Q&A with Wonder Mama Heather Bear from Phat Camp!!

Shoshana Pritzker · 09-30-2009, 04:30 PM

Hi ladies,

While attending Jenny Hendershott's Phat Camp just four weeks ago, I met a wonderful young lady (who also happens to be Jen's assistant) who's story is phenomenal to say the least. With 2 babies at home and a weight loss transformation story as a result, Heather Bear is the perfect person to set up shop right here on the FitnessRx forums to answer any and all of your questions. She's been there and done that in terms of going from a hefty 178 lbs (standing at only 5 ft) to a competition body of only 108 lbs. She maintains a healhy body weight year round now and now spends her days helping other women transform their bodies.

So ladies, if you've got any fitness questions whether you're pregnant or not, ask away. Heather is here to help!!

Welcome Heather!!

Bearclaw · 09-30-2009, 07:23 PM

I'm so excited to be a part of FitnessRx Forum. I met Sho at Phat Camp New York. It was awesome to have her attend and she what really goes on at Phat Camp.

I'm all about setting goals and doing whatever it takes to achieve them. I want to help "moms" get rid of their babyweight. If I can do it, so can you. I love motivating women-it's my passion. I hope you all drop by and ask me a few questions.
Have a great evening.
Heather
www.Heather-Bear.com

fittgrl09 · 09-30-2009, 08:18 PM

Hi Heather!

Welcome to the forums! We're so excited to have you sharing your motivation, encouragement and expertise with us!

Kimmie

Bearclaw · 09-30-2009, 09:08 PM

Thanks for the nice welcome, I look forward to helping anyone I can.
Heather
www.Heather-Bear.com

lady:) · 10-01-2009, 02:23 AM

Hi, heather I am just getting started I have a 2 year old little girl and a 2 month old little girl born on the 4th of july!! I call her my little firecracker ! I am having difficulty coming up with easy and quick meals to have throughout the day, I am struggling to get rid of this belly fat (so depressing!) could you give me an example of what one of your meal days would look like? also do you know of where I can get some ideas for workout routines for a figure competitor I am looking to start training to get into figure competitions?? ( I have a long way to go) thanks for all your help and I'm glad your with us!

kickingcat · 10-01-2009, 06:40 AM

Hi Heather and other newbies.
I,m new here too.
I love this magazine its so much better than the British ones. In those the models are all tall and busty which I will never be and the ones in fitness Rx and toned and fit and provide real inspiration.

I have 8 kids and am keen to discuss fitness with other mums. As I said I have been a runner most of my life but also took up Kickboxing 3 years ago which I now do competitively. This has made me a lot more toned.

One important bit of advice for the lady with the two month old which was never really explained to me my midwives is not to do sit up /crunches untill your stomach muscles are close together again if they moved when pregnant or you will make them worse! I was ok with most of my pregnancies but after the 8 I did the crunches too soon and people asked if I was pregnant again!

I never really put on a lot of weight while pregnant as I kept up with my running. I wore specially designed maternity support shorts which meant I could run up to 8 months. I started selling this maternity wear but unfortunately they are no longer made . I am however looking into making some in small quantities here. Am I allowed to say that.

Good luck with losing the baby weight. I found the running pushchair a Godsend and the babies loved it too. My youngest is now in school so it not used but I'm loath to sell it. I better let someone else get a word in lol

Shoshana Pritzker · 10-01-2009, 10:50 AM

Welcome ladies and Welcome Heather!! We are so happy to have you here.

I know that you began your journey without even having a gym membership. What equipment did you have available to you and how did you figure out how to keep your workouts from getting boring?

Frankie · 10-01-2009, 11:12 AM

Hi Heather and welcome!

Bearclaw · 10-01-2009, 11:21 AM

I am a very good self motivator. I often ask myself "how bad do I want this", the answer is always-I want this BAD!!.
After having a baby, you have to give yourself a little time to adjust w/ your hormones etc. If you are breast feeding-you will have to adjust to that also. When I lost my 78 pounds in 6 months I only had a treadmill & set of dumbbells (5-12 #).
I am very creative when it come to cardio, that's why I'm in charge of the cardio for the getphatonline program. I love to mix things up so I may do 1-2 minute intervals of walking, jogging, sprinting, walking backwards, at an incline, side shuffle, lunge, bearcrawl and popsquat on all on the treadmill. If I'm pushed for time I may do 5 minutes on the treadmill and a superset of weights. For example, if it's arm day then I would do 5 minutes on treadmill then 15 curls, 15 kickbacks and hop back on treadmill and repeat doing different arm exercises. I may even curl and do kickbacks while I'm walking at an incline on the treadmill. It's all about time management. I know what I'm going to do before I even lift a weight. I do 1 bodypart a day w/ cardio 5-7x a week. I never do the same workout twice. I may doing a curl 1 week but then the next week would be seated, incline, decline, standing on a Bosu ball, alternating, using a plate, using a db or bar etc. You have to get creative.
This is one thing Jenny Hendershott has taught me. When you have kids at home you don't have time to mess around, go to the gym and get it done!!!
As far as diet I always eat egg whites and oatmeal for breakfast then a snack, chicken and green veggies w/ brown rice or sweet potato then another snack and tilapia/chicken more green veggies for dinner and sugar free/fat free pudding w/ sugar free/fat free cool-whip for dessert. If I'm out of that then I'll have a yogurt. My snacks may be a 100 calorie pak, shake, red apple, grapefruit, plain rice cake and peanut butter, 8-10 almonds or sugar free popsicle. This is my current off-season diet and similar to what I ate when I lost the baby weight. When I was loosing the babyweight I kept to shakes for my snacks. I also prepared all of my chicken ahead of time along w/ my rice & sweet potatoes. The key is preparation and having your food w/ you at all times.
I hope this helps.
Heather
www.Heather-Bear.com

SandyW · 10-01-2009, 12:05 PM

Hey Heather! Welcome!!! It is soo exciting to have you here. You look great and I admire your hard work and accomplishments.
I also look forwarding to meeting you and all the staff at the WI camp!

