HELP ME NOW! Actually help my husband. True challenge next week eeks!

Here are my progress pics so far! I'm really seeing a difference in my waist getting slimmer and starting to get more of a "V" shape for the upper body. My booty is also increasing in size and getting lifted! Can definitely see more definition coming in my quads as well.. so I'm getting really excited as these photos are not flexing at all!!