WHAT'S IN YOUR GYM BAG?

I feel like my car is a traveling gym bag. I have two gym bags in there, 3 yoga balls (good thing I drive an expedition) hand weights and stretch bands...you name it, its in there! Have you ever taken a look at the items in a friends gym bag? What do you think you will find. There is one item that you will find in every fitness professional, bodybuilder or athletes bag. Can you guess what it is?

The answer will surprise you. “TO GO” plastic containers. I’m not kidding. You will find containers filled with with half eaten and fully eaten pre-measured meals for the day. It’s our secret...well it is not really a secret. Studies have shown for years that the secret to losing weight is to eat frequent meals, at least every 4 hours. The best way you can control what is going into your body is measure it out for yourself, and you get to control the ingredients that are in your food.

Help yourself be successful at losing weight. Invest in some containers and start using them now.

Empty Nest – Good for my diet?

As of this month I am officially an “Empty Nester”. I have son in his third year of college. My youngest son is only a senior but decided to move to another city to play hockey. So the empty nest status came a year earlier than I expected. I have been reading many articles on empty nesters. “They say”... this syndrome usually effects women more than men. Claiming we don’t know how to fill the time and void in our lives and we turn to food. You lose touch with your regular schedule, your social group may change, and you can feel isolated. Our metabolisms slow down, hormones are changing, and we are losing muscle mass. WOW, I’m getting depressed just reading all these facts.
Now I know its only been a week since the boys have left the house, but I am not feeling these side effects at all. Don’t tell my boys but I’m kind of enjoying myself. I miss them dearly, but there are some positives. For instance, I do not have to have chips, sugary cereals or ice cream in the house anymore. There isn’t anybody asking me to make them pancakes at 1:00PM, as they get out of bed, or a toasted cheese sandwich in the middle of the day. I can exercise anytime of the day, and not feel guilty about not being home with them. I Love The Biggest Loser cookbooks, so I have been trying new healthy recipes without having to cook seperately for them. Usually when I try a new healthy recipe, I will cook them a frozen pizza just in case they wont eat it. This is the latest dinner recipe I made. I thought it was a little dry, but good and filling.


 
BENCH PRESS BELL PEPPERS
2 large green bell peppers
1 lb of extra lean ground turkey breast
3 tablespoons of fresh minced garlic
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 large egg whites, slightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped mint (I didn’t use this because I didn’t have it)
3 ounces reduced fat feta cheese crumbles


Pinch of salt


preheat over to 375. Cut tops off of peppers and boil for 5 minutes. Cook turkey and garlic in a pan, chopping turkey to bite size pieces. When dine transfer to a bowl and add the rice, egg whites, mint, feta and salt. Mix well and spoon not the bell peppers. Put peppers in a ceramic baking dish and add a little water. Bake for about 20 minutes.  

            


311 calories, 38 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams fat, (Not bad for a meal)




Thank goodness for facebook. It keeps me in touch with my boys. Below are pictures I found of them on their pages. I guess if you are this active you can have ice cream once in awhile. Since I don’t think I will be doing any of these things in the near future I will stick with my healthy eating habits!

Pay It Forward

Have you ever done a "Pay it Forward" good deed? Just recently I felt the need to do this for a person I have only met once. You may know her, Karin was a competitor in the 2011 News Herald Lighten Up Contest. I follow her blog. You should check it out. It is very inspirational. http://lightenupwithkarin.blogspot.com/

I was reading her blog and she closed it by saying "I need Help". I felt like she was talking to me, saying..."Charlene I need help". So first thing I did was talk to the doctors and owners of Slim&Fit in Mayfield about Karin. I told them I wanted to offer her free training and nutritional help. You see, I was a contestant in the 2010 lighten up contest. After losing 35 pounds in the contest my entire career changed. I am now a certified Personal Trainer and am studying to get certified in Sports nutrition. The contest put me in the public eye and my new career sky rocketed.

Well, the owners gave me permission to help Karin with her training and nutrition! I can not do this for her. After all, I will be with her two or three hours a week. This leaves her 165 hours in a week when she has to make the right choices without me. We started last week and the first thing I gave her was a journal. I told her to write EVERYTHING down...what she eats, exercises and weekly goals. I want to see what choices she makes during those 165 hours.

I have complete faith in her. She is determined. I can't wait to post before and after pictures of her on my blog. Give us about 6 months to work hard and then look for the pictures. We (Karin) can do this!

Changing My Drivers License Weight

Today I got to do something I have never done before in my life...lower my drivers license weight! This morning I trained a few clients then I headed to the school to vote. When I showed them my drivers license they informed me that it had expired on my birthday on July 10th. I had about 25 credit cards with me and even a pay check from Slim & Fit but that wasn’t good enough to prove that I was Charlene. I was very aggravated. After much complaining one of the workers made a phone call and I was able to do a paper ballot.

Now an unplanned trip to the BMV. I went through the normal paper work and eye test to renew the drivers license. When she asked me my weight, I was so tickled to tell her. It was 30 pounds lighter than my old drivers license! This day is getting better by the minute. I hope the next time I renew my license it will be another 20 pounds lighter. Now I have a great goal. I sure hope it doesn’t take that long.

