Getting Leaner WITHOUT Losing Muscle | Diet Week 11 | Natural Female Bodybuilding

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:30]Good morning everyone. Welcome back to another vlog. I hope you're all doing very well and I hope you're having a fantastic day so far whenever you're joining me for today's video. On my end, it is currently Saturday the 2nd of May.

[00:00:47]It is now 20 to 5. I've been up since 5:00 and I'm realizing how much I benefit from having AJ here in the morning. He definitely helps me with doing a few little jobs in the morning.

[00:01:03]He normally does the dishwasher. He normally makes my coffee. He normally makes my morning drink. Uh which obviously you've seen me do this morning, which normally AJ has beautifully done for me every morning when I wake up. But he's not here today.

[00:01:15]He is in Ireland. I can't do an Irish accent, so I'm not I'm not even going to try. He's in Ireland um for some form of um seminar, I think, associated with the MBFI. So, as a result, I am home by myself this weekend. So, thought I would take you through a little bit of a day in the life, especially as I am now entering week 11 of this diet phase. Hit a nice new low this morning, 127.2 lbs. So things are moving very very nicely and we've got lower on the cards.

[00:01:52]I just thought nice day to take you through update of how things are going.

[00:01:56]Take you through a big old leg session as well cuz you've not seen this current leg session. So it'll be a good leg session to take you through. Um but as it's a Saturday I am just going to be cracking on with usual work. I don't do uh full check-ins on a Saturday in terms of like main check-ins. cuz I do those Mondays through Thursday and Fridays and then Saturday, Sunday, I'll do any catchup check-ins, which now that I've got more people who are in prep, closing in on prep and in other phases, especially with my team shoot next week, I've got a few more check-ins that I do on a Saturday and then just other programming, consultation work, etc. So, that is my plan for this morning. I hope you enjoy following along. If you do enjoy the video, please don't forget to like. My coffee is about to [clears throat] My coffee nearly exploded.

[00:02:49]Thankfully, I saved it, so it's all right. As I was saying, please don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel if you're enjoying the videos.

[00:02:59]We're getting close to 5K. It's getting there. So, I'm feeling pretty proud of the consistency that's gone into the channel, if I'm honest. I just I really enjoy it. I love YouTube. But I love long form content. Um, I feel like it's where I thrive is maybe the best word. Yeah, it's where I thrive. It's where I enjoy making content the most. It's probably the best way because we all know I'm a yapper. I can't do this whole short form thing and feel like I get my points across well. So, for me, long form is just much more fitting to my personality type. Um, and that's exactly why this intro has already been as long as it has. I'm going to start my day of work.

[00:03:42]I'll bring you along with me. We'll show you little bits of the routine and hopefully you enjoy watching.

[00:03:53]I know this is maybe quite a simple and obvious thing that I have shown many time before, but I genuinely think that this is one of the most important parts of my day. And if I didn't have this like five or 10 minutes that I have here, I would feel very much lost in terms of what my dayto-day looks like.

[00:04:12]So every morning I always spend 5 10 minutes before I log on to my desktop to literally plan out my day. I obviously have like my monthly plans laid out here, [snorts] but I'll cross transfer with that. I'll plan out my day. And usually what I do is I'll always write my scale weight. I'll write my session.

[00:04:32]I'll write my output goals. So like today I'll write 127.2 um lower and then 15k steps. Then my non-negotiables every day are pretty much always do my MBW log and forum and then checkins and then anything else that I need to write for the corresponding day. So that's kind of the main thing that I'll write in there as is. Um, you can see like yesterday I've written like consult 8:30 in person here, blah blah blah. If I've got other things on, obviously I'll write those down. Um, I usually write a few little notes on here. So, this is a really lovely journal. This is a cast journal. Um, and it's nice. I've not filled this out yet cuz I have my separate journal, but it has a lot of like nice things as we've entered May now. We've got like, you know, the the theme for the month, which is like think big. And then every day and like weekend, you'll have like goals for the weekend. Um little areas where you can write notes. So, this is a really good journal if anyone is looking for like a good diary journal. And then I literally just have this little book that my mom bought me. And I will then write in this every day. Obviously, I'm not going to show you. Um but I will just like literally write the day and then I write um like a paragraph basically which is usually um some notes of gratitude um some daily affirmations maybe some thoughts about something that I'm kind of uh processing or maybe something that I've got going on for the day. And that's something that really helps me to just work on my mindset. And I I talk about this all the time is, you know, we spend so so so much time training ourselves physically and we think about taking care of our physical health and doing physical exercise and all these things, but taking care of yourself mentally and building a strong mindset and taking care of your mental health is so important. And that's not just you know I'm not saying like journaling and doing these things that fixes bigger mental health problems but I'm saying in terms of developing the habits just like you would do you know you go for a walk you go to the gym and yes all these things have benefits in terms of building mental strength but having specific things that help you with building your mindset and help you with building your perspective on life as well I think is so important which is why as you all know as well I'll read things like this if you are wanting to get into doing some like little bits of reading, but you haven't got a huge amount of time um to obviously sit and like read loads in the morning or you you don't enjoy reading very much and a lot of reading is quite distracting.

[00:07:11]This is a really great place to start.

[00:07:14]Um the daily stoic is also really good.

[00:07:17]Uh Marcus Aurelius meditations also great just in terms of the way that they can really help you with your perspective and your mindset. So, especially if you are someone who really struggles with that, um, particularly with like work stress, life stress, I do think that they're really, really good ones to go.

