Fourteen Years in the Gym and It Was Finally Venus That Gave Jessica the Shape She Always Wanted

Today we are honored to listen to Jessica Young Carbonel who placed sixth in the Eighth Venus Index Transformation Contest.

She is the happiest and most comfortable with herself than she has ever been.

She is the happiest and most comfortable with herself than she has ever been.

 

When she saw her before pictures she knew she was going to have to work at this.  She is very happy with the results.

When she saw her before pictures she knew she was going to have to work at this. She is very happy with the results.

 

Jessica found Venus changed her body and she felt the difference in the exercises.

Jessica found Venus changed her body and she felt the difference in the exercises.

 

Read what Jessica wrote about her experience with the Venus Factor:

My name is Jessica Young Carbonel. I am 27 years old and have worked/ been in a gym since I was 13 years old. For  the first time in 14 years that I’ve been able to say with confidence that I am happy with my lifestyle. Not just my  weight, my sizes, the way I feel but my entire life. My workouts have helped me and made a total difference in my  physique. Family have referenced my husband and I as “Models” and my jaw dropped!

I have adapted and stuck with the Adonis Workout program since January of 2013. I started with my husband who would  not stop playing podcasts and reading books called “Eat Stop Eat. ” Once I started I only stopped once when I  pinched a nerve from lack of stretching… (my fault I TOTALLY know better!)

My family has commented the most on my physique. For the first time I am buying sizes 0-4 when I have consistently  bought 8-12 ALL MY LIFE. I feel fantastic and am so motivated to keep up my work outs and my new lifestyle. I did  not utilize much of the forum/ community this time around but my husband and I are already planning on participating  in the next contest! Thank you for the introduction and the commitment for this new relationship. I am a devoted and  loyal follower!

 

The Venus Systems gave Jessica a complete lifestyle change, and she loves it.

The Venus Systems gave Jessica a complete lifestyle change, and she loves it.

 

Listen to Jessica’s interview here, and please “like” it when you’re done:

Brad’s Recovery from Not Exercising And Not Fasting For 7 Weeks: Part 2

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 3.

Your win for today has to be your list; workout and calorie totals. You must base it on faith.

Your win for today has to be your list; workout and calorie totals. You must base it on faith.

Brad’s recovery from not exercising and not fasting for 7 weeks

For the entire experiment Brad’s overall weight did not change.  During the first half of the experiment he lost muscle and gained fat.  This was not fun for him. Well, eating and relaxing was fun of course – gaining fat and losing muscle was not fun!

Rest assured, when you have built muscle and take a break from exercise your muscle will inflate back fairly quickly once you get back into your routine.

Diet

Losing the fat is a bit harder and yet harder still for females as our leptin levels tend to decrease when we go into a calorie deficit over time.

For Brad the first one or two fasts were hard. He had to break the ritual habits of relaxing and eating snacks in the evenings. Even though he was eating at maintenance he had quickly developed fun ritual habits with relaxing and eating.

After pushing through the initial couple of weeks he got into his healthy Reverse Taper Diet.  The first two weeks were hard.  Then six weeks in Brad was in a pretty good groove.

Training

He tapered up in workout time and volume, eased his way up in volume.  Again the first two weeks were hard but then six weeks in he was in a pretty good groove.

It is a delayed reaction.

Especially with a calorie deficit it is a delayed reaction.  There is no immediate feedback. There is no immediate gratification.  You have to go on faith; that what you do right now will have an effect next week, or in two or three weeks.

While you are slimming down it’s a difficult mind set.  You are eating and training for results to be seen a few days or week later.

Your win for today has to be your list; workout and calorie totals.  You must base it on faith.

 

I have found this to be true for myself

As a female I’ve found what Brad describes here to be the exact same experience for me on a slightly slower scale.  Most females will find it’s just a bit slower and harder due to hormone levels.  But it is certainly not impossible.

As we get more experienced with our maintenance weight and various weight fluctuations we learn more and more to trust the process.  We learn how much food we actually need to maintain (not gain or lose fat).  We learn what a slight calorie deficit feels like and we learn what too much food feels like.

Just like Brad there are times when we feel like we want to panic because it seems like its not working.  But it will work, it is a delayed reaction.  I have found the delay to happen for me both when I’m eating up (on vacation), and also when I’m eating at a slight deficit.

The hardest part for me is the first week back from a vacation.  The next week is easier.  And then each week gets easier and the momentum builds as slow progress is made.  I just have to take a deep breath and trust the process.  I have to take short “eat up to maintenance calorie” breaks, make assessments on progress, and then decide to keep going or not depending on my goals.