My son chose this smilie to post:

Bearclaw · 10-01-2009, 12:54 PM

Great, see you next weekend.
Let me know if you have any questions about camp.
You can always e-mail me at bearclaw@seidata.com
Heather
www.Heather-Bear.com

MellowMommie · 10-01-2009, 04:36 PM

Oh welcome! Your just the woman I need for inspiration!!! I can relate alot to you, which is very cool. Im a stay at home mom with a 3yr old and almost 7 month old. I really can only work out at home, so I have been messing around with resistance bands, re bounder, ankle weights, and old fashion body weight! Things were getting pretty messy on my own though, so I have since turned to p90x.. I was in my 4th week, then got way off track, so I just started again and am ending off my first week. I was wondering what you think of this program? Is this a good starting point for me? This is my first time actually working out besides jogging and such before my second dd. Your diet seams very close to mine... Im not creative at all.

Also, what does/did your split look like?

Welcome, and thanks for sharing with us

Bearclaw · 10-02-2009, 11:19 AM

I have to say KUDOS to the mom of 8. This is awesome and a great motivation to others. Moms' of 3 kids, say they can't find time for themselves, how about a mom of 8

Bearclaw · 10-02-2009, 11:23 AM

Mellowmommie,
I think the P90x dvd's are great as long as you push yourself and lift heavy enough weights. You are on a great start w/ the things you have at home. Feel free to e-mail me at bearclaw@seidata.com if you need anything. I'm pretty plain when it comes to cooking. I'd rather eat the same thing everyday-my body does better w/ it. As far as my split I do 1 bodypart a day. Monday-legs, Tuesday arms, Wednesday-back, Thursday-shoulders, Friday-chest or another leg day. I have been doing legs 2x a week to help w/ putting on size. I do a heavy leg day w/ 10 reps then a lighter day w/ 20 reps.
Hope you have a Great Day

kimanddianna · 10-03-2009, 08:17 PM

Hi Heather, how awesome we have you on our forum!!! I hear you're the cardio queen and I hope that you share some of your cardio tricks with us. I teach group fitness and am always looking for new ideas to keep things fresh in class! I'm too far away to ever be able to attend phat camp, but you never know, maybe some day............PS, I'm a mother of 4 kids aged, 7, 2, 2, and 1 and if I can do it anyone can!!!

Spider Woman · 10-05-2009, 10:46 AM

Hi Heather.

Your story inspires me. I am 5'9" and 185. I would love to lose 20 pounds of fat, esp. as I have had this weight for the last 4-5 years and can't seem to shake it.

One challenge I have (among many) is, I have a lot of difficulty eating when I travel. I travel frequently for work (every week) and where possible, I bring along my own shakes and snacks or go to local grocery stores for hummus and veggies, fruit and nuts.

I run into difficulty when I am in a situation where if I don't eat what's available to me, then I won't be eating at all, and often I am quite hungry. I eat veggies first and salad (limited dressing) and then protein, but what is in front of me may be covered in sauce, or cooked in butters or oils or have other additives that I can't even place.

I have a really hard time eating consistently when I travel, and I'm sure I'm often consuming more calories than I should be. Any advice you can offer?

Thank you,

Bearclaw · 10-05-2009, 01:10 PM

kimanddianna,
4 kids that close together-wow, I'm impressed and inspired.
What kind of classes do you teach? I'd love to help ya w/ some ideas. I know you would love Phat Camp!!!! It would be a good weekend to spend w/ moms that all have the same interests-motivation and exercise!!

Bearclaw · 10-05-2009, 02:02 PM

Spider Woman,
I also do ALOT of traveling even when I am competing for a show. It's all about preparation. I eat many meals cold and boring. I try to at least get a fridge in the hotel so I'm not hauling ice all day to the sink. If I'm lucky I can get a microwave, if not my eggs will be eaten cold. I make all my meals before I leave the house. Sometimes I know I can make it to a store when I get to my destination, so I'll buy my fruit and veggies there and just eat them raw. Oatmeal and protein powder are easy to pak. It's the meat that can be challenging, if all else fails eat tuna in a can. I buy the low sodium, chunk white soaked in water. It's only 35 mg of sodium and has a peel top. I hope that helps. This is a common question we get w/ our online clients that travel alot.

kimanddianna · 10-05-2009, 09:57 PM

Hi Heather, my classesd are anything I want but I mainly keep them circuit style with lots of plyos and totaly body strength training. Right now my classes are split into four stations with four exercises per station and in between each exercise is cardio with me. I'm always looking for new cardio ideas. I would absolutely love to go to Phat Camp, one day I'll get there.

Bearclaw · 10-06-2009, 12:37 PM

kimanddianna,
What if you did 5 stations w/ each station a different bodypart for 30 seconds then rotate each. You could do 4 sets of each bodypart w/ the cardio inbetween. You may be a few sets of dumbbells. Below is something we do at camp in stations.

Running Toe Taps on a step
Side to side toe taps on step
jogging the a hallway and coming back to another station
popsquats onto step
jumping jacks
bearcrawl pike-ups forward/backwards
lunge forward/backwards or in a hallway
spiderwalks forward/backwards
duckwalks forward/backwards or onto a step
Push-ups on a step or up and over a step
Pop push-ups on a step
Mt climbers
Supermans or alternating supermans
crunches or any ab exercise
tri-cept push-ups
I hope that gives you a few ideas, you can always google these if you don't know what they are. Feel free to e-mail me Bearclaw@seidata.com