This has nothing to do with fitness or nutrition, but since it’s my blog and I blog about whatever off topic I want, well, be careful for what you don’t wish for, here is my view on the PERFECT relationship.

In my life I’ve had very few true love stories. Once when I was 13 I fell madly in love with an artist who I wanted to marry and begged for him to wait for me. He was 12 years older and I was quite a pain in the butt since I hovered around his house to catch his attention… Second big one was the man I later married, Pavel. He “discovered” me when he was visiting my Home gym, but was too shy to approach me. You know me too, I have that special “I don’t see, I don’t look” mean face too when I work out;-). He went back a few weeks later and then saw me again. History repeated itself and he couldn’t make himself approach me. Thank god he did cause I would NOT have been happy about that during the middle of my workout. Well, Pavel couldn’t stop thinking about me, so he sent a “wanted poster” to the gym where he described me, put up a picture of himself and hoped they’d hunt me down. And so they did. I didn’t respond. I was trying to catch a football player I had a crush on, so I let three months pass. One day I had had enough of the hard to get football player so I called him “hey, are you interested or not?” and he said “well…”, I gave up, hung up, and: dialed Pavel’s number. I left a voice mail message without a return number. I called again a week later and I remember, one of the first things I asked him was “Do you want to move to America?”. Fortunately he said yes, and that was quite my “GO” signal. We met, liked each other directly, we were best friends from day 1, did everything together, were best buddies, had same career goals, liked the same things, were the same kind of people.

We put ALL on our pursuit to move to America. We were all business. We talked and breathed America day in and day out. Our goal was getting here together. The key in was my “extraordinary ability qualification” and the key-holder was Pavel. We were just a damn good team!

Finally we made it, we came to America. Our goals were completed. Two years went on and suddenly both of us felt what we had deep down known from the very start: we had no chemistry as lovers. Nothing. We just didn’t match like that at all. As efficient as we were as business partners, as deficient we were as a loving couple. The first years of our relationship I was the “hunter” wanting to get more passion, but Pavel was not interested, he was stressed from work he said (now I know he just felt we were not a couple), then when I lost my interest, Pavel tried to come along and improve our love life… THAT didn’t work, I refused, didn’t want anything like that at all.

One day, I met a man who took my heart away. It was passion at the highest level. I couldn’t keep myself away. It was so strong I was crazy. It was very scary to come home, tell your best friend who you moved to another country with to live your life together that you no longer can go on…. After 7 years, married and all, I called it quits. I followed my heart and hoped Pavel wanted to keep on as best friends….. It was hell…. I was torn, Pavel was torn. But we worked it out and suddenly had a better relationship as best best soulmates for life than we had before we split up. Suddenly we realized we were not supposed to be lovers, but best friends for good. We were supposed to come here together and “whatever power” that wanted us to do it thought we could deal with being a bit duped.

The other guy, what happened to him? oh, I got bored, cause all we had was the passion and the chemistry. Nothing more. So we broke up. 5 times. And then no more love there.

What I’ve learned about this is: there is no way you can get it ALL in one relationship: friendship, love, passion, business, security. Because everything gets “old and slow” sooner or later. Passion or being in love is just a starter and it will sooner or later grow into true love, then to friendship and what happens? your passion dies!

The wonderful thing with being in love is you’re on a high, drugged. It’s natural. After a while (I believe I read it is no more than 1 year top) you will sober up and then it’s everyday life again. For those who want a family and settle down, sure there is no way around it and you have to nurture your love life, but I myself am not the slightest interested in this at all. I don’t want to compromise, don’t want to take someone else’s opinions into consideration, I don’t want to having to say “I am going to do this, do you approve?”.

The perfect relationship to me is one without any compromises, no obligations, no commitments, but…you do want exclusivity..But no responsibility… A typical catch 22.

I HAVE a best friend. I don’t want another one. The only “need” for a partner is one for intimacy. But with that comes the other stuff: most people want you to spend time with them, dating, go out, go to the movies etc. I don’t want that really. There is first of all no real interest from my part, I also don’t prioritize it. My life is filled with stuff I love doing, but I don’t want a new partner to share it with….

Also, if you’re like me, a loner who thrives off being single, then you’re quite content and happy with being solo. It’s the perfect situation, you’re free to flirt, free to see people, free to do whatever you want IF you want to. I don’t want any serious relationship cause all I want is the shallow fun. Maybe you think the solution is “get a friend with benefits” and my response to that my friend is: I do not get attracted to my FRIENDS, and, I don’t want to be intimate unless I am in love. And in love, well, that I am not that often!

