End of Day 5

So....I was supposed to meet with a figure coach tonight, but I got lost and missed our appointment.....dangit. I was really ready for his input - Bruce is a straight shooter. He would definitely tell me if I was just too fat to go about this challenge right now or not. He's supposed to call in the next couple of days to discuss my plan. I also have a body builder friend in LR who is working on some things for me so I'm excited to hear what he has to say.

Currently, I can tell you that I am not eating enough to sustain life so that had to change today - seriously I think I almost starved to death yesterday. Today's diet& work out plan has been:

40 minute hill climb on the treadmill

Oatmeal made with water and 2 sweet n low packets plus one cup of coffee

4 egg whites and one whole egg

Abs

Back and Biceps (super heavy weight 4-8 reps)

Banana and MRP

quick kickboxing round because we had testing so it wasn't a great workout (but on a brighter note I earned my first stripe!)

Grilled chicken salad:

5 oz. chicken

1 hard boiled egg

avocado

spinach

tomatoes

onion

bell pepper

mushroom

1 Tbl homemade oil and vinegar dressing

forgot to eat a snack here - that is not OK!!! I must be better about that tomorrow

Dinner was the exact same as lunch.

I felt good today. More energetic than yesterday. I was down 6 lbs. in 3 days this morning. It's too soon for that so I need to cut down on my cardio for now and increase calories in a good way - I only wish the recipe for that was called "eat brownies instead of tilapia", but it's just "eat another piece of tilapia".....dangit

Oh well - another day, another training session!

Day 5

Day 4 ended with ZERO energy. I think I'm cutting too many carbs and too many calories too quick. I'm still 18 weeks out. I'm down 6 pounds in 3 days! That's too much. Today I will eat more calories (good calories.....still no sugar) and add more fibrous carbs.

I started the day with 45 minutes of hill incline on the treadmill at 5:00 and will hit the gym around 9:30 for weights and then hang out for kickboxing at 11:00 - another 45 minutes of cardio plus an awesome upper body workout.

More and more I think I'll end up with not enough muscle to do this show, but at least I'll be rocking the bikini this summer :).

I'll post again tonight about energy levels and my feelings as a whole.

More Day 4

I said I would blog my challenges:

I couldn't leave for the gym until my little guy (5 months old) was up and fed. By the time I got to the gym, unloaded my brood from the car, checked them into childcare I only had time for a killer leg workout and triceps workout and 20 minutes of cardio. I needed to do 45 minutes, but it was time for Remington's first nap and Harper's lunch.

Challenge #1 Fitting my workout schedule in with my kids' feeding schedule :)

Challenge Met - came home, fed everyone, put everyone one to bed and am about to hop on the treadmill for awhile before it's time for me to eat.

I refuse to listen to the negative voices in my head......where there's a will, there's a way!

Day 3 and the start of Day 4

Yesterday was a GREAT day. Although I only got in 25 minutes of my 2nd cardio (which was supposed to be 45 minutes), I decided it was more important to spend time with the hubs. He's gone so much that it's important I don't let this contest prep overshadow our relationship. I gave him a neck rub because he's injured himself.....again and we watched the Bellatore fights - cause that's a fun night for us :).

Diet was pretty much flawless, I got in a great chest, back and ab workout and 55 minutes of total cardio. It was a beautiful day, the kids played outside while daddy cleaned up the garage so that I could get to the tanning bed (that used to be for sale, but now that I'm competing again it's off the market).

I researched the new "bikini division" of NPC and have decided that may be where I'm headed this year. It's a softer look. I'll definitely be back to figure next year when I have time to build some mass, but right now I'm in a time crunch and the bikini division seems more doable. Let's face it, whatever I do I'm probably not going to win - I just want to look like I belong up there - that's the most important thing to me.

I also hard boiled some eggs, seasoned some chicken and made a giant pot of brown rice so meal wise I'm totally set up for today.

Today has started off pretty well. I was awake at 4:30 and if my treadmill weren't in my bedroom I would have been up getting in cardio 1 for today, but I didn't want to wake up husband so I fell back asleep :).

On the agenda is legs, triceps and double cardio. I'm hoping to get in another blog today that tells about the workout and my meals. But for now, this is all I got for you! :)

Peace Out

Have a blessed Monday!!!

Day 2

So Day 2 of contest prep brought a giant headache which made it impossible to get up and get my fitness on. It's Sunday today so my priority is church, but I'm getting my chest and back workout in doing a P90X workout with my husband. Chest and back are really hard for me to workout at home with dumbbells so I'll do this video with him to get in a good workout.

