juliet_virgo’s BodyBlog

I met Vis Viva for a class of yoga this morning at 8am with Dani.  It was fun.  Danielle tried really hard and tried to remain focused, which is awesome for a 6 year old.  It was nice to share that with her.  We then decided to go tobagganing before I trained.  It was nice because it was just "our" time.  Climbing the hill 10 times was a chore.  Both our legs were exhausted after…no doubt I paid for doing legs yesterday!  Well worth it though!

Today was chest and cardio.  I felt really strong through the chest.  Great workout.  My cardio has been bumped up to 35 mins now and my 4th meal has now become veggies instead of carbs.  I didn’t loose any weight this week.  I’m good with that, hopefully keeping some size in my muscle.  Obviously my trainer has another thought by changing it up a bit!   It’s all good.  I have 14 weeks left.  Tomorrow I head off to Mexico, which I have mixed feelings on.  Great space and time alone, ready for some awesome workouts.  But, I will miss my little family!   I am looking at the positive though, time to rejuvinate after 3 hard weeks at work.  I need it, as well as some sleep. Peace. J~

I am so excited.  I met my designer today and picked colors, styles and costumes!  She was awesome at knowing which colors looked good on me.  I am going to be wearing a ruby red velvet one and a turquois metalic one!  They looked awesome against my skin and hair color.  Then I had her design one of my costumes.  Little boy shorts and halter top in Laker purple!  This will look so great with my heeled basketball boots!!  Totally funky!   We are even going to match the lace ups at the waistband.  I went with Vis viva and she picked her colors as well.  They were gorgeous!  Navy blue, totally shimmery and violet.  They looked fab against her coloring as well.  It sure helps to have an incredible designer!! That was probably the highlight of this whole prep competition stuff.  I signed up for a posing clinic in February and I am definately looking forward to that.  Peace. J~

I am mentally exhausted!!  I am sleeping absolutely horribly.  I woke up at 3am today and could not fall back to sleep.  I have way too much on my mind, but I am not sure what I am stressed out about?  My training and nutrition is going very well, so I don’t think that is what I am worried about, in fact I know it’s not.  Work has been extremely tough this week.  A class of 13 with probably 3-4 members who were sabateurs or at least blockers in the class.  Usually I don’t worry about that, but maybe after 3 weeks of instructing this course, it’s getting to me.  I tried some meditation this morning to clear my mind and allow myself to go back to sleep, but it wasn’t working.  My mind was flooding with thought.  We cut the class loose today and I am just happy to get rid of them.  Sounds like a bad instructor, but I was dying.  Amazing though, their check-out sentances did not at all reflect what I thought.  They got it!  It just took a whole week to do so.  In the mean time I feel spent.  Good news, going to Mexico on Sunday and work is footing the bill.  Also travelling with a friend/boss so that should be a riot. Plus he’s into fitness and knows I am training for this competition.  Our hotel has a gym, supposedly a good one, so I look forward to no child, some alone time and great training!  I worry a bit about eating though and water.  It seems everytime I go there I get sick.  I am packing oatmeal, tuna and rice cakes so that will help a bit.  For emergency I have bars and shakes, although my trainer doesn’t like them.  That is just for back up.  My biggest worry is loosing any muscle mass I have.  It’s so hard to maintain on my long frame.  Great news, I get to work on my tan! LOL!  I promise to go to a few sessions.  I am a sun lover……Peace. J~

Yipee!  Last day of training and now 2 days off!  I definately need the break. My body is tired and I can tell I really pushed it this week.  My wrist was alot better today because I wore my wrist guard.  It helped to support with the heavier weights. Nutrition is coming along nicely.  I am now down to the last 2 meals of the day with protein and veggies.  I am not starving by any means.  My tummy is feeling flatter and my clothes are definately fitting alot looser.  Overall I am feeling really good and confident.  Each night I wear my heels for about an hour just to get used to that particular shoe.  I believe I am doing alright.  I have even started my mental preparation, doing a little mental imagery.  Everything is coming together! Peace. J~

I am lifting a lot heavier then usual.  My trainer is trying to keep my lean muscle mass while dieting me down.  Today I started to feel my wrists getting sore.  I had this problem when Danielle was born, metacarpal syndrome.  It was from carrying her around on the same hand.  Its starting to come back.  Advil will help, but I hope not to end up doing physio again.  I don’t want to injure it and end up with surgery or anything like that.  I’ll just monitor it for now, but if it starts to get worse, I’ll have to lay off the heavier weights.  Last thing I can afford to do right now is be totally off lifting.  I had a good session of both cardio and weights today.  Just time wise I feel a crunch.  Between my teaching sessions I squeeze in my weights and scarf down a meal.  I’m going for quality lifts and making sure to feel the muscles working.  I just need to keep focused, even when I am tired.  Nutrition program is going really well! Thats it in a nutshell! Peace. J~

