My latest contest prep

Some of you may know that I’ve been getting ready for a competition. My prep is coming to an end now and I just would like to say a few words about it.It was a different prep this time. I’ve done a lot of research on nutrition – we all would like to make it easier if we could. Now let me tell you something: you can make your prep easier, although you still have to put all the hard work in.

Has it been a more successful prep? Well, let’s wait another week and find out. I can’t say anything in advance, and I wouldn’t want to. I don’t want to project anything – all the athletes know that the last week still brings changes (for better or worse, it can still go either way). However one thing is for sure: I have no food cravings. Before, during the last few weeks of my previous contest preps I was looking at ‘food porn’, checking out what I’m gonna eat after the competition etc at this point I haven’t done any of those, and that’s purely down to the changed diet I used this time. Am I hungry? Yes, of course I am. Have I got energy? No, not much, because I still needed to cut calories to get down my bodyfat levels. 
Most people think that losing bodyfat is only down to dieting hard and working hard. Well, in essence it’s true. However if your hormones are not in balance, all that will go out of the window. You think you’re eating the right food, in the right quantities, you do your cardio, but your bodyfat still doesn’t shift… I’ve been there, done it. Nothing is more frustrating. And people say: you don’t diet hard enough… Well, guess what? You probably do, harder than most, and that’s what makes it even more annoying. 
The best thing I’ve done was starting everything with a hormone resetting diet. It was high time for me as I’d been struggling with metabolic issues for years. Once that was cleared and in balance, I started eating for hormonal health, I’ve used a pro metabolic approach: cut out some foods from my diet completely – and you’d be surprised that I don’t mean sugar. I actually still have sugar in my diet, this close to a competition. And I’ve also added others that help with my metabolism and thyroid health. I will talk about all this later, in more detail, once I’m back to ‘normal’ again. 
If you’re struggling with losing weight, get in touch and I can help you how to get your hormonal balance back. 

Vitamins and minerals

Vitamins and minerals you need for your body to function properly. Generally you can get all your vitamins and minerals from your diet, but there are certain cases when you need to supplement:
* If you are vegetarian, 

* Eat a diet that’s limited because of food allergies and intolerances, 

* Or if you have a disease or condition that doesn’t allow you to digest or absorb nutrients properly.

Otherwise whole foods are a lot better sources than supplements as whole foods also contain a variety of nutrients your body needs – not just one. They also contain fibre that is important for digestion and they also contain phytochemicals that may help protect you against cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis or diabetes.

Fat soluble vitamins:

Vitamin A / beta carotene 

Helps with healthy vision, bone and tissue growth and reproduction. Vitamin A and thyroid are closely related. A deficiency in either can precipitate a deficiency of the other and ideally should be balanced. In too large amounts, however, vitamin A can suppress the thyroid and depress levels of other fat soluble vitamins – especially vitamin D.

Foods: liver, egg yolks, milk

Vitamin D / calciferol
Often called the sunshine vitamin because your skin produces it after being exposed to ultraviolet rays from the sun. It helps your body absorb calcium that is responsible for the normal development and maintenance of healthy teeth and bones. 

To get vitamin D you need either sunlight or supplementation.

Vitamin E / tocopherol 
It is an antioxidant that protects red blood cells and may play a role in immune function, DNA repair and other metabolic functions. It is also called the ‘anti-sterility’ vitamin as it opposes estrogen. 
Water soluble vitamins

Vitamin C / ascorbic acid

It’s an antioxidant that maintains healthy tissue and helps the body absorb iron. Also plays a role in wound healing, reducing stress and making one less susceptible to food allergies. 

Foods: orange juice, ripe fruits

Vitamin B3 / niacin
It is one of the 8 B complex vitamins that helps your body convert food to energy. It also helps with blood circulation and improved blood cholesterol levels. 

Vitamin B6 / pyridoxine
It is needed to help your body use protein, form red blood cells and maintain brain function. It facilitates amino acid utilisation, aids in calcium metabolism, supports the liver and helps regulate the facilitation and use of glycogen.

Foods: liver, egg yolk, milk

Vitamin B9 / folate / folic acid 
It is important in red blood cell formation and for healthy cell growth and function. Very important during pregnancy for the developing fetus. 

Vitamin B12
It has an essential role in red blood cell formation, cell metabolism and nerve function. 

About minerals in the next post.

