anyone can give up: You Know What Happens When You {ASSume}... Just ASK the PEANUT!! // Fitness {Q&A} //

Over the last few months I've had a great time responding to messages from friends and people I've never even met regarding my love for FITNESS. Facebook has been a great avenue for people to follow my story and be comfortable enough to ask for help and advice. It has been a privilige to be able to share with people who are wanting to know what type of program I use to stay in this kind of shape. Most of my answers have to do with my diet program of carb-cycling since that has been what's worked for me in getting lean and building muscle. I also love to tell people about living a Gluten Free lifestyle due to having celiacs disease.

Read about how I discovered my gluten

allergy in this blog post: My Transformation Story

FITNESS {Q & A}

Q: Is there anything I can do to feel less squishy by the end of the week? I know this is not a solution for long-term results, but just any tips to help me feel a little fitter in a few days? Thanks for any advice!

A: No problem...I'm doing that all the time right now for photo shoots I have on the weekend and trust me I've been enjoying my peanut butter and sweets so the weight totally comes back.

My "SQUISHY" before photos from over the years!

I'm on the far right (High school 2000)

(Winter 2009)

(Summer 2010)

The best thing to do is to not "cut out" carbs completely like a crazy person, but deplete them along the week and also during the day. If you know you want to eat "heavy" carbed on the weekend or we also call it "carb-load" then have your carbs around 150-175 each day for say Friday and Saturday. The drop the # down each day until the next Friday. Like 100 carbs on Monday, 75 Tuesday, 50 on Wed, and 25 on Thursday.

Within a couple weeks of carb-cycling I dropped bodyfat!

You will want to divide the carb amount by the 4-5 meals you are having and leave the last meal for just protein and veggies/fruit if you can.Seriously experiment with this and try your own #s but just have them drop down, weigh in first thing day after lowest day and see what happens.

Then you just repeat and I promise the body fat starts to shed, I know it did for me ;)

Q. Hey girl!! I am curious, do you do the ETS workouts or do you follow your own program? I love your physique and am working hard on gains...curious which workouts you do!!

A. I haven't done an ETS workout yet. I kind of do my own mixture of group fitness classes for cardio and low-resistance training with only a couple of days of short heavy weight sessions. I think my diet and actually lack of constant cardio has been the reason I've gained so much muscle. I cycle my carbs with 2 pretty high carb days (175 each) and then the other 5 days with 25 carbs each. I stay around 100-120 grams of protein for every day.

That's a short summary of my program and I train myself now since a trainer can be expensive. I love classes at lifetime that feel like personal training sessions, makes the membership totally worth every penny! Thank you for the kind words and let me know if you have any other questions.

p.s. I hardly ever do protein shakes or bars, just food!

Q. I'm new into the world of fitness. I find your physique inspirational - since I'm a short girl as well...and its nice to see women of our stature raise up in the world of fitness competition!! As I said, I'm just getting my foot in the door and would eventually like to compete as well. Any tips you could offer me..as far as supplements you'd recommend...diet info...??

I'm a fairy active person and I do watch what I eat..but I feel like there needs to be an additonal ingredient in order for me to shape and reform my body. Was it hard getting started? Did you have to completely realter your lifestyle? Do I need to look for a coach...etc...

If there's any suggestions you could offer, that would be awesome!
Thanks lady!!

My Coach T - Perfectly Prepared

A. So glad you sent a message and you are looking to get into the fun world of fitness ;) Thank you for all of your sweet words!

I think being petite and short is pretty fun especially since it gave me the nickname Peanut ;) I started getting ready for my very first show exactly a year ago and my body was about 15% body fat, the only defined muscle that I had ever had before the was my calves.

So it's been amazing to see what a competition diet and regular weight trainging for a year has done to my physique. The changes continue to blow my mind. The diet was a bit hard to begin with just because it was so new. I met with Aaron Callister who is a PRO bodybuilder (he works with many female competitors), he gave me a carb-cycling diet program. His main suggestion for me was to only rely on lean food protein and to stay away from any supplement shakes/bars. Things would have been even harder if I didn't already have a severe gluten allergy. My allergy forces me to not even think about the bad carbs, but there's still ways for me to put it back on if I'm not careful.

