Gluttony is a sin, right? Well I hate to admit, but feel the need to confess, I had quite the gluttonous weekend.
It all started on Thursday when I began to lose myself. I had a 60 minute massage that I thought would recharge my aching body, which it did, for about an hour. I woke up Friday even more sore then I was previously. I think the massage told me just how run down my body was becoming. I attribute most of my soreness and lack of energy not only to the restricted calories, but to my inability to sleep much past 4 a.m. each morning. I barely made it through Friday, emotionally, physically or mentally. I could barely keep myself in an upright position, let alone get through my scheduled workouts. I allowed myself to only do 1 of the 3 planned workouts on Friday thinking that my body just needed some recovery time. By the time Friday evening came around, I was having a complete meltdown. I could no longer tolerate other human beings, let alone my own mind. I had some extra food thinking it would be what I needed to get through this slump. I thought I could recover as I have done on the other days that I slipped up a little. Well, Saturday and Sunday surprisingly started off normal, willpower in tact. By the time my 4th meal came around each day, my willpower was diminished. I ate. And ate. It was a vicious cycle. I couldn't recover. I guess my diet threshold is 11 weeks. Without going into every detail of my "breakdown" I have lived and learned from this past weekend. With 11 days until my first competition, I have a new mindset. My original reasoning behind wanting to do a figure competition was strictly to be able to say that I have completed one. Somewhere along the way, I allowed myself to believe that I had to be the best at this in my first attempt. No, I don't want to go on stage and look like a tool, but I don't want to go on stage feeling completely run down and broken. I have learned a lot so far from this process, and continue to learn everyday from it. I am the hardest person on myself sometimes, as a good amount of people are. I actually feel quite rejuvenated from my actions this weekend. Not that I'm giving myself an excuse to say what happened was ok, but I know now what I need to do to avoid it in the future. Here's to a strong next few weeks.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Bada bah bah bahhh....I'm lovin' it
Although I'm hungry, this transformation is amazing. Every morning, I wake up and notice something different with my physique. It's pretty neat. We've been on the 1250 calories for almost 2 weeks now and within the first 10 days I lost just over 2 pounds. Just so people don't get false hopes, that is a unreasonable amount of weight to lose on a normal diet being so far along into the diet. However, as we are quickly approaching show time, it is expected for us to lose most of our weight in these last few weeks.
My mood resembles that of a hormonal pregnant lady, I fluctuate pretty consistently between irritation to excitement to blank stares of confusion. I'm hungry most of the time, so to ease that I workout. If I'm not busy with clients, or eating, I will be doing some kind of activity. I'm still doing at least 2, if not 3, workouts a day. Mostly to keep myself busy and mind off of food. This week I added 2 days of fasting cardio. Now, I know that with fasting cardio comes the potential for losing some muscle, but I am in the last 2 weeks of trying to lose as much body fat as possible, I'm going to take that chance. I am drinking a double dose of BCAA before/during the cardio to try and preserve whatever I can. I think I will be ok and noticed a difference in my physique since doing those workouts.
One of the other ladies and I went to a competition this past weekend to get a better idea of what a show actually looks like. It was a small competition, which we believe ours will be as well, and to be honest the girls didn't look that impressive. Actually there were a few girls who I was questioning whether they even worked out or not!!! Made us feel a little bit better about where we are in our prep. We also visited that University of Buffalos Art Center where our competition will be taking place just so we could see the stage we will be walking around on. Pleasantly enough that stage wasn't as big as I had imagined, nor was the viewing area.
I had my husband measure my body fat with a skinfold caliper the other day. This is basically the only measurement I have done, aside from weighing myself. He measured me at 17%. Now, I'm not sure how accurate that is, I'm pretty sure its close to that, but it is quite discouraging to know that within the last 10 weeks I only lost 4% body fat. From research I've done I guess that is what is normal, they say 2 weeks for every 1% body fat that needs to be lost. Apparently we needed to start our prep a few weeks earlier. I wanted to get down to 14/15%, but being realistic I will be happy to lose 1% more in the next 2 weeks and get down to 16%. Most figure competitors go between 10-12%, I can't really picture myself being that low.
I have recently been working more on the post-competition plan. I do have quite a day planned for after the second competition I am doing in Plattsburgh!!! But 24 hours is all that's allowed post-show in order to make sure you do not mess your metabolism up for months. I have been planning a reverse diet that slowly reintroduces calories and carbs, maintains a good amount of proteins and fats and have a few cheats here and there. I have also planned out 2 weeks worth of workouts. It is suggested that you slowly lower your cardio duration each week until you reach your normal off-season amount of cardio. I am looking forward to regaining some flexibility in diet, but am still trying to determine what my new norm is going to be. You can't go through 14 weeks of competition prep and return to your pre-prep lifestyle. I'm not going to have put all of this work in and lose everything I've gained. I have to establish what it is I consider normal for my physique and what parts of prep I want to continue to do. I'm not going to lie, I'm scared to finish this prep and am hoping that my will power is strong enough to actually follow my routine since I won't have any show to worry about doing. They say will power is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets. Here's to hoping.
