Check out diet and lifestyle changes for this contest prep on BetterFitBody.com

WE’VE MOVED

If you’re looking for information about me, you can find it here on my personal site: JanessaMondestin.com. All my old posts will be there if you want to reference it. If you are looking for my tips and tidbits, subscribe to my 411 newsletter.  If you are still looking to see & hear me/workout routines/fitness banter, check me out on tumblr.

Yes yes y’all. I’ll be all over this world wide web soon enough, but until then flip the switch, get the 411 and let’s make 2011 ours for the taking!

*this blog site will self-destruct in T-12 hours. Catch up quick and catch the next bus right here  http://betterfitbody.tumblr.com*

Losing weight is a huge feat within itself but there are so many aspects that are rarely uncovered and unspoken during the journey. Let me share my thoughts here.

At every consult, I ask my clients why do they want the weight off. It defines, for me, their motivation  but it also unveils deeper more psychological/emotional reasons. For example, one client said that her husband no longer viewed her as sexy. He used to find her irresistible when she was 25 pounds lighter. She’s now divorced but still has embedded in her brain that 135 is her goal weight. (I wonder where she got that idea from?)

Second, I ask how motivated are they to lose it in a range of 1-10 (10 being the most). Most of them reply in the 8-10 range but they seem so skeptic about actualizing their wants. They portray being skeptical of me being able to deliver. But I know that their doubts isn’t about me, it’s more about them.

In their mind, they are questioning if they are really worth it? Can they really do it? Wouldn’t it be easier to just stay the same or use some crazy extreme diet (lemons anyone o.O)?

I anticipate these self-reflecting questions so I ask them: Do you think you are worth it? Do you really think you can do it? Or would it be easier to stay the same? 3 out of 10 will have an epiphany. 5 of them will lash out, probably mad that I asked the questions that was already on burning on their minds. 2 will give up right there.

Why do I ask this?

Because this is a journey; not a destination. If you ever traveled down that path less taken, it gets scary. I want someone who is motivated to be there. Who will trust me and the process. I give more than I get – it’s my virtue and my flaw. So if I am going to give, they should take advantage of what I got and take heed completely. If I have to fight with someone about their own journey, I would rather refer them out. In the end, the relationship between me (the guide) and them (the guided) becomes oddly symbiotic; I feed off their energy as they feed off of mine.

I focus less on the numbers on the scale as time goes on because honestly, aren’t we more confident when we fit into that pair of jeans we never thought was our size? Conversely, aren’t we more shocked & discontent when we try on a clothes that’s 1-2 sizes bigger than we thought we were? So nothing stimulates us more negatively or positively than inches off our body rather than numbers on a scale. Scales are just one tool, not the everlasting bible of fit or not fit; use them sparingly.

Since the numbers on the scale is never really the motivation but rather the confidence, surety, sexiness, beauty that we display when we know we look good (and what we wear enhances this), aren’t scales and the numbers they represent counterproductive motivation?

The book in a nutshell is a (for lack of qualitative words): about losing weight. But not the weight that you’re thinking of…..AHA! Caught your attention, huh?

Decreasing numbers on the scale, shrinking one’s waist line, squeezing fitting into a size _____(fill in the blank) requires the lost of a very significant type of weight. It’s the type of weight most people turn their cheek on, shade their vision from, or irrationalize. It’s a weight that will drag you down and turn you off from desiring better of yourself and for your future. If you’re reading this post, and think you know what I’m talking about, share it in the comment section below or hit me up with it. I’m just curious to see what you folks are thinking.

Then the book goes into “conventional” weight loss:  Losing weight is 70% diet, 20% exercise & 10% rest. So if there’s an imbalance in that formula, not matter what we do, we will result in mediocre results or worse, failure. I don’t subscribe to a particular extreme diet or exercise regimen because as you know I lost my weight by dabbling into a little of this and a little of that. Not everyone wants to look like a female body builder but not everyone wants to look emaciated either. Getting a better fit body is way more mental than most fitness gurus give credit to. Of course, my book will expound on that as well but I’d love to hear your thoughts about that topic just the same.

Until next time my friends… stay fit! Thanks for listening…

It’s officially one whole year that I’ve been blogging about my journey to a better fit body. Whew! It’s been some year as evidenced here. So what’s next, what’s new, where am I taking this?

Better Fit Body originally started as a journal for my fitness competition dieting, weight loss & observations, but it opened my eyes to so many levels of fitness and countless opportunities along the way. This weekend I took some “me” time out and decided to redefine Better Fit Body.

