The holidays

Well, the holidays are vastly approaching. I am looking forward to eating all the wonderful foods thats accompany it. I have also been enjoying the halloween candy left over that I wish I really could have gotten rid of. Oh well, I don't like some of it and if I dont like it, I really wont eat it so maybe its good I am eating all the good stuff as fast as I am. ha ha...

I feel like I haven't lost all control of what I had gained over the past few months. I still work out a few days a week. I started taking creatine and drinking my protein shakes along with my weight lifting but I am mostly trying to slowly build/maintain my muscle for now. Pretty soon I want to build it up some more. I feel I have some pretty good muscle in areas anyway. I just dont want my bubble butt to come back. It really makes a difference how your jeans look on ya. I have been slacking on eating veggies with every meal. I really need to get that habit going again. I felt so much better when I ate veggies and drank a lot of water.

I will be slowly getting back into this to help me get ready for a spring show. If nothing stops me from getting there  I will get there.

How am I doing?

Well, I have to admit that the first week after my show, I WENT CRAZY. That is the big no no in competing. You should transition back to a normal diet. I did not do that. I ate everything that I could. I had a recipe exchange party and the next day, I had a huge tummy ache all day. I really didn't have too much candy, maybe occasionally a handful of licorice nibs or jelly beans. It was the baked goods, oh the baked goods could have been the death of me. Plus the carbs! I had cookies, brownies all kinds of yumminess. I did get sick of it (thankfully). I gained 6-7 lbs. that first week. Suprisingly I have tappered down to a healthier eating plan and lost a couple of those lbs and have kept them off :) I still eat whatever I want and have treats everyday (I promise, that will stop when I get ALL the deprivation out of me) but at least I have been exercising and maintaining a weight I am really comfortable with. I would love to beable to compete again this spring, so I need to keep my body down at a good weight and keep my muscles toned. I feel so so good about myself when I am working out-and afterwards!
With my diet, I still have been trying to keep it as healthy as I can. I try and keep my carbs minimal-if any, in the evenings. I also have my protein and carbs in the morning. I also try and eat every 2-3 hours so I wont binge eat...That is what I do when I get too hungry. I will just start eating everything.
I am going to continue to work hard and eat as healthy as I can-I am also going to make it a goal to fix my family dinners as healthy as I can. My little girl is really wanting to eat healthy..What a great time to start using clean recipes :) I need to not worry so much about the scale #. I step on it quite often, I use it to keep me in check. If it goes up a little, I know I need to work harder and stop eating the junk. However, my body will be where it is comfortable. If I need to work super hard and eat super clean to be at a certain weight, then obviously that is not the # my body wants to be at...Well, I will keep updates on this off-season :) TTFN

Back to Normal??

Hello..I am adjusting and trying to get things back to normal. Well, somewhat normal. I definetly don't want to eat and look like I used to. However, I have gained 5 lbs already and it hasn't even been a full week yet. eekk! I am afraid to see what I will weigh next week. I started exercising and eating pretty good again. Half the day I eat healthy and the other half I am filling my body with all the carbs and sugar I possibly can! Pizza, homemade mac and cheese, itallian seasoned bread, spaghetti, lots and lots of cookies! It all tastes really good but suprisingly I am getting a little tired of it...Its a good thing, then maybe I will not want it very often.
So,, about the competition...It went pretty good for the most part...This is what my day looked like:
I woke up at 6 am, took a fast, cold shower-washed my hair, did my makeup very heavily. Then my good friend came over and curled my hair. I made my protein pancakes-I made extra and fed them to my girls for breakfast and suprisingly, THEY LOVED THEM :) I quickly packed the remaining stuff for my little girl and I-yes my little 5 year old went on stage too (and she looked so cute and brought home her very own trophy:) . Headed out the door. I arrived and stood in line forever! Got my number and headed backstage to primp up. I had a tanning issue when I woke up, I noticed I sat in water the night before and had a big white spot on my thigh..I payed lots of money to a company that works at these shows to help me with touch ups and all the stuff for the day. When I met them backstage, she took a look at me and said,"you are no where near dark enough" I flipped and she found the on the site spray tan lady that was there and charged $75! So, that week I paid $125 in spray tans! My hubby wasn't very happy. However, I did look so much better-the competition tan is so different than regular spray tans. So I suggest to spend the money and get the right stuff the first time. 10 minutes before I went on stage, I got a spray tan, bikini bite and oil rubbed on, pumped up, hair fluffed, practice walk and lined up for the stage..
They called my number-6! I cheesed a smile, walked and posed, walked and posed, turned around, walked and posed. I stood there in the back line waiting for the other girls to strut there stuff. I was shaking so bad I thought I was going to fall over. Less than 2 minutes later, we were off stage..All that for a few seconds! We were able to have a nice long break where we were able to munch on out lean meat, our protein pancakes and take a nap..Ha ha yeah right, take a nap.
The night show went a lot smoother. That is when the judging is over and the family is there to see everything. I had plenty of time to get touch up tans, body glitter, oiled and bikini bite and practiced practiced my walk. The woman that was helping me, told me she had a suit she brought for me she really wanted me to wear. She told me to at least try it on for her. I did, I liked it, I liked mine better but I ended up wearing her suit for the night show.
With the show being in September, there was half the competitors than the spring shows. I guess people would rather work off their winter weight for the spring show than miss all the summer BBQ's and camp out dinners and such that summer brings. I don't blame them, ha ha I probably wont do a fall show again for that reason. Back to my point, not a lot of compeitiors, but I was able to bring home a 3rd place trophy. We just received the score sheet from the judges. The lower the number you receive, the better and higher you place. Every one of the judges gave me a 3. Better than it could have been :) I am going to plan on doing another show in the spring and work harder to look better.

