Week 4

Saturday Saturday Saturday…. Since I woke up early I decided I might as well get a quick cardio workout behind me and jump-start my day.  So I went to the gym at 8:00am and did my normal morning 60 minute cardio workout.  I hurried home and let the feasting begin.  First things first… COFFEE!  It was delicious! Then I made some waffles… and by some I mean eight.  I was so excited… I added some honey and syrup and went to town on those bad boys!  I mean, seriously… couldn’t have been more excited.  Unfortunately my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I only ate five or six out of the eight.  I just couldn’t eat fast enough and they got cold and soggy… not so yum.  After a few hours of vegging out on the couch and watching TV I decided to trek over to Buford Highway and get some good food.  I went to Quoc Huong and ordered a bowl of Pho soup and a Bahn Mi sandwich…. I have no clue what I ate exactly, but it was spicy and delicious.  While in the neighborhood I also stopped at El Taco Veloz.  I ordered two beef tacos and an order of chips and salsa.  When I got home I ate about half the pho, the whole sandwich, one taco, and about five chips with salsa.  Even though I didn’t eat as much as I wanted (or at least what I thought I wanted), I was excited to just get a taste of it all.  Later Saturday night I babysat so we got pizza for the kids.  I had a few slices of pizza and then a few scoops of ice cream for dessert!  As if that wasn’t enough for one Saturday, I went to my friend Kara’s housewarming party and enjoyed some late night party food…. Cheetos, cookies, and some fruit.  This is when the whole "No alcohol" rule comes into play.  Oh man, how I miss some good red wine or an ice cold beer.  Ughhh!! Not fair.  So at 11:50pm I decided I need to go home and get some sleep because this perfect day would soon be over and it would be back to business in a matter of hours.

Sunday was just another day in the “office”.  I got up went to the gym, then came home and slept for a few hours.  I actually had to set my alarm for 12:30pm so I that I would wake up to eat lunch.  I ate quickly and went back to my napping.  I reset my alarm for 3:00pm so that I could meet Marcia at the gym for our afternoon workout at 3:30pm.  After our workout I did some quick grocery shopping and came home for dinner, laundry, and packing for the next day.  It still amazes me how much prep work goes in to the training program.  Every night I have to pack my workout out clothes, morning and evening, work clothes, morning snack, breakfast, and afternoon snack. 

Sunday during our cardio session, Marcia and I were able to talk to Johnny and get a glimpse into the next few weeks of our training program.  This upcoming week will be the same as we’ve had the past three weeks.  BUT….. Saturday will be our last cheat day!  Damn, I better make this a good one.  Lots to think about here…   Don’t get me wrong, we’re still going to have cheats, but it will be limited to one cheat meal on Saturday instead of a 24-hour gluttonous feast.  After that, we’re going to start cutting our carbs and calories during the week.  So first things first, no more protein shakes.  I think I can live without that… they were starting to get old anyway.  Now I’m drinking these “protein shots”.  They are about 3 oz. and have 26g of protein, 110 calories, and only 1g of carbs.  They aren’t great but also not terrible. 

Monday at work I was really exhausted.  I haven’t felt this worn out since week one.  I had a terrible headache and just wanted to run home and curl up in my bed at 5:30pm.  I think the fear of the new diet changes really got me down today.  I’m beginning to freak out that I’m going to be hungry for the next 8 weeks of my life.  Going to the gym for two and half hours sounded almost as exciting as a root canal…. or even worse tonsillectomy!  I managed to make it through the worst workout of the three and then breeze through my hour of cardio.  The cardio isn’t bad at all… I’ve actually grown to love it because I can read good books.  I’m about half way through The Girl Who Played With Fire and it’s amazing how easily the time passes when I’m reading.

