Spring Break week...

This has been a wonderful, restful week. I really needed this. I feel refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready for the next 5 weeks until my competition. I am ready to amp up the intensity and tackle this goal!!

I have added a second cardio session and it feels good to be on task. This will continue until my competition. I can get up at 5 am for 5 weeks. Stretch and grow, stretch and grow!

Weighed in this morning at 130.6! Craziness. :) Every baby step leads to positive results. This is continually confirmed as I watch my body change.

Orders for a cheat meal tonight. I am actually not excited about  it but I will do as told. So I will be eating a cheddar cheese burger after a HEAVY HEAVY leg workout today. This will act as a shock to my system and rev up my metabolism.  Keep ya posted on how this goes...

Now off to tackle a day of rest before lifting like a maniac!

Spring Break!!

Just in the nick of time. I have been running on all cylinders for a long time and was getting exhausted. Now I have a week off of work, and three weeks off of school. Whew....

This week my plan is to get some two a days in! Early morning gym visits, switch up my lifting workouts to morning to shock my body a bit, plus do my morning cardio at the gym. I will have to be doing this for the next 6 weeks anyway so might as well start now! Then go back in the evening for another round of cardio. Should help jump start my metabolism up to the next level, for the final PUSH!!

From now until 3 weeks I am on task. At the 3 week mark things switch again. New meals, new rules. I will be limited to brussel sprouts and asparagus. Luckily I like both.  I will have to layer up to do my cardio. Hello sweat it out time! I look forward to my changes. Every change brings me closer to my goal. 

Also on the agenda this week, a college visit with Taylor and prom dress shopping.  Ahh yes...a welcome break from the regularly sheduled programming!

40 days...

That's it. 40 days. 25 workouts. 5 Thursdays.... Crunch time!!

Side note...

I realized today that I am down a total of 55 pounds from my original starting weight of 187. Wow! That feels so good! Not to mention I have turned a body of mush into a body of muscle!!

6 weeks to go....

Okay so my new focus is cardio, posing, and routine! For the next 6 weeks I need to eat, sleep, and breathe these things! I always struggle with motivation when doing things at home but no more of that. I am not going to train my ass off only to get up on stage and not be practiced in my posing and routine. I have 6 weeks to nail these down and I must do it!

On a bright note...bodyfat is down to 17.5%! BOOM! Yay!! WOO-HOO!! My personal goal is 15% by show. That will happen!

Off to get my routine practice done!! Time to rock this nonsense!

All that whining....

My last post was a little whiny! Here I am sweating calories and carbs being cut...but LOOK, the scale says 132.2 this morning! And the last time I saw that number???? No idea.... :) 7 more to go....6 weeks to do it in! Pfft....I got this. Who cares if I am licking the last grain of rice out of the bottom of the bowl?

Changes....

New meal plans this week and I am feeling it. No more fruit, my brown rice went from 6 oz to 3 oz at lunch, quinoa cut from 1/2 cup at dinner to 1/4 cup, protein at dinner from 4 oz to 3 oz, and sweet potato pre workout snack cut from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup. May not sound like much but I am tired and have a headache from the cut in complex carbs. I know my body will adjust within a week, i just have to be patient through this time. Push through......

The Posing Suit! 7 weeks out...

Need to amp up the cardio to cut the fat from my hips/thighs/tummy still, but I expected to put this thing on and CRINGE! Ummm...not so much! Guess I need to realize all that training is indeed paying off! 

my story in pics

These pics start in March of 2010 thorugh August of 2010. A year of lifting and 4 months of clean eating at this point.

My 'before' pics...2008-ish at anywhere from 185-190 pounds. At this point I had avoided the scale completely, denial was my coping mechanism, and I usually avoided the camera so someone snuck these in as you can tell by the look on my face in the first picture. Wow...this

was just NOT me, in so many ways. 

This is me....inside and out. Getting there, loving the journey, feeling wonderful, challenging my mind and body. This is me.  

  

Mixing up the workouts.....

Last night was chest and biceps and Mike had a new plan of action for our workout! I love when we mix it up unexpectedly...shocks the mind and the body and this is the benefit of having outside input on your workouts.

He had a routine set up where we would superset everything, definitely not the usual. So here is how it went....

Bench Press 10 sets of 10 at 70 pounds, supersetted with BB Curls at 30 pounds, also 10 sets of 10 ((1 minute rest period))

DB Incline Press 10 of 10 using 20 pound DB's and Hammer Curls 10 of 10 using 10 pound DB's (( 1 minute rest))

Pec Deck 10 of 10 at 30 pounds and Cable Curls 10 of 10 at 30 pounds ((45 second rest max))

Then I wanted to try high cable curls so I did 4 sets of those at 20 pounds...