[00:07:52]Not going to lie, I'm actually kind of proud of myself because I've just figured out how to link the microphone to the camera because this is a different mic to the normal one, which you might be thinking like, L, come on, that's that's basic stuff. But usually anything technology based is not usually my forte, and I usually have to get AJ to help me with those things. But we're being self-sufficient, so it's all good.

[00:08:17]Um, I'm just about to prepare the first meal of the day alongside preparing my meal two, my meal three, my meal four.

[00:08:26][laughter] So, basically, we're about to do the meal prep. Um, which is what I usually do at this time of the day. So, wow, I'm running low on chicken. I definitely need to get some new chicken. So, it's now currently, what time is it? It's quart 7. 17 minutes past to be precise.

[00:08:47]Usually have meal one at around half 7.

[00:08:50]The plan is here that I get these meals prepped. So whilst I'm preparing my first meal, I will also get pre-done, which is super easy. My oats, I then also prepare my vegetables for my post-workout meal, my meal four, and then the meat for my meals three and four goes on whilst I'm eating. um my meal number one. I've really made that quite complicated, but essentially we've got 10 to 15 minutes here where I literally prep basically all my meals today. Even my creamy for my last meal, I'll prep. And that just makes things so unbelievably easy. I know I say it all the time, but please guys, when it comes to meal prep, it can be as easy or as hard as you make it. And you don't have to do it in any specific way. You know, like if you've got the luxury of time and you would like to spend time making your meals fresh, etc., then absolutely, you know, knock yourself out. Do whatever makes you happy. But if you are finding that really struggling for time, the meal prep feels stressful. Or alternatively, say if you're dieting, I know I mentioned this last video, if your food focus is really like quite high because you're thinking about food all the time, like I'm going to prep and make another meal, um then definitely I recommend uh preparing your meals in advance cuz it will most definitely help you with managing that as well. So, that's pretty much all that I've got to say here. I'm going to make these meals cuz as you all know if I try chatting away and multitasking and that's honestly probably one of the easiest ways to make your day very inefficient, very difficult is trying to do too many things at once. Like there's there's good multitasking and then I think there's bad multitasking, you know, like trying to vlog whilst you're prepping meals. I'm going to make sure that I prep this food and then um we'll catch up from there.

[00:11:18]Okay, so that is the meals pretty much all prepped for today. So, what we've got here is we've got meal meal one here, which is usual uh venison, veggies, uh raspberries. So, that's meal one. Also, shout out because um I'm so sorry I've forgotten your name, but somebody DM'd me on Instagram to tell me that I could get the G Hughes barbecue sauces from a place called Keto. I think it's Keto Shop. Um I'll put the link on the screen. And they're like £5 a bottle. And I've been spending like £15 on these on Amazon. So, um I could have saved myself a large amount of money.

[00:12:01]But thank you for letting me know because now not only am I saving some money, but I'm also getting some of the new variations. This is a an actual steak sauce which I have with this meal which is lovely. So anyway, that's meal one. That's pre-workout meals. So that's oats, ground rice, dark chocolate just melted on there. So I put the cashew butter on that afterwards. And then these are my meals three and four in terms of veg. I've currently got my chicken going in the air fryer here.

[00:12:27]Creamy is in the freezer. And that's it.

[00:12:31]That's all meals for today. Nice and prepped. And now it is time to go and have and eat my meal number one. That would be ideal. And I'm actually going to watch Sprint qual um because that was on last night. We've had 5 weeks of waiting [snorts] for the F1, which is horrendous. Um it's been I don't know.

[00:12:54]It's been difficult, but anyone who's following F1 this year, we all know what's going on with the regulations and mixed opinions. Jury's still out for me to be honest. I don't really know what I think about it. But anyway, we've waited 5 weeks. We've got the Miami Grand Prix, so at least I get to enjoy that. And the uh the sprint qual at like was yeah, like 9:00 p.m. last night because obviously with the time difference, it's quite late. And it'll be the same going into later today. So, we've got the actual sprint at 5:00 p.m. which is great. But then again, qualifying for the race is at 9:00 and then the race tomorrow is at 9:00. I'm in bed by 8:00.

[00:13:30]So, I'm not compromising my sleep to stay up for the F1. Um, unfortunately, it's just not worth it. So, I'd rather get some good rest, wake up, and then watch it when, you know, I have my meal one or when I have my pre-workout meal.

[00:13:44]Um, because I just like to keep my normal routine.

[00:13:47]>> Let's get going. It's about time, isn't it? Let's be honest. 4 and a half weeks since we left Suzukapan.

[00:13:54]Well, that is an actual mixup and a half.

[00:13:58]>> Norris on pole.

[00:14:00]>> Antelli second. Pastry third.

[00:14:02]>> Russell down below for Stappen.

[00:14:06]>> Things are looking better. I may not hate these slight tweaks they've made to the regulation, but still a tough time to be a Stappen fan. Very much hoping that Red Bull are taking some steps ahead. The main win that I will take is that the staffin has qualified ahead of Russell. So, as long [laughter] as that's the outcome, I can't complain too much.

[00:14:35]I'm currently just in the process of now getting myself ready to have my pre-workout meal and head to the gym. I think this is actually the the debut of this room, which is basically just my it's a spare room and it's also my kind of get ready room. So, I've got my setup here. It's looking a little bit messy right now, so I'm not going to show that. Um, outfit of the day. For anyone who wants to see what I'm wearing to the gym, absolute surprise. It's what I wear almost most days that I go to the gym.

