Crossing into Uncharted Territory

Well, here I am about 7 1/2 weeks out from stage time and I'm feeling pretty good. My meals are still holding me over pretty well, I have escaped bingeing and have avoided most defeating thoughts and NEVER missed a workout. With my full personal training schedule, it has been a matter of perfectly planning my weeks. Morning cardio has been long and grueling but I am definitely seeing my legs thin out and lose a little bulk from the running so that's been a motivating factor. As of about a week ago, my plan to enter the Shredder as a bikini competitor was tweaked a little. After listening to the advice of multiple mentors who are active in the body building industry, I decided to cross over into Figure in the same show. This makes my preparation a little tricky as I need to be curvy and hard all at the same time but it will definitely give me an idea as to what area I'd like to further pursue even though I already have a feeling I know where I fit in. Basically, this has changed everything for the next 2 months. Instead of stopping right about here with the weight loss, I will attempt to get my body fat into the 8% range (it's a little high for figure but a little low for bikini). I have a feeling this is going to take every bit of discipline I have for the next 7 weeks as once you get your body fat this low, it tends to not want to let go of it. Anything under 12% is getting below the fat level needed to maintain survival so bodies tend to resist. I am also back to lifting weights again and I love it! I am lifting HEAVY on the upper body (shoulders and upper back are the calling card of figure girls) and I'm really enjoying it as it is a serious challenge. I'm embarassed to admit that I am extremely weak in the upper back and picturing myself doing pullups is almost comical but this is what I am set out to do for the remainder of my prep.

I will be posting up in the free weights section of the gym with all the boys lifting and grunting like all the rest of them :)



Because of this leg of my journey that I have set forth on, I have thought a lot about how we tend to work on or in areas that we are good at and tend to avoid those that we are weaker in. I can't do pull ups and I also can't tell you the last time I tried. How many of us are just running on a treadmill because that's easy enough and completely neglecting resistance training?? Weights are our friend. The gym is not a place to look like a Barbie and stand around socializing so why don't we mix it up a bit and risk looking like a fool attempting an exercise we aren't accustomed to? My body has 100% transformed from the time when I would just run around the block for 20 minutes and call it a day. Once I learned first-hand the value of weight training, I'll never go back. On top of the great visual changes you see with added muscle, extra food ain't half bad either (every pound of muscle added burns another 250 calories daily at rest).

Bottom line on my thoughts for the day are this, don't get too comfortable with where you are at now. Don't settle for average. This isn't just about your body but really about everything in life. You have no idea of what you're capable of if you don't go after it. That applies to pull ups as well as becoming the person you want to be. Sometimes, coming out of a dark time in your life can feel just as difficult and humiliating as watching me attempt to lift my pile of bones into the air :)



"There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going"

More than vanity

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body" Philippians 1:20

I would be lying if I said that I didn't, at times, feel a little ashamed over my passion for fitness and good nutrition. Sometimes it's my own doing and sometimes it's brought on by the judgements of others but, either way, it leaves me feeling icky inside. When I start to think about my real motivations for living the life I do, I quickly realize that what I am feeling ashamed about is just a tiny part of why I am living my life this way. It is brought on by our culture's view of figure competitors or anyone who has strict physical and nutritional discipline. "You're vain", "You're obsessed" are words that I hear most often and it certainly makes me feel better when I hear the quote, "Obsessed is a term lazy people use to describe the dedicated". Of course there is a balance to everything in life but I definitely think that, since I made the decision to commit myself to a clean diet and strict exercise regimen, my life (not just physically but also spiritually) has only improved.

Every day that I wake for my early morning workouts, it is my time alone. I clear my head and take time to listen to God's word and his wishes for me. This is time time of day that I can shut out the noise of the world and spend time focusing on what it is I'm really doing here. It's not about how long I run or how many stairs I climb. It's about ridding my body and mind of all the excess junk the world has to offer and honoring the gift that I have been given. My health, my family, my opportunities are all gifts from God and it's what I do with those gifts that honor or dishonor him.

I have never been clinically overweight but I have had struggles in my past with weight and nutritional issues as well as watched loved ones battle a lifetime with their obesity and I can certainly relate on a small level to those of us who really do struggle with health and self-esteem issues on a daily basis. It's extremely difficult to feel defeated and helpless about weight and health problems. It's not easy to wake up in the morning and already be exhausted and feel like your day is spent going through the motions. How would you like to wake up with vigor and meaning? How would you like to spend your day feeling powerful and useful? This is how I have felt every single day since the day I decided to commit to the health of my body and mind.

I invite each of you to really think about your current health situation. Are you filling your body with poison or are you honoring it with the fruits of God? There is no better time than now. I promise that there is absolutely no risk involved in cleaning up your life. What have you got to lose but stress, weight and shame?

Here's to hoping that some of you make the choice to live a clean life inside and out. Let's be kind and encourage one another instead of judging, afterall, you'd have to walk a mile in their shoes... and that person just might need that mile :)

If you fail to plan... you know the rest

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. That is one of my favorite quotes and, in my current lifestyle, it is absolutely 100% true. I'm dieting down, so I'm obviously pretty hungry. I am not sure if I have a deeper relationship with food than the average person but I do know that if I don't eat exactly when I want to, it is not pretty. I can't concentrate, I get irritable and I will lash out at anyone who stands in the way of me and my meal! That being said, when I haven't properly planned my day and mealtime comes without a previously prepared meal, I will eat whatever I can find. This usually results in a binge. Realizing this cycle and putting an end to it has been my #1 priority through the past few weeks prepping for my show.

My most difficult test to date was a 5-day work related trip to Dallas a few weeks ago(week 1 of my diet). This is an annual out-of-town trip for my job so I had previous years experience with the constant fast food and client dinners that inevitably lead to weight gain. This time around, however, I wasn't only trying to avoid the weight gain but to kick off my weight loss so I knew it was going to take immense planning to stick to my nutrition plan.

At the suggestion of my nutritionist, I prepared meals and packed them into a cooler that I included with my luggage. As you could've guessed, this was searched by the FAA coming and going as I found their friendly little note tucked inside my suitcase. I wonder if they got a good laugh at my tupperware filled with chicken and veggies. This, for the most part, was my saving grace. When the food I packed had run out, I opted for the local grocery and for Pei Wei where I got steamed chicken and steamed veggies. I was the most high-maintenance employee that my boss probably ever had but it was worth it; at my 3 week appointment, I had dropped 4% body fat.

It doesn't matter how much of a pain it is to cook and pack all those homemade meals, when you see the scale go down, it is so worth it. I have learned to ignore all the crazy stares I get when I pull out my little packaged meals at work or in public- afterall, if we are measuring the harshness of our dietary habits to the general public, we are waaaaay off as the average diet is not a level of normalcy.

Keep up the good work everyone! Remember that the key to seeing changes is consistency, consistency, consistency. Real, lasting change happens slowly over time. It is those who want immediate results who will never maintain their physique.