The Perfect relationship? My answer is having a few friends who give you something of each: one for love, one for friendship etc. As long as both parties are under the same agreement, it should be 100% cool. It’s time for new kinds of relationships in the 21st century anyway, let’s open for the more open ones.

Competed and now don’t know what to do? Depending on your goals and what you did or didn’t do, you go about it different ways:

Most people get struck by post contest frenzies and cannot control their diet when the show time is over. Out of the window is the discipline and basically you are just not able to say no to all you’ve been deprived of for long. If you happen to be going through this, then I’m sure you noticed how fast the pounds come back even after only a few days of indulging. So what to do? Well, if you want to get back to pre contest shape, then you need to get back to the strict diet. Cardio? If you did it to get in shape, now you’re trying to lean out again, so up you go on the treadmill!

Now, what if you didn’t gain body fat, just regained the normal few pounds? If you are happy with your condition and don’t feel the need to lean out, OR you are trying to change your muscle mass, then, the more you can eat without gaining fat the better. So it’s not wise to stay lower with your calories just for the sake of it. Quite the opposite. There is no “you are doing better” cause you are having less calories than your body actually can use.

Cardio in this situation depends: for us who don’t maintain leanness without a ton, then make sure you keep it up. But, if you didn’t need more than a few sessions per week to get in great shape, why not cut it down and do only two-three intense, short sessions? You don’t need more for your cardio fitness.

Then, let’s say you have months to the next show, you like your look, but you still don’t know if you should just stick to your pre contest diet: Well, here you need to experiment, make it useful. Either you can add a bit more room to your food choices, choose some of your favorite foods and include them on the menu. That, or try refeeds to fill up your glycogen for better training and to prevent lethargy!

If you are just a few weeks between multiple shows and your body is in a spin, make sure you reintroduce post workout carbs, or add oatmeal/oatbran in the morning etc just so you don’t catabolize muscle. Pay attention daily, so you can stop if your body starts to look too smooth.

Some times when you’re really lean and you have eaten too little and trained too much for too long, your body starts to look softer and softer. You feel smooshy. The natural response is to train more and diet harder, but most likely if you looked cut a few days ago, then suddenly not, it might be you need to 1)take a day off  2) eat more carbs! It does not have to be that big amount and I like to change a few things that take me out of that low and dead zone:

Have oatbran instead of wheat bran

include a serving of nuts (right now my favorite is macadamias. I feel like they satisfy me way more than almonds btw)

Instead of lower calorie veggies I go for beats, squash, maybe yams, carrots etc

I choose fattier protein sources (salmon, venison) instead of pink salmon, egg whites etc

Now, this strategy usually keeps me happy for a while when I cannot afford to refeed due to photo shoots etc. You see, what if it “goes wrong” and I end up bloated a few days on the WRONG days…LOL

Anyway, try to relax about the whole “what do I do now!” and enjoy your food and your training!

I love walking down the silent streets on a Sunday afternoon in Venice, when everyone is at the beach. It’s quiet. And I can see those special thin grass plants slowly swinging with the wind.  I love waking up when I do, not when I have to. When I walk home from the gym at night and the sun has set, I feel like I’m the one calling it a night and the whole city goes to sleep… I love the feeling of paying attention to the fact there is a spider on the wall, or that I after three years living in this house need to count the steps up to my door because I don’t know how many they are.

I love that I have lists on things I must write, read, listen to and comment on. To pick up a glossy magazine portraying amazing landscapes I can dream away to even though I live in the city of my dreams is a luxury. I love that I can look around at the items at wholefood store for as long as I like cause I have nothing to rush home to. I live close to the beach and some mornings when the waves come in strong I stay in bed to listen to them, and I love that I am able to.

I love what music does to me. How it motivates me, fires me up. I love that I can search allover the world at my fingertips for any topic thanks to the internet. There is not one day going by without me thinking “I’m SO lucky, I’m living my dream life!” and truly mean it. I love that I’m a simple woman: my happiness is complete when I’m doing my thing…. I am fortunate to have a passion, a hobby, a meaningful purpose.

I’m lucky to have found both soul mates and passionate love, close friends, real friends and that I know how to love. I’m lucky I am not feeling incomplete cause I’m not part of a duo and that I prefer it that way. I feel there is nothing missing. I love that some days my eye is caught and some days I’m blind.

