The one thing.

Hey everyone. I am still having so much fun blogging over here and have no intentions to stop. I feel like I am a late bloomer with this whole blogging thing, yet I have been talking about fitness and nutrition to people in person for 2 decades. I have mentioned in a previous blog that I signed up for a 6 week online fitness business course called Action Academy. I was taught to take action and use my powerful voice and expertise in the fitness industry to share with people who need help. I did some research by sending out an email to 50 current clients, previous clients and future potential clients asking them this question:

"What is the one thing you struggle the most with when it comes to achieving your fitness and health goals?"

I was overwhelmed with the responses! In today's blog I want to share with you some of the responses. I want to see if you can relate. I also will be using these responses to generate content to begin to help you all with your struggles. I am here to create constant, content, consistently for you. I ask you to read this over and please comment below with your struggles so I can also help you over here on Deanna Harder Fitness. How can I help you begin to change your mindset and start taking action for success?

“What is the 1 thing that you struggle with or that you find confusing about nutrition or exercise or both?"

Angie says: "Exercise:  If I didn't have a personal trainer to help me with a comprehensive workout program, I don't think that I would be able to provide the same level of training on my own. Also,Nutrition: Journaling!  I hate it! "

Rona says: "the number one thing for me is ME! Lol my brain! So much info out there its hard to know what is good/healthy info and what to leave....(eat this not that....do this exercise not this blah blah blah.)"

Vanessa G says: "My 1 struggle is time at the moment. Anything that I do in the realm of health and fitness needs to be efficient and fast. What I find confusing about nutrition and exercise is the dosage of each (and luckily I had your help in straightening me out here…..); how many calories do I need to eat? How much and what type of exercise should I be doing? As you well know, there’s so much (mis)information out there it is difficult to sort through it and find the path that is the most sensible, sustainable and doable!"

Fitbabe here....** I feel you Vanessa..this is a blog I am working on NOW! x

Meagan says: " My #1. Finding the time to prioritize exercise and meal prep "

Vanessa V says: "Staying disciplined and consistant with my eating."

Kissy says: "For me, it’s finding balance and consistency: between doing enough exercise, and overdoing it."

Wendy says: "I would say how many calories you burn during exercise and what to count when you count steps etc. Can I eat more to maintain or lose weight?."

Kaley says: "Hitting my calories and protein when tired!

WOW! I am seeing so many struggles that I am sure many of you can relate to here. I am eager and ready to tackle these issues in my future blogs.

What is your one thing?

HELP ME, HELP YOU!

And, yes, I have put myself on the hook to write my blog on how I got lean for a photo shoot with wine in my diet, and it is NOT what you think! ** no starving and no deprivation here! Coming this week...I am ON THE HOOK!

Oh and side note, I have began working with a Web Designer to help  me make Deanna Harder Fitness amazing. Her name is Alecia Vogel and she is awesome! https://www.facebook.com/aleciavogel So, I am excited for that...yay!

Love ya!

Fitbabe

#SSIF How I do Fitness Plans!

I posted this on my Facebook page earlier this week and felt it needed to be shared over here on my blog! I love it when I hit "send" on a new program design for a client. I sit back, take a big breath and sigh....YESSSS! I vision the client opening his inbox and reading over his new workout and I know he will be stoked to see his new challenges.

When I design a workout...depending on the client I keep the following in mind..#SSIF...

The plan should be SSIF.... S-Safe- individual to the client, adaptable, injury prevention, progressive S-Short- most people do not have hours to train, so I take make sure they are in and out in under an hour. For this plan he would be done in 45 minutes. I also have designed 20 min home workouts for many clients..**who doesn't have 20 min- 3 days a week to devote to exercise? You do, you know you do.... I-Intense...if the workout is short, it better be INTENSE. I want you breathless, I want you to feel the burn...I need you to get a metabolic response. and finally F- FUN. If you look forward and enjoy your workouts you will be more likely to show up. I know after 20 years of coaching and leading people through workouts, fun is why they keep coming back....and also, I am FUNNY as Fuxk so that helps right??? lol

Let's GO!