Another difficult part as a female is that there are certain seasons in our lives where we might have to take a more prolonged period of maintenance eating.  Whether we like it or not eating at a calorie deficit may be nearly impossible, let alone preventing yourself from eating too much.

Sometimes it’s just the stress of life circumstances, sometimes it’s health issues, and sometimes it’s just whatever our hormones are doing for our season in life or specific hormone cycles.

We tend to push our deficits too hard and for too long and don’t fully understand what is going on with our hormones.  Venus has a deficit/maintenance protocol in the 12 week fat loss program that helps prevent crashing.

During these times we must take it as a win that we don’t over eat, and then later when it feels right to tackle the deficit try again.  Not gaining weight can be a huge win.  We have to be patient.

-Ro

 

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not a Venus Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more…

Weight Training: “Were You Born For This”?

 

Was I born for this?  Not necessarily.

Was I born for this? Not necessarily.

While at the gym today I noticed a caption on the TV screen for what looked like a golf tournament advertisement that said “They were born for this”.  I was listening to music on my MP3 player and not actually watching TV so I don’t completely know what the advertisement was about.  I don’t watch TV at home so I still don’t really know what it was about.  It looked like it was about pro golf players.  I did an internet search and the hits confirmed it was about this years PGA tour.  That is all I know, I didn’t search any further.

Was I born for this?

It got me to thinking about what I spend a lot of time doing lately and the question for myself “Was I born for this?”

Sometimes it feels like yes everything in my life seems to have added up to this point. It feels like what I am doing is my purpose and that it makes an impact on others.

Yet when I think about my family, genetics, relatives, or even my identical twin, none of them have done what I have done regarding fitness (and yet I am also nothing special myself).

It reminds me of a book I read once called “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell.  The first two chapters of this book resonate with me on my experience.  The first chapter was about opportunity and coaching; I definitely missed the boat on that one for the first part of my life.  The second chapter “The 10,000-hour rule” explains why I seem to be good at knowing how to design my own diet and just do the productive workouts every day.  I’ve been doing both consistently for over 30 years.  I Just didn’t have good coaches or good tools until a few years ago.

With the Venus Factor I finally got the tools I needed to succeed

I now have John Barban, Brad Pilon, the Venus program, and Eat Stop Eat which all gave me the coaching and tools I needed to finally succeed in my fitness goals.

And then the skills I have developed during my 25 year career at Hewlett Packard seem to have set me up for doing various jobs recently for the Venus Factor.  I could not have planned it but it seems everything fell into place.  It reminds me of the Seneca quote that goes something like “Luck is when preparation and opportunity meet”.  Sometimes you don’t know what you are preparing for but your passion leads you somewhere.  Especially if you work hard at what you love and simply make the best of the situation at hand, even if it is not yet the work you are most passionate about.

“Were you born for this?” does not really apply to weight training.

Back to the gym:  It made me realize that the question “Were you born for this?” does not really apply to weight training.  We were all born for it and we can all use it to fit our own lifestyle.

It is especially necessary for women because lifting weights just 3 times a week on a consistent basis will ward off osteoporosis.  When I was 51 I got a DXA scan that showed my bone density was that of an athletic 30 year old woman.  That is a direct result of weight lifting.

Women can do the minimum (3 days a week) or take it to higher level conditioning and workout nearly every day.  That is the beauty of the Venus Factor program.  It is not a one size fits all program.

It is a program that women at all levels can participate in; as a beginner, as an advanced athlete, as someone who enjoys working out in the privacy of their own home, as someone who likes a public gym, as a stay at home mom, as a traveling executive, or from any walk of life.

Consistency is the key to being an Every Day Venus

John told this story that I think applies:

The other day I was sitting in a local coffee shop and a guy walked in that recognized. It took me a few moments to remember how I knew him.

Then it hit me, he was a subject in one of the exercise experiments I did when I was in graduate school.

Back when I was doing research in exercise and nutrition I was running an exercise study where I had to make people do a pretty intense workout for 90 minutes at about 70% VO2 max.

That might sound a little technical so let me explain what it means.

VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body and muscles can consume and use during exercise. Most people can only sustain their true max for a few moments until they have to back off or stop completely.

The best athletes in the world can stay there a bit longer, but it’s still very short lived. The point is nobody actually workouts out at VO2 max; this is just a way to measure how conditioned you are. It also has a genetic component. In other words some people just have a higher VO2 max even if they don’t work at it.

So in our study we set the intensity level of the workout to 70% VO2max. 70% VO2 is also known as ‘anaerobic threshold’ which is the intensity of cardio (running, cycling etc.) that feels like it’s almost becoming a sprint but not quite a job. In short, it’s right at the edge of what you can handle for long duration.