[00:14:59]There's not really ever anything drastically different with my outfits.

[00:15:02]We've got usual bombshell leggings on today. We've we've gone a bit rogue.

[00:15:07]We've got the blue, white, and red variations.

[00:15:11]By the way, if anyone has got these leggings, you will know that they they don't last very well in my opinion. like for how expensive they are. It's not helped by the fact that if you are going up and down, body weight probably doesn't help a lot, but I always find that these like start to rip. Like you can literally see there cuz it's obviously made of mesh. But I find them the comfiest leggings to wear ever, so it's why I just stick with what I know.

[00:15:35]They're not falling apart just yet. I have gone through multiple pairs in the past, but these ones, they're hanging on. All right. We've got MBW long sleeve on, and then we've got my MBW um t-shirt. This one I've worn it again so much that it's now starting to like literally wear off at the back because this is one of the natural athlete ones that we did. So they did the manufacturing of these. So like the actual print on them is different to what we use for all of our other stuff.

[00:16:04]So it has worn off a little bit faster.

[00:16:07]I mean I say faster, but like I've had this for a year and a half and I've worn it probably like hundreds of times.

[00:16:13][laughter] So it's obviously going to have worn a little bit. But compared to our other ones, they're definitely a lot more durable. I'm just wearing literally pretty much the same thing that you'll have seen me wear about a million times.

[00:16:23]I have about I'd say, well, it's basically the same outfit, but I have multiple different variations of it. It's like some form of bombshell leggings with an MBW long sleeve and an MBW t-shirt. And either I'll wear like my gas bottoms and my train by JP jumper or I'll wear my MBW tracksuit over the top depending on the weather. And I'm grateful that the weather is still bearable. And I said this in the last video. I'm grateful that being modified is of a temperature where I can still get away with wearing this and not having to wear shorts just yet because I really like wearing like more layers or like baggier clothes. And this is something I know I've probably spoken about this so many times in the past and you hear people talk about it all the time, but that's just something that for me allows me to feel more it's not even comfortable and confident, but I just Yeah, I suppose it is in some ways. It's just how I feel comfortable.

[00:17:26]Yeah, it's how I feel comfortable in a gym setting. And that's not because I don't feel confident or I wouldn't feel confident in my body if I was to wear say like shorts and a sports bra. And I think it's a big misconception that people only wear baggy clothes in the gym because and usually it's women. No one's usually commenting on what men are wearing. They usually say that women only wear baggy clothes in the gym if they're not confident. And then the opposite is that people will say like, "Oh, well, women will only wear like sports bras and shorts or this and that because they're trying to draw attention in or whatever, which is just stupid."

[00:18:02]So, I don't think that either of those things are actually true in in most cases, probably if all. I think maybe some women unfortunately maybe do feel the need to kind of wear baggy clothes cuz they're not confident. I think that that is definitely something to be addressed. And I don't ever want people to think that that's the message that I put out is like, oh well, you shouldn't feel confident in your physique or body or you should, you know, put that away while you train, whatever. Stupid thing to say. Um, the only reason I do it is cuz it's it's literally like my personality and what I feel comfortable in. Like ever since I was a little girl, I have always just preferred wearing like bigger, baggier clothes. always wearing kind of like honestly like it sounds silly but like I've enjoy I used to enjoy wearing a lot of like boys clothes growing up like my mom bless her she used to try to buy me these like lovely like dresses and skirts and things like that and literally I would just go to school in like my sports uniform like I'll I'll literally put some pictures up here of me going to school back when I lived in America because obviously it had non-uniform and I literally used to just wear like my Jets like NFL like shorts and like hoodie like I was like mom this is what I want to wear to school cuz I was a bit of a tomboy like growing up and that's just always the way that I have been. So I just feel more comfortable in like baggier clothes um or like bigger t-shirts. That's not to say that I don't still feel confident. Sometimes I like to wear things that are maybe a bit more girly, but generally it's [snorts] just not it's just not my style. It's not how I feel like myself. Um, and I think that when you go to train, you should feel like the best version of yourself. And whatever that looks like and whatever that feels like for you, that's the most important thing. So, you know, I still like to put a little bit of makeup on, get my face like feeling good. And I like to look awake and I like to feel good in myself, but clothing wise, it's about wearing whatever whatever you feel good in. Like literally, that is the only thing that matters. So, just always remember that if somebody decides to comment on it for whatever reason, as long as you feel good, you'll train good and you'll train well. Here we are then.

[00:20:15]We have now arrived at preworkout time.

[00:20:18]It is almost just gone exactly 10:00, 9:59 to be exact. So, sitting down for just usual usual preworkout setup off the gym. Obviously, it's about two 2 and 1 half hours since I had my first meal.

[00:20:32]And this meal is just exactly the same.

[00:20:34]So, I think in the last video, what did I train? I trained upper, but obviously my upper and lower days now are the same. I just had one standard training day, but I ran you through the kind of updates that we had with regards to um the food drops. Sorry, as we all know, sometimes I get these little brain block moments.

[00:20:55]I ran you through the updates with the food drops. So, food today is literally the exact same as it was in that video.

[00:21:03]So there's no changes to to really showcase for you all. So I'll show you the meals as vegan because they're part of the day, part of the routine, but there's not really anything new to show.