After the show, I invited all my lovely supporting family out to eat at Chili's. I wanted so much there that I ordered a little of everything. Ha, well I got the chips and queso, a vanilla dr. pepper, chicken enchilada soup, and topped it off with a delicious chocolate molten cake. I also tried a bite of everyones food :) I was pretty full and by the next morning, I had a tummy ache and it lasted all day..serves me right. And I have been eating ever since..It stops now, ha ha, well tonight after my recipe exchange party. I had protein pancakes for breakfast this morning and they tasted pretty good. I will try and keep in shape ! I am grateful for this experience and what it has taught me. I am thankful to know what I know now about being healthy and would love to make it a lifestyle for me. With the occasionaly treat and cheat meals :) I will keep my goals and journeys posted to hopefully more competitions to come. thank you all and TTFN!

The Final Countdown!

3 more days!! This week has not been as hard as some but still pretty darn hard! On Sunday, I started a carb depletion phase and have not had any carbs (no oatmeal, yams or brown rice) for the last 3 days. Today at noon I get to start eating them again every couple of hours. I guess the reason of doing this is your muscles will suck up the carbs and appear fuller :) Thats what I am told at least ha ha. I also have lost more weight the last few weeks. Today I weighed in at 121! Wow, I have not weighed that since jr high :)
   I am dreaming of all the food I will enjoy when this is done, and I will probably make myself sick. I am the biggest sweets and popcorn lover EVER! I am even hosting a recipe exchange party a couple of days after my show to try wonderful new fall recipes to eat!
  This week I got my nails all pretty for the show and the next couple of days I will get my spray tan. My wonderful brother and his wife are expection their 5th baby and are having a "Gender Reveal" party and I get to be so lucky and bring yummy cupcakes for them. I have wonderful and different ideas for that! Believe me, I will definetly put some away in the fridge to eat the next night!!
  Well, after today, no more exercise until after the show! I am kinda happy about that.. I need a good long rest! I am pretty burned out.
  I will probably not post again til after the show...I will post pictures of the show and probably some progress photos before and after :) Well ttfn!

How many more days!!!??

Wow I can't believe it is only 12 more days to the show! I have my applications all in, I am all signed up, my suit is now finished and blingified..I got my appointments all set up for tanning and nails. got my hair done last week-good to go! Now I just need to stock my fridge up with tilapia and asparagus :(
So, last week we went camping for 5 days. I made these yummy nutter butter balls from a recipe I had gotten from another competitor. I tweeked it just a bit and they were so so yummy. I pretty much ate the entire batch up camping. What can I say when everyone else is eating cherry chocolate cobbler, licorice and smores! I also was only able to exercise about 3 of the days, or was it 2?? I did drink my gallon of water everyday though! Anyway, I got home and hopped on the scale, I DROPPED 4 LBS!! I was so happy! Two days later I got on again and was still down. I was happy. So now I am hoping with these last two weeks I can drop 3-5 more lbs and be ready.
   My birthday was this past Saturday. When it comes to birthdays, I am very big on celebrating all birthdays, with the presents, the friends, the cake and ice cream. I received some gift cards to a couple of my favorite places. My hubby also took me out to eat (I ordered their tilapia and broccoli dinner) and we got a babysitter and went to a late movie. I was pretty bummed about not being able to have cake and ice cream but I made my hubby promise me that he would get me some after the show! Well, more updates as I get to the final stages!!! TTFN!

Finally a photo

Ok So I am being brave and posting some photos, these photos were taken last week. I still have 4 more weeks to get my butt in shape.  I CAN DO IT! I just have more leaning out to do-the black shorts look awful by the way :)

I feel like I haven't changed for the last couple of weeks. My husband says I have but I think he is just trying to be nice ;) We attended the Temple open house last week-which was beautiful by the way-and they served cookies afterwards. Well, I did eat before I went but by the time we finished, I was really hungry (and those cookies were looking absolutely amazing!).

