Pound Pinching: Photo Shoot Prep

About two months ago I got this super brave idea that I wanted to do a photo shoot that was a portrayal of my "everyday look." We see all these amazing pictures of women with hard, flat, muscled bodies and they look absolutely incredible--and they are absolutely a piece of art. They take time, consistency, and dedication to achieve the look they present to the camera and stage and I love that look. Love it.
The one thing that I have come to realize though, is that my body--my genetics do not allow me to be that hard and incredibly chiseled looking -- like I was in my show pictures or my photo shoot from last year--every day of the year. If I dedicated a good 15 weeks to be in show prep mode I would be freaking chiseled as hell and I would look damn good. My strength would be a bit down and I might be a "Tad" grumpy from the rigorous intense diet and training that comes with it.
So I wanted to show what I personally look like in the off-season of show prep. I am a mom, wife, I work, and I do normal mommy wife duties. I also make my training a priority--I train in the gym on average 5 days a week, sometimes getting up before 4 am to fit in my sweat sessions. I eat extremely clean year round. I don't follow a strict meal plan(although I have done that plenty in my time!!) at this point in my journey but I am very mindful to get adequate protein, carbs and fats in to my diet to keep my body balanced and functional. I train to be an athlete. I do a bit of cardio (not typically ever over half an hour 4 days a week--although the past two weeks I did do 30 minutes 5 days a week). I love to lift heavy and hard and be sloppy sweaty when I am done.

I have issues with my body just like everyone else does. I am insecure as all heck about my stomach--the area right below my belly button and right above my "Chotch" its wrinkly and saggy from those two little monkeys I carried in my belly for 15 months time. I want a tummy tuck super bad, and I'll be honest--this time next year I hope to have one.
In my journey to be my best self I have learned to read my body more clearly than ever before. Finding out that it responds physically and I mentally, best to a higher fat diet (think nuts, oils etc) and lower carbs where I time them around my training. This is quite honestly the best my stomach has looked outside of prep, ever and I am extremely happy with the progress. I am even more happy with the mental health that is in all these pictures behind the 4 abs at the top and behind that amazing tricep poking out the back of my arm. I am truly at a happy place with my body and appreciate it for what it does and can continue to do for me as I treat it right.

My husband is my best guy. We love to workout together and eat healthy yummy food. Food is a part of our lives and we try to keep it healthy, but interesting to instill a love for health in our young children.

In order to 'prep' for this shoot I ate as much healthy clean real food as possible. I drank a protein shake a day and when I was in a pinch I ate a protein bar! I had a treat meal once a week or so and the last month I alternated my food doing lower carb days followed by a higher carb day and it was a really good experiment for my body. I enjoyed eating this way and I never once felt overwhelmed or freaked out about not having anything, because if I wanted something, like those two truffles at a wedding last weekend, I ate them-- without guilt or worry or stress and you know what? Those truffles look good on my body! Lol. I decided to run last week for the first time a distance(rather than the sprints I always do and love), just to see if I could do it. I kicked that runs butt-- 3 miles in 30 minutes--which isn't fast for some, but I was very pleased that I could run for 30 minutes without stopping. I bench pressed 95 lbs for 2 reps, I increased my leg press for 12 reps and I can still do my 7 pullups. For those of you who have prepped, you know that as you get further and further in--your energy plummets and you no longer are able to train for personal bests--so I was proud of these. I road bikes with my kids and raced my dog a few times, whenever they wanted to.

My boss Shawna spray tanned me Friday and so now I am a beautiful bronzed muscle babe getting ready for my shoot in a few hours. I want to remind everyone, that as you see these pictures these are MY body. They are going to look much different that what your body would look like at my same 15% body fat because all of us hold on to that fat we do have, in different places. I just want you to realize that this is an attainable body. I don't spend 3 hours in the gym, but rather an 1-1 and 1/2 hours 5 days a week. I eat clean, but I don't deprive myself and I don't skip out on family dinners or parties because I can't eat what everyone else is eating. I do my best 90% of the time, and 9 times out of 10--when I am faced with an option to eat something unclean, if I want it, because I LOVE it (cookies or Mexican food) I eat it, but if I don't love it (fried foods, brownies) I skip them--because food doesn't rule my world. I do. and I am a dang good ruler.

These are my outfits I picked for my shoot. I shopped an entire day at the Nike outlet store, Dicks, Sports Authority and the mall finding NOTHING I loved. I was willing to spend whatever (you know that crap is spendy!!!) because it is for this special photoshoot and I wanted to look and feel good--and I ended up with my old nike shorts, my old Old Navy pants and a few new tank tops from good ol Wal-Mart. The tank tops actually make me laugh, because in all honesty, they are what I wear most days to the gym. My $6.00 tank tops in 4 different colors lol.

It's go time. I am going to go get showered and get ready for my pictures and I will keep yall posted on how it goes!