Thursday, August 21, 2014

Not in it to win it

The first show(s) that I did, my goal was to get up on stage and say I completed a figure competition. Once I accomplished that, I decided my next aspiration was to actually enjoy the process. Since I started this competition prep almond 9 weeks ago, I have worked hard not only on my transformation, but also on my mentality toward the challenge. Last time, being the first time, I was nervous about every part of the competition prep and the day of show which didn't allow me to appreciate the changes I was able to accomplish along the way. This time I know the small bouts of suffering lead to awesome outcomes.

That is why I am not in the competition to try and win it. First of all, it is a PRO qualifier in Boston. There will be dozens of girls that I will be competing against who do this all the time. Second, I keep reminding myself I want to enjoy (obviously not completely possible, especially toward the last few weeks) this prep so that I may want to do shows again. Lastly, this is still only my 3rd show, ever. My main goal is to beat my previous self. I wanted to take what I learned from the first show and apply my new theories and techniques to this show. I have no fears about being on stage and already feel a bit stronger in my posing (although I really need to be practicing more). I had a lady show me some new poses and I really am looking forward to strutting my stuff :) Last show I looked rigid, this time I will be more comfortable on stage. I gave myself way more flexibility in the diet this time around, and I think it worked better for me. I wasn't so rigid in getting every single piece of my daily diet plan into each and every meal. If i didn't have a meal prepped, I'd head to the grocery store and try to recreate what I was supposed to have or even go to a restaurant and have them make something similar to what I was supposed to be eating for that meal. I had extra bites of food. I'd snack on fruit. Thus far, I have not felt deprived and am still really enjoying the diet. My workouts have been enjoyable. It helps that my brother and other family members are close enough now that I can workout with them and they can keep me motivated. Also, there have been days that I was to physically tired to move a single weight, so I'd take a day off. I have not felt like exercise has been a burden or a punishment this whole prep, and I've even been doing as much as 2 hours of cardio a day!

So, whats happened the last few weeks? I have been lucky enough that my grandmother has a spare bedroom I can shove most of my essential day to day belongings into, even if I have consumed the entire room, she has not complained yet! All of my cooking has been getting completed between my grandmothers and my cousins. I basically cook chicken every other day. Its a good thing I've been splitting my grocery shopping up between several different grocery stores, otherwise people may think i'm hoarding chicken. I went to planet fitness......once. I ate chocolate, several times. I ate at restaurants. I exercised more than I was scheduled to some days and skipped workouts other days. I restrained myself when food temptations were there and I consumed extra calories when I thought my body needed them. I'm using this prep as a learning experience, trial and error, experimenting with different theories. One of those theories is to eliminate the creatine supplement 4-6 weeks prior to show and then load it again the week before show. I stopped taking creatine last week and haven't noticed that much of a difference in my strength. I was worried about losing too much size last show, but this time know that I need to do whatever I can, try whatever techniques, to eliminate as much body fat and get the cuts rather than worry about keeping the size. I haven't lost any size yet, but feel like my arms have become more defined. Could be from the diet or could be from no more creatine, either way something worked!

Next, starting today is when things might become not so pleasant and a bit more difficult. I am starting a small version of a carb cycle. Not as intense as the one I did last prep, I've learned so much about my body and how I respond to diet changes in the last year that I feel pretty confident in the plan I have developed for this carb cycle. The calories will be around 1300 and I will do Sunday, Monday, Tuesday around 60 carbs and Wednesday, Saturday around 90 carbs. I have switched from lifting heavier weight sets of split body to lighter weights full body/plyometrics and added in a whole butt load more of cardio. I don't feel like i've overtrained at all so far, as I had done in the first show. No more "cheats" or "refeeds". This is where everything really counts and really matters, so I'm willing to give in 3 1/2 weeks of straight focus. I have explained to family that I will be a little distant the next few weeks, and its not that I'm upset or disgusted with any of them, its just my technique to stay focused. I become hermit like, and for 3 1/2 weeks I don't feel like that will be a super challenge as long as people are open and understanding to what I'm doing. Don't expect me to have much energy for anything other than work, working out and cooking/eating my meals. I will be resting a lot, won't be taking many outings and will be mentally consumed with getting ready for the stage. I also have in the back of my mind how I want to "recover" from this show. Last time I had this extravagant plan on how I would slowly reintroduce more calories and carbs each week and slowly lower the amount of exercise I did daily. Well that didn't work! Go figure. I had lived so long on a restricted lifestyle, that without the fear of stepping on stage anytime soon, I lost my motivation and my willpower. This time, I notice I feel so much better on prep that I don't want to go back to the drag of processed foods. I learned that the hard way after last show. I will stick to clean eating, but will eat what I'd like in a moderate portion when it is time for a meal. I have a very flexible and varied meal plan that I have developed so I can have options for each meal. I will incorporate this into a maintainable lifestyle and hope to empower others to make the same changes!