Day One, Again.

As you may know, I plan on competing in my 2nd NPC Bikini Competition on April 13th. I decided that I wanted to start my prep on January 5th, thus giving me 14 full weeks to diet down for the show. I picked 14 weeks to allow for one extra week compared to contest prep for my last show, in which I dieted for 13 weeks.

Let's just say I tend to start out with the best of intentions. But it doesn't always work that way. I took "Before" pictures on 1/7 and compared them with my starting point from my previous prep. Initially I was bummed that I weighed nearly the same as starting out last prep, but after comparing the pictures, I quickly realized that while the scale doesn't show much difference (just three pounds), the pictures do show differences. Here is my starting point this time (on the right) compared with my first show (on the left).

I know I'm nowhere near stage ready, but seeing these comparison pics made me a little cocky. I sort of thought "I dont have to work as hard this time..." since I'm already ahead of the game.  This mindset made me self-sabotage this week and deviate from my plan. 

Today marked the start of a new week, and marked 13 weeks out from show date (recognize that number?) I did well with my macros for food, did a glute-focused lower body workout, and 35mins of cardio today. I plan on updating regularly on here and posting progress pictures every 10-14days. 

Thanks for following!

 

 

 



Thoughts--Eight Days Out

So...here I am.  Just over one week out from my first ever NPC Bikini Competition.  I've had sort of a defeated week where I've been down on myself about various things.  This week I was supposed to try to give up artificial sweetener (ie. diet coke, my favorite Quest protein bars, etc).  I was able to do it for ONE day.  After lapsing, I'd plan ahead for the next day, feeling confident about going into the next day with a plan.  However, my plan would be thwarted upon realizing that something I ate had fake sugar in it (who would have thought that Tyson Sirloin Steak strips had artificial sweetener in them!?), and after already had consumed it, I would "cheat" the rest of the day by drinking diet coke and having protein bars.  I've done well with calories for the most part, but I'm really low on calories these last two weeks.  I'm not supposed to go over 1250 and some days I'm slated to have only 1170.  Carbs are LOW.  25grams on some days, 50grams on others. I was eating over 200grams when training for the half marathon. Yes, this is INSANELY low for an active person and this is just a SHORT TERM plan to help shed a little more fat before the show. It's not a diet that I can maintain with my current level of activity.  In a sense, it is a crash diet. But it's temporary, and hopefully the rewards will be long lasting.

So the diet this week is something I'm feeling bummed about.  The fact that I allowed myself to continue to "cheat" on something I wasn't supposed to have bums me out.  I made the choice to so that, using the mindset that I already "blew" it, but I could have just as easily chosen to clean it up and do better the rest of the day.  I didnt, and now I feel bad about it.  And I worry that the numbers I produce tomorrow when I go to meet my coach are going to reflect that.

I also haven't been training as much as I should.  Two a day cardio sessions were recommended in these final weeks.  I have the time for it, I just dont MAKE the time.  I'm tired, I dont have much energy, and I just dont WANT to work out anymore.  I miss working out because I *want* to work out...and I loathe the feeling of working out because I *have* to.  I've tried, I have...I've gone to bed in my gym clothes with the intent of getting up early for a quick half hour session, but I keep making the choice of extra sleep. 

I have ambivalent feelings about the competition.  Dont get me wrong, I'm definitely still doing it....but now it's just as important as it once was.  I've already accomplished what I wanted to do:  get in shape, like my body again, be healthy, etc.  And along the way I've inspired others in real life and online.  I love that.  I'm going to be nervous as hell getting up on that stage, and I'm sure I'll have my doubts thinking I could have done better (because truthfully, I could have)...but you get out what you put in.    And I've got what I wanted :)  That stage is just going to be another opportunity to do something I didnt think I could do. 

Keeping it Real--After contest

I have yet to compete in my first show and I've already had a lot of people ask me if I plan on competing again, or if I plan on maintaining such a strict regimen after the show.  At this point, I dont know if I plan on competing again--I would *like* to say yes, but I may get up on that stage and hate it! This entire journey has been a quest for me, because competing is comething I never dreamed I would have the discipline to do.  In the past I've been disciplined with running but never dedicated myself to following a specific diet. The notion of competing appealed to me because it is a different sort of challenge and takes even greater discipline.  While ideally I'd love to rock the stage and win my division, I have to go into the show with some realistic expectations:  this is my first show, I dont know what to expect, and there will basically always someone who has worked harder than myself.  So this whole ordeal is a test for me to see if a) if I can do it, and b) if I even like it.  Aside from the training and dieting going into this, there's a lot of other stress and factors that come into play.  The hair, makeup, tanning, shaving (my entire body!), posing, etc.  It's a huge process.  All for a total of maaaaybe 10 minutes on stage.  Will I do this again?  Ask me again October 30th :)