Tuesday was a cold, nasty, rainy day.  Much like Monday…. I did not want to spend my evening in the gym.  I was very thankful to have this blog, and have people with whom I can share my story on Tuesday.  I needed this accountability factor.  I didn’t want to embarrass myself when I had to write that I was too lazy to go to the gym Tuesday.  So Tuesday night was just like any other workout… nothing out of the ordinary.  We went through the weight training exercises like we always do and then finished up with more cardio.  I was home shortly after 8:00pm.  Sometime around 9:30 or so I realized I had the most excruciating pain on the right side of my chest.  No it wasn’t a heart attack.  It was obvious that I had pulled my pec muscle.  It hurt to sit still, it hurt to move, it hurt to laugh, it hurt to breath.  On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worse, it was about a nine.  Honestly, just sitting still doing nothing made me want to cry.  I had the hardest time with simple things like brushing my teeth and even pulling the covers over myself when I went to sleep. Oh great…. How much is this going to set me back in my training?  I began to worry that this was all going to be called off.  I can’t let myself quit… but if I’m really injured then there’s no way I can push through the pain and risk further injury.

I still managed to get up and go to the gym Wednesday morning for cardio.  The alarm went off at 5:40am.... winners don't get up at 7:00.  I used my left arm to hold my right arm in place as I walked around and maneuvered through my normal routine.  I don’t think I could have held anything more than two or three pounds in my right arm.  I couldn’t move it left and right…. Couldn’t stretch it out to reach for something…. I was really worried that this could end my training.  If a bruise showed up or if it had been swollen then I knew that would be several weeks of no exercise and all my goals and dreams would be shattered.

Throughout the day Wednesday it actually heeled almost 75%.  I didn’t notice the pain at all when I was sitting still.  I also didn’t feel as bad when lifting certain things.  I had gotten most of my motion back to normal.  I also did two rounds of ice/heat contrast therapy and took some Advil.  Wednesday night I was supposed to work my shoulders but I was really worried about how it would feel on my chest…. to my surprise the shoulder workouts were not affected by the chest pain.  I was able to do normal weights on all my exercises except shoulder press – I dropped that one down a notch. 

Thursday was a tough day for me mentally.  I absolutely hate the fact that I think about food every minute of the day.   I miss so many simple things: coffee, peanut butter, cereal, fruit, and sandwiches… mostly the things that most people would consider normal and basic foods.  Another thing that is really starting to bother me is the fact that most of my clothes don’t fit anymore.  I know, I know…. 90% of the women in American want to kill me, but it's true.  I want to be able to get dressed every morning and feel confident in the way I look.  Not to mention I also want to look professional at work.  I used to love my clothes.…  but now I feel like a little kid playing dress up or a little girl wearing her big sister’s hand me downs.  I’m certainly not going to go out and buy more clothes because I know I won’t be like this forever.  I love my food way too much to keep this up J Guess it’s time to get creative and piece together some new outfits. Honestly, I hate feeling so self-conscience about the way I look.  It’s really sucks being a girl because you always feel like people are looking at you or judging you for the way you look.   I don’t know if guys feel like that or not, but I would doubt it. 

I truly believe that this competition training is about 50/50 between mental and physical strength.  Sure, most people can workout every day… but can you really force yourself to stick to such a strict diet…. Can you force yourself to maintain your normal life, balance work responsibilities and social fun, while only getting six hours of sleep a night, can you spend three hours a day in the gym without going crazy?  This week I really started thinking that I was going crazy!  What had I gotten myself in to?  Is it really worth it?  What do I really want to get out of all this?  Damn it!  I better win something!!!!  If I don't win a trophy, then I'm just gonna go buy myself one.

Friday was a little better for me because I knew the weekend was so close.  I knew I could catch up on sleep and rest and enjoy my last cheat day.  Friday morning I could still feel some pain in my pec.  It wasn’t a consistent pain like it had been Tuesday night and some of Wednesday.  I was only feeling sharp pain when I reached to grab something and lifted anything too heavy (like my crazy huge purse).  I took a few Advil after lunch Friday because it was starting to hurt and bother me a little more than usual.  I was worried because Friday night would be able to do my chest workout.  I guess this is where I would see how much damage had really been done.  Would I be able to do anything or would it just hurt way too much to do any weight training?   Again, I was really surprised that I didn’t feel much pain when I started my workouts.  I maintained the same weights for most of my exercises.  However, I decrease weight on my chest press and fly reps because I assumed it was either of these two that caused the strain to begin with.  Marcia and I managed to make it through the entire workout and then headed upstairs for our cardio.  Just 60 more minutes and we’re done with week four.  It was tough… we both felt weak and exhausted.  But we were able to make it through by dreaming of our cheat day.  We decided to meet for breakfast on Saturday at a local French bakery.  Mmmmm….. I realized how much I missed Paris… the baguettes and cheese, the croissants and café, the nutella crepes….. so needless to say I was beyond excited to get a little reminder of the best three weeks of my life and my Natalie. 