On my way back from the BMV, I decided to stop at this new smoothie shop called Pulp. Have you been here yet? One of my clients told me about this place and asked me if it was good for her. So, I decided to stop and check it out for her. Looking at their menu and flyers I could not find any nutrient labels anywhere. When stores do not offer this information up front, I become leery of them right off the bat. I asked the gentlemen behind the counter if this information was available and he pulled out a laminated info sheet for me to see. The lowest calorie drink on the menu that I saw was 360 calories, YIKES. As someone who can only have 1200 – 1500 this seems high. The store clerk told me I should not worry about calories but more about the fat content. Now the fat content was low, but I know that calories in VS. calories out is how you lose and maintain your weight. I believe you can have anything you want in moderation. So is this something you should have everyday after a work out? Absolutely not. Would it be a better choice than heading to the ice cream shop on a Saturday afternoon. Absolutely, it would be. For the record...IT TASTED SO GOOD. I love the quote “If it taste GOOD spit it out, it can’t be GOOD for you”

NPC Fitness Spotlight for August 2011: Alissa Carpio

This month's NPC Fitness Spotlight belongs to Alissa Carpio!

Photo credit: Fitness Rx

Alissa has been a certified personal trainer since 2002. A year after she became a personal trainer, she decided to enter the world of physique competitions. She has went on to compete in fitness, figure, and bodybuilding. She has placed in the top 5 at five national competitions, including a win at the 2010 Jr. USAs in Fitness. Her main goal is to one day earn her pro card in fitness.

In addition to fitness competitions and personal training, she's also a freelance writer for health, fitness, pregnancy, and babies. You can view some of her work on Bodybuilding.com, MAX Sports & Fitness, Pampers.com, Bodysport.com, Fitness & Physique, and Faith and Fitness.

Photo credit: Fitness Rx

COMPETITION HISTORY:
2011 Team Universe, Fitness 6th Place, Class C
2010 NPC Junior, Fitness Tall Class (2nd)
2008 Junior Nationals, Fitness Class C (4th)
2008 Junior USA, Fitness Class C (1st)
2008 NPC Pittsburgh, Fitness (3rd)
2007 NPC National Fitness Championship, 6th Tall
2007 NPC Maryland Grand Prix, Overall Women's Bodybuilding
2006 NPC Team Universe Championship, 8th - Fitness Tall
2005 NPC National Fitness Championship, 3rd Tall
2005 OCB Battle of Blacksburg, 1st - Women's Novice, 2nd - Open
2005 NPC Junior USA Championship, 1st - Fitness Tall
2005 NPC Pittsburgh Championship, 1st - Fitness Tall
2004 NPC VA/DC State Championship, Overall Fitness
2004 NPC Bethany Howlett Classic, Overall Fitness
2004 NPC Tournament of Champions, 1st - Figure Tall
2004 NPC BodyRock & Monica Brant, Overall Fitness

For more on Alissa, visit her website at http://www.alissa.net/.

IFBB Fitness Spotlight for August 2011: Trish Warren

This month's IFBB Fitness Spotlight goes to one half of the arguably THE top IFBB couple in the game today and a future mother, Trish Warren!

Photo credit: FLEX Online

Trish would describe herself as the "small town country girl with dreams as big as the Texas sky". She was on a cheerleading scholarship, which she did for a couple of year, and then decided to enter fitness competitions. She joined a small gym and hired a trainer and began my journey to being a top fitness star. That gym would be the very place she would met a man named Branch Warren. Little did anyone expect what would go down after that for BOTH Trish and Branch.

Trish would go on to win her very first competition, the Ronnie Coleman Classic in 1999, and from that point on, she was hooked. She would win her pro card in 2002 at NPC Nationals, and from there on she would go on to compete in many events, including the Arnold and Olympia. Along the way, she has refined her routines and her physique to be one of the best in the world. In fact, Trish is currently the number THREE fitness competitor on the planet, right behind Adela Garcia and Tanji Johnson. Her journey to being THE best will have to take a backseat, though, and for VERY good reason. Announced last month (July), Trish and Branch are expecting their first child together!! Congrats to the Warren family! I have no doubt in my mind that when the time's right, Trish will return to the stage and pick up right where she left off; aiming to win the Fitness Olympia and/or Fitness International title and prove to the world that she is the best.

Photo credit: Muscular Development

COMPETITION HISTORY:
1999 Ronnie Coleman Classic 1st
2002 Jr. Nationals 1st and Overall
2002 Nationals Earned Pro Card
2008 NY Pro Fitness 2nd (qualifed for 1st Olympia)
2008 Houston Pro 10th
2008 Fitness Olympia 9th
2009 Arnold Classic Fitness International 7th
2009 NY Pro Fitness 2nd
2009 Fitness Olympia 10th
2010 Arnold Classic Fitness International 4th
2010 New York Pro Fitness 2nd
2010 Fitness Olympia 3rd
2011 Arnold Classic Fitness International 3rd

For more on Trish, visit her website at http://www.trishwarrenfitness.com