So I ate one and it tasted just as good as it looked and I didn't even feel bad I ate it.

 

So anyway, the seminar for the show is tomorrow. We are asked to bring our suits and heels and I am a little terrified to go. Something about wearing my bikini (when I still have a ways to go) in front of all the women I will be competing against is making me a little nervous. At least I will know what I am up against huh? Oh Well. 

 TTFN

  Well the closer it gets to the competition, the faster time seems to go by. I am tired of doubting myself in doing this show. I will look at myself in the mirror and think "oh, I can make it" then I will look again and think the complete opposite. I was telling a family member the other day I was worried about making it and they said "well, if you dont, you feel good right?" Right but NO! I have sacrificed and worked to hard to not do the show! Whether I look as good as those girls up on stage or not, I am hitting that stage!
  I completely cut out my sugar free jello snacks and my dairy this week. I am hoping that will help take off what I need to take off. I haven't lost anymore weight for the last week or two. So I am hoping this will help me.
  I haven't been doing two a days as often as I should. I have been out doing other things at night when I usually do my second session of workouts. I can really feel it and I need to kick it into higher gear for these last few weeks. The seminar is in a little over a week and I am anxious to see how that will go. I also need to finish my suit and order some bikini bite. If you don't know what that is, it is a bikini glue to literally glue the bikini to my body so I won't be having any issues with it slidding around when I am on the stage. I am getting excited about my suit. I didn't purchase any special expensive suit like most of them do. I bought mine at a department store :) and dolling it up. It will look great when I am done with it. I love the color too!
  One of these days I will get around to posting a photo. I am kinda waiting til its closer then I can put my progress down. Well TTFN
 

7 Weeks and Counting down!

7 More weeks til I am planning on going on stage!
   I dropped a little more weight this week and this morning the scale read 130.1...I weighed 130 1 week out from my last competition and dropped to 125 the week of. Its still 7 weeks away so I am on the right path. I shouldn't care what the scale says, it doesn't matter what it reads, its how you look and feel. I am indeed one of those people that step on the scale a couple times a week. Not healthy :)

  I had a wonderful girls weekend last week with one of my very good friends and we made a trip to the cheesecake factory. I had my (hopefully) last cheat meal for the next 32 days. I enjoyed a skinnylicious vegetable salad (yum)..lots of lima beans,tomatoes,parmesean cheese, romaine lettuce, red beets, asparagus and topped with some yummy pomegranate vinegarette (just half salad :) Then I filled my belly the rest of the way with some very plain low carb sweetened with splenda strawberry cheesecake. Yes, it was only 1/4 of the sweetness of my friends mango-lime cheesecake but it hit the spot and finishing off the entire plate was very worth it!
   We also made a trip to some shopping centers and spent a lot of money -my husband doesn't want to know how much- I invested in my first pair of skinny jeans to wear with my cowboy boots during the cooler months. I liked them a lot more than I thought I would. I was EXTREMELY happy about the size I bought. Let's just hope I can keep them and not gain too much weight back after I can start eating all my favorite things again.
Speaking of favorite things, here is a list of my top five:
1. Homemade chocolate chip cookies (very picky about them, have to be fluffy and barely done)
2.Old fashioned thick glazed donut-or white powdered raspberry filled
3. Hot chocolate of course
4. Pizza
5. Licorice  -my list is slightly different every time I think about it
I am very thankful for my family and friends for all the support they are giving me. They are all really good at keeping me on the right path and listening to all my talking about eating clean and working out (I know it could be very annoying). When its time for me to eat, that is when I really am tempted to go off. I want to eat anything I can get my hands on, but if I can learn to walk past it (also having my friend Hil push me in the opposite direction) I can grab what I should be eating :)
   I feel good about how I am progressing. I am working extra hard on my butt and my belly.. It is a lot more work to minimize the loose skin and baby pouch from having kids but I am doing it! Well TTFN until next time!

  I am getting nervous to whether I am going to make this show or not. I hear a lot of girls feel that way 9 weeks out. I am really starting to show more muscle I just need to work on the leaning out part a little more. I just purchased some 100% protein fuel and some isowhey. The isowhey is specifically for water and it is quickly absorbed in your system. It doesn't taste bad but I still like chocolate the best :)
  I have been talking with my dad a lot on competing-he ran the bodybuilding in utah since way before I was born. I just found out he actually started the NPC here in utah. He helps me out and refers me to people and places where he can. I get to go to a posing seminar next month with the first figure winner of the Utah's NGA, Krissy Wolfe. She will be helping with all the things needed to know for the competition :)
 I recently got my body fat % measured and they told me it might be a little higher since I just finished working out. our muscles get dehydrated after you work out and so I will get another test done maybe next week.  Wasn't bad but I would like it down a few points for the show.
  Most days I am so burned out and ready to just order a pizza, diet coke and eat a pan of homemade chocolate cookies while laying in sweats watching my favorite movie. Even just to nibble on a box of sugar cereal sounds good to me. Last night for dinner I had the usual-grilled chicken and spinach but I also added a little chopped onion and peppers and that made it a whole new meal :) I read another competitor wrote,"You have gone this far, why take a step back? Take another step forward to your goal." I liked that. everytime I am craving a cookie, that is what I think about and ask myself how much do I want this?
  I had a couple improvements on my diet and workout routines this week so I hope I will see more improvements and so next time I come back here, I will have good news :)

