Are You Afraid of Going to the Gym?

Today we have an interview with Alicia Spilde who placed 2nd in the Open Division Level 1 in the latest Venus Index Contest.

Check out her pictures:

Alicia started lifting weights very young as she started working out in high school.

However, at college she didn’t want to keep going to the gym, mainly because there weren’t any girls that would go with her. Although was confident in the weight room, but she was intimidated by going there alone, she thought of it as a guys environment.

So, she became the “cardio queen” (her words).

As years went by, like almost every woman she was looking for some new diets and programs. And last year she was looking for something different, which lead her to finding Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat.

Eat Stop Eat was completely new to her.

No kidding, most people are used to eating every three hours, because the fitness media has done a great job of scaring us into believing if we don’t we’ll end up in starvation mode. So, it’s not hard to imagine what happens when you start talking about fasting.

However, like she told us, it’s stupid to eat breakfast if you are not hungry.

If you are forcing yourself to eat breakfast, you are not doing yourself any favors. Quite the opposite. Most people would benefit hugelyl from skipping breakfast.

Here are a few benefits of NOT eating the so called “most important meal of the day” and fasting instead:

• You will have more energy and focus
• You will get more things done
• You will see why you eat (hint: it’s not because you are hungry)
• You will be able to handle your cravings better and learn to control yourself more
• You will enjoy the food more when you do eat
• You will be free from the “what will I eat after this task is done” thinking
• You will probably consume way less calories during the day

It’s really okay not to eat breakfast or even launch, you will make it through the day, you won’t die, seriously.

Try fasting a few times.

To be honest this desire to eat has very little to do with hunger, it’s all in your head.

Just don’t talk about it with other people. Alicia suggests (and many other Venuses too) to keep your diet approach to yourself, because other people are full of BS they learned from reading magazines or watching TV and they will try to tell you (in their uneducated opinion) how wrong and unhealthy what you’re doing is. Be covert with your diet, it’s nobody else’s business.

Then Brad Pilon mentioned Venus Index in one of his newsletters and Alicia purchased it right away.

Are You One of Those Girls that Never Finish Anything?

This wasn’t the first time Alicia tried the VI contest. However, the first time she tried the Venus Index she had so much going on in her personal life that she just quit after two weeks.

If you are one of those girls that never finish anything, you really need to dig deeper into your reason why and find the core motivator behind your actions and develop the drive that keeps you pushing forward in life.

However, Alicia’s case was a bit different.

For her it was really just a matter of timing.

And she proved this to us the second time she tried the contest.

Maybe this is your case too. If your life is just too stressful now, career or personal wise then maybe wait a month and start after things are settled. Jsut make sure it’s not one of those things you say you will do later and never do it.

You should never make excuses!

Really commit to doing it and schedule the start for next month if you’re certain you can’t do it right now.

Once Alicia delivered her baby, her life wasn’t as chaotic and she ultimately got bored of just talking about fitness, Venus Index and competing and decided it’s finally the time to take action.

And this seems almost universal.

We have seen this with the guys over at Adonis Index several time too.

They will buy the program, but for some reason they are not ready or not willing to make the commitment and sometimes it takes them as long as 10 months to finally do it.

Alicia realized that she ran out of excuses and wasn’t walking the talk.

And since at that time the Venus Index Transformation Contest Number 4 was just announced she decided to get on board and do it.

What Approach Should You Take for the Contest?

Alicia started with the VI workout phase 1, continued with the phase 2 and really enjoyed it.

What was interesting though was her diet. She didn’t have a long way to go and lost about 6 pounds, which is the difference between good and exceptional, but still it isn’t that much if you spread it over several months.

However, her diet was very strict during the contest. And she told us that she wouldn’t go so extreme again and doesn’t recommend it either. Mainly due to the fact that she couldn’t sleep and had very little energy…if it wasn’t for her supportive husband she would have probably given up.

She recorded all of her calories and stayed well under 1000 calories. She kept it tight the whole time, measuring all her foods in grams, so there was very little room for error.

She was losing almost a pound a week, but for a cost of not sleeping. And we see it all the time, all or nothing approach usually results in very little energy, especially towards the end of the contest.

(If this is your case, you might want to consider doing the Reverse Taper instead of the traditional ineffective and tiring forward taper)

Like Alicia said, she might have acheived better results if she didn’t restrict herself so much.

Advice?

Don’t over do it with your diet.

You can always restrict the calories more. The bigger the deficit, the bigger the fat loss, however the key is to make it sustainable and not too strict so you can avoid any rebounds and stay lean after the dieting is over.

Alicia’s take home message for women like her:

• Use the Venus Index forum, the girls are just plain amazing
• Don’t restrict yourself too much
• Find someone who is supportive and shares your goals, that makes all the difference
• Keep pushing and going, the dieting is not forever, it will end at some point and you can go back to maintenance and enjoy your new body, it’s worth it and you will “value” the food you eat more
• When you get closer to your VI the effort is not exactly easier per se, it’s just different
• Do the transformation contest, you will learn a lot about yourself, your body and how you think
• Don’t expect to solve all of your life’s issues just by getting in better shape
• Your physical transformation will happen quicker than the mental and emotional part of it
• Your abs will probably show up just one or two weeks before the photoshoot if you want to get that lean
• Once you improve some area of your life, new challenges will arise, expect and accept it
• Don’t stress yourself out if your progress isn’t happening at the pace you want
• Changing how you look takes time, you have to undo all those “bad years”
• Learn to enjoy the process
• Be covert with your nutrition
• Hire a professional photographer, don’t ask your friends or family members to take the photos (listen to the interview to find out why)

Links form Alicia’s interview:

Eat Stop Eat – Lifestyle based on taking breaks from food

Venus Index Workout Phase 1 and Phase 2 – Venus Index workouts focused on building your ideal hourglass shape

Venus Index Community – Forum full of amazing women, sharing all their fitness and lifestyle tips and tricks

Read Alicia’s experience with Venus Index in her own words:

VT4 has been a life-changing experience for me.  For one, I actually FINISHED something.  I have started countless 12-week programs and have never finished one.  I entered VT3, but quit 2 weeks in.  For some reason, November 30, 2011 I decided to quit with the excuses and just GET IT DONE.  So I was very excited for VT4 to start.  I was well into my routine of workouts/diet when VT4 started, so I just did the work and got results.  My weight did not change a lot, nor did inches because I didn’t have that far to go, but my body changed.  I have muscle tone and shape that I have never had before.  I weigh…

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Listen to the interview here:

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