Day 7

So its Sunday night, the 26th, and I just got home from Alyx's house with a bunch of super great new girlfriends.

I'll be the first person to tell you that I've never really had a lot of girls as friends, in high-school I had a lot of "friends" but very few that I considered true friends. And lately it seems like I've been blessed with an abundance of women, from all walks of life and age ranges, who are supportive of not only me but others around us. In any way shape or form that someone needs support they are there willing to lend a hand and help out.

Tonight was a nice little ego boost for me. Alyx used me as an example of where these other ladies could get to. She had me pull up this very blog and show them my original "Before and After" photos... You have no idea (or maybe you do) how nice it is to have people compliment the work that you've accomplished... Made all those calories that I've counted up, the ridiculous number of reps of squats/lunges/sit-ups/pull-ups/BURPEES all worth it. Because there are days that I have a hard time seeing the difference in my body.

I live with this body, I see it each and everyday. NAKED. And so those little changes, a slight rounding of the rump, a little less pooch to the belly - they tend to go unnoticed.

I was starting to feel nervous about this damn competition. Here its been since Wednesday since I made it to the gym (and even Wednesdays workout was half-assed) but today I went for a run with Alyx and Charlotte on the beach trail and felt a bit better about myself. Then came the dreaded "Check in Photo". The ones that we are doing each Sunday. Me in a bikini... Yeah nerve racking to say the least.

Here we go, here are today's photos:

And already I'm actually seeing a difference. So it gives me hope that I can do this competition and not be the "fat chick" on stage in my bikini. Like I've said before, this is out of my comfort zone, but I needed something new to shoot for. A new goal to keep me motivated when I go to the gym. I get bored otherwise. Not saying it has to be a BIG goal, but just something at the end of a certain time period so that I keep motivated and stay focused. In reality as I'm sitting here writing this I know to a certain extent that this is ridiculous. That living on roughly 1,100 calories a day and doing the things that I'm doing physically is not for most people (Heck I wouldn't do this on a regular basis) but I also know that this is something that I really want to do for me.

I'm 26, have an almost 4 year old, and for the first time ever in my life I feel happy (for the most part) with my body. I'm proud of the fact that I'm an 4/6 pants, and that I can wear a skimpy as hell bikini. I worked for this!!! So do me a favor - if your judging me, for whatever reason, take a moment to look at yourself. What are you doing for you? What are you doing because you want to and because it makes you happy? Then judge me.

As for me, well I'm going to get back to eating my 3rd cucumber for the day ;)

Onto this weeks plan. The meal plan is roughly the same, technically I get up to an extra 60 calories in my diet, YAY!

Pre Gym - Fruit (apple) & tea (100)

Post Gym - Protein (110) & veggies(100) = (210)

Mid Snack - Protein (110) & Veggie (100) = (210)

Lunch - Protein (110)

Mid Snack - Veggie (100)

Dinner - Veggies x 2 (200) & Protein (110) = (310)

Post Snack - Protein (110)

Workout Schedule:

Monday:

6 mile run

3 x 5 minute planks

500 any abs of my choice

Tuesday:

1 hour Stair-climber

30 minute bike (killer)

500 abs of my choice

Wednesday:

50 Pull-ups

200 Push-ups

500 squats (slow and controlled)

1000 abs of choice (yes 2x's as many as Monday or Tuesday, or hell Monday and Tuesday combined)

30 minute - 4 mile run

Thursday:

1.5 hours of cardio broken down into -

-30 Run

-30 Elliptical

-30 Stairs

Friday:

200 Squats w/bar

200 Lunges

5x10 Curls w/bar

5x10 Military press

5x10 single leg dead w/bar

45 min Cardio, elliptical OR stairs

Saturday:

1 hour yoga

45mins - 1 hour outdoor run

So, obviously a lot more cardio this next week, and a bit less weights. Muscle's seem to be building just fine, so we're focusing on getting rid of a few "trouble spots" and then will reassess this next Sunday and see where else we need to tweak.

I'm exhausted and need to go to bed before I fall asleep at this darn computer. Blessings and have a wonderful week.

First Set-back

Two days into my training and I've hit my first set back. Yesterday, Tuesday (my second day), I was feeling like a CHAMP!