This is an update picture from Friday evening after our workout…. To me, it still looks like I haven’t changed that much.  This is a bit frustrating when I think of all the daily struggles and internal battles that I’ve had.  Especially this week!  UGH what a bummer!  It’s kinda hard to be consistent with my weekly updates.  I try to take the pictures on Friday nights because Marcia is at the gym with me and then I try weighed in Saturday mornings….  Mainly because you’re lighter in the morning on an empty stomach and it give a good synopsis of the previous six days of training.  So this picture is from Friday evening, January 28.  On Saturday morning, January 29, I weighed 113.5.  I lost 2.1 lbs… lucky me!  Johnny said that my diet would have to be changed up if I didn’t loose at least one pound.  Boo-yeah!  I did it!!

Can you see the exhaustion in my eyes???  Guess I should touch up some make up before I take pics next week... haha! Still waiting to see some definition in my legs.  I think the arc-trainer and elliptical can help this... also gotta keep bumping up the weights on my squats.

Four weeks down-  seven to go!

Week 3

Saturday morning my parents and I woke up early, about 6am, and headed to Savannah to spend some time with our family.  To my surprise my mom suggested stopping at Startbucks before we got on the road.  Yippeee!  Great way to start a cheat day!  I had a tall skinny caramel macchiato and a yogurt, fruit, granola parfait!  Oh man, I forgot how good the yogurt parfait was!  That will definitely return as a daily staple in my post competition diet.  I’m pretty sure that thing disappeared before we even made it to 75S.  We also stopped in Macon to meet my parents’ friends and drop off some wine from Nashville.  Since we had to stop anyway, might as well stop at Chick Fil A.  Being the red blooded American that I am, I had to have one of the new Spicy Chicken Biscuits…. And I’m proud to say I fulfilled my patriotic obligation, but I won’t be ordering another one.  I like the original biscuits, they’re ok, but I would really just prefer to have a plain biscuit with honey.  Also, keep in mind, I don’t like fried chicken…. So I didn’t like how the spicy chicken was so crunchy.  Now, if Chic Fil A ever launches a spicy chargrilled chicken sandwich I may have to take a vacation day from work and camp out at the nearest restaurant.  Please Mr. Cathy, I know you can do it!  You’ve been toying with my emotions for far too long now.  Spicy Chargrilled wrap, Spicy Chicken Sandwich, Spicy Chicken Biscuit….. what’s a girl gotta do to get a Spicy Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich!!! 

Forgive me, I digress…. So we cruise on down to my aunt’s house and meet my mom’s side of the family for lunch…. nothing too special, just a simple lunch with sandwiches and chips and all.  I ate two and a half sandwiches on white bread, loads of pasta salad and a few handfuls of BBQ chips.  You think that’s enough….  No way!  My glutton self attempts to put away a piece of double chocolate cake.  If I would I have known there was chocolate cake, I would have skipped the sandwiches.  After only three bites of cake my stomach was telling me that it had had enough.  See here’s the problem with cheat days…. My mind knows I need to eat the carbs, my taste buds long for a short return to normal food, but my stomach is like “whoa… WTF?” So I had to take a break from eating and lay on the couch for about 30 minutes.   So we leave my aunt’s house and head to my grandparents’ new place.  They recently moved in to a retirement community after 60 plus years in the house they build on my grandfather’s GI bill…. Anyway… quite the transition for anyone, but an even bigger deal when you’re 95 and 90 years old.  So I was very excited to see their new house.  Unfortunately my grandfather was in a rush to get to his  Quarterback Club dinner party with my dad and brother so I saw him for about five minutes before they rushed off.  On a side note, they were about an hour early, obviously no need to be in that much of a hurry… but that’s a whole different story.  My mom, Kristin (future sister-in-law), and I visited with my grandmother and heard all about the new place.  I think they’ll really like it.  I know I would!  I have to wonder if they have a minimum age requirement…. Who wouldn’t want to have three meals a day, laundry services, and a shuttle to take you around town to run errands… oh yeah and countless activities and social events.  Where do I sign up?  Why don’t they have these for young single people…. Oh wait, that was the sorority house….

