I say “brutally honest” because my before shots are so abysmal! I wasn’t even trying to go for those magazine ad-style shots where the model is all slumped and pasty before trying a fat-loss product, but ti sure looks like it.

Here are a couple of comparisons:

Over this 3 month period, according to the calipers, I lost 10% body fat. Another comparison, just for fun:

I still have far to go in the 1 month remaining before but regardless of how I look on stage I am very happy with how far I’ve come even now (you can view earlier posts on my progress here on our blog as well). Before taking a look at these comparisons I was feeling quite down about my progress due to the fact that pregnancy changed my body in certain insurmountable ways: exacerbating my scoliosis so that I now have a pronounced lean to the left in my stance and my left shoulder blade juts out, not to mention the strange islands of fat and cellulite that are taking their time in dissipating! That despondency lasted only a moment, though, because I am damn fortunate to have a healthy, intelligent son out of the deal and the grueling training and diet for this contest has gotten me back into the gym without back pain again! 

I say “diet” only in the loosest sense, because our contest strategy is so radically different from the norm that compared to what most competitors eat we’ve been enjoying a regular feast. I refuse to eat processed fake meats and lots of protein powder in order to get excessive protein in my diet, so the changes you see above were effected with a diet comprised of mainly vegetables and beans, some fruit and whole grains and no more than 2 scoops of PlantFusion protein a day. We do cut back on whole grains and eliminate fruit in the very last stages of contest prep but still eat a much higher percentage of calories from carbohydrates than is common for contest preparation because we continue to eat beans every day.

Some highlights of our strategy over the last 3 months:

• A very gradual reduction in calories. We determined early on that I would need to maintain my (over)weight for longer than I would have liked in order to gain muscle and stimulate my metabolism for the fat loss phase ahead. This was because I lost a lot of muscle during and post pregnancy and couldn’t afford to lose more due to too-rapid fat loss. My maintenance calories, at 5’2 and 125-ish pounds were about 2500. We’ve systematically dropped them in increments of 200 and I am now at 1000 calories a day plus some calories from extra salads and vegetables. We don’t limit those!
• A hell of a lot of grueling cardio. I began at 20 minutes a day three days a week and ramped it up to one hour a day, 6 days a week plus 90 minutes of Bikram yoga plus extra cardio that I can fit in plus weekly belly dance rehearsals for summer shows. The majority of the cardio I do involves pushing 40 pounds of stroller and baby over hilly terrain in 90 degree temperatures because that’s the only way to fit it in, as well as trail running and stair climbing. When I start to run out of steam by the end of the week, I allow myself some time on the exercise bike.
• Calorie cycling. Once I got into the realm of 1400 calories a day, I started adding in a “refeed”day every Sunday that has significantly higher carbohydrates and calories than I eat throughout the week. This is a necessity as I know from past experience that my metabolism slows to nothing if I eat too few calories for too long. It’s also standard practice.

I’ve included meal plans and a strategy guide that go into much greater detail on our – available to subscribing clients only, sorry, guys we do have to make a living although we try to give away as much as we can! Cross your fingers for me this final month – and look for sample meals and workouts from myself and all the other competitors in Vegan Health and Fitness Magazine this fall!