Not about exercise But...

I LOVE this story! I read this months ago and still think about it!

The businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The businessman complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while.

The businessman then asked why he didn't stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The businessman then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time? The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos; I have a full and busy life, señor."


The businessman scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor and eventually open your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City where you would run your expanding enterprise."


The Mexican fisherman asked, "But señor, how long will this all take?" To which the businessman replied, "15-20 years." "But what then, señor?" The businessman laughed and said, "That's the best part! When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions." "Millions, señor? Then what?" The businessman said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

- Anonymous

 

Food Revolution!

Okay - so I love watching cooking shows and I can tell you about an impressive number of 'celebrity chefs'. One of my personal faves is Jamie Oliver - a 'young' sweetie from the UK who pretty much just cooks out of his garden in his back yard. He is adamant about using natural ingredients and puts processed foods on his bad list. He has found one of the unhealthiest towns in the US with a mission to start a  Food Revolution - by bringing awareness about healthy eating - starting with children and the food they eat at school.

You gotta watch it - airs on Friday night but you can catch an hour preview here.

Go Jamie Oliver!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Well, I'm back on a normal training routine and have decided to change it up a bit - it's always good to switch up your routine after about 4 weeks...to avoid plateaus and give your muscles a chance to learn something new. I can go in to more detail in another blog.

So today was Chest day - my routine typically consists of 4-5 exercises, 3 sets of 20 reps each. I keep the reps high to train my muscular endurance. Also, I build muscle in my upper body rather quickly so I stay away from heavier weights.

So today instead of my typical routine, I decided to do a modified "pyramid" routine - I just did full push-ups, starting at 20, then doing 19, then 18, then 17...all the way down to 1, with a little bit of rest between each set. This adds up to 210 push ups! Talk about training muscular endurance. By the 5th set - 16 push ups - you already feel the fatigue set in. A full pyramid routine would have you going all the way back up to 20 - I didn't think this was necessary to do on my first go at it. I highly recommend you try it!

I followed this by a power walk around the beautiful lake nearby. During this time, I thought about how life is so different from how it was a few years ago. For St Patty's Day, I would have made plans at least a week in advance...these plans would no doubt consist of drinking copious amounts of alcohol with my friends and eating all sorts of deliciously fried food along with it. But today, I trained clients, did 210 pushups, and went for a 45 minute walk outside! Tonight, I plan on grilling turkey burgers and watching "Where the Wild Things Are" with my hubby. Sure, we may have a green drink to complement this (I AM human after all!), but the binging days are over! I am celebrating in ways that make me feel good now and will make me feel better tomorrow.

Whatever your plans are, be safe and at least try your best to eat clean! :)

PS - I'd like to wish my dear friend Tamara a very Happy Birthday today! She is celebrating in Mexico, that lucky gal. She deserves the very best!

The Sweet Finish Line

Sunday. The day after my photo shoot and I couldn't feel any better.

The day went spectacular -

- Brian drove me to MAC to get my make up done. By this point I still haven't eaten or drank a drop, but getting my make up done was a perfect distraction. I went from baggy-eyed and pale to FIERCE! Let me tell you - fake eyelashes are the way to go. You think mascara helps bring a little life to those eyes? Put on some mile-long lashes and you will think you're ready for the cover for Vogue. Or in my case, Oxygen Magazine! :D

- After MAC, Brian drove me to Julie's place. I weighed in - and lost a whopping 10 lbs!!! I could hardly believe it...but at the same time I know I worked really hard and practiced a ton of discipline, so I felt really good to see that concrete result. My measurements are an even better indication - I've definitely lost inches...including in my shoulders - which is one of my most stubborn areas.

- Julie and I drove to Walsingham Park and started the shoot. We went to the adult playground - not of the x-rated kind! - where we train some of our clients. It was pretty windy out but the sun was shining which is all I could have asked for. I ate a rice cake to fill my muscles out, mustered up some strength to do some push ups, squats, and other exercises to get a good muscle pump, and the camera starts flashing. Julie is a great director and because of all her own photo-shoot experience, she gave me some really good tips on posing and smiling. It was interesting, you just kind of forget about hunger/thirst due to all the excitement. I'm sure the wind kept me awake too.

- We then drove to the beach...I started to get tired at this point, probably because of sitting in the car for a few minutes. But once we got shooting, I got my second (third?18th?) wind and knocked out a ton more shots. People were watching us as they walked by and I felt kinda special! Julie really kept me inspired and motivated and we finished quickly.

 

 

- When we finally sat back inside the car, I got to have my first sip of water. Wow. Even though it hadn't even been 12 hours since I had water, it felt like it had been ages. By 3:30pm we were sitting inside of Guppies - a cute restaurant on the beach. My first encounter with real food in almost 3 weeks! And heck yes I had a drink - a mojito to be exact. Julie and I have a lot to celebrate - and I definitely felt deserving of a delicious meal and beverage. I enjoyed every bite! I definitely felt full for the rest of the day though, and didn't feel so hot in the evening. My body got so used to eating very small meals of mainly just protein and some veggies...it feels like my stomach shrunk to the size of a pea. Now, it will be a gradual introduction of more balanced meals with appropriate portions - which I think is okay! I definitely wouldn't want to go from a strict meal plan to full-on binging...I just want to re-introduce the clean-eating lifestyle with more food options than I have had in the past couple of weeks!

It's super hard to believe that it's all over but I know the hard work truly paid off.....I am still beaming from the incredible experience of the photo-shoot, and really proud of the pictures that we took! The photos turned out much better than I expected...in fact, in a lot of them I can hardly believe that woman is me. It's almost a surreal experience looking at those pictures...I would daydream about looking and feeling good enough to be a fitness model and would even talk to Brian about it. It was always a 'dream'. And yesterday I actually felt like one. Brian and I just kept going through the pictures...and I couldn't help but just shake my head and think..wow..

That fit, radiant, and confident woman is Nazmina.

Is it Saturday Yet?

So today is Wednesday which means I have 3 more days 'till the shoot! I started the diuretic yesterday - it's an extreme method NOT RECOMMENDED for every day use, or anyone who is looking to lose weight. This is solely for my photo shoot - and I really wanna make clear that it's not a normal weight loss fix!! :)

My body is definitely changing - my true shape and muscle definition is finally surfacing. I finished my last intense workout today - 6 sets of 20 step-ups on each leg, followed by 20 minutes on the stepper, followed by another 10 minute cool-down on the treadmill. It's very hard mustering up the energy for a high intensity workout on such little fuel....but I think that knowing that photo shoot is near has really given me the extra motivation I need in the gym.

My brain is getting more scrambled by the day - my sentences are getting jumbled and I have a hard time focusing. Brian has been extremely patient - and I'm so glad he's been around to help me!

I anticipate on tomorrow being the toughest day for me as I am training 4 clients back-to-back first thing in the morning - I am just going to take it one client at a time and really embrace the challenge! Not to mention, get to sleep by 9pm. ;)