Then we did an ab twist with weighted ball, 3 sets and finished with 25 minutes of cardio. All of this in 90 minutes!

GREAT workout!!! Thanks Mike :) Wouldn't want to do this without you....

Eating clean...

Went to a presentation by Dr Jack Barnathan last night. Always an eye opener to hear people in the medical field talk about the benefits of eating clean over filling your body with crap supplements!

Why DO we take fish oil from capsules that have been packaged God knows where, God knows how long ago, sitting on God knows what shelf for how long, travelling across what continent to get to the that shelf WHEN we can just eat some trout or salmon or char????? We have let the marketing geniuses warp our minds. We have sold out to convenience and packaging....

YUCK!!

I feel so much better eating clean.  I know this is a lifestyle change not a temporary training diet. VOILA!

Yes!

135 pounds! Yes! :) Enough said!

THIS is why I teach at Head Start, of all places.

This is a letter a family from last year brought to me this week. This family was struggling so much last year, grandma was really having a hard time and we went to great lengths to support them and give them all the help we possibly could. This is WHY I teach at Head Start...of all places! It is not glamorous but the children and families are owrth every minute of my time and I really do love when they let me know how we helped.  

Hello, my name is ____. My grandson completed two years of Head Start at the Orton Keyes site. I am proud to say that he is now in Kindergarten. He has been on the Honor Roll since he started Kindergarten and his behavior has been great. He's a role model for the other students in his class and is one of 6 children in accelerated learning.

I believe that without the teachers and staff at Orton Keyes James would not be where he is today in his schooling. He enjoys school and excitedly talks about his day when he comes home from school.

I would like to thank the teachers and staff at Head Start for giving James the opportunity to excel in school and his personal life. We're looking forward to the opportunity for his brother, who is two years of age, to begin the learning process at Orton Keyes Head Start.

Once again, thank you so much for being there for us.

http://www.supportheadstart.org/  Please be a voice for the children and families that NEED this program.

My newest AH-HA moment!

So yesterday and today the weather has been crappy, my sinuses have been aggravating me, my energy level has been zero...blah. It's this time of year, it just happens. But this year I am training for a competition and can't afford to give in to the feeling. So last night I did a quick shoulder/tricep/cardio workout....in and out in an hour. 
Tonight was HEAVY LEG DAY....really? How do you swing heavy legs when you only feel like going to bed?? I got off owrk at 5 and went through the drive thru for a medium black coffee. Drank it on my way to the gym. Praying please help me get energy...please. lol Got to the gym and decided to go ahead and start with my BB Squats! It's my favorite exercise and it would be a good warm up. I also decided to do them barefoot (translation, in socks no shoes). I haven't done this in a while and I really like them this way! I feel like I have a very sturdy foundation!
So...off to the Squat Rack. 2 sets with the bar, then a 35 on each side. 10 reps. Move it up to 45's. 10 reps. Move it up 155. 8 reps. Feeling good. One more ten on each side...175. And 8 reps. Still good. Mike came over and put my next weights on for me while I rested. Move me up to 195 and said get 5. So I did. Then he put more weight on. I did 4. 205. Then rested and he threw on more weights. 215 for 3. Hey....that is my best. :) Now I am thinking I got in a good squat workout and he throws on more weights. 225?!?! He says one strong one. Let's go! So I do. One squat at 225 pounds. Wow!! That's 90- pounds more than I weigh! I'll take it.
  I finish with leg press and front squats....nothing heavy just good weights and good form. Then calf raises and I am done. 
And I feel like I conquered the world. Not necessarily because I squatted 225 but because I didn't go home. I didn't quit AND I didn't half ass my workout!! 

9 weeks.....yikes!

Only 9 weeks to go until Show! Everything is coming together. Went out of town this weekend and packed every meal...did not cheat once! Just ate my meals like I do at home! Did not get any weight training in on Friday or Saturday but did get my cardio in. Tried on bathing suits and had to have a size small top and medium bottom....and I was completely thrilled with what I saw in the mirror!! This summer is going to be ROCKIN!

Bodyfat is down to 19.8%...HELLO teens!!! :) That is really a great feeling! My boobs have disappeared...if anyone finds them tell them hello for me! :)

I still doubt that I will be muscular enough to compete in my bodybuilding category...but I know I will be in THE BEST shape of my life!! 

9 weeks baby......9 weeks!