This week the ADOFitness trainers will be addressing three insecurities that they’ve dealt with whether it be physical or experiences that they faced. Coach Joey shares her story.

I have spoken before about being my mothers legal guardian since I was 21. Now this might seem like an odd insecurity. But my insecurity is I am constantly feeling I am not “good enough” to be her legal guardian. What i mean by this is I have no control over her happiness and to get her to snap out of wanting to commit suicide or hating herself. This has been an ongoing issue for years. Mental health is a tremendous challenge in the health care field. It isn’t taken seriously and almost frowned upon in society. Along with not being able to control the situation that always gives me some form of anxiety it scares me to think that this mental condition is in my genes and I could one day become depressed, suicidal and/or bipolar. I know this is a heavy subject, but this is the truth and how I feel daily. I am reminded from loved ones that this is not my fault and I know that but its still very hard when you have someone that just won’t “snap out of it”. I have gotten better over the years with talking openly about this and making sure that others that are in my situation know that they are not alone. The more I open up about it I find that it is actually very common and I’m not alone either.

Another insecurity that I have is with school. This might sound silly but its something that does bother me. I worry all of the time that I won’t be good enough to pass a test or graduate next year. I know many people have these doubts as well. I know it is normal but it does seriously scare me. I am in my 3rd year to complete my MSN to obtain my Family Nurse Practitioner degree and let me tell you graduate school is NO joke! Anyone that has or is currently in a masters program knows exactly what I mean by this. Their are plenty of times I just want to throw the towel in and say “Screw this, I don’t want to study.” or “Do I really care about passing that next exam?” Well obviously I do care or it wouldn’t be something that worries me. Being in graduate school, working full time, going to clinical and having a social life ( which doesn’t really happen when you’re in school) is not easy and it can really wear on you. When my boyfriend, friends and or family want to do something I have to decline quite often because I can’t miss reading or doing a paper. I am lucky majority of people in my life understand but that doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty. Also I keep reminding myself that it’s almost over. If I have gone this long I can do another 6 months.

Lastly my third insecurity would have to be my body image. Again, anyone that has competed knows what I mean by this. You feel like you constantly have to withhold that stage leanness year round and look the best you possibly can. This is a lifestyle for me, so yes it does come easier for me then someone just starting to change their lifestyle. But that does not mean it isn’t hard to deal with. I would say the hardest thing is when you’re at the gym or out wherever and people will comment “Oh you are on your offseason.” You look like you have put some weight back on..” So first of all, who likes to be told that they have put some weight on?? No one! Trust me I know that I’m not fat and I know that I actually am in the best shape currently especially with my reverse diet BUT it still is not something you want to hear. Along with that, I have a job that I feel I need to stay in good shape for. I want my clients to look up to me and be motivated by me. I want to look my best for them as well, not just myself. I also want my boss Amber to think I am “fitting” the role of my job and be proud of me as one of her employee.

I know everyone deals with insecurities and whatever they may be know that you aren’t alone and that we all have them. I don’t care who you are or how much money you make everyone has issues that bother them. Know that it is OK to have them and in the long run it will only make you stronger!!

This week the ADOFitness trainers will be addressing three insecurities that they’ve dealt with whether it be physical or experiences that they faced. Coach Jennifer shares her story.

I’ve posted before about my hip injury and that it’s been one of my biggest insecurities. The fact that part of my body is weaker than the rest has always made me feel less then my best. When I go to the gym I’m in full beast mode, I always challenge myself and go until failure. There were times that I couldn’t even lunge on the right side because I was so weak performing that movement. It’s been frustrating to say the least, I’ve broken down quite a few times in tears mentally drained from being stressed about it. Because I set very high standards, I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well which makes it hard to accept that things can be physically challenging. Around a year ago I was doing single leg presses, and I could do 70 pounds heavier on my left leg than on my right. That is a significant difference in strength. I remember feeling so overwhelmed at that moment thinking what can I do to make my right leg as strong? One thing that always kept me going was remembering that I had overcome those feelings of sadness before and chose to not give up. I needed to remind myself that nothing happens overnight and that every workout I would make it that much stronger. When I started to look at it from a positive perspective, it became exciting to see it get stronger week after week????

