A Peek into the Mind of GeminiJedi

OMG they hurt!  They huuuuuurrrrrrt!!  But in a good way.  I think I’m seeing some size on them, but that could easily be squishy size.  Let me tell you my female body is LOVING having some squish on it—I, consequently, very much wish to be back in contest condition LOL  Grrrrr!!!!  I’m doing quite well in shoulder strength:  I did all of my military press sets with the 45lb bar!  Whooo hoooo!!  I also noticed that my right side is bigger than my left, but my left side is stronger.  This makes  no sense to me since I am heavily right side dominant.   Sooo….I’m not sure how to fix this, except for extra sets for my left side.  Any ideas are GREATLY appreciated.

I also had a dream last night that I went blonde with my hair.  As soon as I did it (unevenly, might I add, with peroxide gel and not bleach….I don’t know why, I just do what the dream wants and understand it although I know it’s wrong…though peroxide IS one way of doing it….) I thought "CRAP!  Why did I do this? It’s FAR TOO MUCH WORK TO UPKEEP WITH A DARK NATURAL COLOR."  :/  So, Stormi, remember that you have been warned!! LOL  Have fun with it, though, girl!

I’m getting used to the new ‘do.  It’s cute, just not what I wanted.  Like I said, though, whatever.  It grows back.  I will say that I am LOVING the freedom!  No always needing a scrunchie to pull it back/off my neck, no need for a brush because fingers do the trick nicely, no fighting with a massive rat’s nest of tangles even after conditioner.  LOVE IT!

I totally obliterated my shoulders yesterday.  It was actually really nice to have pushed myself and forced them to be stimulated.  GROW, DAMN YOU, GROW BIG!!  I had a wonderful pump going so I know that helped.  Next week’s workouts are of a different style.  Trixter keeps much better workout logs than I do, so check them out (clicky here)

Just saw "The Dark Knight" and it totally rocked.  That’s all I will say so that I don’t spoil it for those of you who are even bigger losers than I am and haven’t seen it yet   Just kidding.  YOU ALL TOTALLY ROCK TOO!!!

So the hair cut…..Yea….. I went in with pictures of Ava Cowan from her Onyx shoot stating that was what I wanted.  What I ended up with was not right.   About an inch too short, too many bangs (also FAR too short ), and an uneven back.  At least the way she styled it I had a bit of a hole in the back of my head.  Yeaa…. I hear prenatal vitamins make your hair grow more quickly… Pics yet to come…. Hopefully it will be grown out enough to fix before my shoot, eh?

Thanks to Laurie (bull.dogz) I think I’m going to submit pics for the CL Calendar.  It’s super exciting, though the thought of doing cardio regularly again and not munching at work (though I shouldn’t be doing that anyways) seems kind of daunting.  And it gives me motivated to stay close to shape and not get too far from shape while I attempt to reshape my shape.  SO I’ve scheduled a shoot for August 10 with the photographer I worked with in April.  Yay freebie shoots!

Wow.  I’m about ready to throw my computers and the router out the window and gleefully watch them shatter into a bazillion pieces.  Ever since we rearranged the bedroom, which resulted in deconstructing the set up, unplugging everything and redoing everything, my computers can’t connect to the internet through our network, if they can even connect to the network in the first place.  GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!  When I first set it up, it took me like 6 hours, but I got it.  I will mention that I’m a PC gal and the router/Adam’s computer are Macs.  Really, it shouldn’t be that difficult.  I’ve done it before!  The settings didn’t change.  There was a firmware update, but it didn’t affect anything previously…..If any one reading this is a networking guru, please feel free to shoot me a PM to help me out.  Apparently my networking goddess has taken a vacation.

Back at the gym yesterday and today.  Holy Mother of Pearl I’m sore!!  Didn’t make it halfway through the workout yesterday, mostly because of printer issues (can’t find it on the network, even from the mac mini, and didn’t move it to hardwire it to the computer to print off workout sheets the night before), and the fact that I have to be at work at 8am.  Kind of irked about that, but whatever.  My quads are thanking me in their own special way this morning.  Worked bis and tris this morning.  Got a good pump.  Pixi, I totally thought of you during my nose-crushers this morning!! LOL   I don’t seem to have lost too much strength in my week off.  That makes me really happy.  I’m struggling a bit with the bit of squish I’ve obtained.  I know that show day is the best conditioned day you have (theoretically) and that when building muscle you inevitably obtain some squish, but it’s part of that mind trip that competing gives.  As long as the squish stays to a minimum I will be good.  That will involve sticking to the meal plan and not going berserk with the treats.  And perhaps some cardio a few days a week.  I need to stick with the meals for at least 4 to 6 weeks, though, to see if it really is working or not, and not go changing it a couple weeks in because I haven’t given myself enough time to see how it and the workouts treat me.  This patience game is hard!  LOL

