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How to Win a Beauty Pageant

January 30, 2011 by Stefania Vaughan

The time is ticking. The years go by. Our families have grown bigger, and so is our waistline. One day we look in the mirror and see a Mom - daily image of a gentle someone, who has been lovingly taking care of so much and so many, but in all the routine of chores forgot about one equally important part... keeping up the her own beauty.

I was introduced to the word of pageantry when I was 31 with a 13-month old little girl on my lap. I wasn't in a bad shape, but I wasn't in a great shape either. I was slowly losing my 'baby' pounds, and wasn't concerned about it. Until the day my friend, Sherri Engstrom, announced her intention in competing in Mrs. Colorado Pageant, that is. I was quite amazed at her courage to try something like that, but not as much as I was stunned by her unexpected suggestion of me participating in the same! I understood that this was a pageant for married women, but I didn't realize that there were no limits on age, how many children had, weight or height. "I don't think I can do this, and I am not quite ready," I immediately resented, only to hear a strong offer to help and guide me if I would be ever interested. I still don't know how it happened, but at the end of that day I remember myself dialing my husband's number to break the news to him: "Hunny, I think I am going to participate in Mrs. Colorado Pageant in a little more than 4 months from today, and I will need all your support, cause I have no idea what I am doing."

For the next couple of weeks I have studied the basics. I have learned that there were three parts to the pageant: interview, swimsuit competition and evening gown. I have indulged myself in the world of headshots, make-up bliss, jewelry bling, dress and shoes shopping, and other glamorous steps in my preparations. I was having the time of my life, which revealed to me the hidden and forgotten part of every little girl's dream of being a 'Beautiful Princess'. I had no idea I would enjoy it so much! Was this always a dream of my heart? If so, why have I forgotten it? What happened? Doesn't matter now, I am going to enjoy it and encourage others to discover it for themselves.

My husband HAS been the biggest support on my new and exciting journey and he prepared me well for interview and general confidence. However, I needed some expert help when it came to my physique. - I wanted to look spectacular on stage during an upcoming swimsuit competition. I hired a fitness trainer, who has also consulted me on the diet regiment. I followed simple dietary instructions and stayed consistent with my cardio workouts, and - voila! I did it!

In four months I got myself into a best physical shape I've ever been in. I looked confident, I learned how to put on an appropriate amount and style of make-up, depending on the event that I was going to. I learned how to put on good stylish clothes and wear them with confidence. I felt like I can do anything, but most importantly, I felt... beautiful. How refreshing that year was for me and my husband, and for our relationship. To our joyous amusement, I have received second runner-up out of 65 competing wonderful women, and although I haven't won the main prize, I was a winner in my own eyes and my family's. What I have gained in this process is priceless and will stay with me forever, and most importantly, it will always remind me that all is possible, no matter where you start. Just decide to start! (Read the full story here.)

If you have been falling behind on your own promises to yourself about keeping good healthy weight, if you have a desperate realization that you can no longer fit in the dress you were planning to wear on that special occasion, please don't give up. Below is the treasury of dietary regiment secrets from one 'Beauty Queen' to another, meaning YOU! If your goal is to gradually adjust your eating habits, I would highly recommend to start by following the link to Simple diet guidelines for everyday living , and then in a month or so slowly adjust your diet to the process described here. However, if you are ready to get blown away by what you can look and feel like, let's go! The beauty regiment is much more aggressive than that of a person who just wants to eat healthier, but get yourself started with this on a consistent basis, and you will wake up a 'Sleeping Beauty' inside of you!


Ingredients


First, we are going to stock up with wholesome ingredients. Like they say, you cannot eat what is not in your house!

SUGGESTED GROCERIES LIST:
* ALMONDS - Eat 24 of them, 3-5 times per week
* FRESH OR CANNED BLACK BEANS One cup gives you more than half the fiber you need per day
* SKINLESS CHICKEN BREAST One breast gives you more than half your daily protein needs even for athletes.
* FRESH FRUIT All fruits are wonderful, but limit the amount of bananas, and keep dry fruits to a minimum due to their high glycemic index.
* EGGS Eat safely up to 5 yolks per week.
* FRESH OR FROZEN MIXED BERRIES We need at least two cups of berries every day
* FRESH AND FROZEN VEGGIES Buy a colorful mix to get an array of antioxidants, limit corn and carrots due to high glycemic index. I also use cucumbers or lettuce leaves instead of chips and crackers.
* LOW FAT AND LOW CARB YOGURT add one cup of dairy per day. To make it an enjoyable healthy snack, add ground flax seed fiber powder to it. Stay away from sugar-free products as they contain dangerous chemicals.
* MIXED SALAD GREENS A variety of greens provides the most nutrients
* ORANGES Just one orange a day will fulfill your vitamin C needs
* SALMON Two or three servings per week provides healthy fats and high-quality protein
* SPREADABLES like salsa, guacamole, real peanut butter, pates, tapenade, hummus, fish spreads
* SWEET POTATOES This carb provides the bonus of more than 250 percent of the Daily Value for vitamin A
* WHOLE GRAIN BREAD Look for the words "100% whole grain" - it is very important!