So the ladies enjoyed a nice dinner out at Spanky’s in Savannah.  My grandmother likes this restaurant but my grandfather doesn’t so we decided to take her there.  I’ve always gotten the same thing every time so why break tradition now….. I got the Hot Chicken and Cheese Pita.  It’s grilled chicken, cheese, onions, green peppers, and jalapenos in a pita and it comes with the house spuds.  Spanky's also has this amazing honey dip stuff for the spuds... it's sweet but has a tangy litltle kick at the end.  Not sure what' it is, but I love it!  De-Lish! I was very happy!!!

Sunday morning the fun was over…. We left Savannah really early and headed back to Atlanta.  We stopped for breakfast in Macon again.  This time we were at Cracker Barrel and it was back to the diet.  Six egg whites and half a cup of oatmeal.  Wanna talk about a rip off… let’s see how much Cracker Barrel charges for one scrambled egg white…. $1.15.  They do know that a dozen of eggs is only $1.35-$1.50.  I’m no math wiz, but that’s a bigger mark up than a beer at a Braves game!  The egg whites are still good to me, but the oatmeal is getting difficult.  It’s just so plain and blah…  I’m not sure I’ll eat much oatmeal after March 19^th.  As soon as I got back to Atlanta is was time to hit the gym for morning cardio.  I decided that after my week 2 weight gain that I'm going to increase my cardio to 60 minutes each time instead of just 45.  Not sure it'll make a huge difference, but I'll try it and see what happens.  Then I went to Publix for my weekly grocery shopping.  The good news is it doesn’t take long to shop when you can only buy chicken, steak, eggs, oatmeal, spinach, and asparagus.  I came back to my house and cleaned up a bit and washed clothes.  I feel like I don’t have enough socks and work out clothes, but I guess that’s what 12 work-outs a week will do to you.  Four o’clock rolls around and it’s time for my afternoon weight training and cardio session with Marcia.  Thank goodness I have such a fantastic work out partner.  She ensures I have the proper form and continuously pushes me to add weight, push through the pain and finish strong!  I hope I can be as supportive and motivating to her, but right now I think I’m just helping her learn to count.  If I wasn’t there she’d be doing 5 or 6 sets instead of just 4… she just gets so into it that she forgets to count and doesn’t stop.  Sunday night was a quick work out but we still make it worth every minute.  We worked legs and shoulders and I’m still surprised at how much definition I can see in my shoulders already.  Still not impressed with my legs, but I know if I keep pushing the weights and dieting right then I’ll get the results I need.  It may take nine more weeks but I’ll keep at it.

Monday I was off work for MLK day so of course I slept in and enjoyed my time off.  But, time off from work doesn’t mean time of from the gym.  So I did my morning cardio, came home, ate, took a nap, and went back to the gym.  Tonight was the dreaded bicep workout.  UGH!  Just plain terrible.  I was able to bump up my weight (or decrease assistance) with the pull-ups and I’d like to take that as a huge improvement…. Despite all the cuss words that could be heard- I was happy with what I did.  Also, I found that I was able to increase weights on preacher curls and finish my concentrated curls without assistance…. Guess that means we’re bumping those suckers up on Thursday J

Tuesday was a true test to the temptation of food.  We had a special lunch at work today where everyone was supposed to bring in a cover dish lunch…..I truly believe my office has some of the best cooks in Atlanta.  Oh no…. I just realized that I may still be on this damn diet when we have the Spring Picnic…. If that’s the case I just need to take a vacation day now because I know I won’t be able to resist temptation that day.  Today kinda sprung up on me, but I know there will be no way to hide from the Spring Picnic.  Anyway, I escape the office lunch and come home to eat like usual.  I’m really lucky to live two and a half miles from work so that I have time to come home and eat a good lunch.  I don’t know what it was, but my lunch was actually really good today!  It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary… chicken, sweet potato and broccoli.  I’m not complaining one bit… but I think this whole program is starting to brain wash me.  Marcia had to teach a spin class tonight so I was left on my own in the weight room.  I put on my iPod and got down to business.  I felt absolutely amazing tonight.  I felt energized and really excited about where I was headed.  My only real difficulty tonight was chest press but it was the first full day at a higher weight. 