#deannaharderfitness #privatecoaching #onlinecoach #yegfitness #customfit#programdesign #actionoveranxiety #SSIF #lovehowyoutrain #actionacademy

My Fat Loss Tips

Hey everyone. Let me begin this blog by saying how awesome you are for coming over and checking me out. I have been in the industry for 20 years and am only now realizing how big of an impact the online world has become. Online training is now going to be a massive part of the next phase of my career and this blog is how I am launching it all. I am scared AF! Currently I am enrolled in a 6 week online business course and one of our assignments is to put ourselves on the hook to produce content. We must first "decide" on what sort of information our readers are intetrested in. Next, we must "declare" what content we deem important to our readers, and then finally we must "deliver" said content.

Well, HERE I AM!  I decided based on market research done last week that the number one topic my readers wanted more information on was how to lose fat! I declared on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter I was about to give away my content in a blog, and now here we are...so without further adieu, HERE, ladies and gents, are my TOP FAT LOSS TIPS coming at you now!

1. For fat loss to occur one needs to be eating in a calorie deficit. NO IFS, ANDS, OR BUTS. "But Deanna, I hardly eat and I can't lose fat!" Really? Well, you are not eating in a calorie deficit then, sorry. However much you are eating is obviously too much for your body to be forced to lose fat. So my first tip is to track every single bite of food that goes into your mouth for at least 7 days! Yes, a whole week. Be honest, every lick, bite and taste must be tracked. I keep it super simple and use a plain old pen and paper, and then I would enter it into an app like MyFitnessPal. https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/logout. It it totally free and is super convenient. Do it for seven days and then evaluate the amount of calories you are eating that is keeping you at the weight you are currently weighing. Then we can start talking about setting calories for fat loss. Once the calories are set, I would coach you on macronutrients. But, let's keep it simple. Calories are the biggest factor.

2. My second tip is to start strength training. Strength training is the king of all exercise when fat loss is your goal.( well it is the king of exercise for any goal, but that is just because it is my FAV) Building muscle can assist with fat loss as more muscle means more calories burned at rest, thus contributing to your calorie deficit. I would urge you to consult a personal trainer OR hire ME to assist you with designing a strength training program that is unique to your goals and lifestyle demands. It is a NON-NEGOTIABLE in my opinion. Muscle looks so good baby!

3. Stress and SLEEP! So if you are stressed out and are not sleeping, it is going to make eating properly and getting your training in a lot more difficult. How in the heck are you going to have the energy and focus to adhere to any workout plan and eating in accordance to your goals, if you are stressed out and can't even function? Stress can inhibit fat loss in so many ways, even if you are in a calorie deficit. It increases your hunger, it effects your energy and it causes you to crave foods you normally wouldn't. When one is mindful of stress and getting themselves to bed earlier, things just work out a lot better. Fat loss is difficult enough so for sure start to take a look at stress before you even decide to tackle this goal. Is it a stressful time in your life? Are you starting a new job? Did you just have a baby? Then now is most likely not a great time to jump into a calorie deficit and start a brand new workout plan. Maybe yoga, meditation and leisure walking could be a better fit for you now. Just sayin!

4. My next tip is PLANNING. THINK "as if". You need to plan ahead of time what you are going to eat and when you are going to train. You need to think "as if "you are already a lean person and ask yourself what do I need to do in order for me to achieve and maintain a lean physique. Have food prepped or make sure you have researched restaurant meals that you know fit into your goals. If you have to eat out or on the run you can still eat for fat loss ok! Find a gym that has flexible hours, or book a training session with your trainer that you know you will not miss! ( hey, cancellation fee's make one adhere to their sessions! ) Also having someone to be accountable to is a game changer. If training is not in your budget now, purchase a few sets of dumbbells (one heavy and one lighter) to have at home so you can do a dumbbell density circuit as soon as you wake up, or after you get home. EVERYONE has 15 min somewhere to train!