I love that I have time, I have time to reflect upon all things on my list of reflections to do. I love that I am at ease. I love that I feel empowered and eager to learn what I’m weak at. I have a strong body with a strong mind. And I’m here to experience it and ride along.

It’s better to keep silent and wait til you have something good to say than say something everyone’s heard twenty times too many. Some times I read people’s rambles or listen to their talk and I wonder: are they actually not paying attention to what they are saying? One part of me wants to ask “hey, YOU didn’t come up with THAT”, but instead I politely keep the “caught you in action stealing a saying” to myself.

I just detest cliches. I detest the free use of them too. I don’t want to read any more fitness propaganda. It’s the same being told over and over, every same cry baby story, every little stupid sound advise which is always thrown at you no matter if you asked for it or not. I’m sick of the “gotta keep the balance”, “listen to your body”, “you grow when you rest”, “eat 5 small meals a day” or what have you. Stop repeating what you’ve read like it’s some kind of memorizing the 10 commandments.

My pet peeve is political correctness. Always trying to please everyone, Be pretty for everyone, be smart to everyone, be intelligent, interesting. I don’t get why most people are so afraid to speak their mind. What do you think will happen? I’m talking about everyday life in the western world, not in some countries where you get killed by what you say or even think.

I get thank yous for saying what’s on my mind as much as I get yelled at for doing it. I guess most people want to have someone who says what they want to say but they don’t want to get the blame for being inconvenient so how convenient letting another crazy one be the spokesperson. Well, I’m not doing it for anyone else, I’m doing it for ME. I cannot be quiet, I cannot merge into the big crowd. I rather stand on the side line alone any day than being part of a silent crowd of lamb.

The worst thing is when all you read is not even interpretations of old cliches but actually straight forward the cliches delivered like the person writing it was the very first one who ever wrote it. That’s ridiculous!

Some times people get angry with me cause I don’t say or write what they want to hear. I am then blamed for not being an inspiration to them. Ok, listen, don’t try to make me being something I’m obviously not. If you don’t agree or get anything out of listening to me, please make your life a huge favor and exit my zone.

Another pet peeve of mine is when people refuse to accept there are no rules that apply to every occasion or situation. When on earth were things ever black or white for sure? I know you think your questions are “just a quick one”, but hey, they never are. Quick questions require yes or no and no “but”, “except”, “unless”, “provided” or “until” followed by a long explanation. There’s something called google you know. You can actually find a page or two on most topics on it, so go ahead and try.

I

“These cheerios are made of whole grain and will reduce your cholesterol”, “all the whole grain your kids need!”, “finally a cookie made of whole grain your child will love!”.

I’ve had it. I detest whole grain. Great corn and wheat industry, we understand you need us to feel good about munching on your sugary fattening products, but let’s be real here, they won’t make anyone less fat! It won’t reduce pounds of unwanted belly fat or improve our cholesterol. And it certainly won’t make us healthier.

People intuitively know that eating bread, pasta, potatoes, cereal etc tends to fatten us up. It also makes us more susceptible to type 2 diabetes. So in order to attract all of us who are concerned about health, the grain industry likes to tell us “no, it’s refined SUGAR and white flour that is bad, not whole grains”.

So what is whole grain? To be honest, I don’t know anymore cause the spongy bread seems to be labeled whole wheat for instance. I don’t see complete pieces of kernels in there anywhere and if the bread is dark it’s most likely colored.

Whole grain pasta has just as many calories as white flour pasta. You won’t get lean by eating whole grain cheerios instead of regular cheerios.

The problem with grains are: 1) most people eat more of it than they need cause it tastes delicious and is dense in calories  2) Since it’s marketed as healthy, we eat more of it and hence our total calories increase, 3) we don’t NEED high octane fuel like we work 12 hour labor shifts day in and day out.

” Where am I gonna get my energy from?” is a question I’m often asked when I recommend ditching grains and eat veggies if you’re serious about losing all the fat.  Let me tell you where you’re gonna get that energy from and trust me it will last for weeks: your fat butt!!!!! Or your belly!!! If you see something you can pinch, that’s where you got your energy hun! You want it gone? Stop feeding the beast with “whole grain”.

I’ve learned that most people don’t really want to lose weight. Or should I say they don’t want to do it on the best terms. They want to do it conveniently so! On their terms.

