Supplement NOT Replacement

In order to find the right protein powder for the customers that come in to see me I tend to ask a lot of questions, as there are many types of protein powders to suit different individual goals and needs. One of the most common questions I ask is “What times of the day would you usually take your protein?”  .. The responses I get vary from just post workout, post workout and before bed… but the most common answer I get is “As a Meal replacement”. Now this isn’t so bad when its someone who is trying to gain weight and cant always find time or have the stomach to eat the immense amount of food they need for to reach their calorie intake quota (still not ideal better than not eating) as they would be taking a heavy weight gainer jam packed with high protein, mass amounts of carbs and high sugars at 600-1200—cals a serve!!! (whoa that at least 3 meals of mine in one lol ).

 But the majority of people I see want to either lean down or simply put on lean muscle whilst staying as lean as possible. This mean they will generally need a low carb protein powder at about 100-140cals per serve with only about 20-30g protein under 10g carbs (usually 5g or less). This is NOT sufficient enough to sustain you for a meal .. You wouldn’t go and eat just a piece of chicken for lunch would you? But there’s a bit more to it than that….

Now some of you might be thinking “but real meal replacements have all of my nutrients, carbs, vitamins, protein” etc etc to sustain me for a meal … But here is why (In my option) meal replacements simply do not work………

Now we have all been there done that and IV tried my fare share of “Very Low Calorie Diets” (VLCD’s) in the past with a mission to drop a few Kg’s! It’s the diets that emphasise that LIQUID nutrition and de-emphasise whole foods with the result of promoting weight loss FAST! While this seems like the ultimate healthy quick fix, in actual fact is one of the worst things you could ever do to your body and your metabolism in the long term and here’s why:

Firstly very low calorie diets whether you are using a diet formula or low calorie protein shake to replace your meals (or even simply not eating enough during the day) will trigger the body to respond as if the person is starving … which triggers the defense mechanism to conserve energy (store that unwanted fat) and preparing to gain weight at the first opportunity! Sound familiar? These liquid diets or replacing your meals with shakes can give you dramatic weight loss quickly but will give your even MORE dramatic weight REGAIN afterwards along with psychological damage that comes with it!

Sorry to burst your bubble but there is NO quick fix … At the end of the day if you want results they don’t come fast and they don’t come easy .. they take hard work with  good consistent nutrition and exercise!!

So now to get to my point of lean protein powders…

If your wondering why your working out like crazy and not seeing the results you want, then its likely that you aren’t getting enough protein in your diet … especially around training times.

Why?

Protein has the amino acids that are important for building and maintaining lean muscle. (Or girls that more toned look! You WONT get bulky)

So the main time to take your shakes is after your workout to allow your body to absorb the protein quickly in order to trigger repair and recovery. If your body cant recover it needs to pull energy from somewhere so it will burn away muscle for energy before it burns the fat.  In a nutshell a protein shake helps prevent muscle breakdown ….  fast recovery = lean muscle growth = more fat burn = sexy toned bikini body!!

But to get the results you want, protein is essential to your entire daily diet

But they do NOT work as Meal REPLACEMENTS like mentioned before.  Whole food meals instead of meal replacements boost your metabolism as your body burns a certain amount of calories just to break them down. So adding whole food protein to most meals not only helps continually recover and fuel your muscles but actual helps boost your metabolism as your body uses about 30% of the calories from your protein just to digest it and break it down!

But not every one has the time or  the desire eat meat or eggs in every meal (unless you’re a fitness competitor and then you just have no choice haha) so adding a protein powder to a meal is a great way (and yummy way!) to get your protein intake. But treat your lean protein powder at the “protein component” of your meal …. Firstly having it on its own will not sustain you for long enough as its JUST protein and secondly adding whole foods such as oats, fruit, nuts, veggies with your shake use more calories to break down and will keep you fuller for longer as you are getting a COMPLETE meal with all the nutrients your body needs.

So ditch those meal replacements and the idea of using liquids shakes (either protein shakes or just “meal” shakes) and adjust your lifestyle to eating wholesome unprocessed foods and use your supplements as just that … an addition to your healthy diet to help your body get everything it needs if you cant get it all from food.

Shakes = Meal additions and pre/post workout recovery!!

(Unless you use a casein based protein before bed but that’s a whole other story)

Hope to see some more of you in the Muscle Worx Stores!!

Train Hard

Nini xxxx

Consiatncy pays off :)

Wow another overall win yesterday has completely blown me away and I just had to share my little journey this time…

After the last comp in October I actually had no intention of competing this march. I had taken on a new role at work with Muscle Worx not to mention still fitting in clients and I knew I ha a lot to still work on in terms of my physique. After the world championships in Serbia I really saw I wasn’t quite up to scratch to match up to the international girls which gave me the extra drive I needed to take training to the next level.

