Exercise probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you have anxiety.  Just the mere thought of entering a gym might give you anxiety. But remember you can exercise anywhere and not even have to step foot into a gym.

For the first few days after the trauma I was far too sick to exercise. My nervous system was completely shot and I just needed to rest and calm my mind and body. I went back into the gym about a week later and suffered pretty severe anxiety during my workout. I was anxious about having a panic attack in the gym and it wasn't so much that I didn't want to have an attack inside a gym, it was merely the fear of the panic attack itself. That night I had attacks and I think it was because my body wasn't ready for the nervous system stimulation that follows a heavy weight training session. First mistake - going too hard and heavy like I was used to doing.

About another week later I started working out at home. I was lucky enough to have a basement gym with plenty of equipment to get a good workout in. I also had a stepper machine which I started using almost every morning as well. Remember, there are two parts to working out. Cardio and Weight Training. Both are important and both should be incorporated into your recovery. 

Cardio is a 'god send' when it comes to anxiety. What happens when you have anxiety? Adrenaline is produced and pumped through your body as if it was getting ready to run for it's life from a saber tooth tiger. The problem is in this day and age we are not running from saber tooth tigers. We are sitting at our computers or in our cars producing adrenaline because our minds are creating fear over random thoughts leading to anxiety with no way to burn off that excess adrenaline. Enter cardio.

​ When you perform cardio your body actually burns up that excess adrenaline rather than having it circulate through your body all day. Lets remember adrenaline's prime function is the 'flight or fight' response so give your body what it wants and RUN! Or walk, step, swim etc. It doesn't really matter, just get your blood pumping. Not only does it use up that adrenaline but it produces serotonin, the mood enhancer, which most anti-anxiety drugs are made with. What!? So you're saying that instead of taking a potentially harmful drug I can just go for a jog for free with no risk? YES!! Cardio can also increase the activity of the neurotransmitter, GABA, which inhibits brain activity or 'quiets' the brain. If you have anxiety, you know that 'shushing' the brain to us is like what candy is to a kid. 

Study after study after study has shown that exercise decreases the symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. Just google it! If you aren't exercising yet, then do your brain and body the biggest favor of their lives. Give yourself some peace and relief. Burn up that excess adrenaline. Release some 'feel good' hormones.   

This is the one and only time that I would say cardio trumps weight training when it comes to anxiety. It's not more important, it just directly addresses the symptoms. Weight training actually stimulates the nervous system and can produce even more adrenaline. But you must not leave it out! You have to train smarter, not harder. 

Keep your rep ranges higher, 20+ reps on each exercise, and don't incorporate intensity techniques like dropsets or pyramids. If you don't know what those are, don't worry, you're probably not doing them then. Sessions should only last 30-45 minutes and no longer. You don't want Cortisol levels to elevate which can exacerbate the problem.

It is still very important to continue weight training because you MUST maintain your muscle for good health. You can actually go into a catabolic state (muscle breakdown) when you have anxiety and if you don't use them, YOU LOSE THEM.

The severity of your anxiety is also going to determine the level of intensity when it comes to weight training. If you just have a little generalized anxiety, then congratulations, you're normal and should be hitting the gym hard. The above recommendations are for severe anxiety and panic attack disorder, which I suffered from so can tell you from experience what worked and what didn't.

WHAT IS A BODYBUILDING YOGI?

What is a bodybuilding yogi; why not just ‘yoga for athletes’? Bodybuilding is a sport; therefore, participants are athletes, but the way we train and what our bodies go through is very different to a runner or basketball player. We face our own challenges when we walk into the yoga room and same goes when walking into the weight room.

Bodybuilding is very demanding on the human body. We train to look a certain way, not necessarily perform a certain way. It may be to look like the incredible hulk or just a muscular female with a well balanced physique. Regardless of our individual end goal, we all have one thing in common: we are building muscle.

In order to build muscle you must lift heavy weights and eat plenty of food to support muscle growth. This is quite the opposite of a typical yogi’s lifestyle. Bodybuilders must track what they eat for several reasons:

1.      To ensure they are getting adequate protein for muscle development and recovery.

2.      To hit certain caloric requirements depending on whether they are building muscle or losing body fat to reveal their muscle.