It’s hard!

Back to the coffee shop:  The guy who walked in had the highest VO2 max of any of our subjects and was in the best condition of anybody we studied.

He was about 6’4 225lbs, big, lean, muscular, and well-conditioned. He kind of reminded me of the Winklevoss twins from the movie ‘the social network’.

…that was then.

Now he looks like he is about 70lbs overweight, and I’ll bet he doesn’t have the endurance or muscular conditioning he did when he was younger.

If you asked me to bet on who I would guess would be in shape 15 years after that study, this is the guy I would have bet on. He had it all.

The point of this story is to explain to you that even the most genetically gifted people still have to work out regularly and pay some attention to their diet in order to maintain a great looking physique and top conditioning.

Nobody is going to lift the weights for you. Consistency from day to day, month to month and year to year is the key to being an Every Day Venus for life.

 

No one except my husband saw the potential in me early on

For me it was kind of the opposite of John’s story at the coffee shop.  People looked at me in the past and didn’t see any potential.  My husband Randy said he saw something special in me a long time ago.  He called me his “diamond in the rough”.  It’s nice to have someone who believes in you.

No one saw potential in me except my husband Randy who believed in me.

No one saw potential in me except my husband Randy who believed in me.

The slow weight creep started for me in my mid 30’s and continued into my late 40’s where at 5’1″ I peaked out at over 171 pounds.  I did not achieve my fitness goal until I was 50.  The Venus program took me beyond even my wildest dreams with fitness and changed my life completely.  I spent the first half of my life working hard but I was barely average.  My genetics did not look like anything special.

Two years after achieving my Venus goals I am still enjoying the Venus lifestyle

I am enjoying the Venus lifestyle.  In the Caribbean two years ago, last summer in Las Vegas (green bikini), and last week in the locker room.

I am still enjoying the Venus lifestyle two years after achieving my Venus goals. In the Caribbean two years ago, last summer in Las Vegas (green bikini), and last week in the locker room.

 

So here I am two years after achieving my Venus fitness goals and still living the dream.  You do not have to “be born for this” and as John has coached us “you are not at the mercy of your genetic shape if you don’t want to be”:

 

In fact you could even say that most people are not genetically perfectly proportioned and that we all have some sort of genetic imbalance or asymetry to our predetermined muscle size that we need to work on.

The good news is that you are not at the mercy of your genetic shape if you don’t want to be.  You can always train yourself toward better overall proportions.

The concept of building a proportioned physique should be your goal if you’re working out to improve the look and shape of your body.

Working with your genetic strengths and weaknesses in mind will help you direct your effort towards the most efficient use of your time in the gym and get you to that proportioned physique in the shortest period of time.

For a look at what we consider the ideally proportioned physique have a look at some of the contest winners from the recent Adonis Index and Venus Index contests.

And you can do it too!

Speaking of contests:  Next Sunday August 11th is the last day of our current contest (VT8).  VT9 will start September 1st and end November 24th (just in time to enjoy the holiday season).

So remember, anyone can do it who decides and then puts the work in.  You don’t have to be “Born for this” like the PGA tour golf pro’s.  I look forward to meeting some new Venus girls in the contest interviews.

-Ro

Uncensored on Uncensored

Here’s the first episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 3.

Why are we unsensored?

Why are we uncensored?

 

Today’s topic:  Uncensored on Uncensored.

Brad and John will talk a little bit about the history of diet and fitness information.

What resources you should look at?

Magazines have always been mainly supplement catalogs paid for by advertising.  The content must bend somewhat to the advertisers.

Newspapers, news websites, and shows are all censored or narrowly focused.  Their job is to get the most viewers, or subscriptions, or hits.

Nothing online is really free. You are subjected to other forms of advertising.  You are the product, your information, or your search patterns.  YouTube sells viewing which must be shocking, compelling, or education mixed with entertainment. Even iTunes has requirements and restrictions.

The reason why we do these uncensored is because we want complete freedom of speech.  We don’t want the truth edited or watered down to bend to advertising.

test

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not a Venus Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more…

Yet Another Every-Day Venus; Meet Lita

Lita at the Waimea-Canyon-Trail

Lita at the Waimea-Canyon-Trail

There is a rapidly growing number of women maintaining the status of “Every-Day Venus”…

The number of Every-Day Venus women in our community is rapidly growing and it is exciting to watch.  Women are achieving their fitness goals and able to maintain the Venus Lifestyle for years.

Those of us who watch the activity in the Venus Forum have enjoyed Lita; her intelligence, wit, sense of humor, honesty, dedication to health and fitness, candor, and the fact that she is quite beautiful both inside and out.