And just an FYI, McDonalds is not in the post-competition refeed plan, Moe's is.
My mood resembles that of a hormonal pregnant lady, I fluctuate pretty consistently between irritation to excitement to blank stares of confusion. I'm hungry most of the time, so to ease that I workout. If I'm not busy with clients, or eating, I will be doing some kind of activity. I'm still doing at least 2, if not 3, workouts a day. Mostly to keep myself busy and mind off of food. This week I added 2 days of fasting cardio. Now, I know that with fasting cardio comes the potential for losing some muscle, but I am in the last 2 weeks of trying to lose as much body fat as possible, I'm going to take that chance. I am drinking a double dose of BCAA before/during the cardio to try and preserve whatever I can. I think I will be ok and noticed a difference in my physique since doing those workouts.
One of the other ladies and I went to a competition this past weekend to get a better idea of what a show actually looks like. It was a small competition, which we believe ours will be as well, and to be honest the girls didn't look that impressive. Actually there were a few girls who I was questioning whether they even worked out or not!!! Made us feel a little bit better about where we are in our prep. We also visited that University of Buffalos Art Center where our competition will be taking place just so we could see the stage we will be walking around on. Pleasantly enough that stage wasn't as big as I had imagined, nor was the viewing area.
I had my husband measure my body fat with a skinfold caliper the other day. This is basically the only measurement I have done, aside from weighing myself. He measured me at 17%. Now, I'm not sure how accurate that is, I'm pretty sure its close to that, but it is quite discouraging to know that within the last 10 weeks I only lost 4% body fat. From research I've done I guess that is what is normal, they say 2 weeks for every 1% body fat that needs to be lost. Apparently we needed to start our prep a few weeks earlier. I wanted to get down to 14/15%, but being realistic I will be happy to lose 1% more in the next 2 weeks and get down to 16%. Most figure competitors go between 10-12%, I can't really picture myself being that low.
I have recently been working more on the post-competition plan. I do have quite a day planned for after the second competition I am doing in Plattsburgh!!! But 24 hours is all that's allowed post-show in order to make sure you do not mess your metabolism up for months. I have been planning a reverse diet that slowly reintroduces calories and carbs, maintains a good amount of proteins and fats and have a few cheats here and there. I have also planned out 2 weeks worth of workouts. It is suggested that you slowly lower your cardio duration each week until you reach your normal off-season amount of cardio. I am looking forward to regaining some flexibility in diet, but am still trying to determine what my new norm is going to be. You can't go through 14 weeks of competition prep and return to your pre-prep lifestyle. I'm not going to have put all of this work in and lose everything I've gained. I have to establish what it is I consider normal for my physique and what parts of prep I want to continue to do. I'm not going to lie, I'm scared to finish this prep and am hoping that my will power is strong enough to actually follow my routine since I won't have any show to worry about doing. They say will power is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets. Here's to hoping.
And just an FYI, McDonalds is not in the post-competition refeed plan, Moe's is.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Day 68 of 90.....
I'm tired. And hungry. I'm seeing results.
We started the last phase of our diet this past Sunday, 1250 calories. I spent Friday and Saturday enjoying a few extra calories to mentally prepare for this part. Apparently all of those times that I thought I was "cheating" I really wasn't, there was actually a name for it. I discovered that there are things called "re-feeds" where you up your calories and carbs a bit while maintaining protein and lowering fats that you are supposed to do every so often to recharge your body. Well I didn't know that had a name, I just thought that was cheating. It seems similar to when we were carb cycling, but its not as structured as that was. A re-feed day you can actually increase your calories substantially, upwards in the 2000 range. I didn't go that high in Friday or Saturday, but lets just say I wasn't hungry those days either.
Here we are 4 days into the 21 days of the 1250 calorie diet. The main components getting me through the gaps between meals: sour patch kid gum (yep, found some!!!), liquid/powder water flavorings and coffee....lots of coffee.....thank goodness I found the Green Mountain coffee at that gas station. I've become a chain chewer. One piece of gum lasts about 30 minutes before the flavor is gone and I switch it out for a new piece. My jaw hurts.
Workouts are good. Weights are staying between the 8-15 rep range for now, completing usually 4 sets of each exercise. Sometime I do active rest periods, sometimes I take a nap between sets, depends on how large of a Green Mountain I had that day. I'm doing at least 1 cardio session a day. I'm alternating between HIIT/sprints, LSD (long, slow duration.....get your heads out of the gutter) and plyometric type circuits. I'd say at least 3 days a week I am doing double cardio. I found out that it works for me to split the cardio sessions into 2 smaller sessions. I'm fighting some plantar fasciitis pain, but as long as I stay off the arc trainer I seem to be ok. Guess I'm stuck on the stupid treadmills.
