Dana Lynn

Tracy and Jami- thanks so much for your comments you left here. I’m glad you understand what I’m talking about. I won’t go into it much anymore and honestly, I think its silly to keep explaining myself. Everyone has different opinions of what balance is to them. I know what it means to me. I never said anything about giving anything up or quitting anything… after all, is THAT balance? No, thats, once again, lopsided in the other direction. Everyone’s life is different. If you want to completely dedicate your life to your fitness and what your body looks like, Cool, go for it! Maybe to some of you, your famly and relationships dont mean that much to you- who am I to judge. Whatever the case, thats fine. To me, I believe being able to do all the things that are important to you is balance. If you are neglecting something thats important to you, thats NOT balance! Fitness is just one important aspect of my life. I believe I explain exactly that on my welcome page. I NEVER claimed to be the picture of perfection in fitness and I think more people relate to me then people who’s lives completely revolve around their weight training. For most of the world, thats not real.
I’m working on it and I’m working hard at it. I haven’t given up. Even if I fall down a million times with this, I get back up and keep going. I keep trying and you know what, that in itself is important to me- that I DONT give up. I’m human. I’m very flawed and thats ok with me. Life is going to throw many more curveballs at me.
During my last prep my brother became very ill in New Jersey. My entire family was there- everyone except me… because I was training. I was more worried about messing up my diet or not being able to train. Well, you know what, that was selfish! Thats NOT ME!! That will never happen again. Granted, I did finally make it up there to see him and be with him but to think I was more worried about falling off my diet and not being able to train when my brother needed me- well… thats just NOT OK with me.
Anyway, let me just state for the record here- FITNESS, at whatever level I choose, competitions or not, will ALWAYS be in my life. I will always work out. When I’m not getting ready for a show, does that mean I’m not FIT?? If my bodyfat isnt 10%, does that mean I’m not FIT??? I have worked out since I was 12 yrs old in a gym and I’m not about to stop now. I have also had many issues with food and my “mind” but does that mean I should give up or that I don’t have the right to say that fitness is important to me?? HELL NO!
Even when I have been struggling lately, I still wake up and do my cardio and I still eat my oatmeal and eggwhites and I work damn hard in the gym each session… and guess what… I sleep just fine at night knowing that I’m doing something I love to do and if I slip up and eat something thats not qualified as “prefectly clean” then its OK, I’ll still wake up and get on my cardio again.
Look at that, I said I wont get much into it but looks like I did! haha!
DL

I took down my post from yesterday because I started getting emails from people telling me not to quit something I love, ect. Well just to clear something up. That post didn’t mean I am quitting anything. All it was saying was that I need to make sure my life isn’t lopsided. I need to make sure I’m not neglecting one thing I love for another and not giving each thing the attention it deserves. Just because I want to nurture relationships in my life doesn’t mean I need to get out of shape and stop training- it means I need to make an effort to work hard at both and not just put all my focus into getting into shape 100% of my time.

Anyway, I’m off to do cardio now.

Hello there! I hope everyone is doing wonderful today. I sure am! I’m feeling great again today. I just got home not too long ago from an awesome cardio session. 60 min of really high intensity cardio on the arc machine. I love that machine. You can really krank up the resistance and incline and it has such a big range of motion. My glutes and hamstrings are beyond sore and with every big movement on the arc I can feel them. Its actually a great stretch for them too. I was going to do the stepmill but since my heart rate was so high on the arc I just stayed and did the entire session there.