Kellog’s whole grain granola bars: crap. Whole grain bread: crap. Whole grain pasta: crap. Eating tons of quinoa: crap. Eating brown rice: crap.

Just ditch the damn grains altogether and enjoy them infrequently instead like TREATS. that’s what they’re good for, but if you want to get ripped, your diet should not consist of treats on a daily basis.

The hardest part of changing your life is to truly start doing it. As long as we’re still waiting to focus all our efforts on it, we believe we’re going to be stronger when we do, we’ll be tougher and more patient when we do, but then actually doing it, that’s the tough one. Not only do we have to put an end to all destructive habits and choices, we also need to forget that we used to have them. We must forgive and forget the past, not looking back, just forward. Your mind remembers your patterns and breaking them takes strength. You will need to deeply, truly want it. And what if you just don’t? Well, most likely you have not been deeply buried in your own little hell yet. It’s almost like you are ok with cheating yourself cause nobody gets harmed except for you. Don’t beat yourself up. It won’t help at all. Just clear yourself from the past, what was done was done and doesn’t say anything about who you are today and the day after. Many times we get stronger from being weak. Even though you might believe you lost your dedication and determination, maybe losing them a bit is needed to get that edge back. Chaos is needed for order. And some times imbalances are needed to get the balance back. Don’t hold it against you, don’t shed tears. Just accept you had a unusual moment and from now on you know better. Have confidence and don’t stress. It will soon be back to normal again.

“Are you single?”. No. I’m taken. I’m out of reach. You see, I’m married to my passion, married to my drive, married to my mission.

I am single and not looking. I do have my eyes open, or maybe should I say, my ears open, cause I trust what I hear more than what catches my eye.

When you’re married to passion, all you want is to please it. You nourish it, you water it, you feed it. All to see it bloom.

when you’re married to passion, you don’t day dream away about some intense amour, cause you know, that’s only temporary. What you have is deeper and attached to you, layer after layer into your soul.

When you’re married to passion, people want you to feel like you’re not complete. That you miss out, not getting all out of life. What they’re really feeling is they are missing out on what you have….

Just because life offers you many different bouquets of flowers you don’t need to embrace them. Some people love dandelions, not roses, and it doesn’t mean they’re poor, it means they are have other higher values than wanting what is pretty here and now.

When you go against the stream and choose less traveled roads, people will try to make you doubt. You’re a threat to the belief in conventions. You’re a threat to what we’re told to want and to desire.

When you’re married to passion you let go off all which interrupt and distract.

Our society builds upon people wanting to do the same thing. We are supposed to be wanting to be united with another as couples. We’re supposed to raise children. We’re supposed to settle down, see the kids grow up, get old and then say bye bye this was great. I know many people like knowing what’s in store for them. Well, I like not knowing! I thrive on knowing that tomorrow can be the last day, tomorrow can be the last time. It’s comfort not being able to take anything for granted, cause you appreciate it more. Every day you need to reevaluate, saying yes or no to your choices and actions. There is no time to be unfocused. Suddenly you’re not rising anymore, suddenly all becomes yesterdays, not tomorrows.

When you’re married to passion you are married for life. It’s true love, it’s true commitment. Nothing you choose here and now, not tomorrow and forever. I married passion and I intend to so be for forever ever.

I never cease being surprised that people want to know my opinion about fitness-related matters. You see, it’s truly my personal opinion and not what is universally correct or proven you get when you ask about it, but as you wish, here are some recent things you emailed about:

SALSA: Tomatoes and onions are two super nutritious foods and mixing them into a salsa with garlic, seasoning, vinegar or what have you is a great addition to other veggie dishes. Just don’t buy the pre made versions with added sugar, juice or olive or canola oils. You want it to be veggies and herbs only. If you have a huge appetite and add tons of veggies, remember that veggies have calories too. I am not saying you should be careful, just be aware that it’s easy to kill a calorie restriction if you pile on tons of salsa. It’s not as filling as more leafy veggies either…. What I like to do is use tomato sauce, dilute it with some water, add garlic, white pepper etc and use it in my shirataki noodles. Tastes like heaven!