Its clear to see that if people didn't know what we were doing before, they do now. Not only are we walking around in 5 inch clear high heels, but our muscles are now quite noticeable without even having to flex. People at the gym are asking more about what we are doing. Its becoming real.
I'm trying to keep positive thoughts in my head even though I'm constantly thinking about food. My clients have been sharing with me their food experiences so that it may seem that I too have experienced it with them. One of my clients even sent me a picture of her ham and cheese Panini she had for dinner one night. It was awesome and I stared at it for a while. I've warned my husband that for the next 4 weeks I probably won't be the friendliest of beasts, but he's informed me that at least I look like a "beautiful zombie". I will get through this diet. Just keep telling myself that.
I did get my suit in the mail last week, and I did try it on and did take pictures. I'm not sharing them. Its a humbling experience when that much is revealed in a "bathing suit".
I've been putting a lot of work lately into what my plans are for when these shows are finished. I'd like to stay similar to this lifestyle just within a satisfying calorie range. I used to get headaches all the time and have wicked blood sugar fluctuations when I wasn't eating this clean. Its nice to not have headaches and to have a stable blood sugar on a regular basis. I know a lot of that has to do with the amount of sugar I was eating before. Hopefully I can stay away from it most of the time when I am on the other side of these competitions.
We started the last phase of our diet this past Sunday, 1250 calories. I spent Friday and Saturday enjoying a few extra calories to mentally prepare for this part. Apparently all of those times that I thought I was "cheating" I really wasn't, there was actually a name for it. I discovered that there are things called "re-feeds" where you up your calories and carbs a bit while maintaining protein and lowering fats that you are supposed to do every so often to recharge your body. Well I didn't know that had a name, I just thought that was cheating. It seems similar to when we were carb cycling, but its not as structured as that was. A re-feed day you can actually increase your calories substantially, upwards in the 2000 range. I didn't go that high in Friday or Saturday, but lets just say I wasn't hungry those days either.
Here we are 4 days into the 21 days of the 1250 calorie diet. The main components getting me through the gaps between meals: sour patch kid gum (yep, found some!!!), liquid/powder water flavorings and coffee....lots of coffee.....thank goodness I found the Green Mountain coffee at that gas station. I've become a chain chewer. One piece of gum lasts about 30 minutes before the flavor is gone and I switch it out for a new piece. My jaw hurts.
Workouts are good. Weights are staying between the 8-15 rep range for now, completing usually 4 sets of each exercise. Sometime I do active rest periods, sometimes I take a nap between sets, depends on how large of a Green Mountain I had that day. I'm doing at least 1 cardio session a day. I'm alternating between HIIT/sprints, LSD (long, slow duration.....get your heads out of the gutter) and plyometric type circuits. I'd say at least 3 days a week I am doing double cardio. I found out that it works for me to split the cardio sessions into 2 smaller sessions. I'm fighting some plantar fasciitis pain, but as long as I stay off the arc trainer I seem to be ok. Guess I'm stuck on the stupid treadmills.
Its clear to see that if people didn't know what we were doing before, they do now. Not only are we walking around in 5 inch clear high heels, but our muscles are now quite noticeable without even having to flex. People at the gym are asking more about what we are doing. Its becoming real.
I'm trying to keep positive thoughts in my head even though I'm constantly thinking about food. My clients have been sharing with me their food experiences so that it may seem that I too have experienced it with them. One of my clients even sent me a picture of her ham and cheese Panini she had for dinner one night. It was awesome and I stared at it for a while. I've warned my husband that for the next 4 weeks I probably won't be the friendliest of beasts, but he's informed me that at least I look like a "beautiful zombie". I will get through this diet. Just keep telling myself that.
I did get my suit in the mail last week, and I did try it on and did take pictures. I'm not sharing them. Its a humbling experience when that much is revealed in a "bathing suit".
I've been putting a lot of work lately into what my plans are for when these shows are finished. I'd like to stay similar to this lifestyle just within a satisfying calorie range. I used to get headaches all the time and have wicked blood sugar fluctuations when I wasn't eating this clean. Its nice to not have headaches and to have a stable blood sugar on a regular basis. I know a lot of that has to do with the amount of sugar I was eating before. Hopefully I can stay away from it most of the time when I am on the other side of these competitions.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Worry wart and daily routine
Annndd apprehension is setting in. Not so much about the actual competition itself, I was a cheerleader for about a decade and I'm pretty confident in my ability to get on stage and whip out my "jazz" hands and milk it for the judges. No, I'm becoming more and more worrisome about the actual prep coming into the last few weeks before our show. Sure, I have done research and devised a plan based on the most common rules and tricks, but to actually know am I doing enough cardio or am I doing too much, am I eating enough calories or am I eating too much, it is such an individual based answer. It all depends on how your physique is progressing and being that I have never done this before, I'm not sure how my body is going to change with each process. This is when I wish I could afford a coach, someone to be able to know how each workout and meal should be devised to change the parts of my physique that I specifically need. I guess every person who ever competed had to go through the process of trial and error to see what worked best for them, but I just don't like the idea of putting all this work into something and have it backfire on me if I do something totally wrong.