Some of you might be interested in her stats:

Height: 5’5″

Baseline weight: Through the age of 23 I naturally maintained at 105 pounds.

Over the next 7 years, I steadily gained 55 pounds due to illness, medications and a change in lifestyle.

Between the ages of 30 and 36 years old, I dieted down to 120lbs, but I didn’t like the way my body looked and I didn’t know how to make it any better so I gave up and went back to my old habits. I repeated this cycle two or three times, staying between 120 and 150lbs but never liking what I saw in the mirror.

 

Lita’s Story

Lita was a previous winner in one of our Venus contests and we are lucky to have an interview with her and John.

A few of Lita's Venus Contest pictures.

A few of Lita’s Venus Contest pictures.

 

Here is some of Lita’s story in her own words:

At the age of 37 I decided to try weight loss through calorie restriction one more time; this time doing less cardio and more weight lifting and I began to get better results. Midway through this process,  I discovered John Barban’s Venus programs and philosophies and the amazing community full of like minded women who are on the same path as I was and who also understand the TRUTH about how few calories it is still “healthy” to eat. This reinforced what I was already coming to understand and embrace; that we just don’t “need” to eat as much food for “fuel” as the mass media and marketing would have us believe. Or, as they say on the Adonis side, you can’t just “muscle away your fat”. Eat less, train hard, and reveal the body of your dreams.

I learned that strength training is the key to creating a beautiful shape for the female body. I also learned that cardio is not the one and only secret to health and fitness for females.I learned what the puzzle pieces are and how to put them all together. It is really more simple than I thought it would be and there are only THREE!  DIET for weight loss, CARDIO for heart health (and a tiny bit of calorie burn) and STRENGTH TRAIN for beauty.

They are SEPARATE and we must do all three. Previously in life I had done these three things, but never learned how to balance and do them all at the same time for a specific and sustainable outcome. I have spent the last 3 years refining and perfecting my “Health Triad”. How much of each, how to practice them all and in what combinations, and how to make them habitual and ENJOYABLE.

Starting in April of 2011 I began to weight train, turned down my running miles and decreased my food consumption by 50%. I lost 30 pounds on my own over a 6 month period.

In October of 2011 I found Eat Stop Eat and the Venus program. I have used the principles of these programs to lose an additional ten pounds and KEEP it off for going on two years.

My average weight for the last 21 months has been 114 pounds and I have maintained within a 7 pound range during this time.

A typical day for me over the last two years looks like this:

Calories for me are anywhere from 800 a day to 1200 a day except for one day a week when I am a bit more relaxed and get in about 1400 to 1500.

My training consists of resistance training of my own design, Venus programs, Venus circuits, Adonis programs, or Brad Pilon’s Anabolic Again weight training program.  I workout 4-5 days a week depending on my moods or goals I also do medium or low intensity steady state cardio 4 to 5 days week for up to 45 minutes(usually brisk hill walking or running).

I also enjoy fun cardio like trail running or hiking with my husband.I try to get as many extra steps or movement as I can get in every day.

Outside of my formal fitness activities my life is sedentary. I am a calm person. I don’t fidget and I am not very emotionally emotive, so my non-exercise activity thermogenesis is very low. Therefore, I must do more than simply Venus workouts 3-4 times a week.

The support I can give and receive in the Venus community keeps me motivated and engaged in my process every day. The new research I’m exposed to through the Venus Immersion package has also been critical in keeping me educated and motivated to try new things and to stay the course. I think that staying mentally engaged and being creative with your willingness to keep learning and experimenting is a critical piece of maintenance success.

Maintaining a working knowledge of your body’s responses to different stimuli and keeping abreast of the latest research is the surest way to keep your interest level high, ensuring a lifelong active relationship with health and fitness.

I’m always saying in the community that fitness and beauty must become a lifelong “hobby”,  an “interest” that you research and practice actively all the time. When people treat it like a “one time” weight loss event, they just go back to their old ways. You must make friends with your body, learn about its needs on a deeper level and then seek to take care of it and nurture it like you would a child or a spouse.

 

Carla from left to right; 155 pounds, 128 pounds, 111 pounds, and 118 pounds.

Lita from left to right; 155 pounds, 128 pounds, 111 pounds, and 113 pounds.

When we get into weight training many of us find we struggle with gender differences

The neat thing about the Venus program is that it constantly evolves with new information and experiences learned.  The newly released Venus Factor incorporates even more gender differences in the fat loss program.  Venus has always been a program designed for the female shape “The focus is proportions and shape (rather than weight loss at all costs or building muscle like a guy)” – John Barban.