OATS: It’s the perfect breakfast food and breakfast is the only time you should have grains on a leaning-out diet. Exception is pre/post workout nutrition if your calorie requirement and expenditure allows it. I do prefer wheat bran porridge cause it has way fewer calories than oats, that’s why it’s considered a “free” food on Fighter Diet. However, that doesn’t mean you should munch on it 5 times a day. Once again, I recommend grains in the morning or to bulk up meals when you’re really hungry. If you take your calcium with wheat bran, it’s estimated that 40% of the calcium is not being absorbed, so take that into consideration.

SALMON: Has lots of calories. Yes, it’s super nutritious, but 4 oz of Atlantic salmon has 207 calories and 22 grams protein, where as 4 oz of Atlantic cod has 97 calories and 20 grams of protein. It would be unwise to eat salmon for lunch and dinner as your top choice of protein if you simultaneously want to keep your calories relatively low.

FRUIT: Has a lot of great antioxidants and excellent health benefits, but it’s till a source of simple carbs of which some comes from fructose. Fructose doesn’t help with restoring muscle glycogen, it goes mostly to the liver. It has low glycemic index, but that doesn’t mean it satisfies your appetite. Fruit is candy. It should be treated like treats, not like something you eat between meals to tame your sweet tooth. Before we had all fruit available year round we had fruit during one or two seasons. My personal opinion why I don’t recommend fruit is: give people the option to eat veggies or fruit and guess what they choose: fruit of course! 1 cup sliced apple has 57 calories and 15 grams of carbs. Compare that to 1 cup broccoli giving you 31 calories and 6 grams carbs…

MILK: is for babies and hard gainers. I don’t buy into the idiotic advertising from the dairy industry that says milk is an excellent source of protein. Why? one cup of fat free milk gives you 90 calories,  12 grams of carbs and 8 grams of protein. So it’s basically more of a carb food than a protein food. If you were to get a decent amount of protein to build your body, you’d need 3 cups of it. That’s a whopping 270 calories and 36 grams of carbs in addition to your 24 grams of protein. If you were to have a protein shake (AST sports science vp2 vanilla for instance), you would get 105 calories and 24 grams of protein…. Guess what will help you shed more fat…?

I had the opportunity to ask Karlis Ullis MD, who specializes in anti-aging medicine about our female hormones and problems we face with them when we train hard to be ripped, lean machines!

FD: FOR OPTIMAL fitness the body ideally should have a low body fat percentage in order to obtain a lean, muscle defined physique. When women diet & exercise  down to ultra low body fat, most women stop menstruating. Can you explain the mechanism behind this? What is it that happens in the body or brain that makes women’s bodies respond this way?

KARLIS ULLIS: NATURE’S BASIC EVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLE IS TO PRESERVE THE SPECIES. LOW BODY FAT WOMEN LIKELY WILL NOT PRODUCE HEALTHY BABIES AND MAY DIES SOON AFTER BIRTH . AND SPECIES MAY TERMINATE. THERE IS A NEED EMOUGH BREAST MILK TO SUSTAIN THE GROWTH OF A CHILD.  LOOK AT THE SKINNY WOMEN IN AFRICA AND ALSO THE CHILD. MOST OF THE BABIES CAN NOT LIVE FROM THEIR MOTHERS BREAST MILK ALONE. LL OF NATURE IS SLANTED TOWARD ESTROGEN . THERE ARE  NO PLANTS THAT ARE MALE IN THE WORLD ( NON HAVE MALE PROPERTIES) .   ALL  PLANTS ARE  ESTROGEN’S OR NEUTRAL . NO MALE- ANDROGEN EFFECT PLANTS EXIST . TOXINS IN THE ENVIRONMENT DO NO  LEAD TO MALENESS. MOST SPECIES TAKE ON FEMALE CHARACTERISTICS  IN CHEMICALLY  IN POLLUTED AREAS . WE LIVE IN AN ESTROGEN SLANTED  WORLD.  MALE SPERM COUNTS ARE DIMISHING WORLD WIDE.

FD: Female athletes who have normal body fat can still stop menstruating. Why does that occur? And what is the solution?

KARLIS ULLIS: MENSTRUAL CYCLES ARE  DETERMINED BY THE MASTER BRAIN SURVEILLANCE CENTER CALLED THE HYPOTHALAMUS. IT SENSES THE ENVIRONMENTAL MILIEU. IT IS THE “CAPTAIN OF MENSTRUATION AND FERTILITY”. IT CAN BE EASILY DISTURBED BY ABNORMAL EVENTS ( ILLNESSES) IN THE BODY AND ALSO YOUR ENVIRONMENT (STRESS , PHYSICAL AND MENTAL). WHEN IT SENSES SOMETHING WRONG IT WILL STOP THE PULSES TO THE PITUITARY GLAND  NEEDED FOR MENSES AND FERTILITY.