(Please refer to the full list of benefits of suggested foods by following this link: Simple diet guidelines for everyday living )
At this time we will eliminate all starches like pasta, any kind of rice, potatoes. If you are ready to go radical, eliminate all the bread as well, until a month or so down the road. If that seems unrealistic to you now, keep the morning whole wheat toast. I would rather you have it, than crave it and be miserable.


How Much and When to Eat

According to the way insulin works, the more often we eat smaller portions, the more energy goes into action right away, and the less energy is stored. So think about eating just the right amount of food that is enough for the next 2-3 hours of your activity. Once this energy is spent, head for your next small meal to prepare for the next 2-3 hours. For the most part we do not require much energy for everyday sitting, house chores, working on the computer, driving in the car, shopping or standing up. Even our workouts don't start burning energy until we are 20-30 minutes into it. Our muscles are growing, but with the inappropriate energy distribution they might be growing underneath the layer of fat, which stays untouched. Unless you are an athlete, let's admit - we eat much more than we need.

Your day should look something like this:

7:30 Breakfast
10:00 Small snack
12:30 Lunch
3:00 Small snack
6:00 Dinner
8:30 Very small snack

Sounds like you are going to be eating the whole day, doesn't it? Is that even healthy? Yes, because eating this often will keep your sugar level steady throughout the 2-3 hour periods, which means you will feel full and energized until next meal. The truth is if we don't feel too hungry for the next meal, we will not over eat.

Let's take a closer look at each individual meal or snack intake. Firstly, every intake has to be accompanied by water - period. No soda drinks, juices, milk or shakes, fresh or not, diet or not, will ever be considered 'a drink'. All these could be considered 'a dessert', 'a protein add-on', or 'a splurge', but never 'a true drink'. Only water will satisfy your thirst without adding any extra calories to your intake. Second, the meal itself should be smaller than what we usually eat, remember, to make us want more in a couple of hours? If you have a hard time deciding how big your meal now should be, eat half of what you would normally eat and wait for 20 minutes for your brain to catch up with your stomach. If in 20 minutes you are still feeling definite hunger, eat another quarter of what you would have normally eaten, then stop and wait till next intake. If you stay consistent, your stomach will shrink, and your eyes will be soon able to recognize what an appropriate amount of food for one meal looks like. In addition, if you do overeat accidentally, do not give up - all is not lost! It only takes several hours to level out your sugar-insulin relation back to normal. Make sure to still eat your next snack in 3 hours; that will put you back on track.

The more we are organized, the more we are prepared to keep ourselves on schedule, the more we are successful, the more we lose of unwanted weight. What is the hardest part of this chain? The organization.

Keep these snack ideas always at your hands reach: nuts, real peanut butter, pates, tapenade, hummus, fish spreads, and other spreadables on cucumbers or lettuce leaves, seaweed salad, fruit, yogurt, boiled egg, homemade soups and veggie strips. Add your own ideas of what tastes good, substitute no-no foods with something healthier and enjoy it - remember, do not let yourself go hungry. The more colorful and different, the better!


A Little Word About Exercise

Why little, you might ask? Isn't exercise one of the most important parts for any diet? Yes, and no. Yes, exercise is the best natural stimulator of digestion and metabolism; it is a detoxifying, muscle building, bone promoting, energy burning ingredient of human everyday essential living. And no, exercise is not an efficient fat burning activity, at least not in a way we understand it. If you are planning to win a wrestling match, bidding on eating as usual and exercising like crazy is a way to go. If you are competing in a beauty pageant, keep your exercise to average (2-3 times a week), and clean up your eating habits. It is 80% of what you eat, and 20% of how much you exercise!

As I was saying before, we grow our muscles underneath a layer of fat, unless we change how we eat. With strict exercise regiments, hard work, high expectations and without changing our diet, we are hungrier, less patient with our meals, and we lose control of what we eat. As a result, we gain more weight and become more 'beefy' or 'bulky' - neither of which we are striving for. Now we are heading for more exercise to lose all that weight we have just gained, right? It is a vicious cycle that we have a power to break through understanding our metabolism and teaching our body to recognize when enough of food is enough of food.

If you are already exercising a lot, keep doing that. Starting a fitness program for someone who had never or rarely exercised before, is a complicated task and it deserves to be handled by a professional. To make it the simplest, assuming there are no health issues that could hinder your intentions, I would recommend to start with brisk walk twice a week for 40 minutes. Turn your walk into a jog, and then into a run for the same 40 minutes. Cardio is the best steady calorie burning activity! Eventually, it will be a great achievement to add some small weights to tone up your arms, back and shoulders after your run, but keep running at least twice a week!


Make It a Lifestyle


It takes a lot to change a habit. What helps though is making it a priority, setting it as a goal, and fitting it into our everyday routine. Every habit is tough, but when it concerns eating - an activity that we practice every day, repeat several times a day, that affects our mood, our well-being, our self esteem - it is a super-habit that is possibly the most difficult habit in our entire existence to break. If you feel like you are about to move a mountain, that is why - it is a big task, but be encouraged! There are many people that have done this, and there will be many that will be inspired by you to do this, when they will see your results! Take control of your body!