Making_A_Change’s BodyBlog

I have been waiting to hit that wall and I finally did yesterday. I left the gym after about 20 minutes. I was very, very lethargic and week. Today, I began my cycle and I know my strength can vascillate based on that, alone. And, I have been really pushing my body’s limits. So far, my experiment has revealed that it may, in fact be my fibroid affecting my cycle and not my birth control. I am going to continue to take note and see what The Pill does, but in the long-run I am probably looking at having them removed–not uncommon for the women in my family. The positive is that I had a morning weight in of 130 on my cycle. And I should be finished by Sunday. The bummer is that I had planned to tan tomorrow, but now I can’t. I don’t want to have tan lines that I am going to have to cover at next month’s show. So, I am just going to oil up, exfoliate, and hope for the best. I have some stuff in a spray bottle, I can’t remember the brand. I am a fan of the spraytan and I am not confident in my self-tanning skills.

Tonight’s workout was pure heck. Geez! We are back to going heavy. I can’t say my diet was stellar today. All I wanted was crackers and I ate them. But I put htem into the macros and I have been low carbing it for about 5 days. I looked so full today. My goal was to carb up today and go back to low carbing it. By Sunday, I would be on my 2nd low carb day and wouldn’t have to worry about spilling over. We’ll see how that strategy goes. Tomorrow, the plan is to do light legs because I plan to do them next week with Billy and I need to be able to flex them on Sunday. Now, that I think about it, I may need to postpone legs until after that. I know I am going to have to fight for that 30 minutes of cardio afterwards. I guess we’ll see how I’m feeling tomorrow.

Tonight, I am going to do my nails and relax. The little one has her first sleepover. She just got her first set of luggage and a sleeping bag. I don’t know how well I will sleep, tonight. I’ll be wondering what she is doing and how she’s doing. She is growing up way too fast!

My little one has revealed some new talents. She is a very soothing, and mindful yoga teacher. Last night, while looking through the bodybuilding encyclopedia her attention was drawn to the section on stretching. She was reminded of her Friday yoga classes at school. She showed me some stretches and was very thorough in her explainations. At the end, she had me sit ‘like a butterfly’ with my hands on my knees, close, my eyes, and breathe. I did it. When I finally opened my eyes she was there in front of me smiling from ear to ear–with such a sense of satisfaction and pride. It was a precious moment. She is also a nail artist. We have watched hundred of youtube videos on nails and make-up while getting ready for my last show. I even practiced some techniques on her feet. I improved my skills and she got a pedicure and massage. Win/win! She set herself up in my room with several nail colors and proceeded to paint her nails. This isn’t uncommon. She can play with make-up and all that ‘girly stuff’ on the weekends, but has to wash it off before going out. When she comes out to show me what she has done I was floored. She had given herself a french manicure. She used a glitter base, painted the ‘tips’ of her nails cotton candy pink, then put white dots on the pink. It was whimsical and well done! The educator in the thought-her fine motor skills are outstanding!

Yesterday morning, I did biceps and back. I used the horseshoe attachement, moderate weights, and drops sets. I supersetted with standing cable rows. Then I did seated rows and biceps curls/bb curls. I then did 30 minutes of cardio. This morning, I woke up late but managed to eek out 50 minutes on the stairmill! I was going to train tonight, but it’s late and I don’t have anymore meals! I decided that tomorrow, I’ll do legs and get to the gym 4:15 to give me plenty of time to complete my workout and do cardio, afterwards. The rest and extra sleep will be good. I am really happy with the workouts that I have had this week and the changes that are happening. I know I am riding that fine line of resting and overtraining. But I am just curious about where that line is–it is exciting!

I took last night off–I was full and sleepy and I liked it. I planned to stay out of the gym today, but I think I am going to go in tonight for some quick and dirty cardio. Why? Because I want to, I am feeling good, and I am going to take advantage of it. The closer that I get to the date the more difficult it will become. Tomorrow, I begin my mock Peak Week and begin Teraxtone. I have only tried Scivation’s Showtime, so it will be interesting to see the results. I am going to keep my same training schedule and calorie intake, and just manipulate my water. I am already cutting and don’t want to interrupt training, too much.

My water intake has been poor this weekend. I know because I woke up several times with dry mouth and had to drink. It hasn’t been much better today. I am going to have to play catch up.

Evening cardio went off without a hitch. I warmed up for 10 minutes. Then, I ran for 30 minutes @ 5.5 mph @ a 3% incline. I cooled down for another 10 minutes. My leg straps came in today, so I can’t wait to do the ab workout that I did with Billy. The only reason that I haven’t worked abs, yet is because they are still sore! From Friday!

I an anticipate doing back and biceps. I’ll be doing alot of unilateral movements and focusing on contracting the muscle. I’ll be using the cables mostly. All of this will be followed by 30 minutes of cardio–probably the stairmill.

My goal is to take some progress pictures tonight and see what changes, if any occur.