3.      Restrict certain foods that may prevent them from doing 1 and/or 2.

4.      To make sure they are getting all their meals in each day and not to skip a meal.

5.      To time their meals which have specific macro-nutrient ratios for different parts of the day.

How does a yogi eat?

1.      Yogis are quite often vegan which raises concern and difficulty over getting adequate amounts of protein.

2.      They eat when they are hungry and are more in tune with their bodies rather than a clock telling them to eat.

3.      They preferably eat all organic to abide by the first limb of yoga, Yama, where Ahimsa or non-violence is practiced. This can get very costly for the hungry bodybuilder eating plenty of chicken breast and vegetables.

Bodybuilding is very ‘Yong’ and must be balanced like anything in life. Where there is a left there is a right, a start and an end, up and down, day and night. Bodybuilders often suffer from burnout because they never balance the extreme activity with something that calms the nervous system and repairs the damage. Enter yoga.

 

THE STRUGGLES WE FACE

As you can already see there are some struggles that arise from trying to live a bodybuilder’s lifestyle and a yogi’s lifestyle as one; eating is just one of many.

EATING

As a yogi we practice the eight limbs of yoga which includes Ahimsa, the act of kindness to all living things or ‘non-violence’. This means that what we eat should have died humanely or grown environmentally friendly. We all know buying organic is expensive and as a bodybuilder, with a higher intake of protein need, we tend to eat a lot of meat. I personally don’t know a professional bodybuilder who is vegan and all natural so there’s the first struggle, being vegan if that’s your choice. Yes there is protein in Quinoa and beans but they are predominately a carbohydrate source; yes there is protein in nuts but they are predominately a fat source. One way to overcome the vegan bodybuilder hurdle would be to find an organic whole food protein shake but this brings us to the second struggle…the cost. Organic anything comes with a high price tag. The way to get around this is to choose what you eat organic and what you could get away with not being organic; for instance, all meat should be purchased organic, but we can be a little more lenient with our fruits and vegetables.

I choose my vegetables and fruits by whether or not I’m going to eat the skin. There are also plenty of online lists of ‘safe’ foods that you don’t have to buy organic. For instance it would be safe to buy kiwi, onions, avocado, pineapple, peas, cabbage, and broccoli that are not organic. Cabbage and broccoli don’t have skin but they don’t retain as many pesticides because they face less pest threats, resulting in less pesticides being used. Foods to definitely buy organic include apples, all berries, grapes, spinach and all other leafy greens, bell peppers, and cucumbers.

STIFF AND TIGHT MUSCLES (DOMS)

This is a big one and one that we cannot fix completely, but there are ways to make it easier. Bodybuilders apply a lot of weight to their muscles in order for the muscle tissue to tear and repair and come back bigger and stronger. The tearing fibers and tissue are a mini trauma and with trauma or injury comes inflammation and pain. This is what we call DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. Some days are worse than others, but it can leave us immobile for one to four days; the hamstrings and shoulders seem to be the worst impacted.

Yoga can be very painful and frustrating for the bodybuilder suffering from DOMS, but once we get through the class we feel ten times better having stretched out our muscles. We can make it less painful if we do the following:

1.      Stretch directly after a workout and perform 10 minutes of light cardio to keep our blood from pooling in the areas worked.

2.      Eat enough protein, particularly pre and post workout.

3.      Take an Omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acid supplement to help with inflammation.

4.      Take a glutamine supplement to aide in recovery.

5.      Foam roll.

6.      Take an Epsom salt bath.

7.      Get a massage.

SHORTENED MUSCLES

You can’t technically ‘shorten a muscle’, and you can’t change a muscles insertion point on the bone; however, after years of tearing down muscle fibers and forming scar tissue, it can feel as though you have shortened your muscle. In reality it is just really tight.  This makes yoga more challenging if we don’t keep up with regular stretching. It can feel like the bicep tendons and connective tissue are tearing away from bone in side planks and extended side angle pose.

The difference between the feeling of shortened muscles and DOMS, as mentioned in the previous section, is that DOMS only last a few days and happens inside the muscle whereas these ‘shortened’ muscles are actually tight, inflexible connective tissue and tendons that have worsened over time because of lack of stretching. Regular stretching and Yin yoga are particularly beneficial in reversing this issue.

FITTING IN BOTH ACTIVITIES

I am extremely lucky when it comes to this as I am a personal trainer and make my own schedule. I do, however, get very busy from time and time and something has to give.