5. The final fat loss tip is CONSISTENCY! Be consistent as fuck with your training and meals. Day in, day out, week in, week out, month after month. Hey now, we all know that life happens, and must happen. Life is meant to be enjoyable and rewarding. However, if you have goals of losing body fat, being consistent over time will be one of the biggest keys to your success. Come up with a routine that works for you. This will take time and practice. Hey and if you fuck up...don't worry. You can't fuck this up, as you can always win by tracking your very next meal, or getting in that extra workout next week. You will never have to start over, you just keep going. Do not be that person who just throws in the towel because they had one bad day. Even the pros have bad days, but the difference is they have a plan of attack to get right back on track. Consistency, dedication and a great attitude is the ticket to fat loss success. Remember, once you have gotten your body fat to a desired level, then the magic of maintenance comes in! Maintenance is a whole other subject, and hmmmm maybe that could be a topic in the near future for me to write about.

So there you have it! Deanna's top 5 fat loss tips. Hit reply and let me know your thoughts. Did this help at all?  Talk to me people...I will answer every single ONE of you back!

Love ya, Deanna... aka Fitbabe.

Rejection

IF IT DIDN'T HAPPEN, IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO. REJECTION IS PROTECTION. Hello everyone. I am going to write tonight about rejection. This actually makes me feel real vulnerable to share, but I am feeling this post will resonate with many of you.

I will start out by saying I have not let any man get close to me in the last 5 years. I have had a lot of "first" dates. When on these dates if there wasn't that BIG rush of chemistry immediatly I would shun them.  I wanted that "love at first sight" feeling. I have had it before and I wanted it again.

I also was dealing with my eating disorder and exercise addiction which left little to no space for love. How could I ever let someone love me if I didn't even love myself? How could I let a man see me naked, when I could hardly stand the sight of my own reflection in the mirror? It just seemed like I was doomed to be alone forever. My eating disorder had a serious hold over me.

Within the last 2-3 years I got help and was able to stop my obessession with exercise and obsessive dieting.  In 2014 I did my last figure competition, and slowly made the transition away from the bodybuilding stage. The only way I was able to do it was by telling myself that the figure stage would always be there and I could always come back if I wanted. Deep down inside I knew I was DONE. I just knew. My body knew. No matter how hard I dieted and exercised I wasn't able to get and stay lean anymore.

I remember the last day I made myself throw up. It was a Sunday night in February.  I was staring at myself in the mirror and looked at my bloodshot eyes. I looked at myself long and hard. I thought to myself..what the fuck are you doing here? HOW DID YOU GET HERE. WHY ARE YOU STILL FUCKING DOING THIS TO YOURSELF? That was it. I looked at myself and felt so bad for the woman looking back at me. She was hurting, she was desperate to stop, she was alone and she was scared. I saw my 16 year old self and thought "what would I tell her?" That was it. I just felt something HIT me, I can't explain it. That was the last time I ever made myself sick again.

I never looked back. Several months later I was scheduled to get braces on my teeth. For the next 19 months I was so insecure as I hated  my smile. I felt I was "unfuckable" now. I had braces, I was 15lb heavier than I was as a Figure Competitor, and I was insecure. Who would want me now? As much as I held it together as a Personal Trainer at work, I was super depressed and had a lot of issues with my body image that I kept inside me.

I had work to do. Hard work. I started to reach out to my friends, and in particular my friend Donloree. We worked together on projects, went for walks,  drank coffee and wine and talked and talked. I started using a dating app, and decided that if a man had a problem with my braces, then fuck him! I faked it until I made it. IT WORKED.

