Anyways today was leg day at the gym so I am pretty sore right now already. I did about a 5 minute warm up alternating between sprinting and jogging. After that I went into weights (3 sets of around 12-15 reps) doing some leg presses, barbell squats, stiff legged dead lifts, lunges and of course leg curl/extension to finish. In between sets I would jump rope, do jump squats/split squats or walking lunges. Lastly I did my cardio for only 25 minutes because of all the plyometrics and skipping I did.

Tomorrow is Biceps, Triceps and Abs..kind of pumped for it! I used to hate training arms n abs but now I love it! I will do about 45 minutes of cardio afterward
Lets hope I can walk tomorrow

• Keep cutting until I hit 125lbs or until I am lean enough that I have abs which I hope to be for mid December around the 16th
• After that I plan to CLEAN bulk emphasis on the clean from the 16th until around February
• Finally…its contest prep time!

Sooo that is my plan..so right now I am cutting basically since I am not rushing like I was for contest prep my calories can go up a bit and now I can cut my long cardio sessions a bit and incorporate more HIIT.

As for the personal issues well…life is hard no one said it would be easy so I am just going to take it day by day and not worry more than i need too!
It’s go time!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

You will need:

2 large bowls-one for dry and one for wet ingredients, a whisk, a 8×8 inch dish (sprayed with Pam or whatever you would like), ground oatmeal/almonds, splenda, cinnamon, chocolate protein powder, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, natural peanut butter, banana baby food and egg whites
First gather all your dry ingredients together in one bowl:

• 2/3 ground oatmeal (240 calories, 5g fat,44g carbs-6g fiber, 8g protein)-20 grams ground almonds (245, 22g fat, 8.5 g carbs-5g fiber, 9g protein) I ground the oatmeal and almonds together in the blender
• 1/4 cocoa powder (80 calories 4g fat, 12g carbs-4g fiber)
  
• 2.5 scoops natural chocolate whey (300 calories, 5g fat, 5g carbs-2.5g fiber, 60 g protein)
• Teaspoon of cinnamon
• A pinch of salt
• Tablespoon of baking powder
• Whisk it all together

In the second bowl add your wet ingredients and splenda:

• 5 egg whites-3/4 cup (120 calories, 30g protein)
• 1/2 cup of splenda
• Whisk together
• 1/4 cup of natural peanut butter (360 calories, 28g fat, 12g carbs-4g fiber, 16g protein)
• Banana baby Food (130 calories, 30g carbs-2g fibre, 2g protein)
• Whisk together

Add wet ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl and whisk it all together-When it is completely mixed pour into 8×8 dish and cook anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on your oven. Keep checking on it, you will know it is ready when you stick a toothpick in it and there is nothing on it.

Total=

Calories:1475
Fat: 64
Carbs: 115.5
Fibre: 23.5
Protein: 125

6 Bars
Calories: 246
Fat: 11
Carbs: 19
Fibre: 4
Protein: 21

Enjoy!

I actually ended up taking my rest day on the Thursday because of my lack of sleep the day before. I felt rested and ended up having a great weekend because of it. Here I am again all tired lol. From today until about Thursday I plan to keep my carbs under 45g and pull my fats and protein up a bit. Tonight I am going to cook some ground turkey, chicken breast & make some low carb chocolate protein bars (not sure how yet but I am going too!)..I bought some cheap protein at the store beside my place and the facts looked good on it. I am kind of low on cash flow right now since my boyfriend and I have to put together a deposit for the place we want. We actually ended up getting that spot I thought we were not going to get I am soooo happy to be getting out of this place. We are supposed to sign the lease on Wednesday!

Anyways tomorrow is a Leg day filled with my plyos, stairs, and cardio. Looking forward!

I had my midterm today so now I am free for the next 2 weeks or so to concentrate on training n just attending class. I weighed in yesterday at 137lbs. I was pretty happy to see myself hit that!! I am only 1 pound away from my week goal. So..I have decided I am gonna go to 135lbs just to keep pushing myself. I also measured myself and hit my goals for that too! I am very happy with my progress regardless of where I place. Too be honest at this point it is going to be how that suit fits me that will really make a huge difference. I tried it on earlier and though I look much much better I still have some muffin top action going on. Not so flattering! I contacted a suit maker too see if she could fix it n she said she would get back to me on Friday. So I guess well see when it comes to that..on the flip side I am going to be buying my fitness model bikini on the weekend when I am out of town.. I am thinking of going for either gold or silver depending on how they look when I try them on.