I have been doing a lot of reading on diets and nutrition lately. I really want to be as educated as I can so it helps me learn more about what I need for my body. I have been reading a lot about carb cycling. I want to do everything I can do to NEVER let what happened after my first show happen again. NEVER!! I will do everything it takes. I don’t want my body to be resistant to carbs. I dropped my carbs SOOOO low last prep that by the time I reintroduced carbs back to my diet, I just blew up. So I wanted to figure out a way to not let that happen. The diet Pauline set up for me is very similar to exactly that. She put in a high carb day, like a refeed day that had almost 500g of carbs and during the week they were much lower. Now that I’m reading about it I can understand the reasons why, ect. Honestly, my advice to everyone out there, whenever you work with a coach or trainer, really understand WHAT your doing, WHY your doing it and what happens if or when you arent doing it anymore. I would hear all about YO-YO dieting for years and I used to think, WHy do people do that? If I ever got lean I would stay there and be so happy forever. Well, in reality, that doesn’t always happen. Old habits can come back and you must be prepared. I will say, to Pauline’s credit, she ALWAYS wanted to make sure I understood everything about what we were doing but I guess at the time I was so depressed and down about everything that happened with me (because I felt HUGE) that I guess I didn’t really listen and understand as well as I should have.
Also, many people are SCARED of carbs. They think you ALWAYS have to be low carb. When you tell a lot of people that there are days you can have 500g of carbs they would FREAK. Thats a scary thing but carbs are so much more important then most people know.
Anyway, I feel like a new person. I’m finally opening my eyes and mind to new things with my training and diet and I just feel great about it. I’m motivated, my mood is up and I’m so happy. I have energy and I feel so ALIVE! When I feel like this everything around me feels ok. I feel like I can take on any challenge.
Have a wonderful day and train hard… I know I am

DL

HAPPY WEEK 4!! yeah!! Well I am pleased to say that I am down another 2lbs this week. I was kind of shocked it wasnt more because I really worked my butt off last week with cardio, training and diet but 2lbs loss is better then 2lbs gain! So now I’m at 143 but I’m a much different 143 then last prep. This time I am much tighter so I look much better already.

Today was my first day of training on my own. I did 60 min of cardio in the morning. 40 mins were on the elliptical with arms and then 20 mins on the DREADED STEPMILL aka STEP-HELL as I like to think of it. I promised myself I was going to learn to love that machine and all it has to offer with its amazing butt and leg blasting abilities! After my first session I went home to eat my lovely protein pancake with cottage cheese, showered up, ran some errands and then headed back to the gym to train legs. Awesome workout! I was so proud of myself. I really pushed hard. I picked four different things to do- leg press, single leg squats, leg curls and straight leg deadlifts. When I was done with them I waddled back to cardio and finished up with another 30 min.. and YES, 20 of those minutes were on the…. drum roll please……dumdumdudm…. STEP-HELL!! YEAH!! So 40 min on something I used to hate! Thats a huge step for me. I must keep it up! The other 50 were on the elliptical but for some reason I just couldnt get my heart up like I did on the stepmill.

I am really so excited by the way things are going for me now. I am so happy to be back loving my training and I’m so excited to see what I can do with my body this time. I feel great again. YAAA HOOO!!!
DL

Well, I’m just about to wrap up week 3 and I’m feeling really good over here! I have my weigh in for the week coming up in just a few days as well as my pictures. Ugh, I really hope I see some great changes. Some good news is I think I’m finally DONE with being sick. Yeah! Yesterday I still wasn’t feeling too hot. I got home from training and got some things done that I have needed to do. I also went to the book store for a few hours. I love spending time at the book store. I always leave with lots of good reading and magazines. Anyway, I came home and was so tired and yucky feeling so I sat on the couch for a few mintues. Finally, I decided to sit in bed and read for a while. Well, after reading almost half of the new book I bought, I fell asleep. I slept and slept and slept and slept… all the way until 6am! So I had about 13 hours of sleep. When I woke up this morning I finally felt wonderful. No stuffy nose. No aching body. It was so wonderful.

This morning I made my way down to Venice for a pretty tough Back workout. After that I had a really great 70 min cardio session. I think I’m going to hit another cardio session tonight too to make up from the 3 lost cardio days last week.

So today Pauline and I spoke about our future training plans. I have decided to take a break from all the driving to Venice for now. I also think I’m ready to continue training hard on my own. Between all the hours of driving to Venice, gas money, time and money spent on training, I decided I needed to think about what I wanted to do now that our 60 sessions are over. I have faith that I can do this. I trained myself for my first show and I KNOW I can train myself- with my new intensity- now. Pauline has taugh me so many wonderful new things about training, cardio and diet and its time to take those skills and apply them to my life. I will still go down to Venice every now and then to train and do cardio. I will also go down now that the weather is getting nice to walk on the beach and rollerblade often. I still have a membership to Gold’s Venice so I may as well use it! I have one more week with Pauline so I’ll make it a great one!