I am sitting here in a carb deprived stupor. My energy is extremely low and it doesn’t help that it’s hot. So, I am trying to put laundry away in shifts, drink water, and wait for my next meal–more salmon. This morning’s workout was really good. I did: tricep kickback (drop sets), overhead bb extension and alot of work on the cables like: tricep pressdowns with the cable, one-armed extensions, and I used the horse shoe attachment. I supersetted with push-ups on dbs. I am going to be sore tomorrow. Tonight, I go back for ‘easy’ cardio. I am just going to walk on an incline and do a little posing afterwards. I am still working on my posing endurance–holding and contracting from head to toe WHILE smiling. Then I do my sauntering up and down the floor–medium stride, strong steps, hips tilted back, don’t look at my feet, abs tight, swing arms naturally, stop and pose…smoothly.

Tonight, we are going to a BBQ. I am going to have a burger, no bun, and some salad. And call it a day. My morning weight was 129.4. The lower carbs on my high days and the addtional cardio are doing their thing. I am using this show as a bit of a tester. I am not trying to throw the thing, but I have found that I am being a bit more aggressive in my dieting, restrictions, training and cardio. In addition to that, I have been making an effort to to get to sleep by 10:30. I am noticing more definition in my calves, more vascularity in my forearms (and unfortunately, my foreHEAD). I have some veins that are visible in my quads and calves on a good day. The changes have been incredible. And I have to say, that being IUD-free has made a significant change, too. The bloating comes and then is GONE. That is it. No lingering. No nothing. A clean break. My usual cravings weren’t there, either. I had a high carb day because it wa scheduled, but I wasn’t downing bags and bags of mini crackers.

Excellent BBQ! Had some salmon, talipia, and a couple of small ribs. Protein heaven. Now, it’s late and I am going to get to bed.

I woke up to stiff legs and super, sore abs. You never realized how much you use your core until its burnt. I was looking forward to my morning oatmeal and –oh no–I was out. And I look forward to it every morning. But that is okay. Part of the fun is trying something different. I had the habenero tortilla and eggs with a little goat cheese instead. The tortilla was comparable in terms of macros, it just has more sodium. But, it did the job. I had a great chest workout and ran for 30 minutes on a 3% incline afterwards. Form my last 1/4 mile I sprint at 8 mph. It felt great. I have adhered to the advice about not running because of the muscle that it burns. But, lately I had the inclination to run. I don’t know if it is the intensity or the freedom that comes with it. It just feels right. So I am going to integrate it a few times per week. Maybe it will help with my glute development–especially because I like to run on an incline. I had 5 minutes to get home, so I went to the Long’s drugs next door for oatmeal. They only had the 1-min. I really like the whole grained, slow one. I got it anyways, for back up. When I got home I had the other half of my tortilla and 3 more eggs. I’ll have my shake in about an hour. Surprisingly, my legs felt great. Hopefully, the running will prevent some of the DOMS. The last time I had legs with Billy, I limped around for 4 days!

Tonight, I will tackle my triceps and finish it off with the stairmill. Since I am now doing 5 sets of 20+ reps, I am able to do fewer body parts in the time allowed. That’s fine, though. I am off to clean up a bit and enjoy this Saturday. The day’s eats will look something like:

We saw UP, tonight. What a fun movie. Unfortunately, the showing that we were going to was sold out. We have to wait another 1 1/2 hours. Of course, I had my bag of chicken and a jar of almond butter in my purse. But I did partake in the movie food we brought I had a serving of Trader Joes’ Cheese Puffs (mouth watering) and a few of little one’s tortilla chips. I’ll consider that my free food for the week. I have been able to sleep before I get hungry. With the extended day, it was difficult to stay within my calorie allotment, as my body wants to eat every few hours.

My abs are so, so sore. Whenever there were funny parts I almost had to brace myself because it felt like they were going to cramp up. I am going to make-up my cardio session this week and train my triceps (and maybe light shoulders) tomorrow morning. I will follow it with 40 minutes of cardio.

Until tomorrow…

That song actually came on while doing legs–and it’s true. My legs respond well to training, but it is like torture–especially when Billy get to them. I swear, the time crawls…at the slowest pace…when…you…are…hurting.

-double cable work (30 minutes)

-squats, incline abs

-leg extension, leg curls

-back extension 

And my mediocre abd session this morning was more than made up for tonight. Billy focused on hip flexors and quads–that weird space that you just can target with regular squats and leg extensions! I am lying here and that is about all I am going to do, tonight. We are planning to do chest and triceps next week, that means I need to do them earlly inthe week. They will be fully recovered by next Friday.

This morning’s ab work was OK. I focused on contracting the muscled and controlling the movement, but I really missed my straps. I like being able to add that extra weight. I feel like the workout is just more effective and I get more of a burn and can actually fatigue my abs. I did do: weighted crunches, ball crunches (feet close), overhead lat pulls, alternating bb crunches. I did very little that would engage my hip flexors, because I wanted them to be fresh and not hinder legs, tonight.

