TOUGH IT OUT

I can’t quite believe it, but I’m 16 weeks away from my contest.  I started a fresh page in my training/food journal today and outlined my diet for the next 6 weeks.

Proteins:

• tuna
• chicken
• eggs
• tilapia
• jerky
• nuts
• shakes/bars

Veggies

• spinach
• brocolli
• cauliflower
• cucumber
• onion
• peppers
• mushrooms

Carbs:

• apples
• bananas
• melons
• berries
• citrus
• pineapple
• oats
• rice

I’ll include pre/post workout and bed time shakes.  I’m supplementing with 5g creatine post workout, as well as fish oil, multi, C, E, and zinc.  With supper I take flax oil, L-lysine, biotin, calcium, and A&D.  I also take fiber and acidophilus with my bed-time shake.

My biggest hurdles will be night-time eating, weekends out of town, and Christmas.  I’m not too concerned with peer pressure anymore since most of my friends, family, and my husband are ready to back me up this time.  =)

My training will include more cardio and plyo.  I’m aiming for atleast 30 minutes of cardio a day, every day (I’ll eventually work up to an hour - 30AM & 30PM).  I will vary the intensity - for example, rest/recovery days will be a brisk treadmill walk, whereas workout days will include jogging, elliptical, incline treadmill, or an aerobic workout with plyo.  I’m doing the Optimizer Fat Eliminator video - it really gets my heart rate up and works my thighs til they burn.

My weight training has been going really well - I have the will power to continue lifting through massive painful pumps - and I love it!  I lift until I feel like I have to drop the weights, and then I DON’T drop them.  I did bi’s/tri’s yesterday and my pumps were so great that my upper arms were stretched super-tight.  I’ve gotten in the habit of bringing my resistance band to work so I can do a light follow-up workout the next day and get blood into those muscles to speed recovery.

I’m also following up each workout with stretching.  I purchased several GAIAM yoga discs that specialize in different areas.  There’s yoga for strength, yoga for flexibility, yoga for swimming, running, golf, tennis, and other sports.  Each one has something different to offer and I do them in accordance with the muscles I worked - some of them are only 10 minutes, others are 30, so I can do them even when I’m in a hurry.

I need to buy my heels so I can start walking around the house in them.  I also need to hit the local craft shop and buy some crystals and glue for my suit.  In a couple weeks I’ll start posing in my suit and shoes, and then I’ll buy tan supplies….it’s right around the corner now!  Yay.  =)

I’ll start today by going grocery shopping for my essentials, and then tomorrow I’ll prep a bunch of food for the next week.  Tomorrow is going to be a wicked low bod & shoulders day followed by incline treamill.  Here we go!

Last night I was looking at some old vacation pics and I found a good "before" picture of my face.  It’s crazy what exercise and eating right can do for your looks!  Just see for yourself…

I’ve gotten in this habit when I wake up every morning…I stretch out on my back and slide my hands down my arms, abs, and finally down my thighs just to feel how much harder my body is getting every day.  It’s awesome.  I love how my legs are solid, my stomach is flat, and my biceps are round.  It’s a tremendous way to start the day - feeling powerful and accomplished, and knowing I’m on the right track to just keep improving.  It creates an attitude that is unmatched by anything else I’ve ever done in my life.

I’m not going to stop.  Ever.

And nothing beats knowing that in about 17 weeks, I will wake up the morning of the competition, stretch, touch my body - and know that it’s about to achieve a goal I’ve had for the past 6 years.

Today I am committed, I am balanced, I am positive, I am centered, I am studious, I am open, I am dedicated, I am optimistic, I am glad.

"He who has health, has hope.  And he, who has hope, has everything."  -Arabian Proverb
"Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded."  -Goethe

Here it is, 2/3 the way through November and it’s another 60 degree day in North Dakota.  Mui caliente!  It’s awesome!  I get off work at 5 today and I hope to get a half hour or so of sun shine before it starts to set…it’s really wonderful.  Last year at this time we were buried so bad the highways were closed!  Hard to believe.

