One Week Out & Final Show

My apologies for skipping a week. I had all these great intentions of posting, but between work, workouts, kids sports, and a host of other things, it was like I had monkey wrenches flying at my head all week. On top of depleting, I'm surprised I even know my name anymore. LOL!!

One Week Out
I met with Jodi the Monday before the Saturday, April 27 show, so it was actually less than a week. I weighed in at 128.8 lbs. (down 1.2 lbs.) and bodyfat was 10.1% (down almost 2%!!!!) She tweaked my diet, and my workouts were ending:

Diet

• Monday's night snack changed from 3 oz. of chicken to 3 egg whites.
• Wednesday's breakfast was now 4 oz. tilapia (no more egg whites...buh-bye favorite pancakes).
• No condiments, spices or gum (i.e., the start of Allison's 72-hour hell...you can take my food, but don't take my gum!!!

Workouts

• The Friday before (Apr. 17, 10 days out) was my last leg workout.
• Continued one-minute plyometrics in between sets.
• Wednesday, April 24, was my last workout (weights and cardio)

I began taking Expel (i.e., depleting) on Wednesday, which also meant drinking one gallon of distilled water Wed. and Thurs., and half a gallon on Friday. Friday at 5pm, I stopped drinking anything.

Friday
I definitely tried to pack too many things into the day before the show (note to self). I really wanted to take the day off, but things were so crazy at work that I couldn't. I had a mani/pedi scheduled, still needed to pack, practice posing, and, most importantly, get hand-tanned by Jodi and check in one last time. Jodi won't weigh or measure the day before a show. Most of the weight lost is water and she doesn't like to get caught up in the numbers. She can read bodyfat by just looking. She guessed me at "high 8s", so I'm going with 8.8%. LOL! It's definitely lower than last time when I came in at 9.5%.

My instructions for Friday and Saturday included some unexpected treats. Friday dinner was 3 oz. chicken and 8 oz. asparagus. My evening snack was 2 oz. of cooked lean beef (or 3 oz. raw). WOOHOO!!! I did weight myelf when I got home out of curiosity, and I was at 126.5. I think that's the lowest I've been since 11th grade. LOL!! My weight measured 26 inches.

Saturday -- Show Time
Boy, did I miss coffee on Saurday morning!! Good thing I packed lots of Excedrin and Advil.

Here's what I ate the day of the show (although the pre-judging and finals timing threw me for a loop):

• 4 oz. tilapia, 4 oz. sweet potato
• 4 egg whites, 4 oz. asparagus
• 2 oz. beef, 4 oz. asparagus, 2 oz. sweet potato
• 3 oz. chicken, 3 oz. sweet potato

As I mentioned, the show was in Burlington, NJ. My good friend, Janine, who graciously joined me as my trainer backstage, trekked over 90 minutes to attend. It was such an organized, well-run show -- what a nice surprise. You knew what time you were going on, no surprises. Lots of room backstage. I loved every aspect.

I entered two categories -- Novice and Open. Drum roll please...I won 4th place in the Novice group!!! I was on cloud nine all weekend. Even the T-walk, which I was so nervous about, was easy-peasy. I just loved every minute of it.
 
Final Thoughts
I honestly can't believe I placed. It was a very large show, and the other girls blew me away. They were gorgeous with bodies to match. But everyone is so friendly and approachable. I love the sportmanship of the sport and I'm really excited to do it again. And yes, I am thinking about doing another show. I may test out the bikini category, even though I just love the muscular look.

One important lesson I learned, there is no off season. You have to embrace this as a lifestyle, not I'm on/off my competition diet. It was incredibly hard for me to get to this point, much harder than last time. And I'll be damned if DQ is going to mess it up. LOL!!

That said, I did go out for a celebratory meal afterwards. Janine, my parents, my mother-in-law and I all went to Friendly's. I had an awesome burger and an even better Oreo ice cream treat. Plus, my family insisted the staff sing "The Trophy Song." What a great way to end an awesome day!!!!

NOTE: Having some technical issues. I promise to post pictures very soon!

6 Weeks to Competition Time

Tonight was judgment night -- another reason to hate Mondays. Only kidding, I actually had a great meeting with Jodi. I'm making progress, but just wish it was a bit faster.

I'm now 132.4lbs. (down 1.5 from last week) and my bodyfat is now 17.9% (down 1.3%). This is all great news, however when I prepped for my last contest, I was at 14% six weeks out. I can either let it get me down, or I can let it get me fired up and fight even harder. I'm choosing the later.

Needless to say, to keep things moving, this week brings lots of changes to both diet and workout:

Diet

• Breakfast is now 4 oz. sweet potato (instead of oatmeal)
• Afternoon snack is now 3 oz. chicken and 12 almonds (instead of protein shake)
• No more berries with shake

Workout

• Cardio -- 50 min. 7x/ week (I talked Jodi out of 55 min. 6x/week...which will probably be next week)
• No more steady state cardio -- interval running everyday (0 incline, 1 min. hard/ 1 min. easy)

I also need to start tanning. As a refresher (and to help me keep it straight), here's my daily diet:

Current Daily Diet

Breakfast (eaten before workout at 5am)- 5 egg whites, 4 oz. sweet potato

Post-workout (approx. 7am): - protein shake

Lunch (noon-ish) - 6 oz. tilapia, 1 cup green veggies, 4 oz. sweet potato

Afternoon snack (3pm) - 3 oz. chicken, 12 almonds


Dinner (6pm)- 6 oz. tilapia, 2.5 cups green veggies

Evening snack (9pm) - protein shake, 12 almonds

I think all of these changes will really start moving the bodyfat. Now I need to focus on getting a new bikini, picking my music and practicing my T-walk.

Have any tips or tricks you'd like to add? I'm all ears!! :)

13 Weeks Until Figure Contest

Drum roll, please...

I met with my trainer on Thursday, January 10th and the verdict is...I lost 2.2 lbs (136.8) and 2.1% bodyfat (21.0%). I'm soooooo happy, especially after having that Rice Krispie treat to cope with some unexpected family-related stress.

I'm really excited about the progress and I'm interested to see how this compares to training last year...

Last year at this time I had a plateau week. I was doing cardio 5x/week for 30 min. I was still eating bread, which isn't included at all this time around.


Jodi didn't change anything in the cardio/diet area. But she did change my weight training. She likes that I'm separating out my legs and butt training on two separate days. I have to do 4 exercises per bodypart, 4 sets, as heavy as I can go -- to failure. She doesn't care if I can only do 6 reps or 10 reps. This will be interesting...

No photos this week, but my next meeting is Sat., Jan. 19. This is also the 12-week mark -- how did that happen????