[00:21:12]Whilst I am eating said meal, I'm going to just listen to a little bit of bro chat actually. Um I find that before I go and train recently, I've really enjoyed just listening to podcasts. I mean, if there's something else in a video format, like maybe someone's uploaded a vlog that I'd like to watch, I'll watch that. But I used to watch a lot of training before I used to go to the gym. Like especially I used to watch a lot of um the train by JP videos and even like you know the MBW videos that are on the site. So like athlete training videos and I used to find those like really really valuable. And I think that when you're at the start of your training career and you're learning a lot about training and seeing people train, seeing people talk through training is really really helpful. And also I think that when your whole life isn't bodybuilding and you don't watch a lot of training all the time, it helps you to kind of get into that headsp space. Whereas for me now, if anything, I kind of benefit from having something that is just like a bit more chilled, you know, bodybuilding related, but maybe it's like a podcast um or watching just like some F1 content or something.

[00:22:25]And that for me is just me kind of switching off and focusing on things that are I suppose the best way of wording it is like bodybuilding in a way that is enjoyable and not me like doing more almost like what feels like coaching work if that makes sense. Um, but I think it has a time and place where it's enjoyable. The main thing is you watch whatever you want to watch or don't watch anything if you don't want to watch anything either. Um, but I'm going to watch something and I'm going to eat. Um, otherwise, as always, we'll basically be here all day.

[00:22:54]>> I think he would have been in the same category as Lee Priest. Like Lee Priest was always in the top six. I think we could say that Kev that Flex Lewis I think we could safely say if you would have kept on going it would be a top >> usual pre-workout pumpage going down as well two scoops of this with a single pump of Nespresso on the way to the gym.

[00:23:19]So zero changes there. As always, any of the products that I do mention, you can shop at Pit Stop and use my code LO10 to save a little bit of money and to support me if you wish to support me any capacity. If you don't want to [music] support me, you're also not forced to.

[00:23:35]Fortunately, just had a little bit of a realization as I recorded this bit of the video. So, my plan with today's today's video is I was thinking like I'll show you today because we've not gone through today in a while. And for some reason, I thought that when I filmed last week, I filmed on Friday, which was my upper day. And I didn't. I literally did this exact same day last week and we did this exact same session. But my goal today is I'm going to get some more bits of training filmed and maybe have some more to show you from the leg session. Obviously, it's the same session, but I don't think I filmed the whole session last week. So, I'll try to film the whole session. We'll see how we get on. Um, I'll do my best. I can only do my best, and that is all that I can really ask of myself in that situation. Um, I apologize that clearly I don't know what day of the week it is or where we're at and I've got all the days all kind of mixed up, but I'm praying fingers crossed that it is not a super busy gym today because it's the bank holiday I believe this weekend. So, I've just put I'm so stupid. I am stupid.

[00:24:55]>> I am stupid. I am stupid.

[00:24:58]I have just put the water that I was going to take to the gym back in the fridge. So, let's just swap those around. And then it's not busy with the bank holiday cuz it's May Bank holiday at the moment. And yesterday was really quiet. So, I thought that yesterday was going to be like super busy because of the bank holiday. I was thinking like people are going to be coming to the gym on Friday cuz people might be taking the Friday off. Um, and I was a bit worried about that because I had my client Ella uh come in from Ireland and I was like, I don't want her to come and like the gym's really busy and it's like overwhelming, blah blah blah. It was actually fine. It was really quiet. So, kind of hoping I'll be better today, but no my luck, it'll be absolutely rammed.

[00:25:39]So, honestly, I have messed up this section a little bit on my behalf because I thought that I'd filmed this voice over already and I haven't.

[00:25:46][snorts] So, we're going to quickly run through the session for you all. Now, as I say, we're going through it in a little bit more depth um here for you today, so you can see all of the actual movements. So, we started off the session with two sets of glute drive.

[00:25:58]So, starting off with more of the shorten work um for the glutes. I do my first set on here is actually a higher rep set. So, I do whatever this is, three three and a 3/4 plates for I think it's like a 14 15 reper. And then I do a higher rep set second, a low rep set second. sorry, a little bit heavier. Um, and that basically just allows me to make sure that I'm actually nailing the movement. I've got a good bit of actual blood flow and also connection in my glutes before I then go into that heavier set. Everyone's a little bit different, but for me personally, I find that that really, really works to allow me to get the most out of that heavier set second. Cuz if I was to do that heavier set first, I do tend to find that I struggle a little bit more with connection. And there's also the positive that it kind of intentionally reduces some of the load that I might get a little bit greedy with putting on.

[00:26:54]Like here I've got four plates for a nice lower rep set. But if I was maybe doing that first, I might try to go a little bit heavier and maybe not even be justified taking that and take just a worse set in general. So I personally find that that layout works super super well. Then we move on to doing some seated hamstring work. So just some hamstring curls here at the start. We do this on the the Cybex, which although the stretch on this isn't the best, you actually do get the hamstring really nice and short, which I like. That was the issue that I sometimes found with the Prime at Rother Room is that you get good stretch, but you couldn't actually get them short. You just like jam at the bottom. So um I do really like this setup. Just the two sets on here. a standard sort of like 8 to 10 and then a 10 to 12. So that basically also just gets like my glutes and my hamstrings nice and primed before [snorts] I then go into my RDL work because I definitely wouldn't want to go straight into a session and straight doing pulling work.