It’s a week post show, and I’m itching to get back to the gym.  My tan is also flaking off, so I’m looking kind of odd.  It also means I’ve actually been wearing make up to work, you know, so my face doesn’t completely mis-match with the rest of my still-mostly-tanned body LOL  Guess this means I need to go get Mystic tanned today and semi-even it out.  I wish I would tan easier.  I can, it just takes FOREVER, but once it gets going it’s nice.  I have Polish and Ukrainian heritage to blame.

Feeling a bit better today.  Though I’ve only been up momentarily so it might be too early to tell.  Yesterday when I’d take  a bite of the junk my stomach would immediately cramp up again.  Guess I’m finished with that!  It’s ok, though, because it’s so much easier having meals planned out and pre-made.  It takes the "what do I want to eat" out of the picture.  It’s nice.

And now I’m rambling.  Have a great weekend everyone!

I’ve finally established where my post-show binge left me.  All of 4 lbs heavier than the weight at which I competed.  I am THRILLED about that   Some ladies go crazy overboard, and while I wanted to help myself to everything I’ve "missed out on," I didn’t want to over do it because losing fat is damned hard!  LOL  Unfortunately, I found out in the most miserable way possible.  (NOTE: THE WEAK STOMACHED SHOULD PROBABLY STOP READING HERE)  If Trixter hadn’t had the exact same thing and been ok I would say it was food poising.  However, he was fine, so I think my body just plain rejected it.  A Vietnamese rice noodle bowl, I’ve had before, but I don’t think I digested a BITE of it.  It just sat there in my stomach like a brick, until my stomach started cramping like NO OTHER and evacuation came at all costs, both ends   I’ll keep the gory details for myself, but I did have to make Trixter run to the store at 1am for some G2 so I didn’t get too dehydrated.  I LOVE HIM SO MUCH for being so wonderful and doing that for me!!!

I’ve also realized that it is SO much easier to just make your own food instead of deciding where to go and what might be "acceptable" to go and get.  There’s no thinking required, other than "do I have enough food for the week?"

It’s been 3 days of not-so-great eating, and I’m definitely missing my "normal" food LOL  It’s normal for me now anyways.  It’s weird, but comforting in that I know now why I want to compete, and I’m driven even more toward improving my physique for next year.  I know why people graze on junk all day–IT’S NOT SATISFYING.  I cannot wait to get back to my oats and eggs and protein shakes and meat and potatoes and pastas planned for my bulk.  I know that it is all totally worth it.  Now we’ll see how long it takes me to forget that again LOL  Oh, and my poor belly is all sorts of bloated from the carb/sugar binge I’ve been on, and I don’t like it LOL  I’m finally starting to flush some of the water I’ve been retaining as well, so that’s good.  I know most of the weight I gained (like 8 lbs!!) is from water retention, and I can see it in my arms and hands mostly.  My skin is sooooo dry from dehydrating for the show!  I know it will rebalance itself soon, though.

I should also blog about my experience with my Gaspari stack.  Firstly I need to thank Gaspari Nutrition for sending me the 8 weeks of PlasmaJet, SuperPump250, IntraPro (double chocolate totally rocks my socks!!!!!), CytoLean, and 4 weeks of the SizeOn.  I also want to thank Fern for choosing me to participate!  It has been super fun, and such an honor.  THANK YOU!
I’m planning on using more SizeOn in my bulk because I did retain size, but felt that it wasn’t right for me pre-contest.  I’m super excited to see how that helps me gain size in the next several weeks!

The Cytolean was awesome.  I didn’t get jittery or get crazy thermogenic flushes like I have with other fat burners.  I know the hot flashes didn’t happen because it doesn’t have any Yohimbe in it.  Still, I liked it a lot and for the last 3 weeks took 3 capsules twice daily and was fine.

SuperPump is a PERFECT NAME.  This really does give an amazing pump!  And coupled with the PlasmaJet–Look OUT!  The taste is TART but I like it a lot!

