For a little while, I have been looking into creating a blog regarding my 1st time competing, what I learned, what I struggled with, and so on.  Then it just hit me. Why not do it here? I know you guys, you have always been there when I needed advice or a kind word, and hopefully I can help someone else out who may be going through the same thing! So I will be posting different things that I went through in my first attempt in the NPC and also my prep for my upcoming show in August!!

Life after competing- Mehhhh. I'm sure not everyone goes through this , but I have been finding it pretty difficult! I have almost no motivation to go to the gym, although I still go and probably do a half of a workout.  As far as diet, don't even get me started! It's like if I don't have an exact meal plan set out for me, I cannot control what I eat! My brain says keep eating keep eating, even when I'm full.  Well, I got on the scale this morning and it was pretty much bad news.  I know you have to gain back some of your weight, but I admit I have gone overboard with my "freedom" and need to tighten up ASAP.  I though I was going to enjoy Mother's Day weekend (HA) and then start my competition prep on Monday.  I'm just going to start today! This is not me! I love fitness and eating clean! *Slap Slap* Had to knock some sense back into myself.   Our competition was kind of a big deal at the gym, about 20 of us went and there is video of it on the TV's going at all times.  This adds to the feelings of insecurities, like everyone's looking at me and saying what happened to her?? I don't want to go to the store or see any of my friends.  These are just the feelings I'm having and I actually realize that there not even reasonable, but I just can't shake them.  I had to get personal for a minute because I feel like if I don't, I'm not telling the truth! Soooo, I can't wait to share other experiences I had with you guys, good and bad! It's not all bad I swear! Don't get scared off! It's an awesome experience that will change your life and make you a better mom, employee, friend, daughter, etc. Til next time! Be strong

   First of all, let me say wooooo-hooooo!! I cannot believe that I actually made it through all 12 weeks! I have never followed through to the end before! I want to thank Dymatize and BodyBuilding.com for giving me the motivation to achieve my dream body and mostly I want to thank all of my BodySpace friends who were there to encourage and uplift me, even when I was feeling down or about to give up.  It really means more to me than you guys will ever know!

  Ok, so, my official stats are: Starting- 155 lbs, 25% Body Fat.  Ending- 129 lbs, 14.2% Body Fat.  I got these stats from an Inbody machine at my gym.  How amazing is that though?? My goal was to be 130 lbs and I just beat it by 1 lb! I have not weighed in the 120's since I've been 18 years old!!  I feel awesome and I actually am competing in my first bikini competition in 2 weeks- The Southeast Classic in Hollywood, FL. Oh, the excitement!!

 My diet was pretty much the same the whole 12 weeks, although this last week I have been playing with cutting carbs and got some pretty good results.  Here is my daily meal plan:

Meal 1- 1/4 cup oats, 3 egg whites, 1 scoop protein powder , mixed together to make a protein pancake

Meal 2- Dymatize Mocha Protein Shake

Meal 3- Chicken Breast and Broccoli

Meal 4- 4 oz turkey and 1/2 sweet potato

Meal 5- Dymatize Mint Chocolate Protein shake

Meal 6- Chicken Breast and spinach mix with olive oil and red wine vinegar

Supplements: Dymatize Whey Protein, Muti-V, BCAA's, Kre-Alkalyn, Pre-Workout stimulant, Fat Burner and Fish-oil.

   My workout plan was also pretty consistent, I like to lift heavy and push my limits!! I did the 6 day split, Monday-Legs  Tuesday-Back and Bi's  Wednesday- Shoulders and Abs Thursday-Chest and Tri's  Friday- Glutes  Saturday-Abs.  Every day I did 30 minutes of cardio, but these last 2 weeks I have been doing 1 hour of cardio.  I also try to incorporate fat burning exercise in with my strength training, so in between sets I'll do burpees, mountain climbers, or jump rope, etc.  

 The way I kept myself motivated through this whole thing was, I did not want to fail again! I have attempted to transform myself many times in the past, and I always found a reason or an excuse not to complete my goals! Some days, I'm not going to lie, I though to myself, I can't so this anymore, I just can't.  It is such a struggle for many of us!  I still don't see myself as a finished product, but I'm definitely happy with the results I have achieved.  I hope to be able to hele other along in their fitness journey and I feel like I'm good for that because I may have been through a lot of the same things they go through! I am just a single, hardworking mom, I don't have a lot of money or spare time.  I did have a dream, though, and some determination and I think I have done well with the resources I had.

So thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone and this is not the end for me, just the beginning of a fitness lifestyle for me! YAY! 

Hello everyone! I haven't been on my page that much these past couple weeks and let me tell you, it has been a hard 2 weeks! Everything was totally fine last weekend, I went and did a little posing and evaluation with my coach and the rest of the girls, which went fine.  Or so I thought.  I think it must have gotten in my head that all the other girls were already much smaller than me, and practically already looked like they were ready for a competition.  Even though my coach assured me that it was ok to still have fat to lose, they would actually have a harder time maintaining! So, last weekend, I kind of went off the deep end and cheated (majorly) on my diet and then spent all week being depressed about it. Sigh. I am still the same weight and everything today, so I didn't set myself back too far.  It just sucks that I lost a week! But you know what? Today I feel like a new person, I'm really excited and ready to take on the next 6 weeks! I had my pity party, it's over and I can move on and kill it!! Thanks for reading, I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

I cannot believe I'm already half way through the challenge! I had a little bit of a rocky beginning but I started to really see results last week and I am pretty happy so far! I know I can't start slacking at this point! Going harder then ever in the gym and on the diet! Yesterday I had my first meeting with my coach for my bikini competition! Which is only 8 weeks away!!! I didn't know I was supposed to bring my bikini and get checked out, rookie move on my part, I mean duh!! But he assured me that if I follow the diet and instructions, I can definitely be stage ready!! Awesomeness!! Also, a few people were interested in my diet, which I will post.  Of course I have to say, this is my own diet, it may not work for everyone. 

Meal 1

Protein pancakes (1/4 c oats, 3 egg whites, scoop of protein, ground flax, cinnamon, stevia)

Meal 2

Protein shake

Meal 3

6 oz chicken breast, 3/4 c brown rice

Meal 4

4 hard boiled egg whites, 1 small baked sweet potato

Meal 5

protein shake

Meal 6

6 oz chicken breast, baby spinach with EVOO and vinegar 

Supplements

Dymatize elite protein, Oxyelite Pro ( fat burner), Smart Blend ( Omega's, fish oil, etc.) Amino Energy (BCAA's) and Multi-V

HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND NEVER GIVE UP xoxoxo 

I cannot believe it has almost been 30 days since I started this challenge! Time is really flying by! I have lost a few more lbs, like I have said, but really not losing the weight as fast as I normally do. Hmmm...going to get my bodyfat checked next week, so we will see what that's all about! I feel good, though everything is really coming together, especially my arms, which is the first place I really start to develop and see changes! On another note, Sunday I am running my first full marathon, ING Miami!!!! I'm super excited about the accomplishment, but its kinda of messing up my training for the weekend LOL.  Well wish me luck, hopefully I make it through alive! Everyone keep up the good work too, I've been seeing some great posts WOOT WOOT!!!

Well, I think I have 3 weeks in the books. Or is it 4? I don't know so many thoughts of protein, fat, cardio, glutes, shoulders, fiber, HIIT, calories, and ALL THAT good stuff are floating around in my brain.  I thought this week went very well, I was pretty much perfect on my diet, and really did not see any drop in LBs, which I know most people are gonna say oh yeah, that's because you are putting on muscle.  Well, that maybe be true , but I have a decent amount of muscle under all these jelly rolls, so I figure my weight should be dropping a little at least! Very annoying.  Anyways, I have started doing 1 hour of cardio a day , so hopefully that will step it up!! And of course still on my weight training and eating properly! It's a slow process but I'm kinda loving it! Oh, and one more exciting thing this week, a trainer at my gym asked me if I would be interested in doing a contest (bikini) with her and a group of others from the gym. Would I??? YES PLEASE! This has only been a dream of mine FOREVER.  I am starting to save now so nothing can stop me, you will be seeing this little mama on stage COMING SOON (79 DAYS) yipes!!!!  

Well, a little over a week done in the challenge! It's actually going by really fast.  I feel like any mistakes that need to be made, have been made in week 1, now it's done and over with.  Everything is set in stone for the next 11 weeks, diet and training wise.  I have already told my children, Listen, Mommy may be a little cranky in the next (74) days but please bear with me, I'm doing this for us! Of course, they're great kids they're just like "OK!" Haha!!  So I'm super excited about the upcoming weeks, but I must admit I wish I could just get this weight off right away (don't we all?) Well, good luck to all, keep your motivation up <3

How many times have I said, this is it, this is the time I'm going to stick with it and transform my body and keep it that way!!??!!  More times than I can count, actually.  I'm not even gonna say it this time. I'm just going to prove it, with my pics and updates I really want to motivate and encourage others who are struggling with their weight like I do.  If I can do it as a broke mom, lacking 2 very important things (time and money) I think almost anybody can do it! Time to get it right, good luck to everyone that's trying to change their lives in 2013!!