[00:27:59]I've in the past gone in and done RDL's or deadlifts after doing like just a single pull down. I think maybe there was some stage where I used to go straight in. But I tell you one thing, that was the time where my pulling was the most unpredictable. So like sometimes it could feel good, sometimes it wouldn't. [snorts] And more than anything, it was the time where I was getting the most injured. So I genuinely believe that unless you're like literally going into powerlift, like do some work before you go into your hip hinge or even put your hip hinge a little bit later in the session. But even if the goal is to like maximize that, don't just think, oh, if I go in first thing, that's going to give me a better set outcome because the likelihood is is that in the way that that makes you feel mentally and physically. It's you're not going to be anywhere near as ready as you could be by doing some pre-warmup work. So, I enjoy doing that work before I go in. I feel better going into these sets. And I do a decent bit of work in my warm-ups as well. So, I actually do anywhere from like six to 10 reps through all of my warm-ups as I go up. So I do 60, 80, 100 here as my last warm up and then I go in with 120 for 10 reps for my working set.

[00:29:11]So I've found that over the years I used to think I'll do less warms like just one repers, two repers, and that will [snorts] make my top sets better. And I actually found that it kind of made my top sets worse because I was so like anxious going into them mentally thinking, "Oh my god, am I going to be able to get this to move?" Whereas when I do more of the warm-ups, I'm already like confident. But physically, I also just feel really capable. Like I'm so warm and so ready to go. And that's something that when I kind of adapted my training a little bit last year when I was doing more higher rep work and my my warm-ups intentionally, I was doing 10 reper warm-ups, I realized that it worked really well. So I've kind of kept a little bit of a hybrid in that moving forwards. So after the one set of RDL's, just the one set there, um I do the cyex pivot with the top band. So, two sets on here. First set is I think a 10 reper.

[00:30:03]Second set is like a 12 reper. So, I don't do anything super low rep on here because for me, I personally find that kind of keeping within that 8 to 12 reps is a nice place for me on a leg press. I think if I personally go a little bit lower than that, my bracing goes a little bit. I find that the quality of the set's not quite as good, and I also just don't don't feel super safe. So, this layout works re really really nicely for me. love this movement.

[00:30:28]People always ask me about why I do keep the top hand or what that even does. And really, it makes the move generally a bit harder. It makes it harder at the the um lockout and it pulls me in more into the stretch, which is honestly the main reason why I use it. Yes, it's beneficial cuz it means I have to use a little bit less plates, which is nice cuz I don't want to have to load a load of plates, but it keeps my position really pulled into the seat, which for me really helps me keeping my hip position nice and locked in. helps me with bracing um and it keeps my lower back and my hip position really safe whereas otherwise because the load kind of drops off a little bit into the stretch on this. I find that my hip position shifts quite a lot and that's where I've kind of ran into issues or or injuries in the past. But best bit of advice I can give you on a leg press is lock the [ __ ] in and imagine that your whole body is like super glued into the movement. The one thing that I often find prevents people from getting all the way to failure on movements like this is that they're like not pulled into the handles. They're shifting around. They're looking around. They're moving their hips. They're moving their feet. Like just lock yourself in and literally just keep your queue simple like load down, drive through and probably get so much more out movement.

[00:31:41]Uh then we go on to do some glute me kickbacks. So basically just a little bit of glute glute me work um later on the session. And it also kind of like breaks up uh the work a little bit. So after doing the RDL's and after doing the leg press, I kind of get a moment to breathe and just do do some gluty kickbacks, which I actually really enjoy. And on this Cybex Bravo setup, I like them as well because I'm able to kind of get that hip support. But the main thing you're focusing on with the glute me is more so just the angle is different to what you'd be taking on a glute max setup. So hopefully you can see the difference there. And then we finish off the session with basically just some leg extensions. So bit of quad work. We did two sets on um all those movements. So leg press two sets glute me two sets leg extension here two sets um which is just a good place in terms of recoverable volume for me um in general in this diet in terms of keeping good quality work. [snorts] Um there's not really too much else to say about that. It's just just simple work end session requires the same level of effort and intensity and attention as all the work at the start of the session. Um, [snorts] and that goes the same thing for your calf work and your ab work. So, even if you've got calves, even if you got abs or whatever it may be at the end of the session, treat it with respect. That is very, very important. I think far too many people will rush through those spinal movements because you're tired. And I get that remark all the time is, "Oh, by the time I get to the end of the session, like, I'm feeling tired." It's like, yeah, of course, as you should do. You've been training for an hour, an hour and a half. If you weren't feeling tired and you were still feeling A1 like you did the start session, I'd be more concerned. Like being tired or being worked, feeling a bit fatigued after doing something is not something to be feared. Like, don't have a negative association with that feeling. Like, it doesn't have to be a negative thing. It just means that things are getting harder. So, you just need to keep working. You need to keep getting after it. especially [snorts] if you've got things like abs like this at the end and you actually want to have some good abs.

[00:33:40]So anyway, that's the session. I'll leave that uh voice over there and we'll catch up in the car. Somehow I've managed to hit record via the microphone. Not sure how I've done that.

[00:33:52]I'm just about to head home from the gym. So it is now just gone past 1:00.