The soon to be released update of Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat also contains a lot of new information which Brad has researched regarding gender differences with fasting and training.  Anyone who has purchased this e-book will get the new update.

Lita, like so many of us, struggles with the differences between men and women in the gym:

I went through this very painful period over the summer where my husband and I would finish our workout and he would strut around and flex his muscles. He would be all pumped up and begging for compliments. I would make detailed comments and try to make him feel good.

But I felt too silly to do the same thing and besides, I wouldn’t get the same kind of pump that he gets, if any at all. Besides, while I know he’s impressed with my accomplishments, he’d sooner see me in a slinky gown than see me strutting around in my sports bra doing a lat flare. The whole thing really made me feel deflated and angry and cheated.

It took me awhile, but I finally made peace with the idea that “God don’t make no junk!” Mother Nature protects us from looking weird. So all of MY training gives me my ideal Venus metrics and beautiful SHAPE. It DOESN’T make me look more like a man with bulging muscles and popping veins. And this is an amazing thing.

When I finally said all this to my husband, I told him that I’m sorry for trying to take away HIS moment in the sun by being bitter about what is simply natural, he replied, “Hey, when I workout, I really do get a big pump and it looks materially different from before I start the workout.  But with you, your “before” is BETTER than my “after” because you look beautiful and amazing at ALL times.”

And then it all made sense.

Carla loves to enjoy outdoor exercise with her husband.

Lita loves to enjoy outdoor exercise with her husband.

The value of the Venus online community

Our Venus community has had quite a long discussion on the topic of “The last 10 pounds”.  This is where we are entering fitness maintenance and body composition changes.

This is where many of us let our goals get hijacked, possibly looking at fitness model pictures, comparing ourselves to others, thinking we “should” be eating a certain amount of calories, or “should” have a certain look, or “should” be a certain weight or size, when really none of that matters.  We have achieved or exceeded our goal already, it’s time to enjoy our new life and our success!

Carla has learned to enjoy life as an Every-Day Venus.  She has a beautiful feminine hour-glass shape.

Lita has learned to enjoy life as an Every-Day Venus. She has a beautiful feminine hour-glass shape.

As women we tend to beat ourselves up all too often.  We have a hard time accepting ourselves the way we were meant to be, or appreciating the success we have achieved.  We have a hard time being happy sometimes.  We are a constant work in progress, both mentally and physically.

Lita’s thoughts on the “last 10 pounds”:

 

I think the last ten pounds really, in actuality, means….going that last mile to make the body the way we ultimately want it. That might mean further fat loss, it might mean muscle gain, it might mean both.

But rarely is the dissatisfaction we experience that causes us to whine about those “last few pounds” actually just an issue of simply losing a couple more. It’s always about recomp and refinement. That’s why it is such a mystery and why we have a 31 page thread to discuss it.

 

I hoping to visit Carla and enjoy the outdoors and some good quality Venus girl time.

I am hoping to visit Lita someday and enjoy the outdoors and some good quality Venus girl time.

Lita and I have developed a fun friendship through the community and we have so much in common.  Like her I really enjoy the outdoors, hiking, the gym, and enjoying good food!  It is my dream to get out to Lita’s area someday and visit with her;  go for hikes, enjoy some good food, and spend some good quality Venus girl time.  I have no doubt it will happen someday.

I hope the rest of you have enjoyed meeting Lita online as much as I have!

-Ro

 

Fitness Trends 2013

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic:  Fitness Trends 2013

Regardless of what is coming for the rest of 2013 you can be sure it's all be done before

Regardless of what is coming for the rest of 2013 you can be sure it’s all been done before

Fitness Trends 2013

Everything that’s old is new again, and this is always true in diet and fitness. Every trend you’ve seen in the past 10 years has already come to a rise and fallen decades earlier.

The low carb fad that hit in the 1990’s is at least the 3rd time low carb came into vogue. The low fat push in the 1950’s and 60’s had it’s first push 60 years before that.

Even fasting has been promoted as a healthy way to eat and stave off disease and sickness as far back as the late 1800’s.

Believe it or not protein was even regarded as an evil nutrient that should be eaten in very limited quantities. And conversely you can find information promoting very high protein diets in the 1800’s as well.

When it comes to strength training we’ve seen the recent popularity of self proclaimed ‘functional’ training such as cross fit. Traditional bodybuilding has faded and might be due for a resurgence.

Regardless of what is coming for the rest of 2013 you can be sure it’s all be done before.

 

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not a Venus Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more…

  gry kasyno darmowe

Seeing Myself through Other People’s Eyes

I was not seeing what other people see (I probably still don’t)

I just got back from an amazing week away and I am reflecting on how some of us are our own worst judges of our own physique and level of fitness.  As females we are usually much too hard on ourselves.

