2.5 weeks out

It's almost time everybody!!! I am so excited that my show is almost here. I am down to 12% body fat right now which is almost show ready! I can't wait for it to be over. I miss food SOOOO much. Here is my plan for after the show; Saturday night Tacos N' Tequila for some sweet potato chips, guacamole, and a jalapeno cucumber margarita. Sunday ....brace yourself...1) Moonshine for brunch 2) Lulling for Bar-b-cue 3) Hop Doddys for burgers and fries with their awesome homemade chipotle ketchup 4) Gordoughs for donuts! 5)Trudy's for a stuffed avocado and mexican martini/or fajitas, I can't decide. I know that is about 1 billion calories but I don't care...I want it...it's happening. You are more than welcome to join though!

I can't believe it's almost here. This was a long, rough journey to my first show. I am catching myself wanting to throw in the towel now but I can't do that. I need to cross the finish line first. I still need to bead my suit and make sure that it fits. I bought a plain suit for super cheap because the beaded suits are just ridiculously over priced. Therefore, I decided to take it upon my self to decorate the suit. I am preying that I don't look too ridiculous. Another dilemma I am having is whether or not to straighten my hair or leave it curly. Initially, I was going to straighten it, but my blow dryer died on me. I don't want to buy a cheap blow dryer just to get through the show. If I am going to get a blow dryer, I am going to get a nice one, and with all of my expenses right now, I can't afford that until after the show. So I am just going to have to play it by ear.

My biggest concern is what is going to happen to my body after the show. I decided that I was only going to give myself a couple of days to eat crappy, then I was going to start eating clean again. I am not going to be as strict as I was for my show, but I don't want to eat out the way I used to anymore. I plan on subscribing to clean eating magazine so I have some recipes, and I am thinking about doing the Venice Nutrition program since I have a month of it for free. I am very aware that I am going to gain about 10lbs. but I don't want to go any higher than that. I like my body the way it is right now, and I don't want it straying too far from where it's at. My goal is to be able to main around 15% body fat when I am off season. However, I am going to take a solid 2 weeks off of lifting. Don't judge me.

I have been noticing that I am getting more tired lately. I have been taking my naps before work like I used to. I was able to stop taking naps for a while, which was great, because I was able to get so much done in the mornings, but not so much anymore. Also, I am hungry all the time now. When I finish my meals, I sit there and stare at the empty bowl because I feel as though I haven't eaten anything. What that is about, I have no idea. I don't feel like my calories have been cut, but I haven't added them up, or asked about it. However, I did find out that I get a very large piece of cheesecake the night before the show, which I am ecstatic about!

Next time I write it will be show time!! Until then....

4 or 5 weeks out?

I have finally gotten a hang of my cardio! I am feeling much better. I am getting to bed earlier, and I am finishing all of my meals. The only bad thing is, that I am starting to get hungry more often. I catch myself wanting to grab an extra rice cake or an extra 1/4 cup of oatmeal. But, this is a better problem to have then what I was having before. I am starting to enjoy working out 2 times a day. Now, I did not say I enjoy cardio twice a day, but I do like how I feel knowing that I have completed my workouts for the day.

I am still having the dilemma of whether or not I should switch and compete in bikini or if I should just stick with figure like I had planned. I already have my suit for figure and I don't have one for bikini, also bikini is more expensive to compete in, and I am stretching my budget as it is. I just feel like I am a little too small and soft to be competing in figure. I want to do well in my first competition, and by well I mean place top 5, which I don't think I will. It's my fault though, I let myself cave 1 too many times.

Now that I am getting to the home stretch, I am wanting more and more to get to the night after the show. I can not wait to eat Bar-b-Que, Chinese food, Mexican food, cookies, and the thing I miss the most....CEREAL! I miss my Cinnamon Toast Crunch! I am going to eat an entire box of it that weekend....I can just picture it now.....mmmmmm :)

Until then, all I can do is imagine myself eating all of my favorite foods. I told myself, that I am only going to indulge for no longer than 2 weeks after my show. I want to maintain the body that I have worked so hard to get. I am going to learn how to cook and eat cleaner, which I have been slowly learning since I started. And there is no way I am going to be able to give up eating 6 times a day. I LOVE eating every 2.5 to 3 hours. I should have been doing this the whole time. I love knowing that if I am hungry, its not going to be that much longer before I get to eat again.

Until next time!