Holiday is coming to an end

In the past 1.5 years I’ve had a blast. Visited Istanbul, Turkey, then went over to Cairo Egypt and stayed there for a year. This year was happy and challenging. Moving to a different country is always challenging, but when it has such a different culture, it was truly amazing. Made some friends, some amazing people – and had some enemies like everyone else. Most part of this year in Egypt I was dieting: first I was getting ready for the WABBA Universe last November. That prep didn’t really go well for different reasons. Then had some time off and started prepping again for the WABBA Hercules Olympia in May in the UK, then the NABBA Worlds in June in Malta and finally the WFF Universe in France the week after. Just before I left for the competition in Malta I decided not to return to Egypt anymore. I came back to Hungary to see my family and relax a bit. It was a long dieting, I was very exhausted. I stayed a bit longer than I planned. I haven’t seen my family for 2 years so I guess this visit was due.

We have done a lot of things together: went to open markets, went cycling with my dad a few times, had birthday parties and BBQs, made some new friends in the gym where I trained and generally I had a great time. But everything comes to an end and now I’m getting ready to return to the UK.

I will return on the 16th September, staying again near Heathrow. I haven’t got a place yet but I’m constantly looking. Probably will not be able to rent a place through an estate agent because they need work references which I haven’t got yet, but I will have to look for a private landlord. If anyone knows anything, please let me know!

Here are a few photos from my stay in Hungary. I have some more on my phone, I will post them later:

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A lovely summer day

Today it was a lovely hot, sunny day here in Cairo. This was the first day for weeks that I had not much to do during the day, and it was my rest day from training, too. I was sitting on my balcony, enjoying the sunshine, reading a book and resting.

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The weather is getting really hot here in Egypt, the temperature is around 40C nowadays. Not really ideal to move around outdoors during the day. Even at night it’s still hot, sometimes have to leave the aircon on to be able to sleep. But I’m not complaining! The sunshine is still better than the rain 🙂

 

Hercules Olympia and England

Had a fabulous weekend in England last weekend. It was all rush and not enough time for anything, but it was nice to stand on stage again and meet some of my friends, even only briefly.

Left Cairo Thursday afternoon, my flight was scheduled at 5.30 pm. On the way to the airport there was a traffic jam on the road – what a surprise! I was getting a bit anxious therefore I tried to check in on my phone so that I don’t miss that. When I logged on the application to check in, it told me that I couldn’t because the check-in was not available anymore as the flight was at 4.45 pm. It turned out that because the clocks went back a few weeks ago (in the UK, not in Egypt) therefore they changed the time for the flight – although they don’t tell this to you to warn you. So I was running really late and I was even checking my other options when I could travel if I’d missed this flight. But fortunately I got there in the very last minute and checked in. Going through security I’ve met some lovely people, one of them is Ramy who is training in MMA.airportRamy

Finally I got to London Heathrow at around 10 pm and made my way to Colchester on the train. I got to the hotel around 1 am, very exhausted. The next day I got up and went for a walk in the town centre. It is a lovely place, I really liked the atmosphere of the town. There was a market on the high street, and all the shops you can ask for. I realized how much I missed all these commodities and the green countryside. Cairo is very hot most of the year, even wintertime it’s only mild, not cold. You see the sun 24/7 almost, and the downside of it is that there’s not much rain, therefore there’s a lot of dust everywhere. It’s lovely to see the sun most of the time, and it truly makes up for most things: your mood is instantly better.

Anyway, so I tried to rest a bit on Friday , put a coat of tan on, had my wine in the evening and was waiting for Saturday to come.

Saturday was one of the longest days in my life. The registration was at 8 am at the venue, then we had a physique check where the judges checked all the ladies’ classes if everyone was in the right class, then we had an orientation meeting. This finished aorund 10.30am and the show started at 12pm. A break was planned to be at 4-5 pm, but when 4 pm came the show had not been even halfway through the classes that they planned on judging before the interval. That was a bit disappointing as my class was the second to the last after the interval. I was told the event was supposed to finish around 8 pm, and if there’s a delay then maybe around 9 pm. Well, eventually I got on stage at 10 pm, very tired and thirsty. Thankfully one of my friends was there with me and tried to distract me from all this.

There were 2 physique classes, open and masters and I entered the masters class, but because the event was running so late they merged the 2 classes and we ended up competing in the open class. In the open class I came 4th, but a few days later they posted the results for all the classes, so in the masters class I came 2nd. All the ladies looked great, really nice line up!