For the first time in a long time I can actually say I am enjoying my new diet and way of eating. It took a while to break the cycle of eating the “other” foods but now that I am finally in my groove I’m feeling good again. I remember during last prep I used to think, I can eat like this forever. Well, I can honestly say that I’m not going to eat this strict forever but I HAVE learned moderation when I’m not in a prep for a show. I do enjoy other foods and in my own opinion, life is too short to not eat other things and enjoy dinners out, holidays and vacations. However, 85% of my eating will be this way and when I eat the “other” foods, I will enjoy small portions. Thats what it really comes down to. Enjoy but dont go nuts because those foods will ALWAYS be there again.

I went shopping this afternoon and picked up the normal foods. I also picked up some Diet Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda. YUM! it tastes like dessert and when your dieting, diet soda is always a great way to fill up and have something sweet. I also LOVE gum but lately I have been chewing so much that my jaw actually hurts like hell.

I have been making some really yummy grilled veggies lately. I love veggies on the grill. I made portobello mushrooms and peppers and… well, you can see. Also, I made such a great chicken dish. Its so easy and competition diet friendly. My mom taught me and I thought I would share. In a pot I chopped up a bunch of onions. Then put a bunch of chicken breasts, some salt, pepper, garlic and a little chicken broth. You leave it on the stove and the onions melt down and make the chicken moist and flavorful. As soon as its almost done you can add some veggies like carrots or whatever you like to steam. Cover it up again and in no time you have so really great veggies and chicken!

Ok, so I didnt do any cardio today. UGH! It feels so weird that but its true, I didnt do any cardio at all!! I am STILL not feeling well. I went down to Venice this morning and trained with Pauline. We did legs. It was a good workout but I just still dont feel right. I have pushed cardio the past two days pretty hard and I’m still not better so today Pauline suggested I take the day off and hopefully that will help my recovery along so I dont tax my system more. Tonight I have a pain in my lungs when I breath. I still have a cough and I’m all stuffed up but there is an odd burning feeling when I breath in. Its the same one I felt when I was doing cardio but now I have it when I’m not even breathing hard. If this turns into something worse I’m not going to be a happy camper!

I just returned home from pottery class tonight. I finished my third lesson. We trimmed all of my pieces tonight and next week I get to glaze them! Fun!
I have training again in the morning so tonight I’m going to bed early. I want to be well rested because I WILL be doing cardio after shoulders, calves and abs!
I’m going to do my weigh-in and pictures on Monday (since I was so sick this week) and we’ll see how things are moving along. IF the pictures arent too awful MAYBE I’ll post them. Dont worry, eventually they will all be up. I promise that

DL

I am SO motivated to get this weight off! I want it so badly now. I day dream about it! The weeks it will take to get my body back to where it was seem so far away yet in the sceme of things, it really isnt that far until I’ll be right back to where I want to be. One week after another will pass by and before I know it I will feel amazing again. I really miss that feeling. Sometimes when I think about the bodyfat I need to lose to be in contest shape I get overwhelmed but I know I need to relax and take it day by day. I know I can do it. I did it once before and I can do it again. This time I will be leaner. This time I will have more muscle and be so much more conditioned. There is nothing that could come in the way of this! I must stay on track, focused and serious!

I picked the Emerald Cup as the show I want to do. Thats April 20-21 weekend. Today I noticed that right in California is the Orange County Classic the next weekend. hmmmm… I need to decide if I want to do them both or maybe just one. If I do the Orange county one then I dont have to stay in a hotel and I dont need to pay for an airplane ticket. Maybe I should just do the OC? I guess we’ll wait and see. I dont need to decide now. All I know is, I’m doing at least one… or both…. and I’m totally excited!