Another insecurity that I’ve dealt with is my past experiences and poor choices I made years ago. I wasn’t always a big health enthusiast and actually partied quite a bit. I was really into drinking and even dabbled with drugs. Definitely not proud moments of my life. I remember thinking what a failure I was and why was I wasting time of my life doing absolutely nothing to better myself or my future. I was lost in the moment and didn’t think of the consequences until later on. Sometimes I catch myself thinking what my life would be like if I made better choices years ago. And you know what? What happened in the past is in the past that’s not who I am. Who I am is a strong motivated woman and it’s because of those past experiences and the things that I dealt with that made me who I am today. I think sometimes I forget I’m just human and humans make bad decisions every now and then. What you learn from your past and how you shape your future is what matters. Those past choices turned out to make me wiser, gave me strength, and helped me get to where I am today.

Lastly I’ll address my insecurity of my off-season body. Anyone who’s competed or even dealt with weight gain can relate. Not loving what you see in the mirror really sucks it’s hard to see cellulite and things that jiggle on your body. For the most part I was OK with my body and embraced the weight gain and then summer came and I tried all my summer clothes on. ? I pretty much had a mini meltdown and cried because nothing fit everything was so tight. Bras didn’t even fit and I felt really embarrassed & disgusted with myself. It didn’t help that most of my friends were completely shredded all summer either. Let’s be honest next to them I felt huge. I had cellulite on the tops of my legs and on my butt, and it just made me feel really ugly. I held it together pretty well only the people that are really close to me saw how I really felt, and of course Jordan got to hear it all?? poor guy ? All my friends and Jordan were very sympathetic and would try to make me feel better ❤️Then a beautiful thing happened. I stopped feeling bad and started to remember my goals. I made the decision that I wasn’t going to feel bad about my body anymore. Sometimes all you need is encouragement from others and to remember why you’re doing what you’re doing. I focused on the bigger picture rather than a short amount of time. I needed to gain that weight so I could have a good off-season and make improvements. I was happy, healthy, and I got to eat a lot of pizza???? It taught me that I will never reverse diet poorly again.

Everyone has insecurities but if you look at the positive side of those insecurities it will make you stronger. Not saying it will be easy because I still struggle with things every day but it will teach you if you pay attention.

This week the ADOFitness trainers will be addressing their biggest weakness both physically and mentally and how they overcame it.

After 6 years of dieting on and off its easy to pinpoint mentally what my struggle has been. As someone who grew up without the word or term “diet” in my vocabulary I believe I was pre-disposed to resist against dieting. My mentality prior to competing was “eat what you want and what you feel like eating when you are hungry” which I think is fairly common with many as children and young adults. Thankfully I came from a background of genetically fit parents and could get away with much of that. However, when I threw myself into competition prep and started learning about nutrition of course this all changed. I started viewing food differently. Started learning what I should and shouldnt eat. I have said this before but I do believe I would have been 100x worse off if my first prep would have been overly restrictive. But thankfully my brother Aaron Orton coached me and he never gave me a meal plan ( I would have failed miserably at eating the same things everyday anyways because I had always been into variety). He simply told me what to eat more of and what to eat less of.
He knew I would respond fairly easy with those simple terms and I did. Unfortunately when things went very south were when I started prepping with someone else who enforced meal plans, “good and bad” food mentalities, and overly restrictive prep methods. I believe this changed me for years and I am still overcoming the mental battle of this. I have been very open about dealing with BED ( Binge eating disorder) and have no shame in being honest about that. In 2012 I believe it was at its peak. My relationship with food was completely disordered. I would hide food in the bathroom so I could eat away from my ex-fiance who was also my coach. I would eat in my car. I would think about food all day long. Read menus before going to restaurants day dreaming about what I wanted to eat. I was fascinated with food, it was my every thought every waking day. I remember eating an entire box of life cereal and almond milk in my car ( yes I took a spoon and a tuppawear bowl in my car on a mission to do this and ate bowl after bowl). Completely pre-meditated. I ate two boxed of samosa girl scout cookies in my car back to back and then disposed of the boxes so no one would know. This is not normal. How I was living was extremely unhealthy and I most definitely had very disordered eating patterns. Over the last 3 years I have come a long ways from these thoughts, actions, and feelings around food but this has hands down been my biggest mental struggle.