The plan was to spend the next 6 months training hard so I could improve on the things I needed while focusing on life in general as well. So for the first time I didn’t have an “off” season it was more of an “improvement” season. I had a new training program in place that was structured with a specific eating plan to help me build some muscle. Well in this case I had prepared myself to put on a few extra kilos as my calories were a lot higher but still structured.

Over the next 6 weeks I really started to see some great changes.. and believe me I was working my butt off (well in this case trying to work it on!) day in day out while still working full time and trying to really perform in my new role at Muscle Worx. I was loving the extra food and my weekends off from training and still had no intention of competing as I just wanted to keep seeing the changes come.

It wasn’t until about 5 weeks out from the comp date that I was talked into getting my measurements done and to my surprise I was a lot leaner than I thought!! At this stage I thought I would just amp things up a bit and see where my progress could take me and only compete if I reached the comp condition I was happy with. I kept up the consistent training and new lower calorie diet. It was about 3 weeks later that I really saw the benefits of my “improvement” season. The leaner I got the more I could see how my body shape had really changed and by comp day I was more stoaked with my progress that winning just became the icing on the cake!

A lot of girls/competitors (including me in the past) will tend to just stop training or let the diet go after a comp. But at the end of the day there is no off season if you really want the best results possible! It really does become a lifestyle adjustment. You should always be “on” to an extent. Of course we need to live life and enjoy those little moments as well but just make sure you make the right choices at the right times and maintain that balance so you remain fit and healthy always an avoid those “blow outs” because they are not fun and very hard to bounce back from!

Make sure you keep challenging yourself so that every time you step onto the stage you have improved from the last time.  I think that is the biggest challenge and achievement of all!

On that note im off to bed to kick off training first thing tomorrow! Hope this made sense! Haha

Keep working hard and take it to the next level!

Love Nini

If i can do it so can you :)

Wow I can’t believe how fast this year is going already! It wasn’t until a little birdie asked me “when are you doing another blog” that I realized how much time had gone by!

It’s been an amazing start to 2012 I love my job even though it’s crazy busy and yet iv managed to fit in all my training at the same time so I’m super happy!

I have definitely bounced back after my little whirlwind over Christmas/new year (we are all human and have to let our hair down sometimes!)

New training goals and a new training program have really taken things to the new level. I hope you guys have been reaching your goals as well!

I get a lot of people asking me how long iv been training for .. they seem to have assumptions because I  I won my first IFBB comp in march 2011 Fitx, then won the overall bikini in Oct 2011 and competed in the first IFBB world Bikini championships in Serbia… so today I thought id give a little insight on how things have gone from my starting point until now…

When people ask me how long it is iv been training for the always have a shocked look on their face when I give my answer. Well iv been training on and off since I was about 18 but that doesn’t really count since off periods could be a few weeks/months … but I can say iv been training consistently and more seriously now for about 18 months. and it’s only coming up to 1 year in March since I started competing for the first time. This really isn’t that long in hindsight. A year ago I was stepping onto stage for the first time and I can honestly say there has been some seriously changes in my body since then! Also 18 months ago I didn’t even know what a protein powder was … I was the same as most other girls who really fluctuate in their weight … starve themselves to try to loose weight and then binge eat when things get emotional or just cave in after starving yourself all day! Wow its crazy even to me how far things have come now!

Basically what I’m trying to say is that anyone can achieve a healthy lifestyle and the bikini body to go with it .. But it does come with a lot of hard work I’m not going to lay! Iv always had a really disciplined nature and loved a good challenge so iv been bale to really reap the results in such a short time where iv seen my body change from comp to comp and month to month. It was hard at the beginning having such a structured training schedule and eating plan but now it’s just become a lifestyle, which I absolutely love because I always feel great!

This doesn’t mean you have to do the same to reach your goals in terms of being “crazy strict” but you do need a structure I feel that this is they key to be successful for both nutrition and training. This then goes hand in hand with CONSISTENCY in BOTH training and nutrition. If you are not consistent then you can ruin all of that good work you have done in no time!

I hear from customers and new clients all the time “iv been taking this product or doing this workout” etc etc and its not doing anything. Ill then ask them how long they have been training for and the answer is always less than 3 months! Sometimes even 2 weeks! Change takes TIME don’t get discouraged if you don’t see results right away your body takes to time adjust to change but the results will come just keep pushing one day at a time!

So don’t start tomorrow or next week start TODAY!  Its hard work but any small change every day, week, month will lead to big results!

So I hope this has inspired you to get up and get moving! Ill be doing more blogs more often with insight on supplements training and just general everyday motivation and general training/diet survival haha

Stay Happy and Healthy

Nina J