[00:33:57]Oh, I actually want to show you something on my phone very quickly. had my first bit of communication with AJ. Obviously, he let me know when he landed yesterday, but he sent me a lovely picture of himself and Christopher McCriedi at their uh little seminar event in Ireland, which is very cute. I actually wanted to get other people's thoughts, opinions. I mean, to be fair, not necessarily opinions, but what you do, what's your experience? Because myself and AJ, we don't really text each other very much, especially when we're not together. I think it's because we never texted each other. So like because we met each other in person and we spent time around each other in person, we never ever went through a phase of like DMing or texting each other. So we've it's just not something we've ever done.

[00:34:48]Like we we've literally never ever ever texted each other cuz we were friends in person. Then we obviously started seeing each other and we basically lived together ever since. But as a result, whenever we're apart, we we don't like text. And I don't know if it's just because we're also really busy. Like we we honestly could not I could not be bothered.

[00:35:13]Um but yeah, is that like a common thing that people do or is it weird that we don't like really talk to each other when we're not together? I think we quite like well as I say we both though like being on our phones and it's nice to have like just some time apart like I know he's fine. I don't need to text him to check in on how he's doing. If he if he needs me he can call me. We did that when he went away cuz he was in last year he went to Poland and Austria. He was away for like 2 weeks and I was home alone for 2 weeks and like we obviously like catch up like later when our session's gone and like we did call each other a few times but I mean like there's not like a continual conversation. Does that make sense? I don't know if I'm making any sense at all. Um but I've kind of dera derailed myself from the point. I just wanted to ask your guys' opinion on that as well.

[00:36:02]Anyway, I'm going to head home. I was happy with my posing afterwards.

[00:36:07]Obviously, your legs are always going to be a bit smashed when you pose after legs funnily enough, but I do think in terms of body composition, in terms of muscle mass, like I'm really happy with with things now. And I think that, you know, at this point, this is where as you start to come down, uh, especially for me once I start to get into the 120s, that's where I really start to see the actual muscle that I've built. Uh because especially in my frame and a lot of I'd say a lot of other short ladies like will relate to this. But honestly, if you're just someone who maybe stores a lot of body fat in places like your midsection or around your hips or around your knees, like it makes it hard to see the muscle because the overall shape is kind of hidden, if that makes sense.

[00:36:56]Which has its pros and cons. Like you could sit there and you could dwell on like, oh, you know, when I'm heavier I can't see it. But I just choose to look at the positives. And the positives are that when I come down, I feel it's more exciting. Do you know what I mean?

[00:37:10]Because I get to see the results that I've not seen. So, I always find that really rewarding. So, I I just try tried to focus on the positives on that front.

[00:37:20]Um, but yeah, I'm definitely really happy with muscle, especially in like I mean, I say in the lower half, but you know what? I'm actually really happy happy with my like upper body muscularity as well. And this is something that I think I just continuously remind myself of and is why I'm kind of going through this process at the moment. Actual muscle wise like I'm really proud of the muscle that I built and that I continue to build and like obviously you always want more but when I look at my physique like sometimes I can be like I'm not big enough in my upper I'm not big enough here and yes as I say we can always add more muscle. I know that so much of that is just structure. I go through my poses and I hit some of them. Yeah, really happy. And then, you know, if I hit a front relaxed or I hit a rear relaxed, like the the shape and the structure, it's just it's just not there. Um, and that's something that I just know. I'm just aware of and that's nothing that I can change control. If I'm doing figure or bodybuilding, I understand that's my limitation. I can only control what I can control. If I decide to do bikini, that's where thankfully that's not quite as big of a part of the criteria in certain federations. No matter what, clvicular width X frame, it's always going to benefit you in bodybuilding, no matter what category. That's just the reality of, you know, the structure. But that's not to say that you can't still build a physique that you're really really proud of and, you know, figure out where you fit competitively. But aside from competitive goals, when I look at, you know, the progress that I've made now, this offseason, and I think that this diet now, I'm starting to feel it more, I'm like, you know what? Yeah, I am. I am happy with the progress that I've made and the point that I'm at in my journey now. The first sort of 12 months, I'd say, for me post prep, they definitely were harder from a progress standpoint in the sense that one, so much of that is about just recovering. Honestly, the actual progress that you make maybe isn't super significant. Although, I do think that I still made some good progress post prep.

[00:39:18]But the main issue for most people is that your perception of said progress is kind of really thrown off because you're so used to looking at your physique when it's been so lean. where especially as a natural athlete and a natural female especially as you start to put some body fat on it really can blur or create an illusion of looking smaller and as a result you might think that you're not making progress when you actually are.

[00:39:48]So when you get a bit more adapted into the off season as well, your perspective shifts, but overall positive things. I will catch up with you when we get back home and we have obviously the post-workout meal. All right, back home and time to showcase the post-workout meal. I personally always like to come back home and get showered unless I've had an upper session. Sometimes I will eat straight after training because I've not really like sweated as much. usually come back, shower, post-workout meal, obviously already made from earlier, so that saves a good bit of time. And it's obviously just entirely as usual. So, we've got usual uh 90 g chicken, 100 g of mixed veg, kimchi, little bit of salt in this meal, 50 g worth of rice cakes, which is seven rice cakes, and then we have also got some raspberries. So, that's post-workout. always recommend that you at least set yourself in a nice whoa set yourself in a nice relaxed environment when you do eat your post.

