gymrat0226’s BodyBlog

I didn’t realize I haven’t posted anything since the beginning of August.  I’ve been super busy with school and ended up dropping out because it was just too much.  My diet and training sucked and then we got really busy at work a few weeks ago and I’ve been working 11-12 hr days.  I’m looking in the mirror and really not liking what I see.  So I jumped right on it and emailed Jay and told him I need to lose a few pounds.  I gained a few more than I wanted to.  I got up to 134 and I want to get down to 127 and maintain that until I start training for the next show in January. So we’re back on the diet.

The 1st day of my diet I felt awesome!  I had so much more energy.  I’ve been dieting since my last show but if the family had hamburgers for dinner….yup…I had one but I’d have a salad with it.  I just started eating more than what I should have and started to feel really uncomfortable because I could feel the weight on my legs and a roll creeping over my waistband!  I have those Italian genes and as soon as I gain weight it all goes to my legs!  I hate it!  Why couldn’t I have had the Asian legs and the Italian ass!
I did a few months of muscle building but my body just got worn out and my joints started hurting again so I lightened things up a bit and I’ve been mixing it up.  A little muscle building on the parts I need it and adding in some conditioning.  Started doing cardio at least 3-4 times week.  We have this new machine on base called Jacobs Ladder….holy crap that thing kicks ass!  I go on for 20-25 minutes resting for 30 seconds every five minutes.  Check it out, it’s a pretty awesome machine and there’s no machine out there that can give you a workout like this.  http://www.jacobsladderexercise.com/
I did great the 1st week of my diet but totally messed up on the weekend but that’s okay because I’m right back on it.  I just have to keep telling myself that it really doesn’t taste that good and it’s not worth it.  Whenever I eat crap I always pay for it one way or another. I have a problem when I’m really tired and I don’t know if anyone else is like this but when I’m tired I eat alot.  What’s up with that!?  Do I think it’ll wake me up?

I definitely need to start documenting my food on CalorieKing again.  I’ve really gone off track with my diet.  I didn’t realize how much extra food I’ve been taking in today until I entered my food just to see how much I was consuming….50 grams of carbs for breakfast!!!  Wow!

So I pulled out the old muscle building diet some I can have a little guidance.  You really don’t realize how quickly your eating habits turn bad in such a short time.  I can really see the weight and feel it now.  I feel in all in my legs and ass and it feels awful!

Not to mention I’m not drinking nearly enough water and I keep forgetting to take my supplements.  OMG I feel gross!  I haven’t been coming on bodyspace because I’ve been avoiding it.  It’s like I’m hiding from my motivation so I can secretly eat badly.

As of today it’s diet, diet, diet and getting back on track!  My training is going really good but I just don’t have the energy I did when I was dieting because I know I’m consuming far too many carbs and it’s bogging me down.

I just got back from 2 weeks vacation at home in Toronto, Canada.  Not glad
to be back in the nasty heat down here.  But glad to be back in my normal
routine and eating habits.

I did a lot of thinking and decided not to do the show in September.  We
have a five year plan and I’m not getting the things done that I need to do
and one of them is finishing school.  I missed the last 2 semesters of
school so that’s put me a whole year behind.  So I signed up for 2 courses
this time around.  One will consume a lot of my time.  It’s also the money
thing too.  The amount of money I’d spend doing this competition I could put
towards 2 semesters of school.  My future is a lot more important than
competing for fun.

Not to mention I have a hernia that I have to get fixed.  I’m going to the doctor today for an appointment with a specialist.  I have a ventral hernia and it’s been hurting me for the past 3 weeks.  I got it about 1 month before my show so I couldn’t do abs which really sucked!  So I need to diet down a bit because I won’t be able to work out for a month!  NOT looking forward to that.  I think I’ll go insane.  I don’t know what to do if I’m not going to the gym.

I do want to do another one next year around the same time though.  So I’ll
do some serious time muscle building over the next few months.  I did
really good on my vacation.  I only gained 2 lbs!  I couldn’t believe it
when I stepped on the scale.  But I did gain a few more over the past week.  I think it’s catching up with me : (

I’m finished my shows for now.  I placed 2nd in Masters and 2nd in Open.  Janelle beat me again.  She beat me last year.  She actually looks like that all year round.  Just genetically gifted I guess.  I’m still recovering from the trip.  I’ll be back in the gym on Wednesday but I started back on my diet Monday although I did have some carb smart ice cream last night…because I can!  My feet and lower legs are all puffed out.  This happened the last time but it didn’t last this long.  And I didn’t really even eat anything salty so I’m not sure why it’s like that.  I can actually feel that my calves are swollen.  I measured them last night and they’re 1″ bigger!  This morning I got up and measured again and they’re only 1/4″ bigger but they’ve swelled up again today.  I ate asparagus both days and I’m taking dandelion root and I still can get rid of this water retention.  It feels so gross.