6 weeks out

I think I am experiencing what some call over training. I am tired all of the time, I am super irritable, and I catch myself wanting to come up with an excuse to not work out. I do like lifting, don't get me wrong, but I have hated cardio all my life and now I am supposed to be doing it 2 times a day for 45min each......I can't do it. I have tried it for the last few days and I already want to punch people in the face for reasons such as they are breathing too loud or they make too much noise when they walk. There has got to be a way to manipulate food or something so that I only have to do 1 cardio session per day. That is still 45min a day of cardio, but I can't handle doing it 2 times a day. I hope I will be able to handle it soon, the show is in 6 weeks.

I was doing fine until Saturday. I woke up for training and did awful. I couldn't lift the weight I normally lift, and I was so tired the entire time. I then had to follow that with weighted vest cardio. By the time I was done I was wiped out. I took a short nap and when I woke up I just felt pissed off the entire day. That night I went out with my friends to dinner. Normally I pack my meals and bring them with me. I decided that I would eat it before we went out so that I wouldn't be hungry when we got there, but that turned out not to be a good idea. I was so tired and irritated with my diet and work out schedule that I said "To hell with it!" and ordered a 4 cheese and ham macaroni dish from Jasper's (which was delicious by the way), and a skinny girl margatini, and I didn't even care. The next night I ate a cobb salad. The worst part was, that I didn't even care. I knew what I was doing.

I can't let myself give up now, I am halfway there. Although, I keep thinking that maybe I should do bikini instead of figure, just in case I am not ready due to my bad diet habits and lack of cardio.

9 Weeks Out

I have finally gotten my diet in check, but now I have been neglecting my cardio. I skipped 3 days of cardio last week, and I thought that it would be fine until my trainer told me that I had only lost 0.5% body fat in the last 3 weeks. I have got to stop cheating on both my diets and my workout. For some reason, when I get a hang of one, I skimp out on the other. I don't know why I do that. I am going to get better at this, but I need to do it quick! My show is less than 9 weeks away and I still need to lose about 6-7% body fat. I WILL get the hang of this...I have to.

As my body composition changes, I am realizing that all of these ads for "Fast" weight loss or "Easy" dieting are CRAP. There is no easy way to change your body...zero. There are definitely fast ways, but are they healthy? A friend of mine is leaving for Vegas next week with some of her friends. One of them is overweight and wanted to lose a few pounds before the trip. Her solution was to take diuretics. She lost 10lbs from this. Yes, she was successful at losing weight, however, that choice was definitely not healthy. That weight was all water, so the minute she eats something salty and drinks ANYTHING, the weight will pack back on faster than you can say margarita!

I have a new respect for people that are going through a body transformation; whether it be for an upcoming show or because they want to lose weight. The process is hard, and what I am realizing is that the maintenance is going to be even harder. My goal is to be able to maintain a chiseled physique so that I can put it to good use. (No not for dirty things....I can't believe you would think that!) Ultimately, I would love to be a fitness model. I look at models like Jaime Eason, Monica Brant, Rachel Davis, Alicia Marie ....(I could go on forever, lol) and I admire them very much. They have taken what they are passionate about, and turned it into a career. Not only is it benefiting them, but others as well. Learning about their journey into in the health and fitness world is what jump started my decision to compete.

I started this blog in hopes to inspire myself as well as others. This is also a way for me to practice my writing skills because that is another goal of mine; to be able to write fitness columns and articles one day. I do dare to dream!

12/11 Weeks Out

I cheated. I didn't mean to; it just happened. I now have this new found love for rice cakes, and that's where it all started. If you remember from my last post, I loathed rice cakes. I would have gladly run over a bag of them with my car. Well I just realized that you can put splenda and cinnamon on them, which was recommended to me from a friend, and now all I ever want to eat is food that has cinnamon in it. That's when it happened. On Friday I decided to try my new found rice cakes, and the minute I put them in my mouth, I went on a cinnamon frenzy! I grabbed everything I could find in my pantry that had cinnamon in it; 6 pieces of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, an entire Oatmeal Raisin Cliff Bar, and 1/2 glass of white wine. Ok so the wine doesn't have cinnamon in it, I just missed wine. I then went on to eat salad at 3 different restaurants which you would think would be ok, but those salads probably had more calories than orange chicken. I also had about 6 pieces of calamari, which of course were fried.

I am back on my diet now, full force, and I feel as though this mishap has taught me a lesson. After I cheated, I felt so crappy. To the point where I didn't even want to work out because I thought I had ruined my chances. However, my trainer assured me that it's ok and it happens to everyone. I just need to re-focus and get back on the horse.