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After the competition I went to fill up a bit on some food and water. Enjoyed some sweets and a pizza (only one slice, I don’t know why I keep buying pizzas after a competition when I don’t even eat it 🙂

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The next morning we went to Harvester to have an all you can eat breakfast – something that I miss here in Egypt 🙂 the food was fabulous, I really enjoyed the pancakes and toast, although the bacon and sausage was a bit too salty for me after a competition diet.

After breakfast we made our way down towards Heathrow and we stopped in Cheshunt to pay a visit in my favourite gym, Monster Gym. I felt I had to use all those extra calories so I had a wicked back workout there. I was also happy to see that my photos are still on the wall 🙂

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After training we headed to Langley to meet some friends and have my long awaited steak at the Harvester – yes, I know, it was my favourite place and I really miss it!

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The next day I was flying back to Cairo. I had a lovely weekend there and I’m planning on going back in July or August as I couldn’t get to my stuff I left in London, because of the lenght of time and also because my friend who keeps them safe for me was away for work on that weekend.

Back to training now, preparing for the next competition. Watch this space!

Thank you Space Fitness and Panatta for making this trip possible!

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Bye Bye Gold’s

Another year has passed. I arrived to Egypt end of March, started lecturing at Gold’s Gym Academy in April and got a job at Gold’s Gym Egypt in May. It was a very happy period indeed. I felt loved and appreciated. Then the months passed and things have changed. It is not shocking at all that most people are not what they show themselves to be. With time and age you get used to it and you just move on. In the past few months it has escalated to a level where I started feeling stressed and pushed. It will always be beyond me why certain people feel that they have to do things to try and make others feel less or as miserable as they are, although they haven’t got much to show up for themselves. Ignorance? Jealousy? Or just simply bad manners? Not important. It’s not worth any more space in my life or on my blog.

The only thing that is important that I have put an end to it yesterday – and I feel free again. It’s like a breath of fresh air, a big relief for me. Finally I can focus on something that I actually like doing: body building and teaching body building/fitness to people who are interested and want to learn.

Finally I am free to do body building seminars anywhere and I can have my private clients as soon as I sort out a gym to train them. I am also available for any guest posing or guest appearance in any gym in Cairo/Egypt. Please get in touch for more details: tamara@tamaramakar.me

Watch this space because big things are going to happen very soon. I have a few competitions lined up for 2015, and I also have my plan B.

Keep people in your life that truly love you, motivate you, encourage you, inspire you, enhance you and make you happy and get rid of the negative shit – job is done, look forward to a happier chapter in my life.

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Muscle Mania Cairo

Spent a lovely day on Friday at Muscle Mania Middle East here in Cairo, at the American University. There were so many great athletes – the egyptian people do have some great genetics! There were 3 classes: fashion model, fitness model and muscle model. The standard at the competition was very high, some great conditioning.

I have helped 2 athletes to get ready for this competition: Mahmoud Wardany and Muhamed Bayomei.

It was a very busy and eventful day, took lots of photos with fans and friends. I look forward to the next competition – The Show – in May, and Muscle Mania again in September.

Have a look at the photos here:

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Muscle Mania registration

Yesterday I went to Balance Gym Tagamo to help register a friend of mine for Muscle Mania, and met a lot of other great athletes there, too.

Balance gym is a very well equipped gym in 2 locations in Cairo: in Tagamo and Sheraton. The Tagamo branch is the newer one with brand new Cybex equipment. I always liked training around in different gyms and I never mind travelling for a good gym to train certain body parts there. In the UK people always thought I was crazy because I used to travel an hour for a good gym for legs – well, probably you can see why… The results talk for themselves. When it comes to my training, I don’t compromise.

Muscle Mania Middle East will be held in Cairo next Friday (3rd April) and I really look forward to meeting all these phenomenal Egyptian athletes. Here are a few photos from yesterday:

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Feel free to come and say hi when you see me there!

No Internet? haha

It only took me the whole day to figure out why I couldn’t connect to the internet on my laptop when it showed I was connected to my WIFI! But it’s solved now so I’m back online!

Very cold here in Cairo! Ok, Ok I hear my friends in the UK and Hungary saying: REALLY???? Yeah, it’s cold compared to what it was a few weeks ago. You don’t expect 12-15C when it’s usually around 30C. I can’t wait to get some suntan soon. Need to use this weather here, as last year I didn’t do any tanning. Swimming pool, steam room, jakuzzi – I will use them all this year. Always wanted to live in a country of forever sunshine and when I do, I don’t do half of the things I said I would if I’d lived there earlier….

You only live once? No, You live every day, you only die once!

Enjoy the weekend and the snow 🙂

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