8 Weeks and Counting...

I was sorely disappointed this week. I thought having tilapia at lunch and dinner, plus doing 50 minutes of cardio five times a week would definitely move my bodyfat -- not so much. I met with Jodi on Monday. She took a look at me in a bikini to see what she was working with and then we hit the scale and calipers. I lost 0.6 pounds and my bodyfat was pretty much flat (down 0.1%). It's hard to stay motivated when things aren't progressing.

Here are this week's changes:

Diet
- I have to eat breakfast before I workout. This is a huge change for me. I love breakfast; it's my favorite meal. Now I have to scarf my egg whites and oatmeal at 5am.
- My "morning snake" is now a shake + 3 strawberries after my workout, at around 7am. I have to say I'm soooo hungry by noon, with a five-hour span between meals.

Workout
- Between each set, I do 30 seconds of plyometrics
- Every day, I must do four sets of 15 reps of walking lunges and stiff-legged deadlifts
(This combo is awesome for perking up the butt.)
- Cardio is now 50 min. / 6x per week

To put things in perspective, I need to lose 10-12% bodyfat in 8 weeks. As Jodi says, now is "when the magic happens." I'm also beginning to start posing and practicing walking in my heels for 10-20 minutes each day. This is key to ensuring posing and walking are seamless on competition day. Last year, at the NPC show, I just had to do my poses and quarter turns. This time around, I must do what's called a "T-Walk." This involves walking to music and doing poses at different points. Needless to say, I need to figure out what music I want to use. Jodi recommends "whatever gets you pumped." I just need to make sure it doesn't make me dance, which most of my favorite music does.

As promised here is an update photo. I'm hitting the tanning salon this week, which always helps with looking leaner.

Motivation
 Lots of people ask how I stay motivated. Sometimes it's hard and I want to give in. But there are a few things I do:

• Posing practice -- helps to see how far I've gone and areas that still need improving
• New bikini -- checking out new bikinis always helps. I'm contemplating getting a new one.
• Old pics -- Looking at last year's photos helps remind me that I can do this and I can do better.

What keeps you motivated?

9 Weeks and Counting 'Til Fitness Competition Time

I'm all off schedule this week. I was supposed to meet with my trainer, Jodi, on Saturday. If you live in the Northeast, you got to enjoy the lovely blizzard we had to kickoff the weekend. With nearly a foot of snow on the ground, Premier Fitness in Nanuet, NY wouldn't be opening until 11am. Given my appointment was at 10:40am, I was out of luck. So I rescheduled for this past Monday. I was sooo nervous given my huge setback at my last meeting with Jodi.

I'm pleased to say that I lost bodyfat (20.2% -- woohoo!!!), but I gained some weight (139 lbs -- boo!!) Since it's that time of the month, Jodi chalked it up to bloating and water weight. But since I'm coming up on the last eight weeks before showtime, I need to buckle down!

Here are this week's changes:

• This weekend is my last cheat meal (wah!) When I prepped last year, she pulled the cheat meals at four weeks out. Since I have more than 10% bodyfat to lose, the dirty food has to go.

Diet
- My oatmeal is not 1/3 cup (vs. 1/2 cup)
- Lunch is now 6 oz. of tilapia

Workout
- Continue to do intervals on the stairmaster every other day.
- Cardio is now 5x week for 50 minutes

I broke out the 5-inch heels and competition bikini to give me a boost of motivation. I'm definitely starting to make progress, but I need to put my mojo into full gear if I want to do well at this show.

My next meeting with Jodi is Monday, February 18. I promise to post a picture to show my progress. First I need to schedule some tanning appointments.

Until next time, eat clean and train dirty!

10 Weeks to Go

I feel like I've been having a good run -- steadily losing weight and body fat. That is, until this week.

Sadly, my father-in-law passed away. He had been sick for a few weeks and we knew the inevitable was coming. It still doesn't prepare you. From trying to console my husband, to explaining it to our two children, having a dear family member pass away is an emotional, physical and spiritually draining event. Add the token unnecessary family drama, and you can probably tell how my check-in with Jodi went this week. I don't believe in excuses, but I do believe in cutting myself some slack.

Without further ado, I gained weight (1.2 lbs) and I gained body fat (1.7%). It made me sad to slide backwards, especially since it wasn't like I was dining on cake every night. I was trying really hard to be good. I did all of my workouts, but it just goes to show what stress and a not-so-tight diet can do in just a few days.

As she pinched me with the calipers, Jodi said "I can feel your stress. You're retaining water big-time." Back to the drawing board...

Here are this week's changes:

Diet
Lunch is now 4 oz. of sweet potato (weighed raw) instead of brown rice

Dinner is now 6 oz. of tilapia instead of chicken

Workout
Cardio is now 5 times per week for 45 minutes.

I think these changes will show drastic improvement. I'm just hoping it's enough to make up for last week and then some.

Cheat Meal
I felt so guilty about even having a cheat meal since I didn't lose. But I know the indulgences will go away in the next week or so.

- 3 Coronas (I can't even remember the last time I had beer. Needless to say, they tasted soooo good.)
- spinach & artichoke dips with tortilla chips
- flat iron steak with sauteed mushrooms
- 1/2 baked potato
- expresso milkshake (don't ask...)