I am slowly starting to notice a change in my body. My % body fat has dropped from 19 to 15.75 in the last 3 weeks. That's great because I only need to lose 6-7% more which, I should be able to do in the next 11 weeks. I have no problem being ready ahead of time rather than struggling to be ready at the last minute.  I have also noticed that my arms are a little more defined than they used to be as well as my legs. It's definitely not a drastic change, but a change non the less.

I have met so many wonderful people ever since I started this journey that have been very encouraging. Many of them are very well known in the figure/fitness/bodybuilding world and being  around them, makes me want to perform well. They give me the motivation to keep going. I look at them and am reassured that it is possible and I am very capable of doing this. I can't wait until my show in July! Not just because I can eat regular food, but because I feel as though this show is a doorway to a future in fitness.

13 Weeks Out

I just completed the first week of my diet and I am on to my second week. This is so much harder than I thought it was going to be. I almost had a meltdown in the grocery store because the only things I could buy were vegetables while my boyfriend was buying sausage links, frozen lasagna, and my personal all time favorite; cereal. Do you know how hard it is to go from eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch, to eating rice cakes? I hate rice cakes. I am also not used to cooking and packaging up my meals for the week. Fortunately, my work schedule allows me time in the morning to cook so I don't have to do it all on one day.

I keep thinking I should have done this earlier in the year. The weather is getting warmer and everyone wants to have margaritas on the patio, and go to the lake and barbeque. Just this week alone I have been to 2 restaurants that do not have many healthy options, I have been to the lake where drinking and grilling festivities have been going on, I have been invited to float the river where the only thing you do there is lay down, eat, and drink, and I have gone down to 6th street in Austin. Now you should be proud of me because I did not cave in at all; I was Designated Driver when we went downtown, and I packed and brought my food with me to everything else. I do, however, feel left out. I keep telling myself, "Only 13 more weeks!"

On another note, I have been feeling discouraged lately. I have a long way to go. Just the other day during posing practice, I was looking around at everyone and I am A LOT softer than the rest of them. Everyone else has very low body fat percentage and bigger muscles than I do. I want to do well in the competition; and when I mean do well, I mean place top 5 (as long as there are more than 5 people competing)..... No, let's be honest, I want a trophy, so top 3. As of right now, however, I would be lucky to come in last. Everyone says that wherever you carry most of your fat is where it will take the longest to come off. Unfortunately, mine is smack dab on my lower abdomen for the judges and everyone to see. Now if there is a contest for best belly flab, I am sure to take it!

I am not going to let my aversion to rice cakes and my alcohol cravings take me down. I am determined to power through and perform well. I just hope it goes by fast!

14 Weeks Out

Today is the first official start of my diet. This week, it's all about low carbs and high protein. I think once I make it past the first 3 weeks, it will get easier. It's hard going from drinking margaritas, eating Salt-Lick Barbeque, and cereal to a low carb, low fat diet. So far I have done well; this morning I had 4 egg whites, 1 whole egg w/ 1 cup of spinach and 2 rice cakes. It wasn't the best tasting meal in the world, but I will be satisfied until snack time when I have my first protein shake of just water and vanilla protein powder. I am drinking vanilla because I despise chocolate....yes you did read correctly, I hate chocolate. All of the best tasting protein bars, shakes, and snacks are all chocolate. So yes, this is going to be even that much harder for me.

On a different note, I went to my first posing practice on Sunday. I know most people don't start practicing until about 8-12 weeks out, but I want to make sure that when I get up on stage, my pose is not something I am going to be worried about. Apparently, I learn very quickly. I was able to spread what lats I do have and create the illusion that waist is very tiny. I wasn't worried about flexing my other muscles during the posing class, because spreading my lats was hard enough. Did you realize how much harder it is to breath when you are trying to make your chest and back as big as possible? You would think it would be the other way around.

This is also the first day where I start doing hard core cardio. I have always had this aversion to cardio ever since I attempted to run track. My first and only track meet I ran the 800; Keep in mind, I had no track experience before that meet. When the gun went off and everyone started running I realized that I was falling behind at the very first curve. I decided that sprinting the entire way would be the best option. After I crossed the finish line, in next to last place, I passed out on the field and didn't come to for like 30 min. The rest of that weekend I was throwing up, having muscle spasms, and taking endless amounts of naps. Ever since then, I have avoided any and all forms of cardio.

I am going to take this one day at a time; better yet, one hour at a time. I know I can do this, I just need A LOT of guidance along the way. Wish me luck!