30 Days Out

I'm SOOOO excited with my progress as of today. I finally saw a jump on the scale AND my pics rocked...now to just get a tan on these muscles! LOL. I'm down to 126.2 today. And I can def tell I'm leaning out. Coach has me staying where I am with food and cardio one more week...then weekly changes to get me ready for May 3rd! It'll be here before I know it. 

6 Weeks Out

Well, I'm certainly not where I think I should be, but according to THE coach, I'm right on track. I know the last 2-3 weeks will bring the biggest change...so for now I keep my eye on the prize...literally! LOL

7 Weeks Out

Here we are...7 weeks out! I'm still holding at 10.6 pounds lost, but Ashley changed my plan yesterday so we should start seeing some more progress soon!

I went down to Florida to visit the hubs last weekend. While I was there, I drove down to Pembroke Pines to meet with Ellen, owner of Cystallini Bikini. She's AWESOME! So sweet and really knows suits. We decided on a blue suit, actual color to be revealed later. This is the suit I picked. I'm in love and can't WAIT to get it. I also went with a 1/2 cover butterfly bottom. That's the least amount of coverage on the bootay, but let's be honest...my butt is my best "ass"et. =P I just hope it comes in well.

Disregard the pen mark on the suit..that obvi won't be there. 

So while I was in Florida, we went to this restaurant called "Hogsnappers". It looks like a dive from the street, but quite possibly has the best food you'll ever eat. And it's not cheap! But worth every penny and minute spent waiting for a table. I had "Crab crusted snapper with asparagus and lobster and crab mashed potatoes". Um, best thing I've ever eaten. My mouth is literally watering thinking about it. And the best part is, thanks to flexible dieting and IIFYM I was able to enjoy this while in prep =) Mmmm...food porn...

My first posing practice will be Sunday....stay tuned....

8.5 Weeks Out

I haven't updated in a while. I honestly don't have much to tell. I'm still holding steady at about 10 pounds lost, which in 5 weeks is good. I leave for Florida on Thursday to see the hubs, but plan to stay right on track. Ashley is going to tweak my macros a little too, to keep the progress rolling. I also get to go meet THE Ellen of Crystallini Bikinis on Friday to pick out my competition suit. SUPER excited about that...so stay tuned for pics! 

I also scored these sweet little tanks (?) online for $7.99. I found them at www.lucky21.com (click here for link) and literally received them in two days! They're actually long in the back so I can wear day to day with leggings, jeans, or shorts, but they 2nd as awesome workout shirts if you tuck the tail in, baby duck...(anyone get the Hunger Games reference there?). Until Friday then, friends...

Ten Weeks Out

Progress pic time! I apologize for the thong...but I need to be able to see booty progress, and I don't have anything that doesn't cover up the boo-tay...other than thongs...

Coach said she was planning to tell me areas to work on and improve this week, but everything has improved already. =) She even said my glutes/hamstrings are coming in nicely already, and that usually doesn't happen until the last week or two. My booty will prob be my biggest problem area...it's so phat! Hahahahaha...I kid, I kid. So yeah, I just keep trucking...and watch the improvements =)

The Set Back

So it's bound to happen...you see a big jump in the scale and you think "Oh, I can have one piece of candy today and make it fit my macros" and then you eat that one, delicious, chocolate truffle, and spiral OUT OF CONTROL. So Wednesday afternoon, and two truffles and two HUGE spoons of Dark Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter later, I thought I would barf! Naturally, the scale jumped up 3 lbs...but still making GREAT progress. It didn't set me back too much, but at least I've now learned from that experience. Moving on!

So that was Wednesday...even though I pigged out, I still felt pretty good Thursday. So after an awesome leg workout, I snapped this little shameless selfie. I haven't worked on posing at all, but I'm trying to incorporate it as much as I can before I learn it...so if it looks terrible, it should!

Here was my leg workout...it really can be modified slightly and done at home!

