Today was a little rough. Actually it started last night.

The kids received a basket full of name brand chocolate from my mom for Valentine’s Day. I think I wouldn’t have been tempted so much if it wasn’t really good chocolate. Like we’re talking milk chocolate with peanut butter!!! Oh man! 

I had one nibble and it went down hill fast. I would say I only had maybe 3 mini recese cups last night. But then unfortunately it spilled into today. It seems that when I ‘cant’ have something then I can’t get it off my mind!! It’s all I think about until I eat it. Until I eat it until I’m sick. Thank heavens I didn’t eat that much. I did, however eat more than I should have. I think I had 2 pieces of chocolate and 1 whole licorice. It doesn’t sound that bad but when I have to take the stage in 7 weeks with a goal of like 10% less body fat, well, a few pieces of candy is way too much. 

Let me back up a little bit to how things have been going. 

I haven’t had a planned cheat meal in almost 3 weeks. January 28th was my last cheat meal. That was 10 weeks out. 

I knew this would be more mental than physical. I just didn’t know how to prepare for it. I’m not sure someone can actually prepare though. Especially when it’s your first show. 

I knew I would be tempted. 

I knew I would want more food. 

I knew I would want junk, sweets, wine, lattes, heck, I knew I would be tempted by healthy foods like almonds and natural but butter but how do you prepare for that?

Thank goodness the workouts come easy!!! At this point I am working out about 3.5 hours a day. That’s insane. If she had told me in the beginning that’s how much I would be working out then I would have said HECK NO!!!! But it’s been a gradual increase and even that isn’t going to get me where my coach would like me. She said I’m already behind where I should be and when I get to show date I will actually have about 8 more weeks until I would be where she would like me for a show. 

So about that. 

I met with my coach for the first time last weekend. She was super nice, extremely helpful and taught me A LOT in just the 45 minutes I was there. However, she is blunt. She is honest. She is also competitive and when she does something she wants to win it. I totally admire that. However I have about an ounce of competitiveness in me. I can be competitive but mostly I like to compete with myself, not others. 

When I walked in, she had me put my suit on then measures my body fat. I was 21.8%. She was really disappointed. She doesn’t like her clients to even be that high OFF SEASON! Yikes! I am screwed. 

She said I wouldn’t be ready for the show. I wouldn’t win the show. And I need more muscle and we don’t have time for that. 

Ouch. 

So I said ‘okay, I guess then my goal is to not look the worst one stage. Will I look out of place on stage?’

No. You won’t look the worst. 

THANK YOU!!!!! I’ll take it!!

Then we spent about 30 minutes posing. She taught me so much!! I had no idea how to pose. I didn’t even know where to start. I had YouTube a million videos but there’s a big difference in watching a video and having someone physically move your foot, hips, leg and body in a position that looks best. 

She must have seen something in me because she said I looked good posing, was getting into position naturally and I was good at correcting myself. I sent her this video after practicing a few days and she said it looked okay but I needed to find something to do with my hands, my arms looked like they were flying around.

8 weeks out:

7 days of 30 min of slow(er) and steady fasted cardio first thing in the morning. I usually wake up at 5:00am for this. 

Same lifting plan (6 days a week, 3 days lower body)

30 min of stairmaster at a moderate pace right after lifting (I usually do level 7)

7 days a week of HIIT cardio, 15 min of work time, don’t count rest in workout time. I either do a beachbody HIIT program (T25, 21 Day Fix, Turbo Fire) or set my interval timer app for 1 min of work, 30 seconds of rest, 15 rounds. During my work time I do sprints or plyometrics. 

She also switch me from carb cycling to no carbs except for the meal right before I lift. I actually like this meal plan better. I never feel good on too many carbs, I know you wouldn’t know that from my desire to eat chocolate out of my kids nasty hands but it’s true. Carbs from grains make me feel yuck. Well, you can read more about that HERE. 

And even though I know better, I was judging my progress off of the scales. I was getting discouraged and frustrated. I know better than to do that!! That’s the whole reason for progress pictures!!

I’m better now. I’m refocused. And I only have 7 weeks left. That’s going to go fast. Really fast. I sure hope I’m ready, not just what I look like but my posing, my suit, my mental state and my confidence. I’m slowly getting more and more at ease with the thought of stepping onto stage but I will be more than nervous. Nervous beyond words. Prayers on April 8th would be greatly appreciated!!