Excalibur December 6, 2008

I DID IT! I got on stage and competed in my first competition. Through the dieting and hours of cardio, I was able to get my body into competition shape. Although I placed in the top 10 out of 22, I am not satisfied, I want more. This is my one piece suit that I had a VERY difficult time getting to stay just right. Keep reading as I'll actually document my journey to my next figure competition...not just once a month.

Getting Over the HUMP!

Today is that day...

I woke up this morning at 4 and was able to get in my first 45 minutes of cardio; throughout the day my energy levels kept getting a little lower and lower and lower. By the time my afternoon circuit came around, I felt like crap, I was exhausted, and I felt like I was going to black out while training...actually had to take it easy.

THE GOOD NEWS: Apparently this is normal and I just need to get over that hump, so its time to bust my butt and stick to the diet-which I've been really good at, except for tonight where I had a few extra Tbsp's of Peanut Butter/Almond Butter (by extra I mean like 3 extra-so that's like a total of 11 Tbsp's of PB for the day) CRAP! that's a lot of peanut butter.

I'm still getting used to writing and blogging my daily journey, but I'm getting better as the days go on. I'm noticing that writing things down help me to think about things a little more and help me to realize why I'm pushing myself to new limits. I'm not a quitter!

Need to get some sleep, rest is one of the key ingredients in getting my body to where it needs to be. Until next time...

Midway Through...8 Weeks away

This past week was hard, I mean really hard. Increasing my cardio sessions to 45 minutes 2 times a day was the hardest part. Not to mention that my trainer nearly made me puke (and I'm not out of shape and can handle really intense sessions-that just goes to explain how hard I'm working).

The nice thing about this week was Friday, REFEED! For those of you who don't know what a re-feed is, it's basically shocking your body and replenishing it with much needed carbohydrates and crap! My list of foods I ate that day include:

1. Crust of A lemon Tart
2. Half rack of baby back ribs and fries
3. Chicken Burrito, WET
4. 2 Krispy Creme Donuts
5. A Brownie

It was like heaven on earth. It's crazy because that food actually helped me with my cardio sessions today, I was able to get in a 30 minute eliptical session this morning, 45 minutes on the deathmaster (stairmaster) and another 35 minutes on the deathmaster. I also found that doing cardio and playing video games go hand in hand together; playing video games keeps you from leaning all over the machine and keeps you from thinking about how much time you have left; learned this video game and cardio thing from eric frankhouser (bodybuilder).

I'm about 8 weeks away from the day of competition and Im at about 12.6% bodyfat. I'm trying to reach my goal of 7-8% by contest day, so I'm looking at dropping about 1% bodyfat every 2 weeks.

My daily diet is pretty strict, other than those refeed days. 146 grams of protein 70 grams fat and trace carbs. Its easier to keep it to the same thing daily than mixing it up, so this is what it looks like on a DAILY basis. If I'm not at home and going to miss a scheduled meal, I pack it in a tupperware and take it with me in a cooler. I drink about a gallon and a half of water a day. Salt and pepper are my staples on my food. Stevia is my savior, mix that up with some green tea and you have a sweet tooth killer. GUM, is very important in saving me from screwing up on the diet.

• Breakfast (6:30 am) 3/4 C egg whites with some veggies and salsa, 1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
• Morning Snack (9:00 am) 2.5 oz chicken and veggies, 1 Tbsp PB, multi vitamin
  
• Lunch (11:30 am) 2.5 oz chicken and veggies, 1 Tbsp PB, 3 fish oil Pills
• Afternoon Snack (2:30 pm) 2.5 oz chicken and veggies, 1 Tbsp PB, 3 fish oil pills
• Preworkout Meal (4:45 pm) 2.5 oz chicken and veggies, 1 Tbsp PB
• PostWorkout (7:30 pm) Whey protein shake, 1 Tbsp PB
• Dinner (8:45 pm) 2.5 oz chicken, Salad, lemon, salt, pepper dressing

I'll do better about posting blogs daily.

Introduction to my journey

Today I decided to start writing about my journey to my first figure competition. I don't really even know how I got into the idea of competing in a figure competition. I've always been an athlete, I played softball from the age of 4 years old and had planned on playing in college, then the misfortune of me needing total rotator cuff reconstruction came about. After my first surgery I attempted to play softball again, 3 months into being back into the game, I tore something else in my shoulder and decided to call it quits. As I went through college I did the partying, drinking and eating massive amounts of junk foods and still found time for the gym at least every other day.

After my graduation, I started working full time at a desk job; always being concerned about weight gain, I started working out on an almost daily basis. I did minimal cardio and a decent amount of lifting, basically not pushing myself all that hard, but enough to get a sweat in. I realized that the job I had chosen was not very accomidating to my life, the drive was about 3 hours round trip every day. I switched companies which then provided me with more time for the gym and I had also met one of the most influential people in my life changing ways...My workout buddy JP.

I originally started working out really hard this past year to get in shape for a trip to vegas, I knew I would be in a bikini more than half the time and didnt want to look like crap. I started my workout kick in April 2008, at that point I was about 22% body fat and 125 lbs. Vegas came and went, and I was satisfied with what I had looked like. Post vegas, I had this great idea to get into figure, come into picture Bea Fox. Bea has been helping me with my crazy figure competition idea and has been my training and diet coach.

Now the good stuff...
My diet is currently a NO carb, high protein, high fat diet which consists of lots of lean meat, and healthy fats (nut butters, olive oil, mayonaise, nuts), and endless amounts of low carbohydrate high fiber vegetables.

My workouts have been harder than I could have ever expected. I workout almost daily, but not to forget that rest is VERY important to growing and recovering. I have a 4 day isolated split lifting schedule, 1 day off and 2 days of circuit training (1 upper body, 1 lower body). I try to get in cardio on a daily basis except for 1 day off for the week; my cardio consists of a mixture of low impact long duration cardio and high intensity short duration cardio.

Today was a back training day along with 20 mins of step machine cardio. I feel a little like crap today, just a little more tired than usual, I think it's just my body catching up from this week of working out. It's getting a little tough without fruit, I dream about fruit daily. It's okay, it will all be worth it in the end. I'm hoping to at least place in the excalibur (Dec. 6, 2008). I will continue to post my daily blog and training and diet starting tomorrow.

Follow me and my journey to the finish...just 92 days away! wish me luck!