Pageant Nutrition and Fitness

            As one might expect, there is a lot that goes into getting and maintaining a pageant-ready body. This takes into account nutrition and fitness. No one body is the same, but there are tips that any girl can take to maximize her potential!

As a dietitian, I love promoting healthy eating, maintaining a balanced diet, staying physically active as much as possible, loving your natural beauty and embracing what you have been given. For pageants, all of this plus staying toned is important! Here are some tips that I picked up during last year’s pageant preparation process, and some things that I want to change next time around.

1.      Eat a balanced diet all year round -- not just close to pageant time. This means eating whole foods from the main food groups (fruit, vegetables, grains, proteins and healthy fats). A balanced plate should have some starch, a protein and a fruit or a vegetable:

For more information on the food groups, visit: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/

2.      Indulge whenever you want, just don’t overdo it! Holding yourself to strict restraints when trying to maintain a certain body image is stressful! The stricter your diet is, the more you will want junky foods. The best way to maintain a beautiful body is to allow yourself to eat whatever you want, just remember to have a balance of healthy foods as well! 

3.      But I have a sweet tooth!

Me too. What saved me during my pageant crunch time (one month leading up to the pageant) was low-carbohydrate dark chocolate, granola, chocolate covered nuts, and chocolate covered pretzels. All of these make great low calorie desserts! Since finishing the pageant, I have also found nut clusters that are very high in protein and low in sugar (ingredients are nuts and some type of syrup to hold nuts together). These are easy to make at home with your nuts of choice and honey or simple syrup. They can also be purchased in stores; you just have to shop around!

4.      I love my greasy foods. What now?

Eat your greasy foods. Try to limit something that is very high in calories, fat and carbohydrates (bacon, burgers, pizza, cheese fries, etc…) to one to two times per week. Foods like this won’t kill you come pageant weekend… but they might kill that washboard if you’re eating them everyday.

5.      Ohh… the pressure for a six-pack.

I realized through my pageant experience that women are just not meant to have six-packs. Both men and women have a range of body fat that it is necessary to maintain in order to be considered healthy. For women, this range is 10 – 12% and for men it is 2 – 4%. That number is much higher for women because women need extra fat in order to produce offspring… that’s right—that’s our baby making fat. This means that the amount of muscle tone that may be easy for a male person to obtain is much more difficult for a female to maintain. What I’m trying to say is, it’s not necessarily healthy for a woman to have a six-pack. Although many female athletes have six-pack abs, it’s natural for women to maintain a toned tummy, but still have a little fat covering up that definition. You can still be toned without being totally cut. Don’t stress over it! Check out: http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/body-fat-measurement for more information on body fat percentages.

6.      Fruits and vegetables are your best friends.

As cliché as it may seem, fruits and vegetables really are important when it comes to looking and feeling good. The fiber from fruit and vegetables help you stay fuller for longer. It helps to include these at mealtimes and as a snack, especially to curve a craving for something junkie (like chips or cookies). It can also satisfy that need for something crunchy! Include some protein, like a handful of nuts, for a filling snack.

7.      Watch Carbs – But Don’t Cut Out Carbs.

I love carbohydrates. I normally eat a LOT of carbohydrates. I also normally don’t have toned abs. For fear of losing my muscle tone before the pageant, I began cutting carbohydrates and sugar two months before the pageant. I was hungry all the time, craving ridiculously high calorie foods and losing too much weight. This happened quickly after decreasing carbohydrate rich foods in my diet. Once I started allowing myself one to two servings of carbohydrates per meal, I felt fuller, stopped craving junk foods, stopped losing weight and still stayed toned. Allow yourself one to two servings of carbohydrates per meal. You will feel full and you won’t crave those sweets and high fat foods. Try to get your carbohydrates from healthy sources, such as nutrient dense starchy vegetables—like sweet potatoes or whole grains. (Yogurt, milk and fruit are also nutrient dense sources of carbohydrates.)

8.      Protein at each meal and snack time.

Eat your protein (red meat, poultry, fish, legumes, nuts, soy). Protein takes a long time to digest so it will keep you full longer than carbohydrate rich meals. Protein will also help you recover from your workouts and maintain muscle tone for that beautiful pageant body.

9.      Don’t be afraid of fat. 

Fat got a bad rap in the 1990s with the whole “low fat” trend. The truth is that we need some fat! Foods like nuts and red meats are very high in fats, but are also very high in other nutrients. Remember to watch your portion sizes with all foods, but don’t be afraid to eat these foods because of their fat contents. Red meat is a great source of protein, and a small portion of steak, while high in fat, will be a very nutrient dense food for a filling and hearty meal, especially if you are doing vigorous workouts on a daily basis. Just make sure to balance your steak with some fruits, vegetables, grains and other small portions of lean foods throughout the day.

10.  My fitness saving grace: abs and jumping dynamic exercises.

Despite my above spiel about not stressing over a six-pack, it is still important to be toned, abs included! I am a triathlete, so for my pageant I didn’t have a problem staying toned overall. But to get pageant ready (flat abs and lifted butt), I focused on abs and jumping dynamics. Fitness Magazine (online) was my best friend for changing up my ab routine. I made sure that I spent an hour at least three times per week focusing on ab exercises. I also spent 15 minutes at least three times per week focusing on jumping squats and jumping lunges.

11.  Cardio and lifting routines.

Find a cardio and lifting routine that works for you. If you enjoy your workout routine, you will be more likely to keep up with it.

If you want to support me in competing in the 2015 Miss New Jersey USA pageant, check out my fundraising blog at: sheenaformissnewjersey.blogspot.com.