Training as a bodybuilder you can expect to be at the gym anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half per training session. Yoga classes generally take 75 minutes, give or take. If we are trying to lose body fat for a competition or because our ‘off-season’ has come to an end, then we also need to fit in cardio which can range anywhere from 30 minutes to two sessions per day, totaling up to an hour and a half.

There are suggested best times for exercise and yoga practice, but the very best time is when you are able to get it in. It is preferential that we split our weight and cardio sessions up but occasionally time does not allow for this, in that case it is recommended to ALWAYS perform cardio AFTER weights. Weight lifting takes precedence; you want all your energy to go into lifting heavy with good form. Yoga can be done at any time of the day but if you are practicing a more vigorous class then you don’t want to be flowing directly after your weights when your strength is compromised. Chaturanga Dandasana is not fun after heavy dumbbell shoulder presses, trust me.

Arrange your day the best you can. Only you can decide what’s best for you. I perform fasted cardio first thing in the morning, I like to run on an empty stomach and it sets my day off right. We can all use the extra serotonin boost that cardio provides for the day ahead. I then do yoga mid morning and weight training mid afternoon with some added cardio either after weights or later in the evening.

 WHY WE SHOULD BE DOING BOTH

“I don’t lift weights, all I do is yoga”. I hear this all too often in the yoga arena and it scares me. The American Heart Association has a recommendation for weekly resistance and cardio training for a reason.

The ‘newbie’ to any type of exercise will experience strength and cardiovascular improvements in the first couple of months of regular activity; these ‘new gains’ start to diminish as the body adapts to the new regimen. The only way to keep building strength is to apply new force and intensity to the body. This needs to happen continually as you become stronger and stronger and is called Progressive Overload. Even when you have reached your desired physique you need to maintain the muscle you have gained; again, you must apply outside force to the muscles.

Physique goals aside, let’s talk about heart health, bone health, and your health in general. Hot Yoga classes will raise your heart rate but no studies have shown that yoga trumps resistance training and cardiovascular activity for heart health. Hot yoga is not for everyone so a lot of yogis aren’t even experiencing a raise in their heart rate during their practice. The recommended amount to keep your heart healthy is 150 minutes per week of moderate cardiovascular exercise.

There are more than three million cases of Osteoporosis in the US per year. This number could be dramatically decreased if more people picked up the weights, particularly women. When we apply force to our muscle it puts stress on our bones and our amazing bodies adapt to this applied force by increasing bone density, something that bodyweight exercise alone do not do well. Doing yoga alone will not achieve these magnificent benefits that weight bearing exercises gives.

Yoga does come with an array of its own benefits, particularly for the bodybuilder. It…

·         Improves flexibility, which can help the bodybuilder get deeper in squats, for example.

·         Increases range of motion promoting better muscle fiber recruitment.

·         Prevents joint breakdown by increasing the flow of fresh nutrients into the joint area.

·         Strengthens your spine protecting it from injury during heavy weight training.

·         Increases blood flow and oxygen to the muscles giving them more power and fuel.

·         Lowers cortisol levels, the stress hormone, which is a bodybuilder’s worst nightmare; when elevated cortisol can cause muscle breakdown and the storage of body fat.

·         Helps you to focus and be more in tune with your body which helps the mind to muscle connection.

·         Calms the nervous system which becomes elevated in a response to muscle fiber trauma.

·         Teaches you how to breathe properly which is an important technique used in weight training.

 

SUMMARY

In my professional and personal opinion, the two go hand in hand and if you’re only performing one of these two incredibly beneficial activities then you’re missing out on achieving your full physical potential.

Our bodies are our homes and if we don’t take care of them then we’ll have nowhere to live.

There are some challenges to overcome but once you get in sync, your body will function harmoniously. A healthy body sets the stage for a healthy mind.

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One of the first things that happened after the trauma from that pill the doctor gave me was my inability to eat. The day that I experienced all the side effects I think I got down half a banana and half a protein shake, ALL DAY! My body said 'NO FOOD' but my mind said 'you need to get something in, you can't go all day without food'. That's the only reason I tried to eat was because I knew it was good for me. No part of me physically wanted food. Food actually brought on anxiety attacks. 

