Chantie’s BodyBlog

Today the low carbs got me! I had a major meltdown, did not want to compete anymore, nothing was working and I was no longer seeing any progress! Really tough day. I was mad at my trainer (for no reason) and I just wanted out! So I sent her an email saying that I could not go on for 7 more weeks like this and she changed my diet and 1/3 cup of oatmeal has completely transformed my personality and mindset! I am approachable and happier again! Lesson learned: always talk to your coach!

I am having a really great week! I am seeing my body change right before my eyes, I had a good evaluation at work (I just started my new career as a college professor, a position that I have been applying for since I finished my degree 4 years ago!) I have had wonderful feedback from my students, and even though I love every minute of teaching, the summer schedule is coming to an end, and it was very hectic so I am looking forward to a little break! I will be focusing on competition for the rest of the summer, I am not guaranteed a teaching position in the fall, so I will be able to focus on competing and then hopefully get a full time position in the winter term when they seem to need more teachers.

This competition preparation has again renewed my love for the sport and for training, so all is well! Cannot wait until my evaluation on Friday!

Hungry but doing well! Third day of very low carbs (only 3 x 50g of green beans!) My stomach is growling and I am counting the seconds to my next meal, but I am feeling pretty good. Hunger means everything is working and my metabolism is doing its job so I feel excited! The next couple of weeks should yield huge results with a major change in my diet and cardio regime, cannot wait until my evaluation on Friday! Aiming for 14,9%!

We will see,  will do my homework and hope that my body responds!

Wrapped in plastic, I did 1 hour and a half of cardio this evening. I think I lost 20 lbs of water! I have been working out for years, and never have I sweat that much! It was almost embarrassing but I guess that is the price to pay for leaning out. My body fat dropped almost 2% in a week, which I could not believe, but we measured it precisely, and I can see the definition in my legs popping through. By next week I want to be at 14.9% so I need to drop 0.8%, which I can do with the new cardio regime and new diet starting this week. I have never been this good at this point of preparation, I am very excited with the mass I gained, and if everything goes well, I will actually have a chance against the more muscular girls. I have always leaned out well but never had the mass, so in the past I was more suited for fitness model and bikini than figure. This time however, with the mass that I have gained especially in my legs, my coach has told me that I am too muscular for the bikini! Me too muscular! That is unheard of. Finally I have reached the category that I want to be in. I might even have a chance of placing! For Quebec tested I would really like to place top 5, preferably top 3, but you never know how the judges will rate us on the day of. As for IDFA we are aiming for 6% bodyfat, and if I can get there I am hoping for a top 3 place!

Even though that is what I am aiming for, I do this for a personal challenge and I am not too affected by the outcome, but it would be nice to have a trophy….

So it has begun…cardio, cardio,cardio…we have a love hate relationship (particularly with the stairmaster!) This morning I got up, still very sore from a ridiculous training on FRIDAY!, dragged myself to the bathroom, put preparation H on the back of my thighs (right where the hamstring meets the glute, it kind of stings a little) wrapped my thighs in saran wrap (when you think about it competing makes you do silly things) and uncomfortably drove to the gym. Where I literally melted through my cardio workout. My body is so different this time that I sometimes don’t even recognize myself! I am now cooling off (still) from my workout knowing that I have another 45 min session this evening! Oh well, it is worth it! (I think…)

I took extra time to gain more mass, I gained at least ten pounds and now I am starting to cut. My contest will be in september at Quebec teste. My upper body has finally caught up to my legs, I am much more symmetrical. The last two weeks have been very difficult, I began a new job (career actually) and sticking to my training and diet was challenging but I did it and I am seeing tremendous reults. I am excited to see the fat melting off and I can’t wait to see major changes. Must be patient, don’t want to loose all the muscle I worked so hard to gain by cutting too quickly!

So I have started and quit more competition preparations in the last year than I would like to admit. But I know that I have at least one left in me and I think it will be in 15 weeks, june27 2009! I know I want to, I just need to refocus and buckle down and do it. I want to wear my competition suit again, I want to strut around in front of a crowd in my 5 inch heels in my best shape ever! I have to this year! I need to prove to myself that I still have the drive and discipline in me! My last competition was not so hot, it left me a little bitter towards the whole competition world for awhile. I did terribly, and blamed the judges for just not paying attention to me because I was an out of towner. But I was being a poor sport. When I saw my pictures, I realized that I was not at my best! I had an allergic reaction the night before and was retaining a lot of water. So I was disappointed in the end after all the sacrifices I had made that a different brand of detergent (whatever the hotel used in their sheets) ruined the whole show! Oh well, that is part of the game! I am excited and ready so here I go!

Hopefully I will stick with it this time!

Chantie

So this has been a pretty tough year. Tough physicaly, financially and emotionally. I tried to prepare for competition twice this year, the first time I lasted 6 weeks and then my health did not cooperate, nothing serious just my body rebelling. The second time I lasted one week, pathetic! Then I did not want to have anything to do with competition and preparation, I started to hate everything about the sport. So I took a step back, trained for the the love of training and ate well. I actually think I did myself some good. I put on about ten pounds, and I think some good muscle mass. I am slowly starting to prepare for competition in October and so far (two weeks) it is going great. I am excited again about preparing and experiencing all the changes that are ahead of me. So sorry to those of you who stopped by to say hi and I never answered back I was not ignoring you, I really needed some time away from everything that represented competition to me and this site had seen me through a couple. So thanks for your hello’s and kind words!

18 weeks and counting…

Chantie

So I have totally changed my diet and training program, I have been working towards adding mass since November. I now realize that in the past when I thought I was eating and training to put on mass I was missing some key elements in the process. I was not getting enough good fats in my diet and basically not eating enough in general. I am eating what seems like way too much and training harder than I ever trained now, and enjoying it! It took me awhile to get over the weight gain and not focus on the number on the scale, and understand that there is a certain amount of fat gain that comes along with the muscle gain! Now I am starting to see myself differently, I think that I have made some good gains. After the first month of real mass training I gained 3 lbs and 1% body fat. Then at my evaluation two weeks later I had gained half a pound and lost 0.6% body fat! I was pretty impressed with that!!! The next two weeks my diet consists of some mini carb ups and depletes so I am looking forward to my results on the 13th of February. But I am going to have some challenges next week. My husband and I are going away on vacation to Cancun!! We rented a hotel room with a kitchen so I will be cooking all our food. I am not worried about cheating or being tempted, that will not affect me. I am just concerned about the food available to us and the proximity of a gym. I have been searching online and have found a nice gym that I think is pretty close by to our hotel. So tomorrow I will be packing and try to organize myself for my trip!

 So I am preparing for my competition in April, and I am looking forward to seeing what result this new training and diet gives me!

So I am packed, I am just putting together my food for tomorrow and Saturday. It is quite hard to plan for the two days! I have bought some dried fruit for Saturday, I like to eat dried fruit instead of the other sweets that people eat backstage, like icing, donuts, candy… As I am packing them they sure look good! I did my spray tan tonight, I am getting darker by the second! Dehydrating is pretty tough for me this time, usually it does not bother me but I am thirsty and have a slight headache! Oh well almost there!!

Chantie