Anyways I really did not sleep last night (yes I no..it is so bad to skip out on rest when you are training n such) but I could not help it I was up till 6AM cramming for that god damn midterm n I had to be up at 7:30AM to go to the gym so i figured hecckk…I am not sleeping Ill just hammer away n crash when I am done my midterm which was at 12pm so I fell asleep for about 3.5 hours after. Anyways I do not feel too bad right now but I can guarntee you i will sleep like a baby tonight. I do not have much going on tomorrow except for the gym anyways so I can catch up on my rest..I do not wanna burn out or get sick!

Tomorrow I will be training Legs! I am kind of excited actually. I have my days where I love Leg day and some where I can not stand it. I figure I will wake up and do 45 minutes to an hour then doing Legs and the second half of the Cardio later on (all dependent on what time I get up tomorrow of course). Anyways I need to eat something cause I have been up for so long and have never been so hungry..u no come to think of it I can not beleive I am up right now..Caffeine overload I suppose

Before I worked out I went to the tanning salon and then afterwards had my pre workout drink..I had a sample of the Dymatize XPAND Xtreme Pump and I loved it!!!! It was like a mix of Super Pump and Horse Power…Very good! I did not think I would ever find a pre-workout drink better than my Super Pump but I think I might have! I may have to switch over when I am done my Super Pump…but we’ll see!

At the gym I was supposed to train Back/Chest but I decided I was going to train Legs today. I had a good workout and definitely felt the burn at the end when i was walking. I did my Cardio on the stationary bike for an hour n 15 minutes because during my workout I did plyometrics and some skipping. Tomorrow after my midterm and history class I will train my Back and Chest and of course do my Cardio.

I can not wait for Thursday when my midterms n stuff are done for a little..Also I am going away for the weekend to surprise my mom since it will be her birthday soon! She has a home gym & treadmill plus there is a GoodLife Fitness right near her..so i know I will not miss any gym time. I will have to pack some tuna, protein powder etc..so I can keep on track w/everything! Anyways it is study time!

My week was overall pretty good but busy! I feel like all I do is study, train, cook, eat and sleep..Not bad but it gets repetitive. I have been searching for a new place and seem to have found one that is pretty decent with good space for my dogs for a good price. Only thing is I can not be outta here till Dec 1st and they want the place occupied for Nov 1st Soo..I think I am going to miss out on the place. Oh well! It was not meant to be I guess. Just sucks cause I have to put up with the people around me who are just so rude n negative! It is not the greatest area or atmosphere lemme tell ya! I have enough on my plate I do not need their **** too!

Anyways this week I was not too good about doing my Cardio..No idea how much I did but if I had to guess I would say between 6-7 hours. However, this week I have to do all my Cardio..I do not have a choice if I want to look good on stage!
Today is my off day but since I had skimped out on some of my cardio sessions early n what not I decided to do cardio this morning. It went well..I did about 80-90 minutes all different stuff..between the elliptical, bike, treadmill w/incline and plyos/skipping (I get bored easily). Now I am just relaxing n cooking some food. I actually just finished cooking Jamie Eason’s Carrot Cake Protein Bars..I changed some stuff to fit into my contest diet..but they taste SO GOOD! Right now I just have some plain chicken breasts in the oven. A little later I will have to type up some study notes for my midterm I have on Monday. I will also have to get some History studying in there too since that midterm is on Wednesday. Uggggh it never ends! I wish I could say it is going to slow down but it really isn’t! I think I get maybe a week before sh!t starts to pick up again.

