Quick Stats
Name: Elise Luana Ramirez
Age: 21
Height: 1,69 m
Competition weight: 54 Kg
Current weight: 60 Kg
Current city: The Hague, Netherlands
Occupation: Diet/Training coach and Graphic Designer
Have you always lived a fit and healthy lifestyle? How did you get started?
As long as I can remember I have always tried to eat as healthily as possible. Since I was 14 I started to go to the gym by myself and ever since then I didn’t stop. I get an energy boost and a satisfied feeling after I go to the gym.
“When I started to see results; significant muscle gain and my abs became visible, I started to workout harder and heavier. When I was younger I always googled online about how to eat and all, and I saw that I should eat 6 times a day.”
I tried many diets but eventually I did what works good for my body.
How do you manage to stay motivated and consistent throughout your training and eating?
I just keep on thinking about the results I will get and the feeling I will get when I am in shape. It gives me more confidence and I feel stronger. Eating is not a problem for me since I make my own diets together with my boyfriend, Jonathan Lawrence. We actually diet together.
But as you know it’s not a diet it’s a lifestyle. But when we don’t have a competition we allow our self to have a cheat day/meal once a week. But during competition time we don’t cheat at all, only after haha.
What made you decide to enter your first competition? Was it difficult to get into and did you do have help or did you plan everything yourself?
To be honest I didn’t know a lot about competitions and how it all works. Jonathan told me everything and I was so excited that I asked him when the first upcoming competition was. He told me that it would be in less than 3 weeks so I had to get in shape fast. Jonathan was/is my coach and he helped me to get in shape. He made a diet for me and we work out together every day, sometimes twice a day.
I had to lose some weight fast because 3 weeks is a short time, so every morning I did 30-45 minutes cardio on an empty stomach and 30 minutes more at night.
“In the gym I trained heavy doing a muscle group every day.”
I posted my whole competition preparation on Facebook like my diets, workout plan, everything. It was motivating to do and also nice to see how other athletes were doing as well; it gave a positive effect because people I never met in real life also supported me online and gave me advice so that gave me a lot motivation as well.
What are your future plans?
My future plans… Well I would love to compete at the Arnold Classic one day or win the Olympia haha that’s my big bikini athlete dream.
How was your recent experience in Brazil? Did you compete there?
It was my first time in Brazil. We went to Rio de Janeiro because Jonathan competed at the Arnold Classic where he made it through to the finals and was placed 5th! I am so proud. I never went to an Arnold Classic before so it was all new for me. I also saw Arnold Schwarzenegger for the first time in real life and I think I stood like half a meter away from him.
In Brazil we also went to the gym every day twice a day to stay in shape. The gym we went to was kind of a Hard-core gym where all people come who do competitions like Anna Freitas. At the gym we met Eduardo Zoega (Arnold Classic Ohio USA – overall winner masters). He is a personal trainer there. Eduardo gave us some personal training one day and we chose to train legs because in Brazil all the women have such big muscular legs!
I felt so tiny it motivated me to train my legs more and get them more toned. He showed me some exercises for my glutes and booty as well. I think I felt it for like 3 days after, if it wasn’t more.
Advice for people who are new to competing?
“It’s all about how much you really want it? Stay motivated and enjoy your competition prep time. I think I like the preparation more than the competition itself. It’s a journey you will remember and learn from.”
And of course if you enjoy every day you work-out and diet you will feel better, healthier and have more energy. Don’t forget to buy the right supplements I always buy mine at www.vnmshop.nl Their supplements are the best! I get good results with them.
Don’t let anyone stop you from focusing on your goal because nothing is impossible if you think you can do it you can do it! And for the bikini ladies, www.SuitsYouSwimwear.com is the site where I bought my bikini they have really good ones!
Take us through an average day of yours:
I’ll take you through a junk day!
The night before the junk day I already imagine what I will eat. Because I always eat healthily it gives me more pleasure when I can eat a cheat meal and I enjoy it more.
- 8:00 am | First thing I do when I wake up is go to the supermarket to buy the foods I like!
- 9:00 am | I make my favourite Oatmeal dish.
Quick breakfast Recipe:
I first cook my oats (60 grams on a junk day) in hot water, than I add 2 or 3 whole eggs and mix it with the oats (believe me its so good!) Than I add a scoop of IQ Nutrition Iso Whey chocolate fudge. Normally I make so much that I have to eat it out of the cooking-pan because it doesn’t fit in a bowl.
After I finish cooking I add some Waldenfarms chocolate sauce, peanut butter or pancake syrup on my oats, some stevia to make it more sweet and cinnamon! And not to forget strawberry’s! I also like fresh-pressed juices like mango/pineapple mixed or orange juice. That will be included in my breakfast!
- 9:30 am | I will take a shower and get ready to go to the gym because even on a junk day we like to work out.
- 10:30 am till 12:00 pm | We will be in the gym and right after I’m sure I will eat a crunch bar or 2 maybe.. haha I spend my junk days with Jonathan because a junk day alone is not so fun! We go to our favourite restaurants and eat a lot of Crunch bars! Those bars are so good, they are the best!!! You should really try them (on a junk day haha).
- 13:00 | We will go to eat something in the city, go shopping or do other nice things!
In the Hague theres an ice salon called “Florencia” they have the best Italian ice-cream in the world! We go there for sure.
- At night we go out for dinner, we both love sushi and Italian food so we see what we are in the mood for.
