Grilled Chicken over brown rice/quinoa and veggies-

-Grilled Chicken over a bed of brown rice w/quinoa and sauteed veggies.
This amazing clean dinner took about 15 minutes to throw together.
The chicken tender meat was marinated in a sugar free (Walden Farms) scampi sauce.  You can use a little Olive Oil, lemon, garlic chopped parsley- Leave in fridge for a couple of hours. Tenders grill quickly on indoor or out door grill- (grill enough chicken to last a couple of days)
-Stove top-
Tbsp of olive oil, a clove of garlic- heat on high flame in large pan-
Toss in sliced baby bella mushrooms, chopped asparagus, 1/2'ed cherry tomatoes- saute until soft-
Add in a bunch of baby spinach ( the more the better- cooks down to nothing)
Prepare brown rice and quinoa (Safeway has this in a 90 second microwave bag)
Plate 1/4 of rice add sauteed veggies over it and then add 4oz of grilled chicken-
Tip- Make enough for lunch tomorrow....

Plan ahead and have clean (whole unprocessed) food in the house so you are never without a good healthy option-

Plate on a salad plate-

Half Time....

If I metaphorically liken my life to a football game.... I think I've just been sent to the locker room for a 1/2 time pep talk.
Let's say I have broken my life up into four quarters of about 20 years each.... Expecting to live beyond 80 - I have a couple of years of half time to go!
Half time is a great time to look back on the last 2 quarters and figure out what went right and where there is room for improvement (or a good ass kicking).  Am I behind on the score board? At least behind in relationship to what kind of game I was planning on playing - not necessarily in comparison to another team?  How do I want to perform for the second half of this game.  What's the plan? How have I changed the playbook to make adjustments for a successful second half?  Am I going to the playoffs, or better yet the SuperBowl?  What exactly does the SuperBowl of my life look like - Hang on.... I've got to check the playbook!

How many time outs do I have left?

This is for sure-   I want to finish stronger and smarter than I started.  Developing my playbook starts with the training. What does training look like for me?  Physical, emotional, spiritual... educational-
I tend to put a lot on my plate at one time and then have issues time managing it all.  I'm also a bit ADD and often find myself yelling "squirrel"-
Right  now my plate is jam packed!  Reorganizing my portrait business, developing an educational video series for portrait photographers - (I'll be damned if I watch the industry I love so much turn into "hey, the camera does everything so I'll shoot candid photos and call them "portraits") ~side bar rant~  -traveling for speaking engagements, studying for my Certified Personal Trainer exam, balancing my family time (most important course on my plate) and working with my first health/weight loss clients.... 3 of them.
~Oh yeah, and lets not forget I just signed on to do another figure show! WTF am I thinking?

Here is the thing about this figure show that will be different than the last one for me.  Last time I did it to see if I could.  To test my discipline, find out what I was made of - I did it for fun and for the experience.  Last time I had a long way to go - I started at 128 pounds and 27% body fat.  I ended up at 111 pounds and 9% body fat.  It was an accomplishment just to complete the training and compete.  Placement was not important to me.  I finished 12th out of 12 - yes, that is last place and I was good with that.
This time I have some experience under my teeny tiny bikini and I will be aiming higher.
I have not tested body fat yet but I am currently weighing in at 121 pounds- 7 pounds less than the start of the last show and I am starting one month earlier.  4.5 months out instead of 3.5 months.
My goal for this show will be 100-104 pounds and 6-7% body fat.  In figure show world my legs were too big and my upper and lower body were not as balanced as they should have been.  (Not to mention my posing mishap jazz hands) -Don't misunderstand and think "this girl is nuts her body looks great" - for everyday "normal" life, I like where I am at with my body. I'm healthy, strong, petite and fairly lean.....  BUT for competition I need to work on the above mentioned.

WHY?  Lots of people ask me, Why are you doing this?  It's vain, it takes up too much time, it's too disciplined, how can you starve yourself to get that small?  (BTW there is no starving yourself - I eat  more than you can imagine) The list of questions go on and on.
I'm not crazy... I'm just a little unwell.  (JK)

Why, because it's half time and I want the second half to be better than the first-
More on why in the next blog....

Thanks for following and reading-
-Ciao
Michele

Hello there- Where this blog will go, I have no idea.  I have started this blog in response to the FB notes I created during the training of my first figure show in November 2010.

So many people followed the journey and helped to keep me accountable that I thought I would blog the journey again.  I wanted to make it accessible to more than just my FB so here I am with a real blog.

I’ll start will a few disclaimers.

1. I am not an “educated” writer.  I write the way I speak- straight from the hip with no real filters.  Grammar will not always be correct.... (that’s okay with me- if it’s okay with you-)
2. Honestly and transparency are important to me and so I won’t hold back on anything- 
3. I may drop an occasional “f” bomb... I’m a NY’er (what else can I say?)
4. This will primarily be about the training and diet related to competing in a figure show... but I have a feeling it will be a lot more than that-

If you are interested in following sign up for the feed..... and thanks for following

-Michele