How I Accomplished My Goal:
I had everything a young girl could ever want: loving parents, solid roof over my head, friends, but today I look back and would define the old me as a troubled youth. I got caught up in some of the wrongs of the world simply to find failure when searching for success and acceptance. Three things changed my life and saved me from my own doom: God, loved ones, and dedication to a healthy lifestyle: my transformation. Fitness became a way of life. It kept me sober and strong choosing workouts and healthy eats instead of other substances and unhealthy drinks.
I have struggled with varies eating issues throughout my 20’s. I knew I needed a change. I couldn’t keep running to harmful old ways to mask the pain of reality. I needed to put my focus on and dedicate myself to something healthy. I began researching 12-week programs to help me get back on track and on bodybuilding.com I found the BSN Transformation Challenge. I’ve been an advocate for their products from the start and I’ve always held tightly onto the dream of being a spokes model one day to promote them. I jumped at the opportunity to commit to a lifetime of change. My goal was to change my mental thinking about food consumption and to be confident in my own skin. My measurable goal: Compete in the 2012 NPC Southern California Championships.
Before Statistics:
Weight: 116lbs
Body Fat: 18.7%
After Statistics:
Weight: 109.5 lbs
Body Fat: 10.9%
Lauren Allen's Competitor Profile
My Training Schedule:
The first 6 weeks of the challenge I began on my own with the help of Jamie Eason’s LiveFit Program. I followed it religiously, even giving up my beloved cardio sessions. I knew that if I want to succeed I needed direction from someone else who has had success. I focused on maintaining caloric intake and building muscle mass. I completed heavy sets with low repetition. The last 6 weeks I have focused on building definition and detail in each muscle group through exercise pairing in supersets with little breaks to have a cardiovascular effect. Sets ranged from 4-10 with reps of 20-50. Slowly, I added light cardio 20-30 minutes. To begin cutting my workouts increased to twice a day: weights in the morning from 5:00am to 6:30am and cardio at lunch or in the evening for a minimum of 40 minutes. My cardio varies between gym machines and HIIT training.
Example of weekly workout:
Day 1: Legs and Cardio Machine
Day 2: Back and Biceps and HIIT
Day 3: Plyometrics and Cardio Machine
Day 4: Shoulders and Triceps and HIIT
Day 5: Glutes and Cardio Machine
Day 6: HIIT
Day 7: Off
Example of a final day Back/Bicep workout:
Morning: Weight Training
5 X 20 Lat Pull Downs
Superset 5 X 20 Reverse Grip Pull Downs
Superset 5 X 50 Bent Over Barbell Row
4 X 10 Bent-Over Dumbbell Rows
Superset 4 X 15 Dumbbell Pullovers
2 X 50 Barbell Bicep Curls
5 X 15 Incline Hammer Curls
Superset 5 X 15 Preacher Curls
Evening: Cardio/ HIIT
Jump rope 2 minutes
Treadmill incline 5 at 5.0 run for 4 minutes
Jump rope 1 minute
Walk incline 15 at 3.5 for 4 minutes
Jump rope 1 minute
Treadmill incline 5 at run 5.0 for 4 minutes
Walk incline 15 at 3.5 for 4 minutes
Jump rope 2 minutes
Treadmill incline 6 at 5.0 run for 3 minutes
Walk incline 15 at 3.5 for 5 minutes
Jump rope 2 minutes
Stepmill Level 4 for 3 minutes
Stepmill level 6 for 3 minutes
Stepmill level 8 for 2 minutes
Treadmill incline 3 at 5.0 run for 2 minutes
Walk incline 12 at 3.5 for minute
Cool down no incline 3.0 for 5 minutes.
My Diet Regimen:
Being confident and comfortable in my own skin has been my biggest struggle through life. This stronghold resulted in limited food consumption. My body was unhealthy because it wasn’t getting the nutrients it needed. My priority through this transformation was to change my way of thinking about myself and about food. The first 4 weeks I dedicated to muscle grow which at first was a scary thought and getting my metabolism back on track by eating consistently every 3 hours. I consumed around 1800 calories a day including lean proteins, healthy carbs/starches and fruits and vegetables. Beginning week 4 I slowly change my macro-nutrients substituting vegetable carbs for the previous starches I was consuming until starches were only consumed up until lunch time. The remaining time I cut calories to assist in weight loss for my cutting phase of the process.
Example of My Daily Diet:
Meal 1: 5 egg whites, ½ cup of oatmeal, ½ cup of blueberries
Meal 2: 4oz orange roughy/tilapia, 12 asparagus spears
Meal 3: 4oz chicken, 3oz yam, 1½ cup spinach, 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic
Meal 4: 4oz chicken, 1 rice cake, 8 asparagus spears, 1 tsp flax oil
Meal 5: 2oz lean beef, 3oz chicken, 1oz tomato, 4oz cucumber, 2 cups romaine, 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic
Meal 6: 1.5 scoops Myofusion
(Depending where my workout landed, I’d substitute a scoop of BSN Syntha-6 for an after workout meal.)
Supplementation:
Morning w/Meal:
Multi-vitamin, Glucosamine plus chondroitin, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Glutamine Powder, Dim +
Pre-Workout:
BSN Hyper Fx (Before weight training), L-Carnitine (Before Cardio), OxyElite Pro (Before cardio and again before weight training)
During Workout:
BSN Amino X
Post-Workout:
BSN Syntha-6, Flax Seed Oil
Before Bed:
Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Magnesium, Zinc + Calcium Vitamin, Glutamine Powder, Dim +, Gaspari Nutrition Myofusion
How I Stayed Motivated:
Motivation was a key component in fighting through this transformation challenge. There were many great days that I felt pumped and alive but equally there were days that I stumbled and had to picked myself up to continue forward. I depended on my participating peers as we communicated in the HyperShred BodyGroup, people I now call friends. I developed relationships. We encouraged each other, motivated each other, and reached out to one another when needing advice or an extra push to continue pursuing our goal. At the beginning of this challenge, I was the first female weekly winner. To me this represented progression that not only myself but also others of our community saw as well.
Through bodybuilding.com, a friend introduced me to my competition coach, Alissa Parker. She has motivated me to give 100% in every aspect of fitness to achieve competition success. She pushes me to new levels and has introduced me to new strategies to continually challenge my mind and body.
The people surrounding my life are my greatest influences: my trainer, my friends and my family. Each of my loved ones has supported and encouraged me to succeed in reaching my goals and my dreams of living and loving my new healthy life.
Conclusion:
Dedication to the HyperShred challenge has kept me strong choosing a fit life rather than worldly ways of immediate gratification. I found a new appreciation for working hard to achieve personal goals and helping others to do the same. When I signed up for this, I told myself not much would change in my life. Yes, I would be committed to consistency in workouts and diet, which would create physical change, but I didn’t realize the affect it would have on my life and those surrounding me. It’s a unique feeling to hear others confirm that I have helped motivate them and change them by hearing my story and watching my progress. It drives me. It motivates me. I proceed to my next great goal while never quitting the new lifestyle that has aided in changing my life.
A little story: Months ago I confided in a friend of my struggles with various eating issues. I can’t ever say they were severe to the point of completely depleting my body but it was a constant mind battle that left me rarely enjoying anything I consumed. This past weekend we met again and she brought to my attention that not once has this problem occurred since. I’ve been so focused on eating consistent healthy meals to fuel my intense workouts to achieve my idea of success in both competitions and in my life that I feel like I have been freed from the imprisonment of eating disorders. For once, the chains of consuming thoughts of being too fat or too skinny do not bind me, but now I can live each day knowing that I am healthy and love my life.
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