On and up note, our suits will be arriving today!!!! Pictures will be taken this weekend, hopefully it fits. We are practicing our posing a few times a week and are developing our "model walk" that we have to perform on stage. It is a series of 6 poses that you hit at various spots on the stage. Again, I was a cheerleader for so long, I'm pretty confident in that part. Our last diet change is happening on Sunday and we will follow that for 3 weeks before we get into peak week. That is a whole other part of the prep that I am super nervous about messing up, peak week has so much contradicting literature. I think I have a plan for it, but I'm going to be doing more research.
The last 2 weeks, since we have been on this part of our diet, I have fluctuated between 138 and 135 pounds. Its so funny how such small changes, like how much sodium you eat or water you drink and how much you workout, can make such a difference on the scale each day. I'm not worried about the scale, just as I haven't this whole time, but its always fun to see how it changes. This past week I have been doing 2 cardio sessions each day along with my regular weight lifting session (sun-wed) and have seen a significant difference in the definition of some of my muscles. I have been eating a few extra calories here or there, but I have been sticking to the diet pretty well and didn't see much difference last week. This made me realize that the cardio is definitely helping me. When we make our next diet change on Sunday I think I'm going to take a step back from so much cardio and let the diet do some of the work first, then add cardio in again as needed. It is said that you should be completely ready with your physique a week prior to your competition so that you can do a week of carb depletion and loading right before the show. We'll see how far we get.
I though I'd give you all a sample of what my days look like currently and what kinds of foods we are eating.
I usually wake up around 5:30. Thank you husbands alarm clock. Drink 24 ounces of cold water with some raspberry ketones in it while I make my egg whites and veggies as my first course for breakfast. Second course at breakfast is 1/2c oats with 1/4oz walnuts, cinnamon, ground ginger and stevia. I adore breakfast. With a healthy side of black coffee I try and savor every second of breakfast. With breakfast I take my fish oils, CLA and L-carnatine. After breakfast has settled its usually cardio #1 at about 8 a.m. I make sure I drink BCAA during cardio sessions. Second breakfast at around 9: 3oz ground turkey and 4oz sweet potato with a little bit of cinnamon, I also adore this meal, it taste like thanksgiving. Then I usually have some morning clients before first lunch which is 3oz chicken with 1/2c brown rice. I put on a good squeeze of hot sauce with this meal, I love spicy stuff. And with lunch I take my vitamins. Usually by lunch time I have drank 4 blender bottles (~80oz) of water, which is about 1/2 of my daily intake. Then following lunch is weight lifting. Sometimes I take a preworkout, sometimes I don't. My preworkout has caffeine in it so it usually depends on how much coffee I had during the day and if I can tolerate any more caffeine. If my weight lifting goes any longer than an hour I start drinking my nectars protein with BCAA in it at that hour mark, trying to preserve muscle. By the time I finish weights its time for lunch 2: 3oz chicken with 2 cups zucchini/green beans with 1/4c organic salsa. Then I usually have the afternoon to do some food prep, I seem to always be cooking something. Whether we've run out of chicken or veggies I always like to have plenty of everything cooked ahead of time so I can just put together my meals as I need them. Then I usually have a few more clients in the afternoon/early evening. Dinner tends to be between 5-6p.m. and that meals is another 3oz chicken with 1cup green beans and 1/2oz slivered almonds. I put a good dollop of spicy mustard on this meal and take another serving of CLA and fish oil. Sometime during the late afternoon/early morning I fit in my second cardio, depending on how much clients are scheduled. I am usually home by 7 every night. I stop drinking water at around 7:30 when I have consumed around 1 to 1.5 gallons during the day so that I am not up all night going to the bathroom. I finish my day with a casein shake. Around 7:30/8:00 p.m. I mix one scoop of casein with 1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and some ice cubes in my blender until it is as thick as a "frosty" and eat it with a spoon. IT IS AWESOME!!! When ever you can consume something that is similar to a frosty every single night, life can't be too bad! I've said it before, I like the diet, the foods are great and I enjoy them but I do miss certain foods and think about protein bars and cereal often. However, the following are the main components that are mentally getting me through the last few weeks of diet:
On and up note, our suits will be arriving today!!!! Pictures will be taken this weekend, hopefully it fits. We are practicing our posing a few times a week and are developing our "model walk" that we have to perform on stage. It is a series of 6 poses that you hit at various spots on the stage. Again, I was a cheerleader for so long, I'm pretty confident in that part. Our last diet change is happening on Sunday and we will follow that for 3 weeks before we get into peak week. That is a whole other part of the prep that I am super nervous about messing up, peak week has so much contradicting literature. I think I have a plan for it, but I'm going to be doing more research.