Perfectly Prepared Ladies

If you are looking for a great coach you should hit up Tara Heartzen who leads the group of women called Perfectly Prepared. She does everything from diet programs to show prep and knows her stuff. Feeling confident with support before you go on stage is priceless in the experience.

You should come to one of Tara's workout/prep sessions with me, there is one this Saturday in St. Louis Park ;)

Good luck and I'll always be here for questions and support! - Bethany

Q. Hey girl!! Curious....what do you do for your cardio intervals? And do you ever have any long cardio days???

A. Nope, I heavily rely on my "carb cycling and clean" diet so I don't have to spend hours doing cardio. I get my high impact cardio training done in group fitness glasses like ones that are "boot camp" style about 3 times a week and then add in short heavy lifting sessions (30 min) abotu 3 x's a week and that's it!! Then when I can I dance to get more cardio in :)

Fitness America 2011

Q. I hope this message isn't too .... well nosy. ;0) I am considering doing my first figure or bikini competition and I am really concerned because I'm short and all those lovely long legged tall women - I just feel like I'm going to look umm shall we say "stout"? ;0)

May I ask how tall you are? Do you have a certain weight/size you goal for before a competition? How do you know when you're ready? Do you recommend a trainer or just giving it a go on my own? Is there a trainer you would recommend? What about food? I'm pretty much eating chicken or fish and veggies at every meal....is that what really really fit people eat???

I want to be strong and fit but not overly muscle-y if you know what I mean....Anyway, thanks for any wisdom you can share. Your pics are very inspiring!

Bikini Competitor Tarah Andrews

A. Thanks for the nice message! I can say that I am rather short as well which is how I acquired the nickname "Peanut". I am right under 5'1" and started my training only a year ago. I have never been in this type of shape before so all of it is new to me.

I have a carb cycling diet with about 100-120 grams of protein a day. I don't do that much cardio and weight train when I can. You will want to make sure that your are having good carbs as well to be able to lean out properly and build any type of muscle. If you're worried about looking stout then only do low resistance training. I like to do both low and havy weights, but I like to have alot of muscle especially since I compete in figure.

If you are looking for a good person to consult with you should meet with Tara who owns Perfectly Prepared. She is my coach and manager who meets with a lot of competitors. If you want someone to give you a diet plan you can also meet with Aaron Callister who set me up on mine.

I hope that helps answer some of your questions. I'm not sure if I can be a huge help since I am a competitor and fitness model who DOES want to be as muscley as possible. If you're worried about getting huge like a body builder, you won't unless you try.

Also if you are scared of a lot of muscle then try BIKINI for sure ;)

Q. Hey girl! I'm wanting to try carb cycling, but I'm not sure how the schedule works, like 2 high, 2 low-1 high, 3 low-high, med, low...sheesh...confusing!!! Help please!!! :)

A. Here's how you can get started! Day 1: 175 carbs, Day 2: 150 carbs, Day 3: 100 carbs, Day 4: 75 carbs, Day 5: 75 carbs, Day 6: 50 carbs, Day 7: 50 carbs - Weigh in the day after your last low day and you should drop a bit. Once you start to plateau you'd play with the numbers a bit to make things harder and you'll drop again. This will lean anyone out and drop bodyfat. Divide the total carbs up for a day between your first 4 meals leaving the last 5th meal for just yummy veggies with your protein. Let me know what you think!!!

This is a great "CHARTICLE" a friend sent

me that follows the same Carb-Cycling concepts!

Look at this CHARTICLE closer at the link below:

CARBS ARE KILLING YOU

It's already March of a brand new year and I couldn't be more excited about what's in the works! My success story has been picked up by a well-known fitness magazine so watch for that news to be released soon. I have been working hard to stay in shape for photo shoots and my upcoming competitions. Save the date: Saturday, APRIL 21ST to cheer on your "PEANUT" while I hit the stage with a brand new Fitness routine and compete in the Open Figure Class. The regional show is Fitness America - Great North held in the Grand Room at the Mall of America. Stay tuned for more details and buy your tickets soon...only 6 weeks away!

My Next 3 Competitions!!!