I always find it interesting how crappy I feel the next day after my cheat meal.  It is amazing when you eat so clean and then go back to an old habbit how your insides feel like crap, hmm, I guess literally!  How do people do that day after day to their bodies?  I’ve been eating clean for about 6 years now, in fact my daughter eats egg whites and oatmeal for every breakfast with me.  Her favorite meal!  As well she is so used to chicken and food without sauces on it.  I feel bad when I send her to someone’s house and she won’t eat the maccaroni and cheese.  (always remember to send her own snacks so she won’t starve)  I don’t eat as "clean" when I am not doing a special nutrition program, but I still eat very healthy.  How do those people feel day after day, putting that crap in?  It’s amazing how junk gives you a bad digestive track and headaches, not to mention a lethargic state. Perhaps when you are used to feeling like that, you don’t really notice or even know why you feel the way you do.  I guess in these next 14 weeks, the cheat meals are just a reminder to myself to continue to eat healthy, remembering what I am using for fuel for my body.   I do like having the cheat meal, just to satisfy the cravings.  Without them I really think I would binge out of control.  This way I satisfy my sweet tooth and get over it…..hmmm, can’t wait to have a blizzard next weekend! Peace. J~

What an awesome day!  I checked in with my nutritionist and got some pretty amazing results this week.  I am down 3 % bodyfat in the last 2 weeks.  I am sitting at 13 1/2 % from 17 1/2%.  I am so pleased with this.  As a result, I don’t have to increase my cardio!  I am cutting another meal of complex carbs at night.  No big deal, just get to eat more veggies then!  I am amazed how quickly my body is responding.  Jason told me because of dieting last year that my body would remember and react accordingly, only quicker. I am so glad to stick to 30 min of cardio for now.  Juggling work, family and University (again) will be alot tougher when it starts to increase.  Jan. 27 I am off to Mexico on a course and I am a little worried about my nutrition plans.  Each time I have gone down I have had stomach issues.  Jason isn’t too worried, in fact he said I can take some shakes and bars down but only 1 of either of them per day.  I also have access to the gym at the hotel so training isn’t an issue.  I probably will have my cheat meal on the way back as it is a full day of flying. (2 stop overs yuck!)  Just need to be in the right mindset. No need to worry about that right now.  Just one day at a time.  Anyways, this was a great day and I am so pleased overall! Peace. J~

Today I got up early to train at the gym at work.  I went in with a way better mindset because I already knew what to expect.  I completed my leg routine and then jumped on the treadmill.  I like it, there are only 2 other people in the gym and I can do whatever excercises I really want to do with no interference.  The cardio area was empty, so that was great.  By 6:25 I was done and raced over to the other building to finish off legs.  Sounds weird, but they took out equipment to make room for 4 cages.  Anyways, I was totally fine with finishing off leg extensions before I hit the shower.  My legs are tired.  I take the stairs at work and going up 3 or 4 flights is a lot after a leg workout!  In fact, I have run up and down them 5 times today already!  I am almost tempted to take the elavator! LOL!  I’m done instructing for the day.  Just waiting for my training partner to come and join me for our practice session.  That will be fun.  My shoes came in today so I am excited to see how they look.  Next friday I am ordering my suits!  How fun! Pinching fat tomorrow, I hope I dropped 2% these last 2 weeks.  It has been a great start….looking forward to the next few weeks.  I love the transformation. Peace. J~

Just finishing 2 days off of training.  My fellow competitor just emailed me to let me know that there is only 100 days till our contest!!  I like the sounds of 15 weeks better!  Things are going well though.  I can totally feel my body getting leaner each and every day.  It’s weird the second time around contest dieting.  My body is responding much quicker.  I am so glad I did it last year.  Mentally I feel like I have an edge.  I definately needed the 2 day break from lifting.  I could really feel my shoulders the other night while I was sleeping.  They were pretty sore, well worked.  Tomorrow is back to legs.  I’m ready! My diet is awesome, and really no big cravings.  Tomorrow I am going to practice my routine in the gym at work.  I am working on the mental prep too! Peace. J~

Just a quick note.  I had an awesome cardio session this morning and then did shoulders in the noon hour.  I felt pretty strong and definately can feel that my chest and back are still sore from the other 2 days!  It is definately time for days off for me from training.  Glad tomorrow is one of them!  I get to sleep in an extra 45 mins and that is huge!  My body needs the rest.  Eating is going really well, this second week seemed to fly by.  Its weird having wed and thur off instead of the weekend, but this is definately working out better for my home life. Tonight…..skating at the park with Dani! Peace. J~