FD: Lack of menses indicates hormone deficiencies. What are the signs of female hormone deficiencies and what long term consequences do the deficiencies entail?

KARLIS ULLIS: LONG TERM LACK OF MENSES – AMMENORRHEA OFTEN LEADS TO THE OVARIES NOT WORKING CORRECTLY OR MAY EVEN LEAD TO  PREMATURE OVARIAN FAILURE. THAT IN TURN LEADS TO DEFICIENCIES IN THE MAIN PRODUCTS OF THE OVARY – EGG PRODUCTION, LACK OF ESTROGEN ,  PROGESTERONE . SOME WOMEN MAY EVEN GET A LOT OF STRESS FRACTURES – WHICH OFTEN INDICATES WEAK BONE – OSTEOPOROSIS FROM OVARIAN DYSFUNCTION.

FD: Many women are being put on birth control pills/BCPS  for estrogen deficiency, but is there better options if the female doesn’t want to change her lifestyle?

KARLIS ULLIS: YOU NEED TO FIND OUT THE CAUSE OF AMMENORRHEA ( NO MENSES) OR OLIGOMENORRHEA ( INFREQUENT PERIODS). GIVING BCP’S DOES NOT ADDRESS THE CAUSATION WHICH SHOULD BE TREATED. THERE MAY BE SOME SERIOUS UNDERLING CONDITIONS WHICH NEED TO BE UNCOVERED.

FD: What is your opinion about soy supplements for female reproductive health?

KARLIS ULLIS: SOY, ESPECIALLY THE ISOFLAVONES IN SOY LIKE GENESTEIN, DIADZEIN ETC ACT AS WEAK ESTROGENS AND CAN OCCUPY THE ESTROGEN RECEPTORS = SERM EFFECT OR SELECTIVE ESTROGEN RECEPTOR MODIFIERS. IT MAY BE BAD IF YOU HAVE BREAST CANCER THAT IS E SENSITIVE AND CAN INCREASE CARDIOVASCULAR RISKS. SOY ISOFLAVONES ( PROTEINS) INHIBIT THE ENZYME CALLED THYROID PEROXIDASE (TPO) INVOLVED IN SYNTHESIS OF T3 AND T4. IT MAY THROW THOSE WHO ARE BORDERLINE INTO FRANK HYPOTHYROIDISM. THOSE WHO HAVE THE TPO ANTI BODY HAVE AN AUTO IMMUNE DISEASE CALLED HASHIMOTOS THYROIDITIS THAT BLOCK T4/T3 SYNTHESIS.

FD: Let’s say a female athlete is training rigorously, taking in plenty of nutrients but purposely keep a calorie restricted diet necessary to create that lean physique, finds her menses cease, what tests should she have done?

KARLIS ULLIS: FIRST SEE IF MORE GOOD QUALITY  CALORIES TURN ON THE MENSES. IF NOT THEN DO: ESTRADIOL. PROGESTERONE, LH, FSH, IONIZED CALCIUM  , CBC , HS- CRP, DHEA-S, TESTOSTERONE (TOTAL & FREE) , INSULIN, THYROID.

FD: What is your opinion on hormone replacement for young women who do not want to gain fat and train less intensely to restart their cycle?

KARLIS ULLIS: THEY CAN GO ON LIGHT DOSES OF BIO-IDENTICAL HORMONES AND INCREASE AS NEEDED. THEN GO UP TILL CYCLE MAY START. OLDER WOMEN CARY GREATER RISK OF HORMONES FOR CANCER AND HEART DISEASE ETC .  YOUNG WOMEN SHOULD HAVE FAR LESS RISK FROM THE HORMONES.

FD: How does hard training AFFECT men’s hormonal levels change with intense training: does testosterone decrease like women’s estrogen?

KARLIS ULLIS: MEN CAN ALSO GET STALE FROM OVER-TRAINING WITH LOWERED T;  ELEVATED CORTISOL, ELEVATED ESTRADIOL, LOW LH , LOWERED IGF-1. MEN  BECOME QUASI-ANDROPAUSAL AND YOUNGER WOMEN QUASI-MENOPAUSAL IN THE SCENARIOS DISCUSSED.

For more info on the books Karlis Ullis MD has written, click here! and for his biography, click here!