I benched my personal best in ^ bench press maxing out at 70lbs, considering I usually stick with just the weight bar without adding any weights, I was stoked! So I kept pushing myself on everything else for the day.

I think I strained my low back when I did my bent row w/bar. I've done them before but never with the amount of weight that I did, 65lbs. It didn't even hurt at the time. I was noticeably sore when I got done with my whole workout, but it was a whole body soreness so I just figured it was because I killed it and was at the point of muscle exhaustion.

I didn't really start to feel any pain until I had to sit in my car for an hour driving down and back to the Naval Hospital for an appointment. When I went to get out, my low back practically screamed at me.

I don't think I really damaged anything, but things are just tight and sore as hell. And then today I was supposed to do squats, plyo lunges, and single leg dead-lifts. I did a shorter version of the workout I was supposed to do, I might have managed to finish the whole circuit but I was worried about doing more damage and not being able to continue with training at all.

So I'm just frustrated with myself. I'm taking it easy today, using some heat pads, staying flat when I have the chance and relaxing in general...

Hopefully by babying it, and taking it a bit easier for the next day or two I should be back to 100% with the knowledge that I shouldn't try to push myself too hard too fast. I'm just so excited to do this competition and I want to get THERE. To the point where I can look at my body and see the changes that I've made. I feel like I have a really far way to go to get ready to be on stage.

This whole experience is putting me outside of my comfort zone, pushing my limits and testing my inner strength. I'm looking forward to it, and can't wait until I get the chance to walk across that stage.

No matter where I place in that competition, first or dead last, I'm looking forward to being able to say that "I did it!"

Day 1 of 8 weeks of Hell.

So this past Saturday, February 18th, was officially 8 weeks out from my first Bikini competition. Today, Monday Feb 20th, I started my first official day of Workout/Diet plan aka: Hell.

Alyx and I are working this out one week at a time, so that we can tweak things where needed. Each week we plan on doing photos on Sunday, to see where I started/progress that is made along the way. So here is a photo take from Sunday 2/19/12

And my measurements are:

Waist:28"

Hips: 36.5"

Thighs:23.5"

Arms:11.25"

Neck:13"

This weeks meal/nutrition plan is this, and its supposed to equal up to roughly 1,100 calories:

Pre Gym - 1 apple, tea (100)

Breakfast - 2 eggs or protein powder or tuna or chicken, 1 green veggie (300)

Snack - tuna or chicken or nuts (150)

Lunch - 2 servings of veggies, 1 serving of protein (200)

Snack - tuna or chicken or nuts (150)

Dinner - 2 servings of veggies, 1 serving of protein (200)

+1 protein shake elsewhere if dying.

( the ^ symbol will be used to identify pyramid workouts, starting low weight high reps moving to high weight low reps, and then moving back down to low weight high reps trying to repeat same number of reps both directions)

And my workouts for this week are:

Monday

Bi's - Cable curls ^, dropset bar curls ^, hammer curls ^

Tri's - bench dips ^, skull crushers 3sets x 15reps, 3sets x 10reps, dumbell kickbacks ^

250 sit-ups, 250 crunches

40-60 min cardio medium intensity

Tuesday

Bench press ^, Incline Press ^, Dumbell flys 3sets x 15 reps (10-15lbs)

Bent rows w/bar ^, Renegade Rows ^, Pullups 3 sets x fail

45 mins stairs

Wednesday

250 squats with weight bar

250 plyo lunges

150 each side, single leg deads with 5 lb dumbell

30 min cardio elliptical

Thursday

3 x 6 min planks (2 min front, 2 min each side = 6 mins)

250 sit-ups

250 crunches

250 oblique twists (mad russians)

40 min run as far as possible

Friday

Total body workout, my choice (have been informed that if I do anything less than 1.5 hours I'll be called lazy and fat)

Saturday

1 1/2 hour cardio

Sunday

REST

My plan is to update my blog as often as possible during the next 8 weeks. I don't promise an everyday update - maybe just once a week as we get new photos, workout plans, and diet re-vamps.

Today actually went really well. Came in a little under calories - trying to figure out exactly what I can/can't have. Thankfully for the most part I do eat fairly cleanly so this isn't killing me yet. The workout kicked my butt, and I'm already feeling it tonight in my upper-traps, and triceps. I do need to get to bed though, so I have energy for the rest of this week.

Pura Vida