shelly826’s BodyBlog

Well……it’s been 3 days since my show and wow, I didn’t realize how difficult it’d be getting back to a non-comp. diet.  Josh took me to panera bread for lunch on sunday afternoon, I had my favorite Chicken tomesto on rye…..it was GREAT.  I haven’t had bread since December! I didn’t feel full or overly stuffed either, I mean, it was an entire sandwich!  We went house hunting later that afternoon…..felt fine.  Relaxed at the house, had grilled chicken for dinner and I had 3 sips of a bottle of wine I was given as a gift for Christmas……I was quite buzzed on just a few sips of wine!  Anyway, I was exhausted and went to bed at 7:30pm…..woke up at 2:30 am sicker than a dog….and yeah, the alarm was going to sound at 3:20am for the gym.  I don’t know what it was…..but it wasn’t good.  I ended up feeling ok by 3:30, had my pre workout protein shake and hit the gym for my first post comp back/cardio workout.  I felt so much better once I got there.  It’s crazy how added in food that you haven’t eaten in forever can have that sort of affect so soon.

 Anyway, I’m still on my precontest diet and calories….just can’t add anymore food for some reason…mentally I don’t want to eat any more calories, but I also know I need to.  I’ve committed to sticking to my pre contest diet plan until we leave for Florida (on Friday) and when we get back, that’s when I’m going to start my off season plan, increase cals. slowly and start lifting heavy again.  It’s time to gain some size!!!!!!!!!!

Well the show is over and I must admit, I feel pretty damn good.  I placed 1st in my class (figure short) and took the overall figure trophy.  I was not expecting that at all, I was so excited and the feeling I felt on stage winning overall made every second of cardio worth it! 

 I was so glad that I chose to do one more show after the Cincinnati, I surely needed the experience to get me ready for next season.  I’m not glad to be done with this season…the dieting wasn’t crazy hard, but I think mentally and physically, I was wearing down a bit.  I now need to take time to relax….EAT….and vacation.  We leave this Friday for Florida!!!!   I know vacation is supposed to be relaxing and all, which it will be, but Josh and I still stick to eating clean (with a few margarita nights thrown in) and we hit the gym with our usual routine, as always.  The main thing is, our asses won’t be climbing out of bed at 3:20am like usual, we’ll actually sleep in a bit and hit our workouts around 6am then head to the beach.  Yay…..just 4 work days this week and we’re outta here!

Today’s the day!  It’s just past 5am on the morning of my competiton.  I’m ready to go!  I got my tan sprayed on last night, getting ready to do my make up, sipping on coffee and thinking about maybe a rice cake or two before I hit the road to Dayton.  I feel great…I took off work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so I could relax, focus on my diet these last few days and just get mentally ready.  This is my second show ever….and my last show of the season.  My first show, I competed in 2 different classes, Novice and Open and we had one piece and two piece rounds, so I was exhausted being on stage so much.   Today’s show, it’s an INBF show so they only do a two piece round.  Prejudging is at 11, night show at 6.  After 5 months of dieting…..I’d say I’m ready for a vacation.  With that said, my husband and I head out for Ft Myers Beach, Fl next Friday…we can’t wait to get away……..and he can’t wait for me to be able to go out to dinner!  I’m already craving our favorite seafood restaurants….and all the fresh fish!  Ok, enough, I need to get going………….

It’s almost peak week…………ok so it’s the end the week, right before things get tricky and I feel pretty good.  Tuesdays sprint was a little off, legs tired, but I got through 15min of hard running followed by 15 min of recumbent bike.  Yesterday was a much needed day off from training.  It’s starting…….my show is getting closer and I’m not sleeping well.  This happened last time.  I went to bed last night at 9, got up at 1 and couldn’t sleep, kept thinking about training, diet and the show.  I had a great shoulder workout this morning, great sprints too….felt pretty good.  Now I just need to keep that up the rest of the week.  Mother’s day is this weekend and peak week starts Sunday so we’re celebrating Saturday afternoon.  Usually I take mom out to a nice place for lunch and we spend the day together.  Well, this year, I’m taking her to Panera where she can get whatever she wants and we’ll sit outside on the patio and I’ll get to have my 5oz of chicken with asparagus…….by now, she’s used to it so it’ll have to suffice.  I’m counting down the days to the show and to our vacation.  Josh and I can’t wait to get out of Cincy and head down to Ft Myers, lay on the beach, eat a ton of fresh seafood and I finally get to enjoy a nice, cold margarita….it’s been over 5 months since I’ve had a drink and I can’t wait. 

I can’t believe I only have 2 more weeks to go, thats insance.  For my first show in April, I used a carb meal every 5th day as a refeed.  This stopped about 10 days out from competiton day.  I started this during comp. prep and used it as my ‘last meal’ of the day on carb day it consisted of the following:  1 cup oats, 7oz plain sweet potato and 4 rice cakes.  I was soooo bloated immediately after and the entire next day, it was so uncomfortable that after 4 or 5 times of this carb meal, we decided to spead the carbs out in my first 3 meals of the day so I wouldn’t be so full and uncomfortable.  This worked a lot better and having the high carb meal made my workouts and sprints the next few days so much better, I felt stronger and looked more full.  Anyway, after that show, I had 5 weeks until my May 17 INBF show.  We decided to just pick up my diet where I left off (well, that is after one cheat day the day after).  After 10 days into it, I had lost more weight and looked thin and stringy, with LOW energy.  So we put the carb meal back in for every 5th day, which meant I’d have a refeed just 2 more times before my next show.  Monday April 28 was my last high carb refeed, my workouts last week were awesome and I looked good, still pretty thin but better.  Anyway, here I am just 2 weeks out and just one more week of ‘real workouts’ before peak week begins next Sunday.  It’s getting down to the wire, and knowing peak week means a weird diet of manipulating my carbs, fiber, water and potassium, some days I’ll be eating a lot less, some I’ll be eating more carbs.  So my mindset says "get in your last week of really good workouts, be strong"  also, knowing I’m not going to workout for a few days before the show, mentally puts me into a depression. I know it’s part of the plan and I know that’s what’s going to make me ready, but it just kills me.  So these last few weeks, I’m wanting to increase my cardio every day maybe by 5-10 minutes, to make up for what I’m going to miss out on…make sense?  Yeah, that’s my since of thinking for ya!  I know more is’t better and I don’t need to lose any more weight or muscle, so this week I’m going to focus on doing exactly what I’m supposed to and no more!!!