So far this morning I've had 16 ounces of water, an Animal Pak of vitamins and 1 cup of coffee. My breakfast will be 1 serving of oatmeal made with water and 6 egg whites

Snack will be a MRP shake (BSN Chocolate Mint is my FAVE). This must be made with water. No dairy at this point.

Lunch - Grilled chicken and broccoli

Snack - protein shake (no carbs) made with water

Dinner - tilapia and green beans

Tomorrow I get brown rice (yay).

The workout is a ton of pushups and pull ups.

This week workout wise looks like this:

Monday - Legs, Triceps and Double cardio

Tuesday - Biceps, Abs, Back, Hill incline on the treadmill and (hopefully) kickboxing

Wednesday - Shoulders, Triceps and Double Cardio

Thursday - Hamstrings, Back, Kickboxing and Hill interval

Friday - Biceps, Abs and Double cardio

Saturday - Shoulders and Plyo

Sunday - Yoga (an hour and a half)

Even if it doesn't work out for me to compete (every website out there says it's way too quick) I'll definitely be ready for swimsuit season!!!

Motivation Abounds

I am completely and totally determined to do this. I am most determined because it's only my first day of true training and dieting......and I already have a cheat meal planned for tonight :). But in my defense, we were already planning on having ribs smoked on the smoker and a few cold ones so I'm making it diet happy:

1) I have had a flawless diet so far today

Breakfast was 4 egg whites, a banana and 1 svg. of oatmeal made with water and 1 pkg of sweet and low.

Lunch was 6 oz.of grilled chicken and 1 cup of raw broccoli

Snack was a protein shot - a vile of gel that has 176 calories and 42 grams of protein and is supposed to taste like a push up (not.so.much, but it will do)

Snack number 2 will be a Syntha 6 meal replacement shake made with water

I did a killer shoulder workout this morning after a 4 mile run

I'll do my second cardio of the day shortly which will consist of a walk on the treadmill with incline intervals

I will have salad instead of baked beans with my ribs and keep it to only one beer :) - I'm about 17 weeks out - I can still afford one beer.

I'm certain within a few weeks I'll need to locate my motivation again, but for now I'm excited about the possibilities of this summer.

Stay tuned.

Shoulder Workout

Upright Rows

15lb. dumbbells 3 x 10

Burnout set

12lb. - 10 reps

8lb. - 6 reps

5lb. - 10 reps

1 Arm Military Press

15lb. 3 x 10

Burnout set

12lb - 10 reps

8 lb - 8 reps

5 lb - 5 reps

2 Arm Military Press

15 lb. 3 x 6

Burnout set

12 lb. - 12 reps

8 lb. - 8 reps

5 lb. - 8 reps

Lateral Raise

8lb. 3 x 12

12lb. 2 x 8

5 lb. 1 x 20

Cardio - 50 minute run with 4 uphill sprints in and around neighborhood

Cardio #2 - 30 minute hill incline on treadmill

I'm Saying It Out Loud

I am a fitness nut. Four years ago I competed in my 3rd competition where I was judged on my body. My first 2 I competed in at the age of 21 and they were called "Fitness" contests. You were scored equally on 1 piece swimsuit, 2 piece swimsuit and a 2 minute routine. I never won :). The judges told me I never would "you have tree trunk legs and your upper body is scrawny like a model". Fast forward 7 years.

I had one child and wanted to get in shape to get pregnant again and what better way to do it. I began busting my butt in the gym, supplementing like crazy and eating nothing but chicken, fish, veggies, protein shakes and drinking water. I didn't win, but I did place in the top 3 (3rd to be exact :).

Fast forward 4 years to today. I have had 2 more children, I am 34 years old (1 year away from competing in the Masters division) and I have the itch again. My husband is supportive. I'm not sure how to fit in 2-3 workouts a day with 3 kids (2 of whom are home with me all day and still wake up numerous times in the night) and a husband who travels, but I'm willing to try it.

So why am I blogging this you ask????? Because my other dream is to become a published author some day - I don't care if it's a newspaper article - I want to be published so I can say I had a dream and I achieved it. I am combining two of my passions - writing and fitness. So here it is: I'm saying it out loud -

I desperately want to compete in the Short Category of the 2011 Arkansas State Figure Show. This blog will be committed to writing my workout and food journals, my challenges and posting my transformation pics along the way.

This will not be an easy journey. I will block out the little voices along the way in my head that give me all the reason in the world why I can't and I will only listen to the support of my friends and family along the way.

Here goes nothing :)