I lost a total of 15 pounds in a month and a half! Something happened in my body whenever I ate. It just didn't want food in there. I got really anxious after food and I didn't have an appetite whatsoever. I ate very small portions because if ever I ate until I was full I would have an attack. It was really weird. A week after the initial trauma I tried eating my favorite food, Indian, and I had the worst anxiety right after it. Resting heart rate was in the 80's when it's normally in the 50's. I later read that people with anxiety should steer clear of spicy foods because they stimulate the nervous system, when our main goal with anxiety is to calm the nervous system.

There are a few foods that I experienced first hand didn't mesh well with a heightened nervous system and there are a few that are recommended by professionals to avoid. 

• Spicy Foods; anything that had chili peppers, curry powder, bell peppers or ground pepper in it. Indian and Mexican were definitely out. Spicy foods stimulate the nervous system, raising your heart rate, and can cause gut problems which can bring on anxiety. 
• Caffeine; I have been caffeine free since the day of the trauma. Caffeine again stimulates the nervous system, raises your heart rate, and increases the secretion of adrenaline. Excess adrenaline is the cause of the physical feelings of anxiety so you have plenty pumping around your body if you have anxiety without exacerbating it with caffeine. Caffeine is also known to cause anxiety in people who never had anxiety before.
• Artificial Sweeteners; sucralose and aspartame being the main ones.  I had shelves filled with protein powders that all had sucralose in them which I couldn't use anymore. I switched to all natural powders that were organic and Non-GMO and only sweetened with stevia or other natural sweeteners. I now use Vega and New Zealand Whey. Artificial sweeteners can change your gut bacteria and altar the way our metabolism breaks down food for energy. A study was done where they fed mice artificial sweeteners for 11 weeks and their blood sugar levels were extremely high. Something we want to avoid if we have anxiety as this can lead to an increase in heart rate, light headedness, loss of appetite, and many other things.
• Simple Sugars; white sugar, candy, cookies, cakes, etc. Anything that's going to spike your insulin. When you get a sugar rush, what follows is a crash because your insulin has spiked and taken too much sugar out of the blood leaving you with low blood sugar. Low blood sugar can cause shakiness, nervousness, dizziness, nausea, and headache. All things that can bring on an attack or generalized anxiety. 
• Alcohol; alcohol is a depressant. Just don't do it if you have anxiety, for obvious reasons. It also interferes with the quality of your sleep, something you probably already have trouble with. 
• Processed Foods and High in Fat; pizza, burgers, fries, pies etc. Not only are they not providing you with essential nutrients to aide in the recovery of your disorder, but the high content of saturated fat can cause inflammation in the gut and cause bowel movement issues. They say illness and disease start in the gut. This is where 70% of our immune system is housed. You want to be taking good care of it. Anxiety in itself can cause diarrhea because of the 'flight or fight' response. Your body literally empties itself in preparation for the danger ahead. So if you eat badly and cause diarrhea then it can fool your body into thinking danger is approaching and you are left with the 'flight or fight' response being activated and anxiety follows.   

I found certain foods/meals that didn't cause any anxiety or physical upsets so I basically lived on those for a few weeks and slowly introduced new foods as time went on. 

• Oatmeal; I would eat this every morning with blueberries, greek yogurt and nut butter. Warm oatmeal is very comforting and easy on the digestive system. It keeps blood sugar levels balanced, as long as you aren't piling on the brown sugar. It has a good source of fiber which is good for your gut and can help to correct digestive issues related to anxiety. It also helps in the production of serotonin. 
• Blueberries; as mentioned above I ate these with my oatmeal. They are loaded with antioxidants that can help to relieve stress in the body.
• Greek Yogurt; a wonderful source of protein and calcium. It's easy to digest for those not lactose intolerant and it feeds the good bacteria in your gut. Protein will also help prevent muscle catabolism (breakdown) if you have no appetite and high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. 
• Whole Grains; I choose to eat gluten-free 95% of the time. Gluten-free grains include oats (check the label), rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, and buckwheat to name a few. Grains containing gluten include pasta, semolina, farro, rye, and barley. Whole grains contain tryptophan, the precursor to serotonin (the calming neurotransmitter) and melatonin (the sleep aide), both of which are usually low in people with anxiety. Whole grains are high in magnesium and magnesium can prevent the release of the hormone that tells your adrenal glands to pump out more adrenaline and cortisol. 
• Chicken and Eggs; and other high B vitamin containing foods such as rice, nuts, avocados, and beef. Studies have shown a link between low levels of B vitamins and depression/anxiety. They help to control blood sugar levels and the synthesis of serotonin. They also support heart health which is necessary when we're dealing with anxiety attacks which stress the heart.  