I’m going to confess that for several months now I’ve been a bit hard on myself.  I’m constantly judging myself against the photo shoot I did in March of 2012.  I’ve at times felt like a fraud since I didn’t maintain sub 10% body fat and have let myself come up a bit (to what is probably a healthier level).

My husband Randy has been trying to help me and he hates seeing me squander away this time by not fully appreciating my achievements.  It is very frustrating to him to see me not fully happy.  In his opinion I look my best right now when I feel I’m at the higher end of my “range”.

When John came out to California earlier this year we talked about the judging of ourselves and feeling like a fraud.  I learned that this is quite a common feeling and that it’s not necessary that I ever to get down to that sub 10% body fat state ever again if I don’t wish to.  I don’t have to keep proving it.  I proved it.  I did it.  It’s done and there is nothing fraudulent about that.  I can decide to go lower than I am now if I want, or I can stay where I am, I can do whatever I choose.

At the time of my 2012 photo shoot I had several people tell me I was too skinny.  Sometimes this happens when people are scared or worried about seeing you transform from overweight to fit, other times it is jealously or other emotional issues within the other person, and other times it is really someone’s honest opinion.  Although that level of low body fat produced great pictures for me, in real life many people thought I was too skinny.

Randy thought so as did many of the deputies I work with, some of my neighbors, and many of my friends at the gym.  A few others thought it was fine, but overall most people thought I was too skinny.

I volunteer to work as a reserve deputy at our local Sheriff’s department.  This last week our department hosted a convention for all the Sheriff’s in our state.  As I packed to leave last Sunday I had Randy take a picture of me.  I didn’t like the picture.  I didn’t like how I looked.  I felt fat.  Since Randy thinks I look perfect right now he was sad to see me not appreciate it and as I was leaving he said “You look stunning.. do not squander this time by feeling fat.. that is ridiculous”.

I adjusted my own attitude

I spent the time driving up to the conference adjusting my own attitude.  I decided what I thought didn’t matter.  No one around me at the gym or out and about seems to see what I see.  In fact I continue to get compliments about my level of fitness and a lot of attention even though I feel fat.  It is a strange phenomenon that seems to happen to many females.  By the time I got to my room and saw the beautiful view I decided I was going to enjoy myself and not squander my time as Randy advised.

By the time I got to my room I decided I was not going to squander the opportunity I had before me

By the time I got to my room I decided I was not going to squander the opportunity I had before me

I think sometimes when you get to this level of fitness (close to the Venus Ideal) when you think you are just right you might be too skinny.  When everyone else around you (of those you can trust that are not jealous) see you as just right you probably are just right.  The Venus Ideal metrics don’t matter at this point.  Your scale weight doesn’t matter at this point.  The size clothes you think you should wear at this point don’t even matter.

If you really are “just right” then it’s time to keep the clothes that fit you, not fit yourself to the clothes you somehow think you should fit into.  If you are like me then you are not the best judge.

Women are supposed to have a little more body fat.  The body fat level does not matter.  It is different for each person.  The shape of how you look, how pleasing it is to the eye, and how healthy and strong you feel are what matters.

Being told that heads are turning is a clue

I got to the conference a day prior to going on security duty planning to hit the gym and relax a bit.  I did get a chance to do both but I got caught up in some necessary duties first as we were conference hosts and I ended up running around the conference in my gym clothes.

I did finally get to the gym for a Venus workout

I did finally get to the gym for a Venus workout

I didn’t learn until a few days later that as I was running around taking care of business heads were turning and people were asking “Who the heck is that girl?”.

Law enforcement is a tough place to get respect and it doesn’t come easily but I seemed to have finally earned it.

I earned the respect of the station commander

I had a day off in between my security shifts and had planned to spend the day at the pool and gym but the night before my day off I went out with our firearms range master team and they invited me to come out to the shooting range the next day instead.   The day at the range ended up being amazing.

I was tired when I got out there because I hadn’t slept well and I was wondering why the heck I wasn’t hanging out by the pool.  Then one of the range masters gave me an assignment.  We had a lot of shooters to get through the various competition stations and things needed to happen efficiently so my job was to go down range and set up metal targets after each competitor shot them down.

I decided to make this fun for myself as well as more efficient so I ran down range and back in between each shooter.  After I was warmed up I was itching to add pushups to the circuit but decided all the people watching might think I was a bit loony so I held off.  But I continued to run the entire time which ended up being about 4 hours or so (I had plenty of rest while competitors were shooting).