PlasmaJet.  It has kind of a nail polish remover smell to it as you pop it out of the blister pack.  It doesn’t taste like it, though, and it definitely does help get nutrients and oxygen to the muscles better (plasma expander).  I will definitely get my hands on more of this, and my husband, too, so he doesn’t steal mine

IntraPro.  Double Chocolate is the way to go!  It’s thick and chocolately and delicious and I used more than I planned to and ran out early because I didn’t want any of my other protein LOL  It’s satiating, too, so you’re not hungry an hour later.  It’s because it’s timed release, and it has casein and other slow-digesting proteins, not just the whey isolate which is digested in an hour.  LOVE IT, but the tub doesn’t last very long if it’s the only protein you’re using.  Did I mention the chocolate is DELICIOUS?

I’m taking a few more days off of training to recover from the deplete.  I am anxious to get lifting again, but my calves JUST stopped hurting today lol  I’d like to give my body at least a couple more days to recover, and I’d like to get some more good food back in my system first.

OMG My calves cramped on my ALL night last night, and were so incredibly sore at work.  My lower back hurts.  The first thing I did this morning was to fill up my gallon jug of water and started in LOL  I added some Gatorade to it to help get my electrolytes back in balance.  I think I’m going to find some bananas too.  We’re off to sushi soon, but I will post some pics of my meal, though I don’t have any of the actual plate   I was too excited about jumping in and slathering on the ketchup.  My hands are a bit swollen this evening, feeling like I’m starting to retain a bit of water.  Ok, picage:

And I still wasn’t dark enough on stage LOL

You can see my margarita, but not my big, fat, butter and brown sugar smothered baked yam.  It was sooooooooooo yummy!!

Well, hopefully I can keep my cat out of my chocolate whipped cream topped Chocolate Oreo Mudslide cheesecake long enough to blog.  LOL  And I wonder why he’s fat….

Firstly, despite what the head judge says that on a national level the NPC wants girls softer, Colorado judges like their figure girls big and hard.  Nothing wrong with that, just don’t tell your girls otherwise.  That being said, I feel like I came in with the conditioning I wanted to have with the picture of the "new ideal" being rewarded on the National level in mind.  I’m very happy with that, and when I saw my pre-judging pics at lunch I was SUPER stoked for the night show, just knowing that I had met the look goal.  I totally forgot to get my measurements this morning, and have a big burger, sweet potato with REAL butter and brown sugar, mango margarita and now cheesecake in me now so I don’t think I’ll be taking any LOL

Backstage was CHAOS.  First we were told one thing, then another, meeting will be at 4pm, now 430 and we’ll come to you, no it’s up in the balcony (get everyone on balcony), no it’s downstairs now.  Novice only had 3 height classes, and Open had 6, so going from Novice to Open, while fine when in the same suit, was RIDICULOUS when having to change!  Novice B would just finish, I’d run downstairs, get my suit peeled off, then be told that I needed to line up for Open D and that it was going on in 5 minutes.  I’m standing there bare-ass naked going "right, that’s gonna happen."  Somehow it all worked out though.  I am forever grateful for the trainers that were backstage to help though.  Carol Semple was AMAZING!  My trainer ended up having to work this morning, so she wasn’t there, and I kind of felt a bit overwhelmed, but thankfully Jen was there and a bit of a guiding light, because she trains with Carol and so Carol glued my suits on, and was there with a smile and "You ok?" backstage and it totally made my day!  As did the builder lady (whose name is Rita) from my gym!  She offered to help me out a bit a few weeks ago, and I said "Thanks, but I think I’m good."  OY!  I wasn’t so good LOL  But she did my make up for the night show (I went in to pre-judging a MESS because I didn’t have my face ready to go.  Note for next time: have make up done before hand because you hardly have enough time to change, let alone do anything extra) and I met her nutritionist and when she’s finished her show in a couple weeks I’m going to team up with her.  If Colorado likes us big and hard, I’ll play that game, and when I’m consistently told I’m too big and hard, guess it’s time to change gears.  It was just so nice to see so many ladies who genuinely care about us figure girls to really help and make sure we’re good.  WARM FUZZIE FEELINGS ^_^

EVERYTHING clicked today, because I realized that even though I didn’t make the Top 5, I realized why I’m doing this.  I realized why DK is so strict with her dieting.  I realized why we put ourselves through 12+ weeks if diet hell.  I’m not sure what it is–maybe it’s that I’ve never looked better.  Maybe it’s that this is something to be constantly improving in.  Maybe it’s that community, that "we’re all here for the same thing" mentality that Rita has in helping figure girls and other competitors regardless of class.  Maybe it’s the satisfaction of doing something I didn’t think I could do.  I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s just this feeling of "this is why we compete."  I will definitely be back for more.

For now, though, it’s time to put on some quality mass and give the judges the big hard girl they long for!