Physically my biggest struggle has been the ups and downs of weight gain from BED and restrictive preps. I used to rebound to the point of gaining 20 lbs within weeks post show. I hated my body and was embarrassed to even look at myself in the mirror. I remember covering myself with a towel after showering even while being alone because I didnt want to know what I looked like or see myself for that matter. These yo-yo cycles were very hard on me physically and mentally. I am so glad I found a better way and this is also why I have been so adamant about teaching healthier philosophies with my trainers and business model at ADOFitness

This week ADOFitness trainers will be addressing their biggest weaknesses both physically and mentally and how they overcame it. Coach Trista shares her story.

I have a GI disorder that has never been given a diagnosis. Basically what happens is I experience an inflammatory response to any food I put in my system. Anything. My abdomen will distend and I look pregnant most of the time. It is very uncomfortable and causes me to feel fatigued, and has a huge effect on my mood. The severity of the reaction fluctuates through the month as my hormones change.

I’ve had every test done in the book and still no answers. Obviously this is a physical ailment, however I am a firm believer in the mind-body connection and the two are very intertwined. So this issue is my biggest weakness in both areas.

When this first happened, I had a nervous breakdown and basically lost my shit, I had terrible panic attacks letting my mind take over with negative thoughts, “I’ll never be normal again” thinking…. “how did this happen to me? Why?” I definitely thought I’d never compete again, I felt robbed of not only my health but my passion for what I loved, but because we humans are so resilient, all that was needed was time and patience to learn how to cope with my condition.

I started from square one stripping my life of all the “clutter” and focused on myself and my thoughts. The mind is so powerful and I knew that’s where I would find my answers to be happy again. My attitude, and optimism were what changed everything. No, it wasn’t the end of the world just a bump in the road that made me view life differently.

When we search for meaning in an unfortunate situation we open ourselves for acceptance and we can begin to move forward in our lives just looking through a different lens, wiser, stronger, and more resilient. I have chosen to not let this condition control my life or my thoughts. Sure I have bad days when I’m at the gym and I give up on a workout due to my symptoms but it’s not my everyday. I just realize how things could always be worse and stay conscious of all the things I should be grateful for.

I competed again and will continue to compete. I am normal because everyone lives with some kind of hardship or “weakness” it builds character and compassion so I think weaknesses are disguised as opportunities for your heart and soul to mature and forces you to grow as a person.

This week ADOFitness trainers will be addressing their biggest weaknesses both physically and mentally and how they overcame it. Coach Joey shares her story.

I would be lying if I said I only had one weakness that affects me both physically and mentally. A few things that I seem to always have to overcome is not worrying about the scale, being happy and patient with the way my body is at the moment along with trusting the process and my coach Amber.

Now I am just like every other girl when it comes to being self conscious and thinking the scale is justifying my progress. Whether it be for competing or everyday normal life, I sometimes let it get to me. The way I overcome this is to look at my progress pictures and see it for myself. Pictures tell us so much and even though I see myself in front of a mirror, seeing a picture of myself puts it into perspective that the scale doesn’t justify anything sometimes. Having pictures to look at makes a big difference and you can see just how far that you have come. Another reason why I myself being a coach have a coach. Even if I didn’t compete I would have a coach for these reasons.

Along with the scale comes being happy and patient with my body at the moment. I will be reverse dieting soon and I know that this will be something that will be a hurdle for me to get over once I start to not see my “stage lean” look anymore. Being able to overcome this is by having a coach and support system in my corner. I am very grateful for a coach who 1. Will not let me get down on myself and make me realize I look FINE. 2. She will make sure that I reverse properly. This is one thing that needs to be done correctly to not gain unwanted weight. 3. She looks out for my health along with my mental well being. She will remind me that I do need to be “normal” and indulge in a food I want or have a glass of wine! She obviously means all within moderation. This is the key!

All of these things come with “trusting the process”. I always remind myself that I’m not always going to be in prep, competing or doing a photo shoot. This is when balance needs to set in and I need to practice what I preach to my clients. Regardless of competing or not you NEED balance AND sustainability. This is something I tell all of my clients as well. If you are consistent and trust it, it will work! I try to always give myself credit for all of the hard work I have accomplished and/or accomplishing. I realize that my health is the most important when it boils down to it and I want to make sure that I feel as good inside as I do outside 🙂

—
Joey M. Guz
Adofitness Coach

This week the ADOFitness trainers will be addressing their biggest weakness physically and mentally and how they overcame it. Coach Jennifer Ann shares her story.