I began dating a man for several weeks. It happened overnight. I fell in love with him immediately. It was intense for me as I was willing to let myself like someone. He made me want to do things I had repressed for over 5 years. He gave me confidence, and I felt desired and sexy. It was that huge dopamine response that I was looking for all along. I was aggressive with my feelings that I was having. I didn't hold anything back. I told him everyday how much I liked him. When it comes to love, I fall hard and I fall fast – if you're on the receiving end of it, you will never have to wonder what I am thinking. I wear my heart on my sleave. I was in lust and it was fabulous. Until I scared the shit out of this man. He just wanted to casually start dating again and he met me and I was "ride or DIE!" He had been married and also been in serious relationships prior to meeting me. He was in "dating" mode. I was in fallling IN LOVE mode. I was like.."if it isn't a FUCK YES, it is a NO"

He wasn't emotionally available for the intensity of Deanna. He was not in the right place for me in his life. So, as much as we were attracted to each other sexually, he was not a match for me emotionally. He didn't want to be in a relationship 7 days a week, 365. So, he told me that and I refused to listen. I was persistant and kept trying to convince him he was indeed ready. That never ends well. It left me feeling desperate and needy.  He would continue to tell me no, he couldn't see me and I continued to come back to him.  I felt like an abused dog who gets kicked by his owner, but still comes wimpering back looking for love.

It took over a month for me to stop texting and tweeting him. It took a lot of sobbing and Alanis Morissette to heal my melancholy. I just didn't understand why this man wouldn't want me? I am successful, attractive, funny, well spoken, educated and have a ton to offer? Why NOT ME?

He told me it wasn't me. I am fine. It was him. He wasn't ready and he didn't want what I wanted. I just couldn't deal with that. I sobbed and sobbed. Everyday, my eyes swollen and my heart breaking over and over again. Loving someone who doesn’t love you back is just undeniably grueling. There is nothing worse than feeling like the bottom dropped out of your world and having no one around notice you are breaking inside.

So, yes, I have just been through a break up. It was over as fast as it started. I know that I had to grieve the relationship I thought I MIGHT have had with this man. I have to just keep going. I have to try and see how this situation can teach me something and make me stronger. What did I learn from it? Here is what I came up with.

1. I learned to trust both the pain and the love but let the love be eternal and let the pain be temporary. I will feel okay again.

2. Even on your toughest day, when you feel and look like garbage, someone thinks you’re beautiful. I am beautiful.

3. I loved hard, I loved fast, and I loved with all my heart. I was faithfully true to my emotions at the time. No risk, no reward.

4. I decided to change the question to WHY ME to, Why was I picked to have this experience? That changes everything. It happened to me for me.

5. I learned that it's ok. You are allowed to fall, just as long as you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start again. It's the falls that teach us how to be better!

6. Everything looks better after a good nights sleep. Everything will always be better in the morning.

7. We’re all imperfect. Your personal journey is imperfect and going to be filled with mis-steps and failures. Just keep going.

8. I was addicted to the idea of love. Love addiction is like any other addiction. You’re filling yourself up with something outside of you. I do not need a man to validate my self worth.

9. If you can't love yourself, you can't let anyone else love you either.

10. Time heals all wounds. Time and DEADLIFTS. Yes, Deadlifts are the cure to everything. HA HA.

So, here I am. Single again. But, I know that this last relationship, no matter how short it was, no matter how tumultuous, was brought into my life for a reason. I will not cry because it is over, I will smile because it happened. I now know that I have it in me to love and let someone else into my weird little world again. The right man will enter my life at the perfect time, and I will be ready for him. I am not afraid to fall again, because I know I can handle anything. I will not break, in fact, come at me, I've got this.

Please let me know how you got over a break up? What did you learn?

Love Deanna

My Fertility Story * originally published on Feministfiguregirl.com

My condition in October 2015- the month I went off the pill. 116 lb

Hello everyone, Fitbabe here. Let me preface this blog with the disclaimer that I am not a writer. I have horrible grammar, my sentences run on, and I write as I would talk: fast, intense and full of curse words. My passion is the physical culture, and the gym is my home. Find me there and you will see the best of me. I will leave the writing to FFG, as she is the professional. Anyway, with that being said. Read on!

So, I am 38 years old. I haven’t had a menstrual cycle since I was 33. I have been on the birth control pill for 22 years. I am single. In fact, I haven’t been in a relationship for over 5 years, so one day I said to myself: ” I am going to go off the pill and give my body a break from artificial hormones, it is not like I am trying to prevent getting pregnant with the non existent sex life I am having.” I had no idea that when I stopped taking that tiny little pill every morning it would bring on the most challenging year of my adult life.