15 minutes walking lunges on treadmill. 2 minutes on, 1 minute off

6 sets of 12 squats

Circuit:

standing calf raises

16 plyo box squats (set up a step, starting straddle the step, then hop onto box, then hop off to sides and squat until booty touches the step, jump back onto step, so forth and so on)

16 jump lunges on step

20 kettlebell swings (you can use a dumbbell)

16 box jumps

Repeat 3 times 

My "Friends With Benefits" Dylan moment

Get your mind out of the gutter...my title simply implies how bad I am at simple math. In the movie "Friends With Benefits", Justin Timberlake's character is terrible at math. At one point in the movie he's trying to figure out what time his dad's flight will land in New York and he says "so I should pick him up at, 32?" LOL! Kevin picks on me every time I have to add something and says "32?" I'm really not that bad at math, but when I have to add things in my head quickly, I usually do it wrong. ANYWAY, the point of this story is simply this: I thought I was on a 16 week prep. Nope, I'm on a 14 week prep. SO, I'm 11.5 weeks out. YIKES! And no thanks to one of my teammates (who had a nightmare that she forgot to do posing practice) I had a similar dream last night, AND I lost my shoes in my dream...so I'm sure those will only get worse as it gets closer. 

Last night's flex bowl...too good not to share:

65g ON chocolate peanut butter casein (mixed with water to make a "pudding")

10g Chex muddy buddies

7g dark chocolate chips

1 BioLayne low carb brownie (click here for recipe)

1 scoop Walden Farms chocolate dip (best thing EVER!) Kroger sells it =)

ANNNND, it fit my macros! #iifym

14 Weeks Out

Two down, 14 to GO! Still doing really well in my prep. Haven't messed up yet...and we even ate out at Chili's last night. I got a house salad with no croutons and vinegar for dressing, and a cup of chicken enchilada soup. Fir my macros perfectly. Thank goodness for Calorie King and MyFitnessPal =) So I finally took some progress pics. The angles are a little different from the first pics (that's what happens when your hubby is almost a foot taller than you), but you can still tell a pretty big difference...especially for two weeks!

12 Days Into Prep!

Today is day 12 of prep. I weighed in with Ashley again today. I'm already down a total of 6.3 lbs!! =) It's amazing what hitting those macros daily will do! I know a lot was water wight still, but I'm moving along well. Ashley said that because I have so much muscle already, and I don't and never have over done it on cardio, that I'll (fingers crossed) have an easy prep. So I get to keep my carbs at 125.8g daily for now...WOOT! 

A fellow team mate and competitor told me to check out girls legging to work out in....never thought about it, but I scored these sweet babies last Friday for $28.00!! The women's were $50! These are a youth girls medium, so if you need bigger or smaller, you can def fit them! Apparently youth girls are bigger than we were at that age...lol. Regardless, I LOVE them! They're so fun!

I have a lot of catching up:

Some food fun! Egg white omelets. Suddenly obsessed and eating them daily. I've ranged from bacon and cheese to fajita mix veggies, and this morning was .25oz jalapenos and .25 oz banana peppers with 1 oz cheese in 3 egg whites. That's my new favorite! Mmmmmm...

I ALSO got my Rise Above leggings in the mail on Monday (do you see a fitness apparel trend here?). Rise Above Fitness is a gym in Huntington Beach, CA and I follow one of their trainers on IG. She's always wearing these leggings and I loved the look of them, but they were $40. Well, they FINALY went on sale for $25 (plus $5 shipping) so I scooped up a pair. I bought an XS cause that's all they had left, but they fit great! LOVE them! If you have IG, check out @riseabovefitness and @glutezz

Snow-pocalypse 2014

So much for a daily blog update. The snow made me lazy! SO glad to finally be back to work and back to reality. I weighed in with Ashley yesterday...4 days in to prep...and down 3 lbs already! WOOT! We will be going to a Superbowl party Sunday, but luckily it's with close friends, so they won't mind me making kale chips in their oven...lol. I'm using Sunday as my high carb day too, so I can have a treat at least! 

Last night I made the most AMAZING mug cake, and it fit my macros perfectly. 

One scoop (34g) chocolate peanut butter casein 

1 tbsp coconut flour

1 tbsp baking cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp egg whites

2 oz unsweetened almond milk

30g Quest cravings peanut butter cup

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, put half the batter in a sprayed mug, crumble half the Quest pb cup, top with rest of batter and heat in microwave for 1 minute. Top with rest of pb cup. I topped mine with 4 tbsp (10g) of fat free redi whip as well! SO GOOD! 