Many people that are close to me know that I’ve suffered a hip Injury. Three years ago I was diagnosed with a hip condition. It was originally misdiagnosed and later corrected a couple of weeks ago. It’s called hip dysplasia and its a condition that has caused me to limp and has been extremely painful at times. When I was first diagnosed I ran everyday, It was my favorite thing to do. The doctor told me I needed to quit and even if I didn’t the pain would force me to. I remember crying , there’s nothing worse than being told you can’t do something you love. An running for me was more than just a workout it was a big stress relief so I knew I needed to find something else to do. That’s when I started to research lifting and began you tubing exercises and making workouts to do. I loved how strong it made me feel and I felt like it was a great way to relive stress and strengthen my leg. Due to the pain in the beginning of my diagnosis other areas of my body would compensate when I walked which caused imbalances in my injured leg. Lifting helped me strengthen those imbalances and the doctors were impressed with how I was dealing with my situation. Of course I was extremely frustrated at first when I was told what my situation was and I did cry for a few days and absorb the information. However, I’ve never been the type of person to dwell on the negative side of a situation. I always try to see the good and what I can do to move forward.

After 2 months of lifting I decided to do a bikini show. Maybe I decided to do something like that to prove to myself that I can do anything I put my mind to. The one thing I hate feeling like is a victim and that I have limitations and doing a show helped me cope with the situation and showed me I was much stronger than I thought.

I went through each prep and did every workout, every cardio session even if I limped to finish it. An some people will say why workout? Even if I didn’t workout because I didn’t for 4 weeks before and I limped worse ? so it’s just something that will happen. I rather be strong and handle the situation in my life than weak. ??

Right now I’m in my off season and about to enter preps for next year. I’m extremely excited to see all the work I did on my legs ?? and have 4 showed planned for 2017. Two weeks ago I had new X-rays taken and the only option I have is a total hip replacement. For someone my age that’s pretty devastating news but I will keep pushing for my goals and never let it get me down. I have the most supportive family and friends and the best boyfriend ? ❤️? and when the time comes I will do what I need to do. Until then I’ll keep crushing my goals and help as many people as I can with health and fitness. You can let something like this bring you down but the truth is everyone has problems but how you deal with them is what matters ❤️

This week the ADOFitness trainers will be addressing how they have handled off season/gaining weight/ body composition changes and their best tips on accepting yourself at every stage. Coach Trista Anderson shares her story.

Whether you’re a competitor or someone who has made significant progress with weight loss, you will undoubtedly face challenges in maintaining your transformation. For competitors, as I have previously discussed, you have S very hard time accepting the additional weight that is put on post-show. Of course as always, we need to remember the stage look is not sustainable. Sure, You can stay within 8-10 lbs of your stage weight and still be lean. However, There ARE going to be times when life makes other plans and you begin to see the scale creep up or visually you may see you’re carrying a bit more “fluff” than you had thought. Busy weeks, work, school, stress, vacations, family events, social gatherings, you name it life will still continue to happen and calories in versus calories out may not always be in your favor.
But this is part of the balance, you have to be accepting of maybe not seeing that oblique line in exchange for a great time with your kids or partner stress free and not counting calories. Yes fluctuations will occur but the problem when this happens is many will find themselves in the mindset that they’ve “already blown it” and keep digging themselves further into a hole until they’ve gained back all the weight they’ve lost in the first place. When you do find yourself off track create a plan to hop back on and in control, it’s okay if you had a couple “bad” days or even a week it’s fixable. We need to keep in mind the balance that is so important when it comes to a weight that allows you to enjoy your life and a weight that restricts you from life.
Yes competing is fun but it is no longer worth it or enjoyable when you are sacrificing the rest of the year just for one moment on stage. I would far rather carry around 7-10% more body fat and put the macros to work in offseason than try to maintain a look that is damn near a full time job and unrealistic. And in my opinion letting your body “re-set” by putting a little bit more body fat on (reasonable amounts of course) will keep your hormones in check and your body responding to future preps.

This week the ADO Fitness trainers will be addressing how they have handled off season/gaining weight/ body composition changes and their best tips on accepting yourself at every stage. Coach Tara shares her story.

