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Sacrifices

As much as the diet part of training is difficult, I have no problems with it when I'm home. However, I'm finding it such a challenge to stick to it if I'm away from home for hours and especially if I go out of town for a few days.

This weekend I'm out of town visiting with my husband's friends and family. I'm experiencing how much life revolves around food. Obviously food is essential because it is sustenance, however the issue are the choices and options available, as well as the factor of convenience. I understand its all about planning/packing meals but its so difficult when your constantly on-the-go and you don't have all the time in the world to prepare. And then there's the issue of going out to eat with people and looking like a party-pooper always having to count calories and request a special order instead of join in on the festivities and the joy of ordering whatever is delicious on the menu.

Last night we went to my husbands best friend's birthday party. Needless to say there was a lot of alcohol and drinking. We never drink by choice, and we rarely even have the chance to go out simply because we are parents to a 6 month old and rarely have a babysitter in the evening. However, because we never have the opportunity to drink or go out without our son, I chose to drink last night. It really all boiled down to my poor decision. I should've been determined not to drink ahead of time but I felt like since I didn't stick to my schedule of eating and I already picked at the birthday cookie cake I had the mind frame of "why not? I already messed up today." Such a bad mind frame and so many excuses I know!

Well all I can do now, instead of beat myself up, is move forward and realize training is just about discipline and sacrifices. I've got to constantly remind myself how much I want to do well in the competition in April. Training isn't always fun or easy, but I believe my will-power will only get stronger the closer I get to The Big Day.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Keep these in mind (anonymous quotes)

"The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow."

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."

Officially 18wks out

I originally had a local figure event in mind to compete. However, my trainer suggested that I stick to NPC events because they are "more legit" and the judges are a little more methodical about how they judge. My trainer said that it would be a shame for me to compete in a small town contest and be judged unfairly, making my hard work a waste. So we looked up upcoming NPC Texas events and found one that is being held on April 14, 2012. Now we have an official target date and we can begin an official COUNTDOWN! Am I more nervous now?... heck yeah! lol. But I definitely have my head in the game and am more motivated to make every workout and every bite of food count.
Here are some present pics... currently at 124lbs and 16% body fat. Sometimes when I look at my pictures I wonder if my goal to compete in a figure competition is a pipe dream, since I feel that I'm too small and have so much work to do as far as developing my body. But, I just remind myself that this is my very first competition and I'm training in order to challenge myself and be an example to others. Plus, my trainer likes to remind me that conditioning is more important that size.
So here are my 18wks out pics O_O :





Besides my size, I know I really need to work on developing my upper body and learn how to really flare out my lats.

Lunch

6oz jumbo shrimp, brown rice, and green beans

Meal before bed

6oz tilapia fillet and asparagus

Takes the guess work out

Today was my first day working out with my trainer. Had a great back and shoulders workout; we focused a lot on my rear delts.
He also gave me my diet plan. It's a little under 1500 calories breaking down into 47% protein, 31% carbs, and 22% fat. I especially like his food plan for me because it's just an overall clean diet and the protein is primarily from food. My diet before was well balanced but most of my protein came from supplements/shakes. Supplements aren't horrible BUT you just have to be careful because most have extra unknown fillers. I'd rather feed my body with natural foods instead of over doing it with the supplements. My diet plan does consist of one scoop of protein post workout; my trainer wants me to take only Isopure protein because it's a lot "cleaner" than most other protein brands.

Working out is not my God

One thing I've noticed in myself is how easily one can become obsessed with working out and consumed with training. Just recently I've started to incorporate early morning fasted cardio. I now have the discipline to go to bed at a decent time so I can wake up pretty early to do my cardio.
I became convicted about how I make such an effort for my workouts but I seemed to have been lenient with the time I devote to God. So I decided to make sure I periodically evaluate myself and how I manage my time so that God and my spiritual health remains priority. I read my Bible and spend quality quiet time with God in the morning even before I get ready to go to the gym. It works out very well since in the early morning it's so quiet and I'm the only one awake so there is very little distraction from the noises of the rest of the day and my family. I also choose to listen to Christian music during my cardio sessions. I feel great starting my day with cardio but I feel even greater starting the day positively with the Lord.