Will I continue being this strict with my diet?  Yes and no.  I dont EVER want to get back to how I was before, with both my eating habits and my weight. I was out of control with my eating and my excuse was that I would "burn it off" by running.  Unfortunately, two things happened:  I wasn't always consistent with my exercising.  Secondly, little did I know, I didn't have the lean muscle mass that I used to have that allowed me to eat nearly whatever I wanted.  Every pound of lean muscle burns 50calories more than a pound of fat per day, just at REST.  (Example:  I've gained 5lbs of muscle since Aug 1st, thus increasing my existing calorie burn by 250calories a day. If I were to not make any changes to diet & exercise, just the muscle alone could help me lose just over 2lbs a month, or nearly 25lbs a year, by doing NOTHING extra. I'm not trying to lose 25lbs, just indicating this as an example). These two factors contributed to my slow weight gain of 30lbs in about 20 years. That's over a pound a month!  Anyways--so here is my post show plan...

• First and foremost, my post show indulge meal will be TEXAS ROADHOUSE
• Gradually introduce foods I haven't had in the past several months--"treats" such as ice cream or McDonalds or pizza
• Limt these treats to 2-3a week, and keep them within reasonable portions
• Continue eating clean-ish, with occasional treats, planning meals, but not worry about measuring them and counting every. single. calorie.
• Allow for SOME leeway during the holiday season.
• Maintain a weight of about 128-130lbs

This is all subject to change, of course, but this is the mindset I have going in.  I still want to be cognizant of my diet and I'm going to continue to working out because I *want* to...but I'm not going to drive myself crazy over it....unless I decide to do another show in 2012!

30 Days Out

So....here it is.  I wanted to share the remaining four weeks of contest prep for two main reasons.  First, I've wanted to document this entire journey, but have never just had the gumption to do so.  Now that the weeks are dwindling down, I've found it increasingly important (and therapeutic) to blog some of my feelings and frustrations.  Secondly, I wanted to be able to share these experiences--the good and the bad--with each and every one of you (who ever may read this anyways!) to give you an idea of what things are like for me on a daily basis.

I met with my coach on 8/25 and had a successful visit.  I was nervous going into the session because I had "only" lost two pounds in two weeks and I had splurged on some food I probably shouldn't have had.  I'm only human.  There was a cookout/bday party I recently hosted and I indulged in a small piece of cake, some macaroni and cheese, a hot dog (no bun) and corn casserole.  ALL of things my body is not used to.  Prior to this slip I was maintaining a steady loss and my average weight was about 133.  However, after the slip, I bloated and retained some poundage, as my body was not accustomed to those foods.  It took like 4 days for my body to rebound back to a steady loss again.  Nonetheless, I got back on track quickly, and I'm now heading in the right track towards my goals.  Despite the progress, there's no denying that it's crunch time and that I still have a great deal to accomplish in these remaining weeks.  I pinched at 14.9% body fat, which was down almost 2% from the previous assessment, which had only been two weeks prior.  I was impressed with those numbers, as I was hoping for a 15.5%.  Anyways--the result of the assessment was to decrease my calories each week, cycling each day with my carbs and having three super low calorie days (1190 to be exact).  I was also instructed to try to do cardio twice a day, or when that's not feasible, do at least an hour session.  Cardio is now being done daily, and strength training is done 4-5x a week.  The current goal of my regimen is to maintain the muscle/lean mass that I currently have and shed the fat on top of the muscle, to give me an even leaner, more defined look. 

So what did today look like? 
Calories:   1270
Fats:         40grams (actually higher than recommended for today)
Carbs:       73grams (lower than I was alloted for today)
Protein:     138grams (also lower than alloted).

Workouts:   35mins elliptical on my lunch hour
                   40mins lifting, circuit training at 8:30ish pm
                   30mins running/3.5miles at intervals (max was 9.1mph)

Tomorrow is another lower calorie/carb day in which I'm alloted 50g carbs or less, and my protein intake is up to 180g.  I've already got my meals planned and packed for tomorrow...I just hope I dont deviate from the plan!