[00:40:51]Even if you are, like I say, on the go, if you can stop at a services, if you can take five minutes in your car before you rush into work or you go to your next client or whatever it may be, um it makes a huge difference cuz especially if you're having any digestive issues, 90% or most uh digestive issues come from stress. And especially when you've been training, you're in a higher stress state. You're going to be in that sympathetically driven fight orflight state. So if you can get yourself into that parasympathetic state of rest and digest, especially while you're eating, you chew your food, you take the time to eat, that will make a huge, huge difference in terms of the digestion. I also just want to show you very quickly my outfit because for some reason today we're doing we're doing fit checks of the day. Uh so yes, I am wearing the top that I just wore to train in white, but I never really wear this to train. So, I feel okay wearing this at home in order to like actually relax. Um, so we've got MBW white top on. I did have another MBW white top on that I wore last night and for some reason I cannot wear a white t-shirt for more than 3 4 hours before it needs changing because I see all of the food that somehow manages to get everywhere. which is why probably a big reason why I wear black mo most of the time. So when I wear white I'm like how do I make such a mess? But somehow I do. And then we've actually got some MBW shorts on. And I've been wearing these recently in the last few days cuz the weather's been a lot nicer. And I've not actually worn these yet. So we have these in three different colors. We have these in white, black, and gray. They match the long sleeves. I think we have still a few of them left on on the site in my size, which is obviously a size small.

[00:42:41]So, any girls, if you're wanting any like comfy shorts either, like honestly, these are actually really nice. If you wear them, you can obviously hug them down, you can have them up. I've obviously got them up because I just feel a little bit more comfortable with them, a bit shorter, especially with a baggie tea. But they're really nice if you wear them with like a nice little like crop top ranching around. Nice little vest. I was wearing these the other day with like a nice little um honor top that AJ Sister actually got me and I was like that's actually quite a cute little outfit. So if you are a size small, I think there are like I say a few of these left if you're interested in getting some cuz they're definitely appreciated in summer cuz I don't like wearing like tight shorts a lot. um you know the proper like define or honor shorts or um I've got some like Alfaly ones. I'm just like so uncomfortable. I want to be like relaxed like to wear comfy clothes um like the boys do. So that's why these are uh unisex at the end of the day. So anyway, those are my shorts. I just thought I'd share that.

[00:43:49]Um as always, I'll leave all the links for all those things uh in the description. But now I need to actually eat. So, as I predicted, I have already spilt on myself and tried to somehow wipe it a little bit so that it doesn't stain, but I don't think I've done a very good job. So, we'll just ignore and pretend that that's not going on.

[00:44:09]Quarter to 3. I am just going to finish off my steps for the day. So, I'm currently on 12,000. I do 15,000 per day. And usually, this is where I'm at.

[00:44:21]So I do about 8 to 9k before I go to the gym and then I usually do between 3 4k while training and then I do a walk in between my post-workout meal and my meal number four. So this will be like a 20 25 minute walk. finish off my steps. And then in between meals 4 and 5, which is from 4 till 6, that's where like I'll do jobs and stuff around the house. And that will obviously rack up maybe a few more sets, but I don't intentionally go on another walk. And that time is really just for winding down, decompressing.

[00:45:00]Phone goes away, phone goes on charge, um do a little bit of reading, which I'll ultimately show you when we come around to it. But for now, I'm just going to answer the door because somebody's at the door. Sorry about that. Obviously just had to answer the door and get some parcels and some letters.

[00:45:19]I don't I honestly don't know what I was talking about. It's probably good that we've had an interruption, but anyway, I'm going to do these steps now. I'm going to also go on uh Instagram and do my posts and reply and share anything over the day. This is the time that I go on Instagram, which is basically now from it's usually like 3 till half 3 or 4 and whatever I need to do to go on.

[00:45:42]But I'll prepare a post, share the post, get back 20 messages, share anything, and then that's it. That's the only time that I go on social media across the day, apart from like, you know, YouTube, um, which is technically still social media, but it's just chosen long form content. But I think it's so important to have some rules with how you audit your social media. Both in the way that you know the times that you use it, how much you use it overall, and what you also follow on social media. Because I think that social media can be immensely positive. I think it's a great tool for connectivity, for learning, for entertainment, but if you use it in the wrong ways or if you overuse it, it can definitely have a negative effect. So, I would definitely just say make sure that you have some rules for yourself. You know, like times that you go on it, times that you don't go on it with your phone use as well, like times you go on your phone, times you don't go on your phone. Who are you following? What are you watching? Is it stuff that's really helping to enhance your experience of life or helping you to develop your knowledge? Or is it stuff that's maybe diminishing like that experience? So, just some things to think about. I know a lot of people say it's not that deep, but social media does really have quite a big impact on our mental health and our experience and our perception of ourselves. So many different things. So definitely make sure that you are using it for positive reasons.

[00:47:07]Time for meal number four as it is literally just about to go 4:00. So meal four we also have at four which is just complete coincidence. And we have got uh some salmon veg that I prepped earlier.

[00:47:22]Salmon here because I wanted to have salmon today. I could do chicken. I would have prepped earlier, but honestly, well, two things. I ran out of chicken. And two, I fancied having some salmon. So, for the salmon, I just put that on the pan. It's literally taking me uh 2 minutes um to just heat that up with the vegetables. Um so, I wouldn't do a hot salmon with cold veg. I could do cold salmon, but I like to do it hot on the pan. So, that's that done there.

[00:47:50]I'm going to put a little bit of kimchi alongside that. And I will also have some cashews for my fats in this meal. I don't think that I um a fork over here. I don't think I did salmon last time I did this meal. I think I think the last time I did this, I did chicken. I can't remember. I'm sorry.

