Bio: 51, mother of 5 boys, own my own small business; I was tired of not being able to eat very much and still being pudgy and out of shape with no energy and sick every winter.  So, on the encouragement of my oldest son, I started a healthy diet/supplement/ exercise regimen to gain all the good things out of life back – health, energy, and a fit and toned body to boot.
 
Training Regimen:  
Currently I work out at the gym for 5 days in a row on a 4 day cycle routine: 1) legs, 2) upper body plus a little cardio, 3) all cardio, 4) core plus a little cardio, start over.  Mostly free weights – squats, leg press, straight leg dead lift, calf raises; Arnold press, flys, lat pull down, chest press, curls, triceps things, other things, Ab exercise, torso rotation, side planks, incline sit ups, back extensions; I also add in some light weight & multiple reps of hip abductor & adductor exercises to strengthen my hips because they pop out of socket easily. Each lifting routine is approx 45 min.  I have a small MM protein & D-Fine shake before workout, a whole MM shake immediately after work out.  I entered the MaxFormation 2011 contest as an added incentive to give me a deadline for getting in shape and trying to win and beat everyone else ( a little competition always helps!)
 
My training means I can go skiing with my sons and go fast with control of my legs and go through the trees without quitting half way down; it means I did not get sick this winter; it means I can hike farther, run farther, and play soccer & football with my boys longer. Training, working out at the gym and leaving all shaky and quaky from pushing my limits is exhilarating! After leg day, the legs routine is my favorite.  After upper day, the upper routine is my favorite.  Core is never my favorite. I can wear a bikini this summer without all my flab hanging over the edges and feel good about how I look. I can lift ladders onto my van easier because I have more of my strength back in my arms.  Training has made me younger.
 
Obstacles:
The first major obstacle was breaking my wrist about a month into the contest and damaging my tailbone.  I could hardly walk for 2 weeks and was in a cast on my arm. I had to figure out what work out I could do, rehab on my tailbone.  I hired a trainer for a few sessions to come up with some things I could do like sit up on an exercise ball and walking on the treadmill at a speed of 1 mph for 5 minutes. Then I started with no strength in my wrist or arm when my cast came off.  My left arm is still weaker than my right. Another obstacle was figuring out what to eat – how much protein, how much carb, what foods and when.  I entered my daily food intake into a log book and plugged it into Nutrimirror to see what my nutritional intake was.  I had to learn to pack all my food for the day.  I learned to eat cold eggs and warm protein shakes. Then I hit a plateau and found that I had gained so much more muscle mass and was working so hard that I had to eat more to lose weight (thank you Craig).  Balance – Before this competition I never had time for myself, I always talked about needing to exercise and eat healthier but never had time.  This “forced” me to make the time, make my health as important as cleaning the kitchen or doing bids. I tried working out at different times of the day – mornings vs evenings, weekends or not, which gym until I hit on getting up at the ridiculous time of 3:45 AM and going straight to the gym as the start to my day.  My family supports me completely.  Part of the balance for me is also eating normal food, being able to eat in social settings, and being ok with occasionally eating a hot dog or ice cream or cookies or a fast food burger and making what is available work and not making an odd food choice mean the end.
 
Goals for the rest of 2011:
Continue to drop body fat and increase muscle mass. Be toned, with abs. thin up those thighs, get a 6 pak. Be able to run for 12 minutes.  I am toying with doing some competitions in the future, think it would be fun and I like having a good goal. Be super buff!!
 
People – friends & family ask me often what did I do to change my body shape?  I tell them about eating right, the right balance of protein, carbs & good fats.  I tell them about how supplements (protein shakes, vitamins, glucosamine, calcium, etc) have helped me and in what ways.  Proper nutrition combined with good exercise has enabled me to eat good food with natural vitamins & minerals and enough of this food to let my body fight viruses so I remain unsick while everyone else around me is ill.  Proper nutrition has allowed me to become stronger.  If I continue this I will have less problems with osteoporosis too.
 
My favorite MM product?  I have 2: Pro Orange & D-Fine.  Please don’t make me give either one up!