Renae94’s BodyBlog

So I was freaking out a little about being a little fluffy so I decided to go back to what I know as tried and true, CLEAN EATING! Not quite my competition diet but along those lines with the same concepts..fresh foods, fruits, veggies, good carbs and protein powder. I also stuck to my regular gym routine and what do you know, my four friends came back!! It’s funny how when you are just fat and you lose 5 lbs you cant tell the difference but when you are more muscular and you lose 5 lbs you can see the difference right away. I love it!! So is it me or what but I feel completely addicted to competing. I think about my next show everyday. Does anyone remember dirty dancing when Patrick Swayze walks over to the table and says “Nobody puts baby in corner”? That’s how I feel. Nobody puts Tonya at the end of the line. I’ve always been at the front of the line…my entire life. I live for the front of the line. Explanation: at my last (and first) show, I was number 5 and there were only 8 competitors and I can hear it like it was yesterday. ”Number 5 please switch places with number 8! That meant I was going to the end of the line. We did another set of quarter turns. Surely he would move me again, there’s no way I belonged at the back of the line. But he didn’t and to be honest I did. I did belong at the back of the line. Prior to that show I started resenting the show. Training had taken so much time from my family, my social life and I was just physically and mentally drained. So my workout wasn’t as focused, my diet not as on point and my attitude was I just want to get this over and say at least I did it. I had stopped focusing on winning and just wanted to get on stage without embarrassing myself and my family. And that’s what I did, but that’s all I did. Once I was at the show and in the environment I wanted to win, I thought I would at least place in the top 5. But I was wrong! I was placed dead last and that will NOT happen again. 

So I have chosen my next show, I feel like I have a better idea of what to expect from training and how to balance things better. I feel like my family particularly my husband having been through this with me now realizes the dedication needed to compete. That’s going to be the difference this time around. Besides I tasted the blood in the water, next time I’m going in for the kill. I will start to post progress pics and such once I start my competition prep in January.  

Until then- 

Train hard, train smart 

Can someone help me out with this? I competed less than two weeks ago. After the competition I binged for like 3 days. Since then I’ve just been eating whatever the heck I wanted but all the while telling myself “tomorrow I’ll get back to clean eating”. Well it’s been less than two weeks of poor eating but my body looks like its been two months. I’m already fat again!! Seriously, I’ve gained a ridiculous amount of weight in a very short period of time. I’m not stressing too much about it because I know exactly what I have to do to get things back under control and I have complete faith that I will but I just want to know is it normal for the body to put on so much weight so quickly? I guess I thought that since I was in better shape physically and I had more lean mass that I could get away with a few extra days of poor eating but DANG, two weeks ago I had a six pack (OK, OK a four pack) but today I look like the long lost sister of the Pillsbury dough boy. I look FLUFFY!! Oh yeah, my pants are all tight in the thigh area…that’s no fun.

Ok so now let me say that I have finally gotten back to the gym and put together a post comp workout and eating plan and it’s going well but I don’t have nearly the confidence that I had two weeks ago.

Finally I’ll touch on my first figure competition. The NPC USA Continental figure. It was hosted at the Norris Cultural Arts Center in St. Charles which was only about 45 min from my home so that was nice. The show was running behind from the start which would not have been so bad except my family came at the same time I did which was that morning. They had an extra long wait. My six year old had a meltdown and my hubby was at his wits end. BACKSTAGE- It was such an honor to be in the presence of so many beautiful women (and men…holla). All of the women were awesome and friendly. We learned so much from each other and it was just a great time. ONSTAGE - being on staging was undescribable. It was so electrifying. I thought that I would be nervous and I was but it was an excited nervouse. I have to say that I was dreading the T-walk at the end of the night but it was the best part of the competition. The judging was done so there was nothing left to do but enjoy yourself and show off all of your hard work. So my advice to anyone that has considered competing (in anything), JUST DO IT!! Would I do it again??

Saturday night after show…”NO, never!!” (I was placed at the end of the line during so I was devastated and discouraged)

Sunday morning after show…”I don’t think so” 

Sunday afternoon…”well maybe becuase I know that I can bring a better package to the stage”

Sunday evening…next Show APRIL 11th, 2009.

C ya on stage!!

-T