I’m feeling alot better today about the suit situation.  Thank goodness I only lost $55.oo, considering how expensive suits can get.  I found another one on e-bay.  It’s used, but in beautiful shape.  I’ve been in touch with the seller and asked alot of specific questions about it, and all in all it’s sounding legit.  It’s $99.00, which isn’t bad considering it’s already nicely decorated.  An added bonus - it’s won every competition it’s been in, so maybe that will add some good luck to my game.  =)

I’ve been putting on a decent amount of muscle this past month, and I’m starting to think about my dieting phase coming up.  Dec. 1st marks 16 weeks out.  I think for the month of December I’ll eliminate carbs after 5pm and NO NO NO night time eating.  In January I’ll cut out all the carbs I can and get on a real competition diet of tuna, tilapia, eggs, chicken, almonds, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, onion/pepper/mushroom, citrus, asparagus, cucumber, watermelon, shakes, bars, and the occasional oatmeal or brown rice when I need a carb boost.  Those will be my core foods - should make grocery shopping alot simpler.  I’m so ready to give it all I got and get cut up.  =)

I’m hoping to get enough time today to take new measurements and post new progress pics - my weight and measurements have barely changed, but my muscles are getting hard and full, so I know I’m losing fat.  People at work are starting to notice my form changing and growing, so that’s a nice clue that I’m making progress.

Feeling good today, hope you are too!

It’s all in the hips - that is, my ASYMMETRY is ALL IN THE HIPS!  I thought that as I slimmed down and toned up the obvious asymmetry in my hips would be less noticeable.  I’m starting to worry it might be my downfall in competition.  I have scoliosis in my low back that makes my left hip drop and roll backwards so my pelvis has become twisted.  I began to see it when I was about 11 or 12 - I told my parents that something was wrong with my hips but they managed to attribute it to some kind of juvenile body insecurity…by the time I got them to sit up and notice I was in pain, the damage was done.  I didn’t start seeing a chiropractor until I was 21.  If we could’ve caught it I would’ve been fitted for a brace and I’d be straight as an arrow.  =(  O well!  Now I need to find some creative ways to counteract the appearance of my hips.  I’ll have to train my left side a bit harder since my left glute appears smaller than the right, as well as my outer hip.  I’ll have to find a flattering suit and know just how high to hike it on each side.  I’ll need to practice my posing with militant precision - in order to train myself to pull in my left hip and contract the muscles just so.  I think even with all that I’ll look just a tad freaky.  *sigh*  All I can do is be the best I can be.  I wonder if I should tell the judges that I have scoliosis?  I doubt it makes a difference.  Either you’re symmetrical or your not; sorry!  I guess I can’t blame my parents or myself.  This is just the way I am! 

P.S.  The suit I ordered was a collosal rip-off.  It was described in the ad as "worn once, undecorated".  It’s got crooked, unravelling seams and it’s glue-stained all over from when it was decorated.  Grrrr.  The lady won’t return my e-mail asking for a refund.  I got duped.  I hope she gets slapped upside the head by karma!

I woke up this morning immediately craving some iron.  Really, it was the second thing on my mind - the first one was my friend J.  We went out last night - supposedly as a group - but she isolated herself in her own boozy pity-party.  I’ve seen it many times before, but this time she directed some of that anger at me and I was pretty hurt by it.  It just seemed like nothing I could say mattered - whether I was nicey nice and coddled her or was honest and told her to relax.  I’m glad it happened though, because I’ve seen her do it time and time again to her boyfriend (one of my best friends) and I thought maybe somehow he was instigating it or making it worse.  I was SO WRONG.  It just totally comes out of left field.  She thinks no one cares about her feelings, but in reality the whole night becomes about her and she’s oblivious to that.  It was that much worse being stone sober for the thing.  Worse because I clearly remember everything she said and did, but she will remember absolutely zero.  Seriously.  She will not remember any of it.  I really, REALLY feel for my friend.  Both Jenna and her boyfriend.  Something is very wrong.  =(  She drank since 5, didn’t have a thing to eat, and spent sooooooo much money.  Meanwhile she criticizes him for spending his money, but she can go out and buy whatever, whenever, free of judgement.  I’m disgusted.