Today must be a good day, because I feel good, hopeful, and positive about the progress I have made! I read someone else say that you will have good days, bad days, and days when you ask, why am I even doing this? Isn't that the truth!  It kind of struck me, because I didn't even realize other people thought that way too! So that was eye-opening to me.  In my diet and training, I really feel as though I've hit a stride! The diet is coming along very well, not as many cravings or bad days when I want to eat everything in the whole house.  The training is going great as well. I have switched it up a little bit, more HIIT and using a little less weight in the weight room. Shocker, I know! Most people don't want to use less weight, they want more!  I have decided to do a bikini  competition in 11 weeks and I need to streamline my muscles a little bit.  My arms are a little too big  It's ok though, it will all balance out in the end (fingers crossed)! I have less than 30 days in the transformation contest, I am so excited I am going to complete it all the way through! I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Happy training!

Today I got some results that I been waiting on and stressing over for about a month and a half.  I got some biopsies done to determine if I had cancer or not and I do not have it!! I have been so worried about it!  I didn't even feel like working out sometimes because I thought why bother, if I am sick?  I still worked out, though, worked through the stress and everything.  Now that I found out that I am free and clear, I have a new fire inside!  I feel so good! There is nothing that can stop me now!  I have 45 more days of the Muscle Pharm transformation, and probably about 52 in the Dymatize contest.  I am ready to rock it! Woo-hoo!!!!

Starting in May, I am doing a new challenge- 100 burpees, 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups each day.  This is in addition to my other workouts, just to add that little extra fat burn!  I'm excited about it! I got my body fat checked this week and I am back down to 17% which gives me some more motivation to keep it going!!! Gathering more and more info on possibly doing a competition, I can't wait to see how far my progress will be by June/July so I can see if I'm ready for that!  I want to do it more than anything, so I guess the question is, how hard will I work and how much will I sacrifice for my dreams? 

It is my first week back on track and I'm feeling really good about it! I lost 6 lbs, probably all that water weight I was carrying from eating all the crap food!  My fridge is full of clean eats now and I don't feel tempted at all by junk food.  I have actually been researching a little bit on competing and it really gives me a headache! I know I would love to compete but I'm not even 100% sure which category I would be good for, figure is probably my #1 choice, because I don't think I would do well in a bikini class, I have not seen one pic of a bikini competitor that doesn't have fake boobs.  Does anyone know if this is possible to compete in that class without that?  Anyways.... these are just my random thoughts for the week.  I hope everybody is having a great week and great workouts!!!!

I have decided to join the dynamatize contest as well, I need all the motivation I can get to transform n y body!! I feel like I have undone all my progress that I made from the new year and it is kind of depressing.  I know what I have to do to make it right though and I'm ready to make those changes and this time stick with it!! 12 weeks to an awesome body IM READY!!

I am going to try to keep a regular blog of this 12 weeks.  It might not be the most interesting thing to read but it will definitly keep me accountable for myself.  I got a good chest/back workout in today followed by a 3 mile run.  I am actually feeling really good about this challenge, and just trying to take it one day at a time, instead of thinking too far ahead and getting discouraged.  This is the time that I am going to stick with it, meet my goals and get ripped! I'm just putting that out there!  It's good to be back!

Even though I'm almost 7 weeks in the ON transformation contest, I have decided to join the BSN one as well.  I have been pretty happy with my success so far, but due to circumstances in the next 2 weeks, I am nervous about the back half of the 12 weeks.  I will be in court for 2 weeks or more, unsure of breaks or what time I will be leaving, etc. which may interfere with my eating or training schedule.  Although I am doing my best to prepare ahead and work around a schedule that I'm not used to, it still makes me nervous.  So, just in case this will mess up my goals for the 12 weeks, I'm going to do the other contest as well. I'm not saying I'm out of the running for the ON competition though! Maybe it's just the way I am- I like everything to be a certain way and when things don't go that way I get nervous!  I guess we will find out what happens!!