The last 2 weeks, since we have been on this part of our diet, I have fluctuated between 138 and 135 pounds. Its so funny how such small changes, like how much sodium you eat or water you drink and how much you workout, can make such a difference on the scale each day. I'm not worried about the scale, just as I haven't this whole time, but its always fun to see how it changes. This past week I have been doing 2 cardio sessions each day along with my regular weight lifting session (sun-wed) and have seen a significant difference in the definition of some of my muscles. I have been eating a few extra calories here or there, but I have been sticking to the diet pretty well and didn't see much difference last week. This made me realize that the cardio is definitely helping me. When we make our next diet change on Sunday I think I'm going to take a step back from so much cardio and let the diet do some of the work first, then add cardio in again as needed. It is said that you should be completely ready with your physique a week prior to your competition so that you can do a week of carb depletion and loading right before the show. We'll see how far we get.
I though I'd give you all a sample of what my days look like currently and what kinds of foods we are eating.
I usually wake up around 5:30. Thank you husbands alarm clock. Drink 24 ounces of cold water with some raspberry ketones in it while I make my egg whites and veggies as my first course for breakfast. Second course at breakfast is 1/2c oats with 1/4oz walnuts, cinnamon, ground ginger and stevia. I adore breakfast. With a healthy side of black coffee I try and savor every second of breakfast. With breakfast I take my fish oils, CLA and L-carnatine. After breakfast has settled its usually cardio #1 at about 8 a.m. I make sure I drink BCAA during cardio sessions. Second breakfast at around 9: 3oz ground turkey and 4oz sweet potato with a little bit of cinnamon, I also adore this meal, it taste like thanksgiving. Then I usually have some morning clients before first lunch which is 3oz chicken with 1/2c brown rice. I put on a good squeeze of hot sauce with this meal, I love spicy stuff. And with lunch I take my vitamins. Usually by lunch time I have drank 4 blender bottles (~80oz) of water, which is about 1/2 of my daily intake. Then following lunch is weight lifting. Sometimes I take a preworkout, sometimes I don't. My preworkout has caffeine in it so it usually depends on how much coffee I had during the day and if I can tolerate any more caffeine. If my weight lifting goes any longer than an hour I start drinking my nectars protein with BCAA in it at that hour mark, trying to preserve muscle. By the time I finish weights its time for lunch 2: 3oz chicken with 2 cups zucchini/green beans with 1/4c organic salsa. Then I usually have the afternoon to do some food prep, I seem to always be cooking something. Whether we've run out of chicken or veggies I always like to have plenty of everything cooked ahead of time so I can just put together my meals as I need them. Then I usually have a few more clients in the afternoon/early evening. Dinner tends to be between 5-6p.m. and that meals is another 3oz chicken with 1cup green beans and 1/2oz slivered almonds. I put a good dollop of spicy mustard on this meal and take another serving of CLA and fish oil. Sometime during the late afternoon/early morning I fit in my second cardio, depending on how much clients are scheduled. I am usually home by 7 every night. I stop drinking water at around 7:30 when I have consumed around 1 to 1.5 gallons during the day so that I am not up all night going to the bathroom. I finish my day with a casein shake. Around 7:30/8:00 p.m. I mix one scoop of casein with 1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and some ice cubes in my blender until it is as thick as a "frosty" and eat it with a spoon. IT IS AWESOME!!! When ever you can consume something that is similar to a frosty every single night, life can't be too bad! I've said it before, I like the diet, the foods are great and I enjoy them but I do miss certain foods and think about protein bars and cereal often. However, the following are the main components that are mentally getting me through the last few weeks of diet:
I dream about these foods often. I look forward to sticking with my healthy lifestyle and diet routine for the long run, just with a few more cheats involved. Nachos and brownie sundae being the first of cheats.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Shifting into full gear
Sh*t is getting real.
-Suit is ordered
-Base tan is getting developed
-Tanning/Hair/Make up is scheduled (for both competitions)
-Hotels are booked
We had our clinic this past Saturday, which wasn't as informative as we were hoping, but we did get to work on posing. The "model" walk and quarter turns are really important to understand and perform well at because it is a large part of your score. It is something that we are working on continuously throughout the week, as often as possible. We definitely don't want to get on stage and look like a lost puppy!!! However, I feel perfectly comfortable walking in our heels at the gym and posing in the mirrors while members give us blank looks of confusion. Well if they didn't know we were training for a show before, they know now!
The clinic wasn't as informative as far as nutrition and diet in the last few weeks leading up to the competition. Now, I do have a plan all made up for diet and exercise, that I have developed based on research, for the next 36 days (Yea, that's all we have left until showtime!). I was hoping to get some reassurance as to whether or not what I had planned was sufficient. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to the clinic was to get some of that information since we don't have a coach guiding us through this. I guess I will just trust myself and trust the process.