Three days til my cheat meal… its about time to start thinking about what I’ll feast on this Saturday.  Mexican maybe… maybe Vietnamese pho and banh mi?  I love this cause I never really know exactly what I’m eating… that’s one of the simple adventures in life that I enjoy the most.  Adventurous eating…. Perhaps my next blog will be a worldwide adventure exploring unique cuisine.  I could be Andrew Zimmern’s sidekick.  I’m sure he would love that!

Let’s see… here we are at Wednesday, hump day.  Today was a really good day.  I had two girl scouts selling cookies in the office today…. I didn’t hesitate at all when I ordered a total of 5 boxes.  Not one ounce of guilt crossed my mind.  Everyone knows you can freeze those suckers!  Once delivered, they'll be safely stored in my freezer.  All and all I felt great and was thinking that this wasn’t that bad after all…. I had energy all day.  I was in a good mood.  I was looking forward to my work out.  Not much to complain about.  Wednesday evening I got home and texted Johnny, the training expert, to tell him how great I felt, how excited I was and that I was actually feeling confident that I could have a positive showing at the competition in March.  His great, inspirational, coaching response -  “Hehe, just wait!”  I mean seriously!  How could he say that?  I was so pumped and then my hopes and dreams came crashing down.   I guess I did need a little dose of reality.  He told me that the diet was going to get tougher in the next two weeks.  At the start of week five I was going to have to cut out all carbs.  I have never done a no-carb diet so this was going to be true test.  Carbs make me happy.   Well actually all food makes me happy…. That’s why I’ve started living each day just to make it to Saturday.

Thursday was just another day in paradise.  I was really busy at work Wednesday and Thursday so I didn’t have much time to think about being hungry or tired.  I have noticed that it makes the workdays much longer when I’m constantly watching the clock.  Get to work at 8:30ish…. Eat my eggs and oatmeal around 9:45, go home and eat lunch at 12:30, then keep watching the clock until 3:30 when I have my protein shake and almonds.  After that its down hill from there.  Today I was dreading my workout because it was the toughest one: biceps and abs.  Another huge disappointment Thursday was the fact that my awesome group of girlfriends all went out to dinner at Noche and enjoyed margaritas, yummy tapas, and chips and cheese dip.  This has been the first time I’ve really had to turn down something fun with the people I love because of this training.  I can deal with missing lunch outings with work friends, but I was really sad to miss dinner with my girls.  I’m just going to keep working hard and stay focused on my goals.  I know we’ll have plenty more GNOs to come after March 19.  Luckily Marcia and I could work out together tonight.  Tuesday and Wednesday she was teaching classes.  Even though tonight was our longest and toughest workout, we managed to get through it and kept our spirits up.  I swear I couldn’t get through this without Marcia by my side.  She pushes me to do more than I ever thought I could do.  It’s really surprising and rewarding to look back and see where I was three weeks ago.  For some exercises I’ve increased my weights about 20 pounds and it’s just going to keep getting better for 8 more weeks.

Finally, we’ve made it to Friday.  TGIF has a whole new meaning to me.  After five days of long hard work, I know I just have a few more hours until I can rest (and eat).  Tonight was a relatively “easy” and short workout.  Marcia and I were lucky enough to have two special guests join our workout tonight.  Somehow she managed to convince Ryan and Tyler to do our weight-training program with us.  I guess I have to explain a little background information.  You may think I’m crazy but we’re really lucky to have a great little gym family at Midtown.  There is a core group of people, maybe 10-12 of us, who pretty much follow the same group exercise classes every week.  So we see each other every day and love to pick on the one who’s slacking or maybe not sweating enough.  It's all in good fun and we push each other to reach of max potential.  If you have the strength to move after Boot Camp on Wednesday nights then you obviously wasted the previous 60 minutes.  So we’ve all gotten to be really good friends through the gym.  Also, I’ve worked with Ryan and Tyler for the past four years. So anyway, it’s been a little weird not being able to go to class with these people the past three weeks.  Marcia and I were excited to have our special guests tonight.  We breeze through our tricep, chest, and oblique workout and actually had fun doing it.  So if anyone’s interest, feel free to join the pumping iron party anytime!  I really wish the cheat day really began Friday night.  I was dying to eat something good after our workout.  When I went to sleep Friday night I knew I would dream about food…. And I really did, not sure what this dream meant but I was at a restaurant by myself and they only served me these tiny little donut things with honey…. Not so bad, but I couldn’t get a menu and real food.  Also, they kept sending over yummy cocktails and I was mad because I can’t drink them.  Haha I just remembered in my dream, I took a sip of rum and coke and felt terrible guilt about cheating on my diet.  Seriously?  Who does that?  Who has dreams of food and alcohol?  Only me…. And maybe everyone else in the middle of training.