Today I woke up feeling much better. I’m not as stuffed up and my body doesn’t ache anymore. I did 80 min of cardio this morning. The only odd thing is that my heart rate is OUT OF CONTROL HIGH!! I know I was working hard but it was up in the 170’s almost the entire time. It was pounding out of my chest. Could it be that I’m still sick? Its just weird because I’m not out of shape (just a little heavier then I would like to be)

Anyway, I have lots of stuff to get done today. EYE ON THE PRIZE!! I’ll do another weigh-in next Monday so this week’s going to be a GREAT ONE!!

DL

After sitting in bed the entire weekend sick as a dog, I decided that I couldn’t do that another day! So this morning I went to the gym for cardio. Oh boy, it sure doesnt take long to get your heart rate up when your sick. After 60 minutes of lung burning cardio I had enough and wasnt feeling too hot. So I came home and ate and drank Thera-flu and have been resting for the rest of the day. It feels so awful sitting home being sick all weekend. I felt like I was being lazy or something even though I could barely pick my head up off of the pillow.

So today is the start of week 3. Two weeks down already. I started at 151 lbs and now I’m 145 lbs. Down 6 lbs in 2 weeks. Not bad! Hopefully I can keep that pace up and get to where I need to be sooner! I didn’t weigh myself once during the first two weeks. I think I like that approach because it kept me going and I wasnt obsessed about what the scale says.

I have one more day off until my training starts up again for the week. I’ll be training Wed, Th and Fri this week. So Mon and Tues is just cardio. I’m really hoping I wake up A LOT healthier in the morning.

Here’s a picture of me that I took right before I got sick. I’m wearing my new lipstick color I bought when I went shopping the other day

I woke up yesterday feeling awful. I mean, not just a little under the weather but AWFUL. Stuffed up, sneezing, coughing, aching but I had to train in Venice with Pauline. If I didnt show up or canceled I would have to pay and that was NOT happening. So I dragged my sick butt down to Venice to train Back. When I was done I did cardio because I figured I didnt drive an hour to Venice to just train Back for 30 minutes! When I was done I felt really sick so I got in my car to make my way home. Well without getting into too much detail, I got pulled over by the police because something was wrong with my registration on my car and had to go to the DMV, pay all this money, all the while I’m sick as a dog.

Finally, by around 1pm I was driving back home and in tears on the phone with my mom because I could barely see straight. My body hurt so badly. I ended up getting the full blown flu! I have been in bed since yesterday afternoon and I cant move. I have only beeing eating soup and drinking tea. I have a fever, chills, sore through, stuffy nose, my entire body aches. Its terrible. All I do is sleep and blow my nose.

Hopefully by Monday I will be better. I am not supposed to be back to training until Tuesday anyway so hopefully the weekend will help me to recover.

My mother always tells me to SLOW DOWN. I do everything quickly. I speak quickly, I eat quickly, I think quickly, I type quickly. Infact, I can type as fast as I can think! You should see me text on my phone. I’m the texting queen! Anyway, someone brought to my attention that I make a lot of spelling mistakes in my posts… and I’m very sorry. I type quickly and honestly, I dont always (or maybe never) go back and go over what I wrote. I type it out quickly and move on to the next thing. Anyway, it doesnt help that I am the world’s worst speller anyway. I always have been. I even sit with a dictonary when and read and write but somehow I still make mistakes. Anyway, I hope I haven’t driven anyone away with all my mistakes. Sometimes I forget this is a public journal! haha!
Speaking of quickly, I had pottery last night and even my pottery teacher said I was rushing my work. Oye!

Today is a cold gloomy day here in LA. I did 60 min of cardio outside today and it took me a while to warm up. My session was really good though. So far its been another great day.
Yesterday was really wonderful. I had a really hard session with Pauline. We trained Shoulders, Abs and calves. After that I did 75 min of cardio. I had so much motivation and energy that I just kept going. I felt great! Then I came home showered and went out to meet my friend Erica for some lunch time shopping. See, thats what I have to do when I’m dieting. I cant meet anyone for lunch so we do other things… like shop. Oh boy… not the best idea. I ended up spending more money then I wanted to on a new pair of sunglasses!! They are just awesome though. Of course I cant wear them today though because there isnt any sun in the sky! Just my luck!