So last time I left you I was just finishing up the last round of carb cycling, aaannnddd to be completely honest, I totally busted up the last 4 days. There was no carb cycling happening, what was experienced was more of a calorie loading. I was so mentally drained and over this process that I decided to eat a few extra things while I had the chance. The first low carb day of the last cycle was pretty true, however into days 2 and 3 I tried to stay high with protein and lower in carbs but I ate a few extra of my homemade protein bars with peanut butter on them and THEY WERE DELICIOUS. I had no guilt about this, which I'm not sure if that was a good thing or not. My last "high carb" day was damn straight a high carb day. Some of which I had was planned, like the peanut butter and jelly and protein bar, but I ended up adding 2 bowls of cereal and some chocolate. And you know what, I think that was exactly what my body needed. I didn't lose as much on the carb cycle as I had hoped (I did all my re-measurements before I went on this little binge) but after I finished that part of the diet we started the next phase and within the last 6 days I have lost about a pound and a half and feel completely rejuvenated. Not only did I lose a little bit of weight, but I can totally feel the loss of body fat, especially in my core. You know what is an awesome feeling, when you bend over, either to the side or forward, and your belly rolls don't eat each other. I am enjoying this part of our diet 100% more than that carb cycle, I'm not as irritable or negative when my body has sufficient carbs each day. If I decide to do another competition I will leave the carb cycle section out of my diet. It was definitely not worth the mental strain.
Here's the plan going into the last 5 weeks of prep:
Continue this part of the diet until next Saturday (1400 calories, 170ish grams of protein, 100is grams of carbs and 30ish grams of fat. I say "ish" because I might switch out certain vegetables at meals and they run slightly different in carbs and proteins)
Weeks 10-12 go down to 1250ish calories with about 50% coming from protein, 30% from carbs and 20% from fat.
Week pre-competition is depletion. Still working on the whole process of depletion, but essentially you lower your carbs for 4 days, then go to normal carbs on Thursday and finish with higher carbs on Friday before the show. Its suppose to give your muscles a fuller look for competition day.
Workouts are staying pretty consistent. Lifting pretty heavy for 8-12 reps, keeping intensity high with plyometrics between sets and exercises. Cardio is getting accomplished, I might have said it before, but I loathe cardio. Most of it is in the form of sprints or HIIT which is a little bit more fun, but I'm doing a few days of longer duration. The one thing getting me through the cardio: Pandora. There is something so amazing about listening to music to keep you motivated and inspired during monotonous cardio. I do have a wide variety of interests when it comes to my music choice, and some people might chuckle as I lip sing to myself on the treadmill or ellilptical. I'm sure they would chuckle a little bit more if they knew what I was listening to. Not going to lie, sometimes there is the occasional Disney showtune....it gets me through.
-Suit is ordered
-Base tan is getting developed
-Tanning/Hair/Make up is scheduled (for both competitions)
-Hotels are booked
We had our clinic this past Saturday, which wasn't as informative as we were hoping, but we did get to work on posing. The "model" walk and quarter turns are really important to understand and perform well at because it is a large part of your score. It is something that we are working on continuously throughout the week, as often as possible. We definitely don't want to get on stage and look like a lost puppy!!! However, I feel perfectly comfortable walking in our heels at the gym and posing in the mirrors while members give us blank looks of confusion. Well if they didn't know we were training for a show before, they know now!
The clinic wasn't as informative as far as nutrition and diet in the last few weeks leading up to the competition. Now, I do have a plan all made up for diet and exercise, that I have developed based on research, for the next 36 days (Yea, that's all we have left until showtime!). I was hoping to get some reassurance as to whether or not what I had planned was sufficient. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to the clinic was to get some of that information since we don't have a coach guiding us through this. I guess I will just trust myself and trust the process.
So last time I left you I was just finishing up the last round of carb cycling, aaannnddd to be completely honest, I totally busted up the last 4 days. There was no carb cycling happening, what was experienced was more of a calorie loading. I was so mentally drained and over this process that I decided to eat a few extra things while I had the chance. The first low carb day of the last cycle was pretty true, however into days 2 and 3 I tried to stay high with protein and lower in carbs but I ate a few extra of my homemade protein bars with peanut butter on them and THEY WERE DELICIOUS. I had no guilt about this, which I'm not sure if that was a good thing or not. My last "high carb" day was damn straight a high carb day. Some of which I had was planned, like the peanut butter and jelly and protein bar, but I ended up adding 2 bowls of cereal and some chocolate. And you know what, I think that was exactly what my body needed. I didn't lose as much on the carb cycle as I had hoped (I did all my re-measurements before I went on this little binge) but after I finished that part of the diet we started the next phase and within the last 6 days I have lost about a pound and a half and feel completely rejuvenated. Not only did I lose a little bit of weight, but I can totally feel the loss of body fat, especially in my core. You know what is an awesome feeling, when you bend over, either to the side or forward, and your belly rolls don't eat each other. I am enjoying this part of our diet 100% more than that carb cycle, I'm not as irritable or negative when my body has sufficient carbs each day. If I decide to do another competition I will leave the carb cycle section out of my diet. It was definitely not worth the mental strain.