I found that warm, comforting foods felt good and were easy on the stomach, and brain for that matter. As I mentioned above, warm oatmeal was soothing and didn't cause any stomach issues. I also found a gluten-free organic mac and cheese by 'Amys' that made me feel good. I could only eat half the portion though. Homemade vegetable soups were great and provided many healthy nutrients and vitamins. Scrambled eggs were also a favorite. I couldn't stomach a big steak or anything that required a lot of chewing. Anything that was too 'bulky' in my stomach made me anxious. I ate/drank a lot of smoothies because they didn't leave me feeling full or bloated and they were easy to get down.

Be kind to your body. It is going through a lot. Feed it good, healthy, nutritious food and it will feel a lot better.  
  

My structured training split looks like this... 

Monday - Glutes/Quads. 
Tuesday - Chest/Arms. 
Wednesday - Back. 
Thursday - Shoulders. 
Friday - Glutes/Hamstrings. 
Sat/Sun - Mountain biking and cardio only.

1. Keep your 'back' days away from leg days, particularly hamstring focus days. One or both of these days should include deadlifts of some kind. Deadlifts work both back and hamstrings/glutes.
2. Train shoulders after back day by one or two days, not right before back. You use your shoulders during back movements so you don't want them fatigued from the day before. 
3. Don't fatigue your biceps too much before back day. You can do back/bicep day instead. I don't need to bring up my chest, triceps or biceps so I just tri-set them all.
4. On Monday's Glute day I focus on the Gluteus Maximus which includes a lot of squats and lunges which also focus on the quads. On Friday's Glute day I focus on the Gluteus Minimus and Medius - think lateral movements. This ensures adequate time for recovery and every muscle in there gets hit. 

Yes there are going to be overlaps and exceptions. For instance it would be nice to have shoulders away from back day but then something else would suffer. To fix this you could change up your rest days or do a 2 week training schedule where you mix up the order. But this works for me and my schedule. 

Your schedule may look different since our bodies are completely different. You may want to bring up your shoulders more so you may have an extra shoulder day in there. Some days I will add biceps with back day instead of chest and arms but that's because I'm just trying to maintain my arms so I am pretty flexible with training those. I will add abs on shoulder day or chest and arms day but I hit my abs pretty good during my morning hot yoga classes. 

Cardio is very flexible at the moment. I try to mountain bike twice a week, in the weekends if it's not raining, and I like to run a minimum of two mornings per week and use the stepper at home twice per week in the morning as well. My morning sessions are fasted, meaning no food prior. If I have time after my weight training I will tack on 20-30 minutes of the stairmaster. If I didn't do the stairmaster after weights, I sometimes head back to the gym later after dinner and do 30-45 minutes on the stairmaster, and have recently started adding in sprints at this time. 

I go to Hot Yoga classes 4 times per week and practice yoga at home the other days.  

So it has taken me a while to start this blog. One reason is time but I think a lot of it has to do with having to relive and revisit those feelings of severe anxiety and panic attacks in order to share my journey with you. So I'm going to dive right into it and explain what happened to me so we can get that right out of the way and move on to the more important part, recovery. 
Getting ready for a Figure bodybuilding competition is extremely taxing on your body and mind. In order to get lean enough for the stage you have to go through vigorous cardio and weight sessions whilst on a very restricted diet. You get very tired and just to get through the day and through your training sessions, one might rely on caffeine and other stimulants. I did exactly that. FAR too many stimulants, fat burners, and caffeinated products to survive the training and to burn extra body fat. I'm not going to go into my terrible coaches and what they did. I am trying to make peace with it. 
After my show, I needed to lose even more body fat for other shows I had planned to do so up went the intensity of EVERYTHING. My body finally shut down and said 'enough is enough'. We were at the airport about to fly home from The Olympia in Las Vegas and I had my first panic attack. That plane ride was horrendous and I literally thought I was dying. I got home and continued to take stimulants to get even leaner. I had a panic attack randomly at a restaurant with friends. A month later, still on stimulants/fat burners, we flew to New Orleans for a trip. I had a panic attack on the plane there, spent 3 days in severe anxiety, and then another attack on the plane home. 
When I got home, I spent a week in a heightened state of anxiety. I couldn't stand it so I made an appointment with the doctor. He prescribed me Paxil (DO NOT TAKE THIS!) and Xanax. I took one Paxil pill and thought I was going to die. I was home alone as my husband was in Canada for work. I got every bad side effect listed. I took Xanax once to try to counter the awful effects of the devils pill (Paxil) and it just made me more anxious because I was nervous about taking it. I never took another westernized pill again after those two.
That is the basic story without going into too much detail because I'm already feeling anxious reliving this. Taking those doctor prescribed pills was the most traumatic experience I've ever been through. I literally thought I was going to die. I now have post traumatic stress disorder thanks to that doctor giving me a pill that was completely wrong for me.
The first attack happened September 2014 but the true trauma happened 1st December 2014. It is now the 23rd of April 2015 and I can't actually remember my last full panic attack. I am not able to fly on a plane yet as even just the thought of it brings on panic attack feelings (even though before all this I've flown all over the world and LOVE it). 