Here’s my week three update…. Another reason I'm thankful to have Marcia workout with me... I'm not the only one taking in the gym taking pictures in a bathing suit.  I’m still not seeing the changes and improvements that I expected.  But I’m not getting worse either so I’ll take that at a positive.  I am happy that the extra cardio this week seemed to help drop a little weight.  I lost a pound or so.... weighed in at 115.6 Saturday morning.  Hopefully when I start practicing my real competition poses the pictures will turn out better. 

Thanks for following my blog and keeping up with  my daily struggles!  I'm less than two months away from the big day.... so I know there will be many more ups and downs and I hope you'll be reading along to see how I get through it.  I hope I get through it all... eyes on the prize.  Gotta stay motivated and focused on the goal. 

Week 2

Saturday could have possibly been just as exciting as Christmas morning…. I went to bed Friday night dreaming of food… carbs!  Yay can’t wait to eat food that reminds me of my former, fatty lifestyle.  So I woke up around 9ish maybe and went to the gym for my cardio work out…. Still trying to make up for what I missed Friday morning.  So finished my workout, weighed in and went straight to Einstein Bros Bagels.  Oh baby!  This was the best bagel of my life.   I ate half of it on the way home because I couldn’t wait another minute.  I tried to savor the last half once I got home.  A few hours later I ordered a pizza from Papa John’s.  I was trying to convince myself that I wasn’t a complete glutton so I only got a medium three-cheese pizza.  I brought that sucker home and devoured it!  I ate the entire pizza!  Well, not including the crust, I don’t really like that part.  So before 1:00pm I had consumed my goal of 250g of carbs for the day.  Later that afternoon I reported for duty as photog assistant Lil Wiz for erika Leigh photography.  (www.erikaleighphotography.com) Check her out!  She’s the best photographer in Atlanta…. She takes amazing, fresh, new, creative, not to mention beautiful pictures and I’m lucky enough to tag along for some of the ELP fun at some pretty awesome weddings every once in a while. Yes, we'll travel far and wide for your wedding or other special event. Oh yeah, and she also flips her hair back and forth….. she made it cool way before Willow Smith.

Sunday was back to the grind… same old plan.  Morning cardio, grocery shopping adventure at Publix (apparently Atlanta is getting ready for a monster blizzard…. Hello?  This is Hotlanta… what are people freaking out about?)  So I bought my normal shopping list, chicken breast, broccoli, spinach, and asparagus.  I also picked up some new sodium free seasonings to try to change up my grilled chicken a little bit.  Sunday afternoon I met up with Marcia and we went through our scheduled weight routine.  I also added 30 extra minutes to my cardio just in case I couldn’t get to the gym Monday due to the blizzard.

Monday….. well, looks like I’m eating my words.  Atlanta is completely shut down.  No work and no gym today…. Snow day play day!  I’m so thankful to have the extra time to catch up on sleep.  Luckily I had some resistance bands at home so I could attempt to replicate my weight training routine.  It was ok I guess…. Good enough to get by in a pinch.   The worst part about being stuck inside all day is really sticking to the diet.  Everyone knows you eat when you’re bored and it took all the will power I have in my body to keep to the diet.  I tried to cut back a little bit due to my lack of activity and no cardio work out tonight.  Looking forward to a normal life tomorrow…..

Well normal is not coming around today… Tuesday is another day as a shut in.  So this is getting pretty old.  And that nutella in my kitchen is starting to look pretty darn tasty.   Now I’m starting to get worried….. Two days of no gym, no weight training, no cardio, and LOTS of temptation to break the diet and eat non-diet foods.  Ugh…. Even if I could get in the gym tomorrow, have I already lost what little I gained last week?  Will I ever catch up to the schedule and be ready in time for the show in March?  If my chances are shot now, I might as well eat a few cookies today.  But no, luckily I talked to Marcia and we both pumped each other up and knew that we had to stick to this.  We had to tackle the challenges and make it through this.  So I turned up the Mixmasters and went through another resistance band work out. 