Day 2

Today was uneventful. I felt a little low on energy when I got home from the gym, but I had a pretty solid workout. Today was shoulder day...I love shoulders...especially when the right one doesn't hurt. Today's workout was:

3 x 12 lat raises (10,12, 15 lbs)

3 x 12 front raises (10,12, 15 lbs)

3 x 12 rear delt raises (10, 12, 15 lbs)

3 x 12 cable upright row (70, 70, 70)

4 x 12 shoulder press (25, 25, 25, 30)

Cable lat raises to exhaustion

2 sets 25 incline push ups

16 minutes HIIT on the stair climber

I'm definitely happy right now that Ashley has my cardio lower. If I had to up it right now I'd burn out before 16 weeks is done. A little annoyed that we're about to get snow. Wednesday was going to be an off day anyway, but that's because I was training a client. Now I'm having to move that to another day and I'm sure I won't be able to get to the gym on Wednesday. Burpees it is! Booooo. Food was on point...and I'm already down 1.6 lbs from yesterday...just goes to show what shit food will do to you! And since I have no fun fitness pics today...here you go! Utley LOVES jell-o!

Prep Day 1

As promised, here is one of many days of prep logged. 

Last night we went out to mellow Mushroom for my "food funeral". I crushed pizza, pretzels, and drank some, heavy craft beer. It was delicious. 

So today was a breeze. Ashley only cut me 10g of carbs per day, and my fat went up...more peanut butter, you say?!?! OKAY! Weekends are usually pretty easy, minus the extra temptations. But I wake up a little later, so there's less time to be hungry. I had an AWESOME leg workout, most likely thanks to the extra carbs from the pizza last night. I PR'd on leg press with 2 x 8- 360 lbs. 

My ladies do it for me, so here I'm following the rules too. Here are "Day 1 of Prep" pics:

I will take some pics after 1 week, but then they won't come as often, unless I have a huge week....lol. 

1 down, 96 to go!

5 Days Pre-Competiton Prep

Today I have 5 more days to enjoy food...after that, it's hard core competition prep for 16 weeks. What does that mean? That means Reese cups before 9:00 AM, that's what! LOL. And I enjoyed every bite. My hubby...my sweet, sweet, supportive, hubby asked where I want to go eat Saturday for my "last supper". I canNOT decide! I don't want sushi, cause I know I can make Sashimi fit during prep. I had a burger and a steak this past weekend...I feel like I've had all the good cheat food! Decisions, decisions....I know it'll hit me Friday night, but until then, I'm stumped.

I DID get my competition shoes yesterday. I tried them on when I got home, and can I just tell you how hot they are?!?! I mean, I'm not super lean or anything, but they made my legs look good!! AND, they're nice and squishy and more comfy than I anticipated! Time to practice walking in them. Can't wait to step on that stage in 4 months :-o

The Pop Tart Pandemic

Yesterday I caved. I had a box of reduced fat pop tarts at the office from my last high carb day, which fell on a weekday. Yesterday they got the best of me (sneaky little bastards!). I ate TWO packs! They were delicious, but that's over my carb allowance for the entire day right there. So I went to the gym and MURDERED shoulders. So I can't be too mad...I'm 11 days out from the 1st official day of competition prep, so I need to enjoy it while I can. Damn you pop tarts! Here's a little post workout pump. Oh, and Go Pirates!

A New First

This is my new venture. I'm not much of a writer, and have a hard time putting my thoughts into interesting and coherent words. But I'm thinking I'll give this a go. Now that I'm training clients, I feel that if they had the opportunity to get to know me, and my daily struggles, it might make their fitness journey the slightest bit easier. With this, I've also made the decision to enter my first bodybuilding competition, in the bikini division. I'm hoping this blog will not only allow me to share my preparation with clients, friends, and family; but also to document the process, so that I can look back on it and see where I struggled and where I can improve. Stay tuned.... https://www.bodybuildingtickets.com/OCBAtlanticSuperShow