January and February were really awful months but March was better and April even better than March. Time really does heal but it wasn't just time that was helping me. I have been doing MANY things to help with the everyday anxiety. I am going to write several parts to this anxiety blog so I can hopefully help others suffering from generalized anxiety, panic attack disorder, or post traumatic stress disorder. 
I didn't want each part to be a novel for you so that's why I am going to split up my recovery tips into categories. Some of the categories I will be posting about are Yoga, Nutrition for Anxiety, Meditation, Natural Herbs, Aromatherapy, Weight training and Cardiovascular training, Grounding and the First Chakra, and Home Tips.

Thank you for listening to my story and respecting my reasons for not getting too specific. I invite all questions and comments throughout these anxiety recovery blog entries as the whole reason I am doing this is to help others get through this awful condition NATURALLY. 

Keep your eyes peeled for Part 2!

Namaste.

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What is Binge Eating Disorder? Binge eating is when you continue to eat past the point of being full, sometimes to the point where you vomit or are near to throwing up. You can't stop eating and it generally involves consuming mostly junk food. You can't hear your body cues telling you to stop eating anymore, or you refuse to listen to them. You obsess over the thought of food and all the things you want to eat. You go back and forth into the pantry coming out with something new every time. You may even hide in the pantry and consume your food sneakily in there. You also may drive home via a fast food joint or the supermarket and buy mountains of food and eat it all in the car on the way home or in the parking lot.
If any of this sounds familiar, you may be suffering from a binge eating disorder or have dealt with it in the past. Well you're not alone. Binge eating disorder is prevalent in the fitness industry, particularly with competitors and fitness models, but also anyone who diets is at risk. We deprive ourselves so much from the foods we love and enjoy, that once our 'event' is over or we've reached our goal, we just can't stop eating all the stuff we weren't allowed. It can end careers, cause serious mental health issues, and damage our physical being. 
You're probably wondering if I've ever suffered from it and I'm here to tell you that yes, I did. For my first competition last year I was so determined to win that I didn't have a cheat meal or anything off the plan for 10 weeks straight. When my first coach said I should pull out of the show I was aiming for because I wasn't dropping enough body fat (I probably would have if he had paid more attention to my concerns and not given me a cookie cutter plan and had me over-training doing 6 days of HIIT, but that's a whole different story), that caused so much anger and despair in me that I had a cheat meal because I thought 'screw it', and then it was all down hill from there. I was so disappointed that I had to pull out. I felt like I had failed. I was ashamed.
I would eat massive bowls of cereal and then go back to the pantry and eat chocolate and candy, then put the oven on and cook a pizza and eat the whole thing, then finish it all off with a tub of Ben and Jerry's. This happened every weekend. I never threw up afterwards, but I felt so uncomfortably full that it hurt. All I wanted to do was throw it all up but puking grosses me out so I just lay there in pain and guilt ridden. 
I didn't come in lean enough for my first show because I couldn't stop binging on the weekends. No matter how much cardio you do, it can not undo the mountains of food you consume over the weekend. The body doesn't work like that.
After my show, the binging got really bad for two months. The episodes didn't just occur over the weekends. They started to happen throughout the week too. 
But I am now binge-free and have been since October 2014. How did I overcome it? Well, read on as I share my tips on how to rid yourself of this extremely unhealthy disorder.     