  Well I am still hanging in there. I added another carb to my diet. I was only eating about 2 carbs a day which was oatmeal for breakfast and brown rice or yams for lunch with a rice cake for snacks-and lots of protein obviously. But I started feeling really hungry and tired by the time 3:00 got here.
  I also have been eating tuna fish and talapia which I NEVER ate before but I am getting used to it. I feel like all I do is workout and eat chicken and spinach..I guess I better be happy with it since I am seeing results (yahoo!) Its a good thing I dont work much at the hospital, otherwise I think I would be having a lot harder time eating clean than I already am. WHEN I do work, I work 12 hour night shifts and there is a lot of juices, chocolate milk, soda, cookies of all kinds, chips of all kinds and other yummy stuff that is hard to stay away from when you are trying to stay awake and get in the extreme snacking mood.
  I just ordered a new and very expensive isowhey protein powder specifically for mixing with water that I am excited to try. Seeing how I have to eliminate my little dairy pretty soon. Well, speaking of food, its that time I get to go stuff food in my mouth to refuel..TTFN until next time.

  So I am really starting this blog for me. I wish I wrote down my experiences and progress on my last contest in 2006, then I could have gone back and compared myself on my progress. So I am starting now and hopefully if I compete later on I can use this blog and look back to help me. So today I have been feeling a little down. I woke up in a rush to get the kids ready and get to my session at the gym. I was able to grab some oatmeal but that was it..Gave me enough energy to exercise but when I was done, my blood sugar was down and I was TIRED! I have eaten well and clean all day today but I can't seem to catch up on it and stay full. Goes to show how important a good breakfast really is!
  So I have 11 weeks before I walk on stage. I still have a long ways to go, I am planning on going up (if I say maybe then I might not make it a goal). I am going to start lifting heavier and doing more strength training than I have been. That is more important to build my muscle at this time. In a few more weeks I will eliminate the little dairy, nuts, condiments, and whole grains I am consuming..Makes ya wonder how people can exercise so much and look so healthy on so little food huh?
  I decided I am hiring a physical trainer to help me out a little. Instead of getting with her a couple times a week, it will be less than that-which I will hopefully still do good. 11 weeks is not very long to train for a bikini contest, but when you are going at it day to day, its an eternity!
I will plan to update my progress and maybe even post pictures of my progress. Depending how I do in the next few weeks. I am getting the diet part down a little better every day.
  When I competed in my first contest. I did the figure division. I was 2 months pregnant at the time and I weighed 125 on my contest day. I was wanting to be less than that this time but I am not counting on it..I plan to be more muscular than I was then. I have been reaching for the goal of drinking a gallon of water daily. Some days I do great, others I can't seem to drink near enough.  I love my family and the support they are giving me. Its hard cooking two different meals every night and not being able to eat the most delicious one.
  Well, I am hoping to see more of a transformation in the next few weeks and I will keep this updated! TTFN

Its time for me to start getting serious with this diet stuff. I have been actually getting pretty serious the last week (except for my entire weekend of cheating during our camping trip-turkey dogs, hot chocolate, cobbler, licorice, bagels) now I am back on schedule and I will get better as the days go on enjoying only certain food which includes pretty much only vegetables and chicken.
The reason for my diet is I am now officially training for a bikini/figure contest. I get to eat steamed asparagus while my family enjoys a very delicous cheese pizza or homemade mac and cheese. (two of my favorite!). I have just a few months to go and I am already tired of the two sessions of cardio a day- 5 days a weeks and all the other yummy stuff that goes with it. I can do this though and I am going to look better this time around than I did in my last figure contest!
We went to lava this weekend and I saw a woman with an amazing body. I knew immediately she was a competitior and I had to go talk to her. She was indeed a figure competitor and she was even on her off season. She looked like she could get up on stage now and win. She also told me she likes to be ready all year and not gain 15-30 lbs after a contest like most of them do..that really inspires me :) It jump -started my modivation back to where it should be...I will post pictures of my progress as soon as I feel I am ready to..Maybe soon :) I still have a long long ways to go and a lot of work to do!! I mean a lot!! So wish me luck and I can do it, I can do it!!