“what’s your body fat?” – a question I get daily. It’s funny cause I’ve never been obsessed with body fat numbers. I’ve always said “if you look fat in the mirror you are”. Two years ago in may 2009 I was weighing 121 lbs, very lean, and it was just a few months before I decided to do a body makeover once again. After several caliper tests done which showed 6% body fat I decided to go for the ultimate gold standard in body fat diagnosis: Dexa Scan. Results: 7% body fat.

Why did I do it? Well, I didn’t feel comfortable at my size, but I thought it had to be that I had too much fat I “didn’t know of” so just to make sure I was not delusional, I got a black and white answer. Now I new, it was “all” muscle and I couldn’t really get leaner. I found myself quite at a crossroad, not being content with my size and not really interested in getting leaner either since too lean does not make you look pretty, just undernourished and sickly.

After this experience I stopped measuring body fat completely, since I realized it was not body fat per se I was concerned with, it was my LOOKS, what I saw in photos and in the mirror which didn’t reflect what I wanted to be like. Come november 2009, after feeling like a stuffed italian sausage at a photo shoot, I decided it was time to do the big no-no in bodybuilding: shed some lean muscle I worked so hard to pack on. It took months before my body responded. I did three hours of cardio a day, ate less protein, didn’t weight train like I used to, but those muscles were there to stay. It felt like they talked to me: “Pauline! Don’t worry! We’ll stick around here during this extreme stress, we will hold on!!! We will not give up!!!”. But this time I did want the muscles and whatever fat I had to go away.

When I felt quite content with my streaming, I went for a caliper test. It showed I only lost fat. What???? I was down at 4% fat the calipers said. I didn’t believe that of course since 4% would have me look like a dehydrated raisin (as in double dehydrated you know;?;-). Once again, I didn’t CARE for the numbers. If it didn’t look the way I wanted in photos and in the mirror I would not be happy.

It’s really hard on you to change your body going from having more muscle to go smaller. Why? Cause people always comment on it as in “you’re losing weight, huh?” and you get all defensive cause even if it’s true and you are doing it on purpose, it’s so ingrown in your bodybuilding soul you will feel horrible about it. Even though YOU feel better, your energy levels go up, your joints are not hurting anymore, it’s still rough on your mental state.

So, back to me and body fat. I am finally at where I want to be when I’m on a good day. My weight is 112-114. I feel excellent. My health is excellent. So, to shut everyone’s mouth up and for my own personal health record, I decided to once again go and check my body fat. I get fed up with everyone guesstimating my body fat as well as their own, everyone underestimates their body fat and honestly, especially lean people do! Women tell me they’re 8% body fat and in my mind I’m shaking my head cause I wanna say “look girl, have you seen a 8% body fat with fat on their thighs and still not shredded ass? I haven’t!”.

I am not a fan of this extreme body fat mania! Never was! I never CARED for it. And yesterday I proved my point. Not just to everyone else, but to ME. The results showed what I knew happened: I have shed 5 lbs of muscle since may 2009. My afternoon weight was 51 kilos. And my body fat? 9.7%. Now, if I were obsessed with numbers I’d round it down to 9.5 but I’m NOT. I consider it me being at 10 percent.

So what do I feel about this new higher body fat and less muscle? FANTASTIC! Since I’m anything but pissed at it, I know I’m truly “over” bodybuilding as in old school thinking muscle mass can never be wrong. Oh yeah it can be wrong! You can have too much just like too much fat. I did NOT want to be muscularly chubby and that’s what I felt I was. I am just honest here, it’s not “bad” to say you don’t like your looks! You just have to do something about them or stop complaining,accept it, get over it and get HAPPY.

It feels so damn good to point my middle finger to everyone body fat obsessed who say they want to look like me. Well, you see, you think I am so lean, and I am, just not extremely lean! Now, if you wonder what you’re at and you compare yourself to me, I am sure you no more think you are under 10% unless you are skin and bone ONLY. It feels so damn good to prove to everyone that leanness is just a number. And I am proud to be fatter than everyone thinks! Cause it proves I am healthier than most people assume.

Haha… I am thriving here. Now I feel even better about doing what I do and striving for maintenance. Let’s settle something here once and for all: Hello, I am Pauline Nordin. I’m 112 lbs. And I’m 10% fat. I used to be more muscular and leaner, but this is what I like, this is where I feel AWESOME.