My lines were really good this morning. There was one point at posing practice where I was checking my side pose and tried to move over because I thought the mirror seam was cutting the image of my arm in an odd way–it wasn’t. The cut in my delts were just that pronounced. Because of that I am doing around 70-80 grams of carbs, instead of 100, and spreading them throughout the day. I just need to keep my mini-goal in mind–must be ready for Sunday. I weighed in at 132.2 yesterday morning. My weight is holding steady, but I am feeling and looking leaner.

I do not feel as energized as yesterday because I would like to eat a little bit more. This does, however, help with the water intake. When I want to eat (and it’s not scheduled), I drink. I have been doing great with the supplements. I use a pill organizer, now. And I take everything in the morning, with the exception of my Seasamin. I try to spreat that out.

I had plans to train this morning, but the body said otherwise. My traps and upper back were super sore. I was pleased with that, though. I have had 5 workouts in three days. Tomorrow morning I am doing abs and chest. I am a little annoyed that I misplaced my ankle straps, but I have a new pair on the way. I plan on doing alot of hanging knee raises. Those get me really sore! Fore the past few nights I have managed to get to sleep early; I feel alot better. I am going to do a trial run with the Teraxatone next week. I am cutting for the shoot, anyway. And it will give me an opportunity to see if I prefer that to the Showtime. I am doing around the same calories tomorrow, but I am giving myself a 1/4 c. allowance depending on how I feel, becasue it’s leg day. I will still be under 100 grams. It was easier to do my 1600 today, because I didn’t train. I could spread my meals out, drink my water, and feel pretty satisfied. Tomorrow, is going to be a different story. I am having a high carb day-just under 100 grams. I am so excited to try Trader Joes Tomato and Habenero Tortillas. They are pretty large tortillas, so one is going to be two meals for me. One will be my post workout morning meal and I’ll have the other as my pre-workout meal before my session with Billy.

I am feeling fairly energetic, still. My foods remain the same most of the time–chicken, salmon, veggies, yams, and oats. Interestingly, I am becoming more vascular in my arms. I sometimes feels veins in my quads and calves. But my glutes continue to look more and more deflated. Even my abs are feeling harder. The skin is looser, which tells me my bodyfat is decreasing, again. I can feel my glutes working on the stairmill and when I am walking on an incline. But, I’ll continue to work at it. I am at the point where I need to go to sleep before I decided to eat something–I have to beat the hunger. I am going to hop out of beed just ot get that oatmeal! Oooh, I get to have a banana!

This morning’s workout was strong. Yesterday, I was ravenous. So, I ate. I had a whole can of black beans in the evening. That added about 60 grams to the day’s totals. I think I may have to consider them as a source of carbs and fiber. This morning my shoulder press was at 25#. I was able to do a few reps at the end of my five reps (15-20 reps) with the 30’s. I had alot of vascularity and fullness. I was also able to curl the 30’s–so, I felt stronger. I didn’t get to abs. I finished everything off with 25 minutes on the upright bike. I think I left my ankle straps at the gym. That was disappointing. If I left them at my ‘old school’ gym they would be in the same spot that I left them.

I have had a great opportunity come my way, I don’t want to talk about it prematurely. I have scheduled another shoot with Weifered next week. I need something in gym wear. I don’t know where this is all going, but it seems wise at this point to develop a portfolio. And I also realize that I need to learn how to use my digital camera–the flash, lighting, exposure, etc. Additionally, cutting calories a little more than what was planned this week to prepare for next week.

Tonight, I am scheduled for 45 minutes of cardio and I think it is going to be walking on an incline.

I am so hungry, right now. Lunch is chicken and chard with a bit of garlic. I can’t wait!

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Tonight’s cardio session was hard. Not having my music made it tougher. It was hard to get into my ‘zone of discomfort’. I sort of settle into the place where things burn but I can get into a ryhthm. Or, at the very least, I can lose myself in a song and 3-4 minutes will go by. My MP3 player stopped around 20 minutes into my cardio. That left 25 long minutes to just think about what I was doing. But it is over now. I’m done and ready to do it again tomorrow. Tomorrow morning is abs and NO cardio tomorrow night! I had an apple this afternoon. That messed up my carb count for the day, but it wasn’t a complex carb. I will be alseep by 10, again and up from 4 a.m.

Why do I get caught up in Seinfield when I have seen every episode? I didn’t get to sleep when I wanted to, but that is not going to happen in the morning. Tonight’s workout was pretty good. I curled 30’s so my strength is returning! Too bad I am about to cut–well, I’ll be creating my deficit with cardio. I increased my post-workout cardio to 30 minutes. Tomorrow morning, the plan is triceps, shoulders, abs and 30 minutes of cardio. I am noticing some changes in my arms. I could see my triceps from the front! I had higher carb days yesterday and today and I took full advantage of it by trying to lift heavy and completing all of my sets and reps.

The school lunches that we have at our school are so good. Today we had coleslaw and these chicken burgers on whole wheat buns–they were spicy and tender! Mmmm. But it low carbs for the remainder of the week. And I am going to make Friday and Tuesdays my carb-up days for the next 30+ days. I guess it will be leg day on Friday–oh, the pain!