[00:48:17]I'm sorry if it's the same thing. Um, but I have got 10 g of cashews with this, which I've been doing instead of doing like uh 25 g of avocado just because honestly, if I'm going to have avocado, I'd rather have 50 g cuz 25 g it just it goes and miss.

[00:48:37]So, if I'm doing chicken because obviously it's not got the fats of the salmon, then I will do the cardo in this meal. I'll do cashews. I love cashews.

[00:48:48]Like cashew butter, cashews themselves, absolutely stunning. Somebody recommended to me to use cashew milk for my creamy, which sounds incredible. Um, but I did look and the calories were like double that of of the unsweetened almond milk. So, when it is appropriate, I will have it. And when I've got some more cows to to free up. But for now, we do a nice little hand handful of of cashews here. Um, sorry. We'll do for now. We'll stick with the almond milk.

[00:49:19]Um, but that's my handful cashews weighed out. Salmon meal ready. And that's the total meal there. If I can give you a nice little demo of things together. Whilst that was cooking on the hob, I just did my MBW log for the day.

[00:49:38]If we can get that to focus in on here.

[00:49:40]So, MBW log on here. So every day I will update my log body weight session rundown and I always give like you know my thoughts on things that are going on when it comes around to my check-ins. So if we come around to see how I also put like my check-in pictures on here and you know full updates. So if you want to follow my process in detail I do obviously upload that all on there so you can sign up to Natural Body Building Worldwide. And I've also done my Instagram post today. So today's post was some pictures of my client Ella from uh yesterday. Sorry, turn turn the sound off. Uh from yesterday, she's looking absolutely mega. I was really really happy with how she looks in person.

[00:50:22]She's got such a lovely um bikini physique just overall. Um and also just such a lovely person. So it was really really nice to meet her. Um AJ literally replied to me straight after I posted this picture of us. He was like, "You finally met a client around your height." I was like, "Yeah, Ella definitely still has the uh the height advantage on me." But we both said when we met each other, we were like, "Oh my god, we're like the same height." Cuz normally whenever I meet most of my clients and just honestly people in general, the first thing that I often get is, "Wow, you're so much smaller in real life." Or, "You're so short."

[00:51:02]Something like that. Um, which as a bodybuilder, hearing that you're so much smaller in real life is not usually like your favorite comment. Um, but I am obviously, you know, I'm I'm pretty short. I am 4 foot 10 on a good day. I'm also shorter than I used to be. I used to be just sub 5 foot. Um, and I think all the deadlifting is definitely compressed my spine a little bit, but it's all good. It's all good. I don't mind being short. Short queens, strong queens.

[00:51:32]No complaints. Even if you're tall, you just love yourself the way that you are.

[00:51:36]That's all that matters. It's now half six, so it's time for me to have my last meal. My creamy is on the go in the background. It's nearly finished. Uh PMs for those interested. All I take is four caps of dream sleep, vitamin C, pillcomin, vitamin D, omegas, and that's it. I think that's everything.

[00:52:00]Yep, that's all. Very simple, does the job. This meal is just as always, as I mentioned it last week, 30 g of whey, 400 mls of unsweetened almond milk, and 100 g of raspberries, and 20 g of dark chocolate. The worst thing for me right now is when AJ is not here and I'm not like committing to a series myself.

[00:52:28]I'm like, what what the hell am I supposed to watch? Because I actually just read. So when Amy's not here, rather than sitting and like watching a show or watching a film like we might do in the evening with glass meal, I just like to read my books. At the moment, I am on Throne of Glass.

[00:52:48]I finished off Madold. I read Assassin's Blade, which I read first. And I know a lot of people like there's a bit of controversy around that, but I just I just went with what the majority was saying. So, I read Assassin's Blade first and now I'm on to Throne of Glass.

[00:53:06]I actually got that much left of that.

[00:53:07]So, my goal is to finish that this evening or tomorrow. I'm going to leave the video there because I just need to wait for my creamy to finish and then if I'm yapping away when my cream is finished, it starts to melt, which is probably not ideal. So, we're going to leave the day there. I'm sorry.

[00:53:25]I know it's been a bit of a higgledy higgledy video. I feel like this has just been me catching at random points and kind of chatting away, but apparently people some people seem to enjoy it. Some people don't seem to enjoy it, and that's totally fine because I'm not forcing you to watch this video. So, if you don't enjoy me yapping, you may exit at any stage.

[00:53:43]We're not holding anyone hostage here.

[00:53:45]So, if you would like to come along, you're welcome to join the party, but you may RSVP to that invitation and say like, "Lo, I don't don't want to come to a YouTube party. Thank you very much.

[00:53:55]You talk too much." That's perfectly fine. But anyway, if you have made it to to the end of this video, you are definitely a real one because this one has probably been pretty difficult um to make it through. I'm holding this like this because I was going to say if it made to the end comment comment down below. Cinnamon, thank you so much for all the love and support and just watching along. As always, I hope you've enjoyed following this day along. I'm having a great time. I'm loving this diet, loving the process, loving more more of the usual. Diets just make me appreciate all the lovely little things even more so. And honestly, just like the bodybuilding process in general, I think it gives you so much gratitude. And that's what so many people always say about preps is that, you know, it always it gives you an entirely fresh perspective and it does give you a lot a lot of gratitude on like different things in life as well. Right, we're going to close it off there. Thanks, guys. Love you all and I'll see you all in the next