As much as fitness is important in my life, I refuse to make it my idol.
God is number one in my life :)

Fasted cardio

My trainer told me I need to start doing cardio in the morning before I eat breakfast. So this morning, regardless of the time crunch, I finally pushed myself to wake up early and get to the gym as soon as it opened (7am). I was on the stair climber for just 30 minutes, since I had to rush back to get ready for my last day of the ACSM workshop, but I loved it! I felt so energized afterwards and now I look forward to my morning cardio :)

Here are some pics from this morning. I look somewhat bigger and more defined (bc the sweat lol). I can only imagine how I'll look when I'm conditioned and prepped to go on stage a couple months from now!

It looks like my traps are starting to pop out a little. I told my trainer I wanted to focus on widening my back and rounding out my shoulders more.

Pics

Here are some present pics. Next time I will post older pics of my body from way before I had a baby, after having a baby, and I guess pics that show how my body is changing. Keep in mind that right now I'm in a conditioning phase. The comp date is yet to be announced/official, but the general date is in April. So right now, I'm roughly under 20wks away from the event. I need to focus on leaning out/dropping my body fat so I don't feel completely overwhelmed when I'm down to the final weeks and days of the event.

Direction... Less weight on my shoulders

I'm so glad I decided to work with a trainer. My first day actually working out with him will be on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to the specific diet plan he is making up for me too.
I feel like I've wreaked enough havoc on my body trying. I don't know EVERYTHING and I have to admit I can't do it all alone. I made some mistakes with the route I was taking to achieve my goals to get a "winning" body. For example, I thought I needed to gain some more weight before I started cutting but apparently that will only take me further from my goals. I need to focus on conditioning my body. My trainer says condition will always beat out size alone. I have to start training with that in mind. Also, my cardio program I was working with wasn't nearly enough. My trainer has advised me to up my cardio, and instead of high intensity I will be switching gears to more strenuous cardio for a longer period of time and with higher frequency.
I feel that having a trainer will take the guess work out of my training and allow me to have more peace of mind that I'm getting closer to my goals instead of further. I was wishy-washy with my training but now I can have someone help me stay on a clear track towards a WIN ;)

Oh, and I also realize that I need to suck it up and post more progress pics... even though I feel like it only shows how much work I need to do : / It's going to be a long road, but I expect that I will only learn and get better day by day and gain experience and wisdom for future competitions down the road.

Figure... or Bikini?????

When I got my posing suit fitted the designer had so many questions for me about my training/diet. I felt clueless and pretty dumb because I didn't know how to answer half of her questions. She's a veteran competitor and her questions showed me just how much work I needed to do. She asked who my trainer or coach was and was shocked to hear that I had no one directing me. She suggested a trainer she personally liked working with and today I checked him out.

First of all, I was not too happy with the drive. The Gold's I normally workout at is a little more than 5 minutes away from my home. The Gold's that this trainer works at is located almost 30 minutes away. Aside from the distance, I was impressed with the guy. He has experience training other competitors and he also has experience in competing. When I told him I wanted to condition for a figure competition he immediately asked if I ever considered bikini. He said that my body size and my "look" screams bikini potential more than figure. I was a little upset hearing that but he reassured me that he only feels I'd excel in bikini versus just place in figure.
My heart leans towards figure. However, I am open to competing in both bikini and figure for my first competition for the sake of experience and more time to get comfortable with being on stage. My trainer said that I don't have to make my decision right now, because a few weeks from now when my body is more conditioned I will be more sure about which division I would do best in. Ultimately, I want to WIN (and have fun of course :D ).