October 2015. I am really doing this. I do not start a new pack of pills. I feel normal. I read everything I could get my hands on about the possible side effects of coming off the pill, notably weight gain or loss, spotting, acne, mood disorders, and depression. I reach out to mentors and educators, including professionals I had met at The Women’s Fitness Summit in Kansas City the year before. They all tell me I should be fine. There are supplements recommended to take post pill to help with estrogen dominance. I decide to take maca root, ashwaganda and rhodiola which are adaptogen herbs to help with stress, mood and relaxation. I can still see my abs and am killing my workouts. No big deal. I do not need to worry. I am 118lb.

December 2015. My clothes are starting to fit tight. I start to see cellulite on my bum and thighs. I NEVER HAD CELLULITE THERE BEFORE? I have not been one to weigh myself due to a decade of eating disorders and body image issues. I weigh myself…I am 122lb. I have gained 4 lb and my body is changing. Still no period and I start to wonder if I made a mistake. I start to double my cardio sessions and cut calories.

January 2016. Happy New Year….to my new BOOBS AND ASS! My breasts are getting bigger, and my ass is now a booty- well to me it was anyway. You see, I had stayed so lean for the last 5 years that my body was not happy with being over-trained and underfed. Even though I had cut calories and doubled my workouts, I was gaining weight. This tells me I had long needed to gain some weight for fertility and health. I speak to my doctor and ask to go back on the pill. She lovingly says that we need to give my body time to adjust. My doctor books me a full body bone scan to be sure I do not have the female athletic triad (a syndrome in which an eating disorder, amenorrhoea/oligomenorrhoea, and decreased bone mineral density are present). I already have amenorrhea, along with the history of eating disorders and over exercising. If my bone scan comes back with negative results, this could be serious.

Here I am in February 2016. I am now 129 lb and feeling awful.

February 2016. I am super freaked out. I can’t fit any of my jeans. I start to panic and immediately hire a local coach and ask to be put on a fat loss plan. She is amazing with me and decides that I need to work on my metabolism and dial back on the obsessive training. I try to resist, but with her coaching I realize that if I want my body to respond again, I need to trust her. I slowly add food in and am eating up to 1500 calories a day, while training only 4 days a week. Previously, I would do an hour of cardio a day and lift weights 6-7 days a week. I never took a rest day. I had been cutting my calories too low. This new plan is good for me. I have injuries and hormones to heal.

March 2016. I continue to gain weight. I am up to 127lb, but I am not going to quit. I listen to my coach and continue to back off my crazy training and let my body enjoy yoga, leisure walking and baths. I hate my cellulite and my belly. WHOSE BODY IS THIS ANYWAY? I do not recognize myself in the mirror. I feel like my body is betraying me. The bone scan comes back normal. I rejoice and celebrate my two decades of lifting weights. Strength training for the win!

April-May 2016. My weight jumps up to 129lb. I only have 2 pairs of nike tights that fit. I buy one more pair of ADIDAS tights that are huge. I dig out an old pair of jeans that were given to me. One of my clients gave me some beautiful clothes that fit me before Christmas, but are too tight now. I feel so gross. My blood work has now been taken 3 times. Full hormone panels. They all come up normal? I am so stressed. I cry a lot. I feel like nobody will ever love me, and I fall into a depression. I stop working with my coach and try to train and eat intuitively. By the end of May, I have cut out all sugar, caffeine, grains and alcohol. I don’t drink wine for 3 months. I miss that the most, but I want to get healthy.

June 2016. Still no period. I return to my doctor and she refers me to an endocrinologist. I book an appointment for July 22. At the same time, I have a pelvic ultrasound where they discover I possibly have a blood clot in my uterus. They can see only one ovary, but I guess that is very common? I can’t wait to see the endocrinologist. I have a notebook of questions to ask. I am also booked for an MRI to get to the bottom of that blood clot. The MRI is on August 22. So, here we go.