In doing so, I placed some new challenges in my direction: a marathon, a book release, 2 tours, and a competition; all to be completed by this time next year. Ambitious? Absolutely! Yes, these are my personal goals, but what about BFB?  I am converging this blog and my website JanessaMondestin.com, with the inclusion of Better Fit Body TV (yes, I am biting the bullet and putting this mug on indelible film) to make a super media site called (drum rolls please): Better Fit Body. I can’t help it; I love this name and I couldn’t describe my brand any better.  {I’ve gotten all the tools and resources to make it happen so I guess it’s time to just make it happen, huh?}

Along this wicked and wild path I have met some AWESOME folks, so I wanted to shout them out and give major thanks: Angela Mraz of 4x INBF World Champion, Carol Medina of Dialed-In Fitness, Jeremy “J’miah” Williamson, Mush Hussain of Muscleology, Ramy Rasheed of Fuel Energy, Terry Moorer (Radio & Entertainment), Deshuna Spencer of emPower Magazine, Jennifer Jordan of Sweat & The City, Elaine Flores of MadameNoire.com, New York Sports Club, Marc Williams (Sports & Entertainment), Natalie Minh of Natalie Minh Photography and of course my stay fit bug Shaun Sinclair or Stay Fit Bug. Special thanks to Clark Bartram for consultations and coaching on taking BFB and me to the next level.

So strap in your seat belt folks, the next level is going to happen in warp speed!

I reluctantly and self-sabotagingly got depressed over the whole trip. Everything went wrong (in my head): luggage, shuttle, dinner prices, but I did my best to tell the demons in my head to hush it and put the best foot forward.

On conference day, I was in a huge room with about 50 gorgeous people, all with impressive physiques and with way more ties to entertainment industry than me. Was it intimidating? Just a bit, but I stayed firm. =D

“I believe in me.”

The first night Gary Warren, the FMI director, and I, met a casting director at the bar right next to our hotel. She passed me her card and said to keep in touch. I was so taken aback that I could barely blurt one word out to her. The second day there I met Clark Bartram, super fitness-model & entrepreneur, and the third day I met Ray Austin, owner of Team Talent Inc. & commercial talent, who both asked to keep in touch. I shyly smiled back and ran away to my room.

But it wasn’t until the afternoon of the third day that something sparked in me. As I was procrastinating to arrive to my swimwear shoot, my partner  barged into the powder room and matter-of-factly said, “You deserve to be here. I wouldn’t have allowed you to let your own self down. I believe in you.” It felt as if my dad transcended into his body to tell me that because it sounded like the words that my father told me when I was 16 trying out for varsity volleyball; “when in doubt, know this, I believe in you” in my father’s deep voice laced with a thick Haitian accent.

Within an hour, I was dressed in a black monokini courtesy of Wet Seal and shoes from Aldo bought years ago but worn only once for 10 year high school reunion. I headed to the ground floor for the indoor shoot. I waited as the bodies in the conference room were covered with flesh and skimpy cloth hiding the necessities. Finally Natalie Minh (OMG, can you say super photog extraordinaire?) nodded at me, asking if I was ready. Shandi Hudson (so sweet) motivating me, soothing my worries “Girl please! When in doubt, there’s Photoshop!) I uncovered and stood before the white background and delivered this shot:

Within a few frames Natalie said, “C’mon everybody let’s go outside!” The sky was amazing and set the perfect backdrop. Everyone was so chill and relax that the worst of it was almost over. I pulled out my phone and Cristina Daville mentioned she loved the new Rihanna song!  I started bumping Only Girl in the World because honestly that’s how the moment felt. I waited again till my spirits were just right to deliver the next several shots. Natalie stopped abruptly midway to share what she had seen through her lenses. That “magic” that was gifted to me through just mere words transcended into life and possessed her camera (what a metaphor, right?). Any way, the shot was perfect and the shot was this:

Out of 128 shots Natalie snapped, easily 78 of them were quality. I had such a difficult time choosing the “best” and I’m not just tooting my own horn.

Natalie LosAngeles Minh thought the same thing too: (from my facebook page)

I knew that I saw magic when I looked at our pics in the camera preview… you are stunning Janessa

A dream is just a dream, until you put it into production. Then and only then will it become reality.

As you know, I worked my tail off from January to April to compete at my first fitness competition. I can never forget the tone of “good luck” when the receptionist passed me the application. It was filled with doubt, judgment and disbelief. Even the muscle heads at the gym glared at me with a smirk, shaking their heads yea right. But the next day, I showed and prove when the same muscle heads gave me accolades of “good job, great walk, nice presentation” as I left the venue with my 3rd place trophy.

I was scared, doubtful and even fearful of what was to come once the competition was over. It didn’t help that the same sentiments were being echoed from my father’s mouth just 3 weeks before getting on stage. The fright had me enlist the services of the phenomenal woman, Angela Mraz, who helped coach me to getting stage ready. Being the cautious creature that I am, I researched up until the day before the event on the possibilities of Competing becoming the next big ticket for me, or was just this another money pit investment. I found my answer just days before: it’s both.

Competing, and what you do with it, can go either way. Sure  you spend tons of money on just mere seconds of spotlight on a stage. But what you do with those tiny moments under that spotlight can mean the world. It’s a foot in the door if you do it right! Not that I am the sole example of this, there are plenty of revered fitness professionals and entrepreneurs that can prove that this is true: Jennifer Nicole Lee, Ava Cowan, Alicia Marie, Chady Dunmore, Natalie Muntean, Lyzabeth Lopez and Gale Elie are to name a few. That’s because they used competitions to leverage themselves, gain notoriety and set the stage for their Brand. Let’s not even talk about the teams that compete: Brownies, Performance Ready, Cathy Savage, and the list goes on.