It's so true that making changes to your body is 80% diet, 10% workout and 10% genetics. I could work out for hours a day and be perfectly happy. It's just so hard to control my hunger and cravings. I constantly need to be drinking, chewing or eating. I think that's why gum is such a crutch for me. I need to refocus on how great I looked and felt when I prepped for last year's show.

What's your trick to get (and stay) motivated???

11 Weeks to Go Until Contest Time

I had a slight monkey wrench thrown into this week. I went home early from work on Friday because I felt so sick. My head felt like it was in a fish bowl, and it was a struggle to keep my eyes open and focus. I was supposed to do my stairmaster intervals at lunch. I battled to stay on track with my diet and headed home to bed. I slept for two hours on top of sleeping 10 hours that night.

Guilt set in Sat. morning and I willed myself onto the treadmill to get my 5th cardio workout of the week. The rest of Saturday was mostly spent on the couch watching movies with the kids, dozing in and out most of the day.

I did get to meet up with Jodi on Sat. morning. Feeling like crap started messing with my mind and I was convinced I hadn't made any progress. I was pleasantly surprised to learn my bodyfat was down 0.7% to 19.7% and my weight was up to 137.4 lbs. Jodi was fine with the weight gain since my fat was down. Hopefully it's muscle given the ridiculous weight I've been lifting. The four sets to failure definitely makes a difference in terms of workout intensity.

Diet Changes
Jodi wants me taking a pre- and post-workout protein shake. I began taking half a scoop of Beverly International Muscle Builder before and after. This has really upset my stomach. Since it's fairly low in carbs (3g), I also have to add either 1/2 cup of blueberries or 3 strawberries to my post-workout drink. The sugar in the fruit will help get the protein to my muscles faster.

The other change in diet is taking out the peanut butter at breakfast and replacing it with 12 almonds.

As a reminder, here is what my diet currently looks like:

Breakfast -- 5 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 12 almonds
AM snack -- 1 scoop protein powder
Lunch -- 4oz. chicken, 1/2 cup brown rice, 1 cup broccoli (or other green veggie)
PM snack -- 1 scoop protein powder
Dinner -- 4 oz. chicken, 2 1/2 cups veggies
Evening snack -- 1 scoop protein powder, 12 almonds

Workout
Weight training stays the same -- 4 exercises per bodyfat, 4 sets to failure as heavy as I can go.

Cardio is now 5x per week for 40min. with stairmaster intervals every other day.

Cheat Meal
I may feel like crap, but there was no way I was missing my cheat meal! I headed to Smashburger for the "New Jersey" (I highly recommend it -- fried onions, blue cheese, bacon), sweet potato fries and their Haagen-Daz Oreo milkshake. Then I chased it with some leftover ice cream cake from my daughter's birthday last weekend. It's been torture watching everyone eat it every night. It's a Baskin Robbins, chocolate cake on the bottom with vanilla ice cream on top. It was delish!

In three short weeks, Jodi will begin judging my diet and workout changes by looking at me in a bikini, which means I need to start tanning. I'm so pasty, it's not even funny. I'll try to get an updated pic next week when I'm feeling better. I'm almost completely back to normal -- thank goodness!!!

I bought a Groupon for Snap Fitness, which is open 24 hours a day. So I'm going to try and get over there to switch things up. Any insight into Snap? 

Until next week...

12 Weeks and Counting 'Til Fitness Competition Time

I met with Jodi yesterday and I'm down a little over half a percent (20.4%) and my weight is down 1.2 lbs (135.6). I'm happy that I'm still making progress.

The change in weight training (4 exercises per bodypart, 4 sets to failure) has made a huge difference in terms of intensity.

My motivation: pre-contest 6/30/12

This week's changes:

Diet
Evening snack is now 1 scoop of protein with 12 almonds (no more Greek yogurt)

I need to take my morning snack and divvy it into a pre- and post-workout snack. Since I need a combo of carbs and protein, I'm going to order Beverly International's Muscle Provider. It had more carbss and is more easily and quickly digestible than my Ultimate Muscle Provider, which I use as my daily protein source.

Workout
Weight training stays the same

Cardio is now 35 minutes, 5 times per week

Stairmill -- every other day with intervals -- 2 min. hard, 1 min. easy

I bought a Groupon for Snap Fitness and finally registered, so I'll really be able to go super-heavy in my training. Stay tuned for more details on how that goes.

I also talked to Jodi about another contest two weeks after April 13. Since I'm already contest ready, why not do two shows?! It sounds good in theory. We'll see how that pans out.

It's been a crazy month and tougher than every to stick with my diet and workouts. We've been having some family health issues with my father-in-law and my dad. All the more reason it's so important to eat clean and train dirty!

Cheat Meal
My cheat meal ended up being lunch on Sat. We were visiting my father-in-law at Jersey Shore Medical and stopped by one of our favorite restaurants -- 10th Avenue Burrito in Belmar, NJ, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives. Here's what I indulged in:

- Homemade tortilla chips and homemade guacamole (YUM!)
- Lobster quesadillas
- Chocolate flautas with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce

This wasn't half as bad as some past cheat meals. But boy did I feel like sh*t the rest of the day. We had lunch at 2pm and by 7pm, I could barely eat my evening snack. Blech. I was more than ready to go back to my clean eating plan.

I'd love to hear what you think about this diet and exercise program. Too restrictive, not restrictive enough? Any tips you'd like share.

Until next time...