What a culture shot going to Longview, TX.  I thought people in Wichita were rednecks!  OMG!!!  I’ve never seen so many rednecks with no teeth in my life!  And a lot of poverty down there.  We went to get our makeup done at Mac and they had all the chairs out in the mall and everyone was gathered in groups watching us and talking amongst each other.  Everyone was staring at us as we walked through the mall.  Then we went into Clairs and this lady came up to me and says “Y’all are bodybuilders???”  I said “Yes, we’re in a show tonight”  She says “My husband wants to have his picture with ya’ll”  So we kind of chuckled and went and had our picture taken.  Next thing you know we have a crowd around us and another lady is taking pictures and then this lady comes along and pulls out her camcorder!  Too funny!

I won 1st in my competition in Tulsa!!!!  I placed 1st in Novice and 3rd in Masters.  I was also awarded with the Spirit Award by the promoter.  I was surprised at the 1st place in Novice.  I thought for sure they were going to come up with something to place me 2nd but when they called me as 1st I was on cloud 9!!!  I was a little disappointed with the 3rd place.  I’ll have to see what the judges say.  I asked for my score sheet to be emailed to me to find out why I only placed 3rd but that’s okay I’m still happy about that.

Then after all the figure awards were handed out Jan started talking about a special Spirit award that they hand out. I kept hearing her say my name.  She kept saying is Jenny Caldwell still back stage.  She said my name about 3 times and I kept asking everyone why she kept saying my name.  Then she called out some guy and then me to the stage.  I felt really weird and couldn’t figure out why she was calling me out.  I thought my husband put her up to something.  All these thoughts were running through my mind.  So she started talking about Jake the guy she called out and I wasn’t really hearing anything she said about him.  Then they handed him this huge sword.  Then she started talking about me and how we had been chatting back and forth over the past few months and how I was trying to promote the show in Wichita and tried to get a bunch of girls to come down.  One ended up having surgery, the other was served with papers two weeks before the competition and the other had soccer games all weekend and couldn’t go. So I guess that’s a spirit award.  I’m flattered and feel I don’t deserve it though.  But holy cow you should see the size of my sword!!!

I’m right back on my diet today and I feel great.  We had a really nice dinner at the after party.  We ordered a bar-b-q chicken pizza and a really nice salad at Zio’s Italian Restaurant.  I didn’t even eat until 11 because I went back to my room a crashed for 2 hours.  My husband woke me up and said we better get to the after party.  Pretty much everyone was gone by then.  Sunday I had to stop at the cheesecake factory because I’ve never been there and we don’t have one in Wichita (thank God!)  Well I ate 1/3 of the slice last night and stood up and I felt like I was on drugs!  I almost passed out!  LOL!  Pure sugar rush.  I can’t remember the last time I had something so sweet like that.

I have to work all my 40 hrs in 4 days so I can take Friday off.  I still have to stone my suit and train.  This week is going to be a killer!

7 weeks out and Jay says I’m officially on target according to my progress pics.  I’m really happy about that!  I think I pretty much have my diet under control now.  Took a while but it’s been 3 weeks and no cheating!
Well, except for my husbands birthday and I did an extra cardio session before hand to take care of that.

I spent all weekend looking through my previous show pictures and comparing them with my pictures now.  Created a new chart of my weight and measurements.  I lost everything because my computer crashed just before the show and I lost everything!  So at this point at 7 weeks out I’m at the same point I was at 2 weeks out last time!  So that’s good right!?  But I do have to be leaner for the NANBF show because that’s what they’re looking for.  So the week after that show I doing an NGA show, the Jimmy Coby Classic in Longview, TX and I don’t have to be as lean so I should be in pretty good shape for that show.

I have all my hotel rooms booked.  My new shoes are on order.  I ordered 4" heels this time around.  Those 5" heels are just ridiculous!  My suit is being made and should be ready this weekend.  I’m registered for one show
and have to register for the other one this weekend.

My friend who won the overall at the NGA last year in Wichita is going to work with me on walking and posing.  She has excellent stage presence so I want to learn from the best.  We’re going to do a trade-off.  I’m going to
create a website for her and she’s going to teach me posing.  I eventually want to focus on fitness websites so this is a perfect start.  I already have a few under my belt and once my portfolio is built up I’m going on my
own and starting my own freelance business.

Everything’s going great.  Diet is clean, training is great.  I’m getting a little tired now but could be allergies, overtime, that time of the month, who knows!  I’ve decided to do another show as well as the NANBF in Tulsa on June 6th.  I’m going to do the Jimmy Coby Classic in Longview, TX on June 13th the weekend after.  I’ve never been to Texas and my husband can’t come so my suit designer is coming with me.  A girls weekend…yay!!!!