Here's the plan going into the last 5 weeks of prep:
Continue this part of the diet until next Saturday (1400 calories, 170ish grams of protein, 100is grams of carbs and 30ish grams of fat. I say "ish" because I might switch out certain vegetables at meals and they run slightly different in carbs and proteins)
Weeks 10-12 go down to 1250ish calories with about 50% coming from protein, 30% from carbs and 20% from fat.
Week pre-competition is depletion. Still working on the whole process of depletion, but essentially you lower your carbs for 4 days, then go to normal carbs on Thursday and finish with higher carbs on Friday before the show. Its suppose to give your muscles a fuller look for competition day.
Workouts are staying pretty consistent. Lifting pretty heavy for 8-12 reps, keeping intensity high with plyometrics between sets and exercises. Cardio is getting accomplished, I might have said it before, but I loathe cardio. Most of it is in the form of sprints or HIIT which is a little bit more fun, but I'm doing a few days of longer duration. The one thing getting me through the cardio: Pandora. There is something so amazing about listening to music to keep you motivated and inspired during monotonous cardio. I do have a wide variety of interests when it comes to my music choice, and some people might chuckle as I lip sing to myself on the treadmill or ellilptical. I'm sure they would chuckle a little bit more if they knew what I was listening to. Not going to lie, sometimes there is the occasional Disney showtune....it gets me through.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
The glass is half empty
Our glass is half empty. In a good way. We are officially more than half way through our competition prep, today is day 46 of 90.
Today is also the last low carb day of our 5th round of carb cycling. I have to say that the fourth cycle was much easier than the first three. It know it was helpful that my dad came to visit for the weekend so I wasn't as focused so much on food all day. The fifth cycle hasn't really existed. I ate different foods, didn't actually count my macros, just ball-parked them in my head to keep the high protein, low carb goal. I had venison sausage, protein shakes with almond milk and homemade protein bars. I'm ok with it though. I think I did ok for the most part and I actually think it did wonders for my mental state. This whole process is such a mental game, it plays tricks with your mind. My mother has always said "Its all in your head", you are in control of what you think, you just have to learn to keep the positive motors on and the negative ones off. Although I haven't really stuck to the diet this last cycle, tomorrow is our last high carb day before we move to something different and I already made out the plans so I'm going to do it anyway! Tomorrow's diet will include a peanut butter and jelly sandwich AND a chocolate protein bar. I will, however, be doing a high intensity plyometric workout and loads of burpees to make up for it, but it will totally be worth it!
As promised, I have redone some measurements and pictures now that we are basically finished with the carb cycling. The first set of pictures were taken on February 1st, the first day of our carb cycle.
The next set of pictures was taken today, February 19th, the last low carb day of our last round of carb cycling.
I'm also hoping that the diet change, happening on Friday, will rejuvenate me. Half way through and its getting harder to hold onto this goal. I'm starting to burn out and like I said before, its a complete mental challenge. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy all my clean eating and the food that we are eating is good, but I miss baking, "clean" baking. Protein muffins, protein cookies, protein bars.....I miss variety and being able to eat what I'm in the mood for, not just what the schedule dictates. After the diet change this Friday we have one more diet change before we get to the last week prior to competition.
Saturday we have a clinic in Buffalo where they will explain to us what we need to know and do for the days leading up to and the day of the competition. I'm really excited to learn everything they have to teach us. They will explain to us a little bit more on what they expect for posing, physique, hair and makeup and overall presentation. We will be ordering our suits shortly after the clinic on Saturday since they will be giving us more information on what they expect from our suits and we want to start practicing our posing in them. Saturday also is the 6 week mark to competition #1. Six weeks to go balls-to-the-wall. Six weeks to see what I have within myself mentally, physically and emotionally.....wish us luck!
Today is also the last low carb day of our 5th round of carb cycling. I have to say that the fourth cycle was much easier than the first three. It know it was helpful that my dad came to visit for the weekend so I wasn't as focused so much on food all day. The fifth cycle hasn't really existed. I ate different foods, didn't actually count my macros, just ball-parked them in my head to keep the high protein, low carb goal. I had venison sausage, protein shakes with almond milk and homemade protein bars. I'm ok with it though. I think I did ok for the most part and I actually think it did wonders for my mental state. This whole process is such a mental game, it plays tricks with your mind. My mother has always said "Its all in your head", you are in control of what you think, you just have to learn to keep the positive motors on and the negative ones off. Although I haven't really stuck to the diet this last cycle, tomorrow is our last high carb day before we move to something different and I already made out the plans so I'm going to do it anyway! Tomorrow's diet will include a peanut butter and jelly sandwich AND a chocolate protein bar. I will, however, be doing a high intensity plyometric workout and loads of burpees to make up for it, but it will totally be worth it!