The very next day April 11th, I started listing my goals and benchmarking them. I gave myself a year to accomplish them. 1) become a sponsored athlete, 2) write for an online publication that understands my niche and cultivates my brand, 3) build a solid platform to run my business on auto-pilot.

6 and half months later, Goals Accomplished!

Within 1 month of competing (May 12th), Carol Medina IFBB athlete reached out to me about working with Muscleology via twitter.  By June 10th, Deshuna Moore of emPower Magazine reached out to me on Facebook about writing for her online mag. By July, Madame Noire magazine did an editorial on me & my tips for getting bikini ready. I was all over Metro NY & NJ promoting the hell out of Muscleology through out the summer and finally in late September our products arrived in Vitamin Shoppes nationwide. Sweat and the City founder put an ad out for contributing writers for her highly viewed site and re-launch (New official launch date on 11/15). I applied to cover metro NYC and we hit it off quite rapidly. I decided to push me to another level just to distinguish with SATC by delivering vlogs instead of posts filled with interviews and reviews. That way folks can see that I am more than some competitor, “T&A with muscle”; I am a personality. Adding public speaking to my resume by delivering workshops and motivation to the masses helps me connect with “regular” people who aren’t into fitness but want to connect with someone tangible and real. Just to make matters more productive, my personal website JanessaMondestin.com launched just last week.

Yeah, what a difference a year makes.

Many ask me “what do I need to do to become that successful?” 3 words: Consistent, Strategic & Niched. Know your brand, draw your line in the sand, and align with the stars. Keep consistent (use systems to help you remain intact), be strategic (know beforehand what you will & wont do) and  if you stay true to yourself, your higher power and keep genuine people who are knowledgeable about business and your industry as your arsenal and resources (join the FMI family if you are totally lost), then you are more than half-way there. It’ll just be a matter of time & talent to make things happen.

Flashback:

2009: I was playing make believe: 

2010: I am making it happen: 

I tell all my clients that the fastest way to fat loss is to move the largest part of your body first. That my friends is Legs!

Over the month of September I’ve been taking Iron-Clad Circuit Training comprised of Kettlebells & TRX each Saturday. I am in awe of the results that I bought a few K-bells for myself. I have seen amazing results with my problem areas (my upper inner thigh & hams). My legs have streamlined so much that it’s reminiscent of the legs I had 10 years ago.

So today, I will incorporate 10 K-bell swings, 10 high pulls, return to do 10 single hand swings each side, followed by 10 one arm high pulls. I’ll finish up with 5 snatches each side for extra calorie burn.

For core, I’ll attempt Gladiators 5 on each side, 10 Get up sit ups, and then hop on the TRX for 10 pikes supersetted 10 knee tucks.

At 5pm I teach a half hour “below the belt” class and selfishly so, I’m tweaking it a bit to give a kick-ass workout while burning out my glutes. Lots of Wall Squats, Pistols, SLDL & walking lunges. =D

Mind you, I’m fueling today on No Carbs. For breakfast it’s egg whites and salmon, lunch is Tofu and Steak, dinner is Shirataki Noodles and Sliced Turkey. For snacks my Muscleology Nitro Pro (now available at any Vitamin Shoppe near you) with 1/2 Coconut Milk 1/2 water. Got my 32 oz cup to refill at each meal to ensure a gallon of water intake daily.

Time to stop typing and get going, catch you all tomorrow for Back Day!

Simple: Less Cardio and More {Varied} Strength training. My Cardio has been diminished to almost none except for the sports-specific warm-ups which drive the heart rate up and get the body in prime mode for fat annihilation. I’ve been circuit training 3 days a week and included a phenomenal iron-clad training circuit comprised of TRX & Kettlebell every Saturday since September.

My nutrition has rested on vegetables and lean meats with a Nitro Pro protein shake (still Muscleology baby) mixed with coconut milk after my group classes or first thing in the a.m. I haven’t touched rice, plaintains, french fries, yogurt, or cottage cheese in at least 4 weeks and I can totally see the difference.

Next week I am clueing you in to my very specific shred it workout that’ll concentrate on high reps, moderate weights in an effort to optimize my fast twitch muscles. I am totally in love with Kettlebells thanks to my secret crush (well not so secret anymore, huh?) on Steve Cotter and my fitnomenal trainer Anthony Magnelli.

I’ll be concentrating on a different body part each day for the next 10 days, no rest until I board my flight to L.A. Continuing on my non-dairy, low-grain diet. Increasing hydration to 1 gallon a day and nixing the iced pumpkin coffees from today on. Trying to post pics of the transformation – slow differences each day but in the end it’ll make for a big bang. Stay tuned!