1. Stop looking at food and recipe photos on social media sites. You are just consuming your time and thoughts with food.
2. Don't call it a 'cheat meal'. Call it 'date night' or something else with no negative connotation if you must give it a name.
3. Relax about meal timing. It's not going to make or break your physique by skipping a meal. Eat when you're hungry, not when the clock says so.
4. Don't let there be 'off limit' foods. That just makes you want them even more. If you want a burger, tell yourself you can have one for dinner later or lunch tomorrow. Chances are that you won't even want it when the time comes. If you do end up eating it, enjoy it and move on. You did nothing wrong. Tell yourself 'that was yum, I'm satisfied now' and remember that it is not your last burger. If you want one again tomorrow, you absolutely can if you want. It's not 'off limits'. But ask yourself whether it's going to help you achieve your goals and whether you want more of that processed food so soon after your last processed food meal. 
5. Increase your fat and fiber intake. They naturally keep you feeling full and satiated. Have a Quest bar or Musclepharm bar as they make you feel full and less likely to want to stuff more food in your belly. And they are delicious so it's like a treat. Quest Nutrition have all natural bars you can choose from.
6. Switch to larger, less frequent meals that actually leave you satisfied. Lots of small meals left me hungry and dissatisfied all day and I couldn't stop thinking about my next meal.
7. One square of chocolate or a spoonful of icecream is not going to make you fat. Eat it and enjoy it. Then move on. It's OK, you haven't done anything wrong. Just remember not to be gluttonous and over indulgent. There's no need to be. You will eat chocolate again, don't worry, it's not your last bite.
8. Eat your favorite, most satisfying meal more than once a day. If you love pancakes and they satisfy you, eat them three times one day if you're having thoughts of binging. Return to normal eating habits the next day. The problem with doing this day in day out is you have the potential to miss out on vitamins and nutrients that come from wholesome foods such as fruit and vegetables if your favorite meal doesn't incorporate those.
9. Don't just look at food as a means to build muscle or lose fat. Food is glorious! When you plan a healthy meal, think about all the nutrients you are providing your beautiful body. Think about how you are nourishing your hard working body. Without your body, you don't have much. So before you stuff yourself with processed, refined, artificial foods, take a minute to think about what good this is going to do for your body. Not your weight. Stop thinking about your weight. Let's just think about your physical body and what it needs to run optimally. Don't you want to treat it right and have it last many years in optimal condition rather than 5 minutes of taste bud satisfaction and potential harm to your body?
10. Stay off the scales and don't look at yourself naked in the mirror for a while. When the scale doesn't drop or you're looking and feeling a little bloated one day, the perceived lack of progress can trigger feelings of disappointment which can lead to you trying to make yourself feel better by eating a bunch of crap and then we're back at square one. For me, the opposite was true too. When I lost a pound or two, I wanted to reward myself and gave myself that reason to binge because my 'diet' was working. Again, back to square one.
11. Try Intermittent Fasting. This was the biggest factor for me in overcoming binge eating. I have written a blog about my experience with IF so please have a read of it. It might be for you. 
12. Download a hypnosis audio book on your phone. I know it may sound crazy but I tried it and I am recovered so I can't say it didn't help right? On amazon they have several different binge eating hypnosis tapes.         

You are not alone. You can email me any time at leankiwifitness@gmail.com if you need advice or need to vent or just need to tell someone about your disorder so you can be held accountable. You can and WILL overcome this. 
Join online group support forums or if you really want to, be open about it on facebook. Your friends and family will want to help. If going public is too scary for you, like I said above, email me and I will do what I can to help you. 

Even stars need darkness to shine bright. 

Better Bodies clothing isn't just for the gym. I know that gym wear can be pricey, but if you can wear the same piece several different ways and to several places, then it's all worth it right.

Go ahead and try one item from Elite 1 Fit Gear. You won't regret it. Don't forget to use code E1GEMMA at checkout for your free stringer bag and water bottle for orders over $100.


www.elite1fitgear.com

These hoodies are amazing. They are lightweight so can be taken through all seasons. I love the new thumb hole feature that Better Bodies has included in this design, and the high neck when zipped up completely. 
The headbands are great, especially for those of us with bangs. They stay in place and aren't too tight. 
Visit Elite 1 Fit Gear this weekend to pick up your new hoodie and get a set of free headbands.

www.elite1fitgear.com