At the end of a junk day I am always in the mood to diet again because it feels so much better than eating all this junk food And I’m sure before sleep I will eat another crunch bar haha to finish the junk day.
Do you believe in using supplements? What do you use?
I do, supplements are very important especially when I exercise they help with strength, fast recovery and to gain more muscle. Almost all my supplements are from IQ Nutrition because they work well for me and there isn’t any bad mixture in the products like fructose or glucose or other bad things.
Here’s a list of the supplements I use:
- Isowhey from IQ nutrition
- ACP Diet fit Shake
- BCAA 4:1:1 from IQ Nutrition
- Bezerk from IQ nutrition
- T+ from IQ Nutrition
- Vitargo from IQ nutrition
- GABA from IQ nutrition
- ACP Omega 3 softgels
- Special Two from NOW
What do you think are some of the biggest mistakes or myths that many girls fall prey to when starting out with training and dieting?
There are many Myths which I think that make no sense at all like:
1. Girls who lift heavy weights will look like a man.
Please come on… Do you really think that lifting some weights will make you look like Phil heath? No way, it makes you look tighter, stronger, leaner and better!
2. Don’t eat carbs at all, they will make you fat.
Your body needs carbohydrates especially when you workout. You need energy, and carbs will speed up your metabolism also. Just watch out for the amount of carbs you take and what kind of carbs. If you take carbs in a clean way like wholewheat pasta, rice or oatmeal its good.
3. Don’t use salt it will make you gain fat.
Well I put salt on all my meals and it doesn’t make me fat. The sauce is what makes you fat! That’s why I use Waldenfarms sauces, they have 0 calories, 0 sugar, 0 fat, and 0 carbs. Perfect to add to your dishes for some extra flavour.
4. Don’t eat after 7/8 pm because your body will get fat.
Well a lot of people asked me this and sometimes I have my last meal around 23:00 or midnight. I eat 6 times a day and have like 3 hours between my meals. It’s all about eating clean, working out and eat the right amounts.
5. Temporary diets?
Well I don’t believe there are temporary diets.
“It’s a lifestyle, if you just diet for a short time lose the weight and get back to your old habits of eating you will get fat again.”
Eating clean and different doesn’t mean you can’t eat your favourite “French fries” or ice cream, just choose one day a week to eat it than it even tastes much better than when you eat it daily and you will still keep in good shape.
What are some of the weirdest things you’ve seen people do in the gym?
The weirdest thing I saw is people talking all the time and not working out at all. And things that amazed me were the exercises in Brazil. The leg workouts of the women there!
Give us a brief description of your philosophy on your training and on average how long do you workout for?
I have been training now for almost 7 years. I workout because I like it and it gives me a sense of satisfaction. When I go to the gym I normally workout for more or less an hour. And if I do cardio then 1 and a half hours.
“Sometimes I train twice a day, in the morning and in the evening but normally once a day is enough.”
Give us a brief description of your philosophy on your diet:
Check out more of Elise here: Elise Luana Ramirez | Diet | Training Clips
What are your top training tips?
- Make sure you have good training shoes, and comfortable clothes.
- Don’t be afraid what others think of you when you’re doing new exercises for the first time. Everybody had his or her first time.
How do you measure your progress? And how often?
Most of the time I look in the mirror and take pictures. I also weigh myself but muscle weighs more than fat.
What are your 3 favourite body parts to train?
1. My BUTT/LEGS because it looks very feminine.
2. I also like to train my BACK. I don’t like it when you can hold a lot of fat on my hips or anything haha.
3. My TUMMY because I love abs!
What advice would you give the ladies to developing strong and visible abs?
“Diet, diet and more dieting!”
I would say 80% of your shape is all about eating the right things and only 20% is working out. If you want good ab definition make sure you eat clean and healthily.
Do you incorporate cardio into your training?
I love to run outside as cardio. I don’t do cardio every day but in competition prep I do cardio twice a day. I switch my cardio but mostly I do it on my home-trainer in the morning; straight out of bed on to the bike haha 😉
Favorite Fitness models or bodybuilders?
Jonathan Later of course! And I’m a fan of Ronnie Coleman.
Favorite female fitness icon(s):
I like Paige Hathaway and Nathalia Melo.
Favorite Quote:
Never trust a man who says “I don’t like abs on a girl.”
Advice for someone wanting to change their lifestyle and achieve their ideal physique?
There will be obstacles, there will be sweat and there might even be tears. Anyone who has ever been great at what they do has been through some sort of hardship. Instead of living in the present of suffering; remove yourself and see it forward. Live in the future. See what you are going to be.
“Use your imagination to take you beyond the obstacles that you are facing. We have to see ourselves succeeding long before it happens.”
What competitions have you competed in and your placings ?
I competed 3 times in total.
- My first competition was the JBC (Juliette Bergman Cup) where I placed 4th ,which was not so bad for a first competition.
- 2 weeks after that competition I did my second one the “Open Limburgse” where I placed 1st. This was really a nice experience and one I never thought would happen. It gave me such a good feeling because I put so much work and training into it.
- Then 2 weeks after that one I did my third competition where I placed 2nd.
So in total in more or less a month I competed 3 times.
Where can people get hold of you?
- Facebook: EliseLuanaRamirez
- Instagram: @eliseramirez03
You can find workout videos there, photos, daily updates or ask me for training/diet advice. I also give personal training / online diet coaching.