The Venus Index Workouts have given me functional strength and endurance, although I do add some HIIT running to my routine as well.

By the time the competitions were done just about everyone there noticed the short little lady wearing the black ballistics vest running up and down the range all day.  People asked how I felt and I said great and wished I could have added pushups.

The commander who was at the range is a pretty fit guy and wanted to know about workouts I recommend (of course I recommend Adonis for the guys).  Both my husband and I know the commander and that getting his respect is a big deal and is not easily earned.

As everyone at the range was in line for the catered lunch the commander asked me to show the crowd my biceps flex.  Then right in front of the crowd he said “You should be very proud of what you have achieved, especially for your age.  You should have gone ahead and added your pushups to your running down range and you would have put these fire guys to shame”.

The firemen in line (who had just seen me in action all day and the quick muscle flex) nodded with respect and said “That’s okay, we don’t need to see any more for her to prove it”.

I gained the hard earned respect of the commander.  This is us later at dinner.

I gained the hard earned respect of the commander. This is us later at dinner.

The range competition wasn’t the only event of the day but all the various guests and staff gathered at the hotel pub for debrief and apparently my getting noticed running up and down the range was part of the topic of discussion.  I was asleep during the “debrief” since I had the early morning security shift, which was probably just as well.

I found out while working the next day that I had earned the reputation as the “Energizer bunny”, and in reference to the my fitness transformation “You really took the bull by the horns didn’t you?”

More fun at the shooting range

We all got a chance to shoot the 50 caliber rifle

We all got a chance to shoot the 50 caliber rifle

After lunch we all got a chance to shoot the 50 caliber rifle and an MP5 fully automatic rifle.  We got some of it on video.  It was an amazing day.

I think it made my young patrol partner a believer

My security partner for this event is a young guy. He really wants to lose weight and get fit so we had a lot of time to talk about calories and workouts.  I wasn’t sure he was totally convinced about what works since like most other people he’s heard a lot of conflicting and confusing advise about diet and fitness.  It’s hard to believe it could be so simple and that he does not have to do endless cardio.

We spent several days together and he got to see my interactions with convention guests throughout, on and off duty and during meals. After awhile he kept noticing the attention I got and the heads turning constantly.  He said “That guy really likes you.  I mean he REALLY likes you!”, “I think that guy was hitting on you”.  “Don’t you ever get tired of this?”

I told him if he really wants to gain respect when he walks into the briefing room, get fit; become an Adonis.  Anyone who sets their mind to it can do it.  Anyone.  It will change your life.

I told him that if I could gain this much respect in law enforcement as a small 5’1″ female than imagine what he could do as a 6′ male.

The security detail with the state Governor.

Last night we had a visit from the state Governor.  My partner and I had the opportunity to work with some of the state troopers on the security detail for the Governor.  It was fun and fascinating to be in on it and work with them.

We had a visit from the state Governor

We had a visit from the state Governor last night.  That is our sharp looking honor guard in the background.

My partner and I got a chance to talk to many of the state troopers.  Once this shift was over our work for the convention details were complete and we could finally relax a little.  I changed out of the uniform into a summer dress and once again my young partner was shocked by the number of heads turning as we walked around, especially all the young state troopers who worked with me all evening and watched me transform out of my uniform.

We walked into the pub and it literally took me 20 minutes to get to our group because we kept getting stopped by the guests; “Hey I met you at the gym today, I’m the one who helped you with the treadmill”, “Are you a fitness model?”, “Are you the deputy who was working tonight?”, “What cross fit gym to you go to?” (WHY do they think this?), “I can tell you are a cop, look at those arms”… on and on.

I think my young patrol partner is getting a clue now how being fit can change your life, really and truly.

The growing community of Venus transformations

The moral of this story wasn’t for me to talk about all the compliments and head turning (although I’m proud to tell it) but to bring up the phenomenon of self perception that happens even after you have reached your fitness goal and stayed there awhile.

It took the contrast of my recent self perception with the reactions I got at this conference to make it really sink in for me.  I have a feeling this is something most of us girls struggle with and will continue to always somewhat struggle with.  I can’t say I understand why this happens to us, but it does.

I’ll be writing more about others but I’d like to picture a few of our amazing Venus women who have transformed and maintained for awhile now.  They’ve likely struggled with many of these issues and are a part of our amazing online community.

There are many willing to help and although this is a smaller segment of our community it continues to grow and and we all continue to prove that the Venus lifestyle may not always be easy, but it is sustainable.

 

Tania

Tania

ShannonGym

Shannon

 

Liss

Liss

Carla

Carla

There are many more but these are just a few who have struggled and proved it can be done.  These girls enjoy life to it’s fullest and still maintain an amazing physique;  living the Venus lifestyle every day.  We all have our struggles, but somehow we manage to keep what we set out to do.