Coming out of a show you indulge in some treats you haven’t had in months and maybe start slacking a little on your workouts…you start to notice the abs are disappearing and there’s a little extra fluff that wasn’t there a month ago… Yeah, this all to familiar cycle every competitor seems to go through post show, I experienced it too just maybe not as extreme as some. Post show for me wasn’t really that crazy as the reason I had started eating this way was for my health so I planned on continuing these habits post show. Now don’t get me wrong I had my share of post show treats, including cake, and Oreos, and lots of pumpkin everything. I was ready for some gainz but my intake was already pretty high. I actually had more of the opposite problem post show.
I’ve always had trouble gaining weight as my metabolism is really fast and my appetite is really poor from the medication I take. Post show I was slacking hitting my macros and was constantly under. Whether you are over eating or under eating you begin seeing changing that you aren’t ready or willing to see yet. “Show lean” all of a sudden becomes what you think should be “normal” and that competition brain fog becomes very frustrating. So you have to remind yourself this is all part of the process and think about how much better you are going to look after adding more size in the right places! Focus all your energy on the positives and challenge yourself. Don’t let yourself become obsessive over negative thoughts.
Use this time to kill your workouts! Set small goals in the gym that you can get excited about! Go out with friends for dinner and utilize those high carb days! You need balance in your life in order to truly be successful! Take this to your advantage ?

This week the ADOFitness trainers will be addressing how they have handled off season/gaining weight/ body composition changes and their best tips on accepting yourself at every stage. Coach Joey shares her story.

It is never easy taking time off from competing. First, you feel as if you don’t have that big goal to obtain at the end of your prep when you walk out on that stage. Second, you almost feel lost. So you competed and now what? What is my next goal? For me I love competing and I like to know what I am doing even if it is 6 months or a year away. The grind in my head never stops. I don’t stop working out, eating healthy or giving up because I have a long road ahead. I find having a goal in the future definitely helps during off season for competitors.

Now just because I have a goal in mind and want to keep going doesn’t mean my body doesn’t change during this time. I am not “stage lean” by any means. It isn’t sustainable to stay that lean all year round. I am not going lie when I say I start to feel “big” or not myself. It can be a very scary feeling to wake up and think that being 5’1 and 105-110 is big! Competing can give you a warped version of how you are supposed to look BUT that is when you need to sit back and give yourself a reality check. If you have competed you know exactly what I am talking about. You almost lose an identity with yourself. You need to keep yourself in check and always make sure that you have people around you or in phones reach that understand and will support you on all levels with no judgement.

Something I do to keep myself in check and lets be honest from not going crazy LOL, is talking to family, close friends and my teammates. Most of the time your family will not get it and don’t expect them to. Which is why it helps a great deal that these girls in my life have competed in the past or are current competitors themselves. They completely get what I am talking about and never judge me for feeling a certain way. I also constantly remind myself that the norm is to not look stage lean and that it is NOT healthy. I know better, I am a HCP and have to always put that into perspective first. It can be extremely hard to do at times, but I do it. I know deep down that I am still the same person and that I still look good. Most importantly I feel good! I don’t have to look like I’m jumping on stage to look like I am fit and feel healthy. I know that I am fit and healthy. It is important to always stay positive, have positive people in your circle and remember that health is #1 ALWAYS.

This week the ADOFitness trainers will be addressing how they have handled off season/gaining weight/ body composition changes and their best tips on accepting yourself at every stage. Coach Jennifer shares her story.

When I started my real off season in October I was excited to build muscle and take a break from competing. Don’t get me wrong I love competing and the stage but longevity in this sport requires you to listen to your body and to build muscle when you need to. My body and mind needed a break and for me to continue to do well on stage I needed to build more muscle.

The start of my off season I began to reverse diet. I followed my reverse diet for a month and decided to take off a few weeks to eat , drink and be merry. This was not the best idea and I gained 15 pounds very quickly. I remember feeling very uncomfortable and decided to start reversing again. An since then I do enjoy treats when I want them but for the most part I stay on track. The weight I gained from my wild three weeks I still have because I cant cut it since Im on a off season and trying to build muscle and take a break from dieting.

Its been a challenge to get used to feeling heavier and not feeling as lean as I was for the last two years but it hasn’t been terrible. I guess I always keep in mind what the bigger picture is and what my goals are. These are the steps I need to take for my main goal and it was my fault that I didn’t reverse correctly.

One thing I learned from all this is how crucial it is to properly reverse post show. Not following a reverse diet properly can really take a toll on how you feel about your body and cause unwanted weight gain. Making sacrifices post show will just help you in the long run to have a good off season. Always remember that the delicious foods will be there and you can have them in moderation 🙂