Sooo..I am 3 weeks out weighing around 139-138lbs..my goal this week that I am GOING to make is that I need to be at about 136-135lbs by next week. I am 3 weeks out and I would like to at least be a little under 130lbs in order to step on stage. My two piece suit is tight still and if it looks awful well..then..I am royally screwed. Anyways enough with the negative talk..I know I can do this and I will

Yesterday I trained my legs..it was a great workout! I incorporated plyos in there n everything..I did my full 90 minutes= an hour n 10 done at the gym and 20 done later on doing stairs/skipping. I am feeling confident about my training and even more with my diet. I have been spot on with no falling off course. Lets hope it pays off!

Tonight I am going to relax..do my last bit of cardio since the weather has cooled down and pick up a book since I have 2 midterms next week. I have already completed 3 and too be honest I am surprised I have been able to focus as much as I have with everything going on. I will write a little more later on cause I gotta train!

Over the weekend it was Thanksgiving and my dad flew in from Calgary for dinner and he is so supportive when it comes to my dieting. He cooked and he made everything so clean..no added salt no sauces..nothing! We did not even have regular potatoes he made mashed sweet potatoes (nothing in them of course) just for me , broccoli and bought just a large turkey breast because he knew it was the cleanest. Soo.. my Thanksgiving was very clean even got to take home turkey..however it is almost all gone. I just had some for my pre-workout meal with 1/4 cup of mashed sweet potatoes. Yummy!

I still got to train because the gyms were still open thank god I trained Back and Chest on Sunday which was an awesome workout!! I only did 35 minutes of Cardio however it was skipping and high intensity..& I also did super sets which kept my heart rate right up there. I am still very sore today actually! Yesterday I did a little shoulders and about an hour n 10 minutes of Cardio..was overall a good workout.

Today is Leg day and 90 minutes of Cardio..during my cardio I will have to study because I have a midterm at 5:30..not looking forward but it is that time of year! I also have to look for a new apartment because the lady in this building who lives downstairs works completely different hours than my boyfriend and I do so our dogs are keeping her up supposedly. Ahhh whatever! On another note I am going to start tanning very soon It is almost time..can not believe I have dieted this long!

Anyways I think I attempted to write a blog like three times today..each about the same thing but from a different perspective. I stopped each time because I realized what I was going to type would not solve anything. I basically was going to mention the fact that I have been thinking a lot about my competition, where I am at and where I have to/want to be. It discourages the living sh!t outta me because I know I do not look like I am 4 weeks out..at least this is not how I want to look! I have this vision in my mind of how I would allow myself to step on stage looking like and this aint it! I was not planning on stopping my contest diet I was going to keep doing everything the same except not as much cardio and bring up the calories a bit. However, after talking to a certain someone whom you can find in my inspirational ppl..I realized I can not just stop this journey..I have to keep moving forward! All my life I have been afraid to fail, afraid to not be good at everything I do. Perfection drives me and it can be an awful thing when you have that mind set. Also I think a lot of this doubt and discouragement has a lot to do with the fact that I allowed myself to gain 25 pounds in 2 years. I was at 157lbs in 2006 lost the weight in 2007 leaving me at 130lbs then life hit me HARD and instead of turning it into a reason to drive myself I allowed it too ruin me instead. So I gained back the weight plus close to 10lbs (did still workout so muscle was gained)..& now I am at 140-145lbs looking actually better than I did last time I was at this weight BUT I keep going to back to a specific fact "I have already been here". I get this feeling like I should never have allowed myself to gain that weight back in the first place and had I not I would look so great RIGHT now at 4 weeks out. THAT is the main issue that has been bothering me to tears..I feel embarassment, shame, regret and most of all disappointment. That is why I attempted to write this blog so many times..I wavered back n 4th about how i was feeling about this issue and why. Did I want to wait n be realistic and take my time n do it in May? Or did I want to finish what I started regardless of what I look like and prove to myself that not being perfect isn’t failing….so that is that. The competition is a go and I am going to work my a$$ off harder than I ever had to make sure I do not let myself down!

On a completely different note.. I am celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow with my family (only chicken breast, veggies and sweet potato for me)..but before that I am hitting the gym, I am going to train Chest and Back n of course do my Cardio. I am going to do 90 minutes just not sure when or in what way. lol! Anyways thats all for now!

Happy Thanksgiving wknd to all my fellow Canadians!