It’s so good to be home.

-Ro

 

 

 

 

How Donna Finally Got The Healthy Body She Has Always Wanted

Today we are honored to listen to Donna-Marie Moy who placed third in the 7th Venus Index Transformation Contest.

Check out her beautiful transformation from the 12 Week Contest:

Donna made an amazing transformation

Donna made an amazing transformation

 

Read what Donna wrote about her experience with Venus Index:

I find it amazing that it is possible to completely transform your body from something that was always hidden, to something to be proud of in just 12 weeks. When I started VT7 I knew I was committed to making a change, but I never really thought that in 12 short weeks I would not only be at my lowest body weight since the age of 10, but I’d be wearing a bikini in public and have muscle tone to show off. My Venus Index Transformation was a journey of self-discovery. It was an emotional rollercoaster, sometimes I was elated that I was making progress and amazed that I suddenly fit into a smaller pair of jeans; whilst at other times whilst doing the 20th curtsey lunge I despaired as to whether this effort was making a difference. I enjoy cooking and having my partner joining me in the Men’s version of the contest, meant that fixing my diet was easy. Having the willpower to stop snacking however, was not; But the VI community was there to encourage and guide and with the Un-contests I was able to start shedding the pounds. Building the muscle tone was slower. I followed the VI Phase I week after week, sometimes it was hard to see where it was going but I carried on. The program ensured that as I became accustomed to a routine, it changed and kept me motivated to continue. About half way through the contest I realized that I could feel muscles I never knew I had, and from that point on every week I could see a difference. I’ve now completed phase I and this is just the beginning, Now that I’ve lost weight, this is where the hard work begins!

 

Before and after metrics for Donna Moy

Before and after metrics for Donna

 

Donna's before pictures

Donna’s before pictures

 

Donna made an amazing transformation

Donna’s after pictures


Listen to Donna’s interview here, and please “like” it when you’re done:

Diet and Fitness; a Moment In Time

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic:  Diet and Fitness; a Moment In Time

The amount of activity these people did make all of us in 2013 look lazy by comparison no matter how much you think you exercise.

The amount of activity these people did make all of us in 2013 look lazy by comparison no matter how much you think you exercise.

Diet and Fitness; a Moment In Time

The current view of what is necessary or acceptable from a diet and exercise standpoint is largely dependent on your surroundings and the era you’re living in.

Modern western industrialized societies can be described as ‘obesogenic’ as there is an abundance of cheap high calorie density food combined with a highly sedentary workforce. On a daily basis it would be easy to consume triple the amount of calories you burn, and many people do.

But has it always been this way?

How much more activity did people really do before the industrial revolution and could we really eat 4000-5000 calories every day without gaining weight? Is it possible to eat that much food and still be healthy?

We review a research paper that examine what life was like in the Victorian era in England. The amount of activity these people did make all of us in 2013 look lazy by comparison no matter how much you think you exercise.

They also ate significantly more calories than we do now, and didn’t gain weight. They were what we would call healthy and didn’t have the modern lifestyle diseases that we see today such as heart disease and diabetes.

This research from the Victorian era sheds some light on just how little exercise we really do, and how much more we’re really capable of. It also shows how your society and surroundings play a big part in how active and ‘fit’ you will likely become.

 

IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not a Venus Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… http://nettikasinorahapelit.com/

Are We Natural Cyborgs?

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic:  Are We Natural Cyborgs?

Are We Natural Cyborgs?

Are We Natural Cyborgs?

Are We Natural Cyborgs?

Diet and fitness marketing tends to refer to what is ‘natural’. Many diets promote a way of eating that is ‘natural’ and the way we evolved to eat.

But are we natural beings anymore?

It’s not uncommon for people to have many artificial, prosthetic or unnatural ‘parts’ to their body.

We can have surgically reconstructed joints, bones, eyes, ears (hearing aids), artificial hearts, mesh plating (stents), balloons, sensors (pacemakers), artificial valves, and many other artificial parts to replace or enhance our ‘naturally’ failing parts.

We also have drugs that mimic or replace the functioning of ‘natural’ systems of the body that just aren’t working well anymore.

It then becomes a question of what is natural. Does it even make sense to strive for what is ‘natural’ with our diet and fitness if our bodies are becoming less natural themselves.

In this new era of modern medicine and devices you could argue that we’re becoming ‘natural cyborgs’.


IMMERSION Clients May Login and Download Podcast Here

Not a Venus Index IMMERSION client? Click here to find out more… and hear a weird story too

Support