As promised, I have redone some measurements and pictures now that we are basically finished with the carb cycling. The first set of pictures were taken on February 1st, the first day of our carb cycle.
The next set of pictures was taken today, February 19th, the last low carb day of our last round of carb cycling.
Not going to lie, I'm slightly disappointed. I do see some changes, and I know I'm getting there, but I still see so much more that I need to work on. We retook some of the measurements. I lost 1.5 pounds in the last 3 weeks and an inch off of my hips. All the other measurements stayed about the same. I forgot to bring my skinfold caliper home last night so we weren't able to measure body fat, I will retake that this weekend. I'm hoping to see the changes there.
I'm also hoping that the diet change, happening on Friday, will rejuvenate me. Half way through and its getting harder to hold onto this goal. I'm starting to burn out and like I said before, its a complete mental challenge. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy all my clean eating and the food that we are eating is good, but I miss baking, "clean" baking. Protein muffins, protein cookies, protein bars.....I miss variety and being able to eat what I'm in the mood for, not just what the schedule dictates. After the diet change this Friday we have one more diet change before we get to the last week prior to competition.
Saturday we have a clinic in Buffalo where they will explain to us what we need to know and do for the days leading up to and the day of the competition. I'm really excited to learn everything they have to teach us. They will explain to us a little bit more on what they expect for posing, physique, hair and makeup and overall presentation. We will be ordering our suits shortly after the clinic on Saturday since they will be giving us more information on what they expect from our suits and we want to start practicing our posing in them. Saturday also is the 6 week mark to competition #1. Six weeks to go balls-to-the-wall. Six weeks to see what I have within myself mentally, physically and emotionally.....wish us luck!
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Undesirable No. 1
I make no reference to any movies with the title of this post, but myself am becoming "Undesirable No. 1" I was going to wait until the we were finished with our carb cycle to post again, but I wanted to give some updates. We are just finishing our 3rd of 5 cycles with this plan and there are several undesirable aspects that I have discovered.
1. High Carb day really actually sucks. You would think that after 3 days of low carbohydrate intake, the replenish of glycogen stores into your body would feel amazing. Welp, no. The rush of insulin makes for shaky sensations within the muscles and mind. Not very welcoming when you also must put your heavier lifting/workout day on high carb day.
2. The first low carb day after high carb day there is an incurable hunger that takes over, resulting in "hanger" (anger due to hunger).
3. By the 3rd low day brain function is essentially seized. The formation of complete sentences within the brain are a struggle and then to actually expel them from your mouth to make sense takes too much effort, thus speaking properly does not take place.
So why then does this make me undesirable no. 1? I cannot function properly within society during carb cycle. Withdrawal from social obligations is inevitable, it is too much work to mentally converse with people and therefore I seem to be this "undesirable" person. I try to make sure I am not coming across as this miserable person, especially to new people, but what you see is what you get until we are finished with this section of our competition prep.
I have not taken any progress pictures or done any measurements since the first day of our first carb cycle, I wanted to leave all of that for the end which will be a week from tomorrow. I have, however, checked the scale a few times. During this part of our competition prep I have lost 1.5 pounds. Again, weight has no value as a measurement to what we are trying to accomplish. We are aiming to lose body fat, but it is always nice to see something changing to stay motivated.
On another note, we have had 2 of our 3 posing classes and feel so accomplished in what we have done in the last 5.5 weeks and am looking forward to what the next 7.5 weeks has in store for us.
1. High Carb day really actually sucks. You would think that after 3 days of low carbohydrate intake, the replenish of glycogen stores into your body would feel amazing. Welp, no. The rush of insulin makes for shaky sensations within the muscles and mind. Not very welcoming when you also must put your heavier lifting/workout day on high carb day.
2. The first low carb day after high carb day there is an incurable hunger that takes over, resulting in "hanger" (anger due to hunger).
3. By the 3rd low day brain function is essentially seized. The formation of complete sentences within the brain are a struggle and then to actually expel them from your mouth to make sense takes too much effort, thus speaking properly does not take place.
So why then does this make me undesirable no. 1? I cannot function properly within society during carb cycle. Withdrawal from social obligations is inevitable, it is too much work to mentally converse with people and therefore I seem to be this "undesirable" person. I try to make sure I am not coming across as this miserable person, especially to new people, but what you see is what you get until we are finished with this section of our competition prep.
I have not taken any progress pictures or done any measurements since the first day of our first carb cycle, I wanted to leave all of that for the end which will be a week from tomorrow. I have, however, checked the scale a few times. During this part of our competition prep I have lost 1.5 pounds. Again, weight has no value as a measurement to what we are trying to accomplish. We are aiming to lose body fat, but it is always nice to see something changing to stay motivated.
On another note, we have had 2 of our 3 posing classes and feel so accomplished in what we have done in the last 5.5 weeks and am looking forward to what the next 7.5 weeks has in store for us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)