July 22, 2016. My body is changing again. My weight drops down to 125 and stays there the whole month. I see the endocrinologist. She is wonderful. She suspects that because I was on the pill for so long it will take 1-2 years for me to get my cycle back. At this point I am so happy that I am maintaining my weight and am back in the gym squatting and deadlifting heavy, that I do not care about my period. However, fertility is a beautiful thing and it is my right as a woman to have it. I start using a dating app called Bumble. I swipe right and end up going out with a few men which doesn’t really go anywhere. I know what I am looking for, and I am not willing to settle for anything average. My girlfriend Chantal gives me a few pairs of jeans, size 27. THEY FIT and they look fabulous. My breasts are full and my bum is round. My bras fit perfectly and I feel sexy. [Aside: at the beginning of this month, I drop a 35lb barbell plate on my foot but the x-ray shows no broken bones. Hooray for strength training again. Still, I am limping and have a swollen foot. Thank you universe for bringing me more obstacles!]

August 2016. I am back full force in the gym. I am eating foods I love and drinking my beloved wine again. I decide to delete the dating app and just meet men the old fashioned way. I decide to swipe right one more time and BOOM I meet an amazing man. His name is Ben and it turns out that he knew who I was. He had seen me in the gym in which I train clients. We connect immediately and he makes me feel so sexy and desirable. All I can think about is what if he sees my cellulite and stretch marks and is turned off? What if my round belly makes him grossed out? I also didn’t previously mention in this post that I have braces on my teeth too. I have had them for 19 months. Ben likes me anyway and insists I am perfect the way I am. Still no period. I am finally sexually active again, but wait now I need birth control. Fuck. August 22 come around. Ben comes with me to the MRI. I am so grateful.

Here I am currently- my weight is stable a 124lb and my jeans fit awesome! My breasts fill out my bra and I am happy.

September 2016. I finally get answers. My doctor tells me I do not have a blood clot. Great. No tumours, cancer, or anything. Instead, she says to me: “Deanna, you have a Unicornate Uterus.” I am stunned. What the heck does that mean? A unicorn? What??

Definition: A unicornuate uterus represents a uterine malformation where the uterus is formed from one only of the paired Müllerian ducts while the other Müllerian duct does not develop or only in a rudimentary fashion. The sometimes called hemi-uterushas a single horn linked to the ipsilateral fallopian tube that faces its ovary.

The doctor tells me that if I do get my period back, I could get pregnant, but most likely would never carry a baby full term. I sit and absorb this information. Am I half a woman? What does this mean? Do I want children? No I don’t, but I want the choice. I will be 39 in just over a month. 39! I am sitting here wondering why this is happening. Why didn’t I meet a man and try to start a family. Would I have discovered this information only after having several miscarriages? It would have been devastating if that had happened. At least I am a strong, capable, empowered woman who knows in her heart that it is ok not to have children. I cry. I have just started dating an amazing man who may want children. Maybe he will tell me it is over. Maybe he will say, “Deanna, I need to be with someone who can have my children.” I am scared, but know I am going to be amazing with or without a man.

I tell Ben. He is the first person I tell, even before my mother, sister, or best friend. I tell him first. He does not miss a beat. He is kind and supportive. When I ask if this makes me half a woman, he replies: “You are not half a woman. You are SUPERWOMAN.”

I could have not asked for a better response.

Here I am feeling sexy finally.

My weight is stabilized now and I feel way better. I have my sex drive back, and am so grateful for this experience. As hard as the last few months of 2015 and the majority of 2016 was for me mentally and physically, I look back and am in awe of how amazing my body is. My body has been beaten down with brutal workouts; it has been underfed and stressed out. I had punished myself for so long, but when I started loving myself it began to thrive.

I get my braces off on Sept 7. I am dating a super HOT sexy man, who loves my curves. I am back in the gym with a new energy and mindset. I am better than before. I have so much gratitude. Life can kick you in the ass and then swoop you up in a cloud of happiness just like that. I still have some time left in 2016 to turn things around, so that is exactly what I plan on doing. Everything is temporary. Happiness is a choice, and today I choose happiness.

Thanks for reading.

Deanna