Last week was pretty stressful because I was working 10 hr days.  My company brought in lunch everyday and I survived!  They brought pizza one day and it was pretty disgusting looking so that didn’t really bother me.  Deli the next day and I had a salad with grilled chicken.  It took me about 10 minutes to pick off the 1 lb of cheese that was on it!  OMG no wonder people are so large here!  The next day they had bar-b-q.  All I had from that was grilled chicken and I brought my own salad.  My diet was pretty clean and I ended up losing over a pound.

This week is going even better than last week and mother nature showed up today.  Kind of snuck up on me.  I didn’t get any cravings thanks to Calm and Calmer.  I love that stuff!  I haven’t gained any weight either so that’s just awesome!  I was a bit cranky and tired yesterday but that’s about it.  Oh and tonight I hear my husband downstairs in the snack cupboard getting his evening snack.  I called down to him because he had shut everything off like he thought he was coming in the bedroom (my private space) to eat his junk!!!  I asked him where he thought he was going to eat that.  He kind of stutters like he got caught red handed and says ummmmm, down here???  I said are you out of your mind.  You were actually going to bring that crap up here!!  Yeah…just a little cranky…ya think!

I took my progress pics last night for Jay to critique.  He says my upper body is good if not a little ahead of schedule but the lower body needs alot of work.  My mother is half Italian so no further explanation.  I got those Italian legs!  Every little bit of crap I put in my mouth goes to my legs, not the hips.  So he changed my training a bit and this weekend he’ll switch up my diet.

I’m not sure what’s going on with me but I gained 1/2 lb since last week and I’ve had a super clean diet this past week plus my calories burned was 50 more per session and I also cut back on my coffee.  My face is breaking out in pimples too!  WTF!!!  So I said screw it, I bought a mini vanilla scone this morning from Starbucks.  It’s only 130 calorie cheat but I haven’t cheated this week at all.  Tomorrow’s my weigh in day so it’s time to shake things up a bit.

I’ve been working my ass off at the gym so there’s absolutely no reason for this weight gain.  I don’t want my calories cut again because what I have now is just sufficient enough so that I’m not cheating.  I’m losing inches, feeling tighter so maybe it’s just water.  Who knows.

My allergies have been really bothering me over the past week too.  I finally went and got some allergy medicine yesterday because it felt like I had a cold I was blowing my nose so much.  And it only happens at work.  The place is a mold infested, dust bowl.  I sit at my desk and sneeze and sniffle all day long!  So next week I’m going to the doctor to get some prescribed allergy medicine because the Claritin really isn’t working as well as I thought it would.

Today was such a screwed up day.  We were hit with our first snowstorm of the season…in March!  We’ve been wearing capris and sandals for the past 3 weeks!  This weather is retarded.  My work let us out an hour early yesterday because the weather was so bad.  Well I was prepared and brought my gym clothes with me just in case they let us leave early.  I stopped in the gym on the way home and got my workout in.  This morning I woke up and nothing had changed.  The weather radar looked exactly the same as it did when I went to bed last night!  Unbelievable, this storm was not moving anywhere.  The ice is so thick on everything.  Our small tree in the backyard is half the size and kind of split down the middle from the weight of the ice and all the trees are just hanging to the ground and the branches are snapping off in the wind.

I really didn’t want to travel to the Y when the base gym is only 2 minutes away.  So I called the base to see if they were even open and they said they weren’t opening until 12.  Well that totally sucked because I go at 10 on Saturdays and then I go grocery shopping after at the Commissary on base.  Then we found out the Commissary wasn’t opening until 1 either.  So we hung out at home until 11:30 and then ventured out in the storm like a bunch of fools to the gym.  We got there and we were the only ones there!  Awesome!  Three other people showed up and that was it.  I could only work out for an hour because my husband had to go home and get ready for work so I decided to go later to the Y after the storm passed.  Well I ended up getting stuck in a huge ass snow drift and luckily there were two guys right there with a big 4×4 and a tow rope and dragged me out.  We got home, fed everyone, got my husband off to work, started to get my stuff together to go to the gym and then I hear this really loud electrical humming noise and then an explosion…no power!  The main transformer in our subdivision exploded for all the ice.  I called my husband while he was driving to work and told him so he came back and went to pick up wood and some emergency supplies just in case we didn’t get our power back for a few days.  Power came back on about 2 hrs later so my step-son and I went to the gym to finish my workout.

So my day has been totally screwed up because I’m not eating at the times I was supposed to be eating and not eating the food I’m supposed to be eating either.  I hate being off my schedule!  I was doing cardio and I started to get really light headed so I jumped off the machine and had a sip of my energy drink to see if it would help.  I jumped back on and then I felt like I was going to pass out.  I lasted 33 minutes and had to get off the machine.  So I just sat down on the floor for a few minutes and ate a protein bar.  I didn’t have anything to eat before I went so I think I just needed some carbs.  I was still so hungry after so I ended up going out for dinner with my husband and had scrambled eggs, a 4 oz steak and….3 pancakes : (  …but damn that was good and I definitely won’t feel like cheating with any junk food tonight!