So ofcourse I would crave a solid dose of iron.  It’s free therapy.  Clearly this has me stressing and I should go exorcise some of that tension ASAP.  Being healthy in my own mind and body makes life so much easier - it’s hard to watch my friends be unhealthy.  I just think of how much clearer, calmer, and more focused (not to mention happy, confident, strong) I am because I’m fit and sober and I wish she would try it for just a while.  I don’t want to preach to anybody, so I keep these thoughts my own - but it’s hard not to think that way.  The best thing I can do is think about me today and get some heavy lifting in.  I’m going to tax my body today, not my mind.

I bought a used suit from divaexchange.com.  It should fit me like a glove, and it was only $55.  It’s eggplant purple and unembellished.  I really like the color.  I plan on decorating it myself with Swarovsky crystals.  Here’s an image of the suit, nothing special!  http://divaexchange.com/detail.php?id=5152&show_still=1  I’ve been checking out rhinestone patterns online and I’ve found a few I’d like to use for a starting point.  I’m really excited to decorate it myself!  I was an art major afterall.  =)  I figure it doesn’t hurt to get started now, just incase it’s not "the suit", I’ll have time to look for another one.

I didn’t drink a drop of alcohol and I haven’t since 10/3.  I feel great about it.  I had an awesome time regardless (once we got to dancing) and I was able to drive us around safely.  I figure that saved us $50 between me not buying drinks and not having to get a cab.  The only thing that bothered me were people who tried convincing me to drink - assuming, I guess, that I couldn’t possibly be having any fun without it.  I sure proved them wrong!  =)  I’ll try to get a pic of us in our costumes to post - we forgot our camera but our friends got some fun shots.  Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

My gym is on the "Trail of Treats" - a Friday afternoon trek for younger kids to trick-or-treat.  A nice concept, aside from the facts that a) no one told me about it and b) we’re a gym and I don’t condone handing out candy…or more accurately, I don’t condone sitting next to a huge bowl of assorted miniature bad decisions waiting to happen!  Nah, I’m impervious.  Haha… the kids are so gosh darn cute, atleast the ones that have the wherewithall to even say "Trick or Treat".  Three quarters of them just hold out their bags and say "candy" or "can I have candy" or "where’s the candy?".  They there’s the pre-teens that don’t belong on the Trail of Treats, that don’t even dress up, that show up with plastic shopping bags AND don’t say Trick or Treat.  That wouldn’t be so bad if they could muster a little enthusiasm!!  And the parents don’t really care one way or the other if the little ones say "Trick or Treat" or even "Thank You".  That irks me.  I’ve prompted waaayyy to many kids to say "Thank You."  I’m starting to hate this.  These kids are being taught a strong sense of entitlement from an early, early age….walking into my gym and demanding candy.  Little bastards.  It’s not their fault they’re rude and ignorant…there was one very young mother who came in with her son and she literally was the only one in here and just stared blankly right at me…I said "hello!".  I said "hi!"  I finally raised my arms and waved at her and said "Hiiiieeeeeeee!!!"  And she says…"Uh, are there like treats here?".  I wanted to just hand her the whole bowl and say "here, dumbass."  It’s this town.  The people here are just….weird.  Blank.  Rude.  They stare…they walk around with their mouths open.  Mouth breathers!!  I’m letting them get to me…and they’re ruining my fun time!!  I’ll be glad when this day is over and I can chillax with some grown-ups, but it will always bother me that kids are comin up wrong these days.