Things are starting to look up Tuesday night.  Looks like my office will be open midday tomorrow and since the gym is so close to work; I’m praying that they’ll be open too.  A year ago, I would have never thought that I would be so happy to go to work and go to the gym.  I mean, I love sleeping 12-13 hours a day and all, but not four days in a row…. I gotta get out and do something….

Wednesday was a fantastic day!  Atlanta began to thaw and slowly we saw resemblance of a normal life.  I called the gym at  7am and yes, the were open.  However, I was advised to wait a few hours and come later in the day because the parking lot and front entrance were still very icy.  So I forced myself back to sleep for two hours and then went to the gym around 9am.  I was so freakin’ excited to be back in my normal routine… well kinda.  I did my morning cardio and then went to work.  My office closed at 4pm so I went to the gym right after work and did weight training without Marcia.  Today was a pretty short, tolerable work out.  After that it was back upstairs for more cardio.  I knew I should add some time since I was out commission the previous two days.  So I planned to do an hour of cardio.  I’m currently reading “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”.  So when the 60-minute mark came up I “accidentally” kept going because my book was sooooo good.  OK, so this is  probably one of the last things I ever thought I’d say.  Here are three thoughts that I had in my head today: 1. I’m so happy to go to work today. 2. I’m excited to finally be back in the gym. And 3. This book is so good… I can’t put it down.  So, if you knew me 6-8 months ago, you would think that hell would have to freeze over before I would say one of these things, much less all three in one day.  No, I’m not really insinuating that Atlanta is hell.   Wednesday was one of my best days so far in training.

Thursday we’re back in action…. Atlanta is still covered in ice but slowly showing signs of improvement.  I manage to get back to the gym in the morning and then a full day of work.  I met Marcia at the gym for our weight training.  Today’s plan is the worst of the three…. I seriously dread this day.  Today we’re focusing on biceps and abs.  I absolutely hate biceps exercises…. Probably because I’m so weak and everything is really hard.  Also, this plan has more exercises than the other two plans so it takes much longer.  By the time we finish up with 45 minutes of cardio on the Stairmaster, I’ve been at the gym for nearly 2 ½ hours.  YUCK!  It was insane.  The good news, and saving grace that got me through this, only one more day til I can eat normal food.

Friday was starting to feel like my normal routine again…. Same old stuff: morning cardio, protein shake, eggs, oatmeal, chicken, asparagus, little bit of sweet potato, protein shake, almonds, weight training, cardio, protein shake…. And finally dinner.  I forgot to thaw my chicken so I’m stuck eating tuna fish and asparagus…. It’s not exactly gourmet but I’m not even gonna think about it.  So today’s weight training was pretty good.  I felt great, felt like I was getting stronger and increasing weight with the chest dips and flys.  We also changed up our oblique knee raises.  We were hanging from our elbows… at first it was a little intimidating but then it turned out to be kinda fun and then intense and difficult!  I loved it!!!  We finished up the night with 45 minutes on the elliptical.  All and all I thought it was a great day…. Diet went well, training went great and I felt great... pretty much felt like my usual self all day….. and then….. the bomb hit.

I stepped on the scale after my work out tonight since I won’t be in the gym tomorrow.  Looks like I gained weight this week.  I was 116.3 last Saturday morning and tonight I was 117.0.  I didn’t expect it to upset me like it did…. I was really frustrated.  I realize that I missed two days in the gym due to the ice madness and I was also comparing Friday evening to Saturday morning.  I guess you’re at your lightest in the morning before you eat… and I’ve already had two full meals and two protein shakes.  It’s just a tough blow to your confidence when you’ve worked so hard.  I expected to drop at least 1 or 2 pounds this week.  If I had known I was going to gain weight I would have had some cookies and nutella while I was snowed in for a few days.  I guess next week I’ll have to increase my intensity with the weight training.

Here's a pic of how I look Friday night...  I'm seeing progress in my shoulders and abs.  I'm really waiting to see when I'll see some improvement in my legs.  But it's only been two weeks, albeit two long weeks.... Patience is a virtue.

This also puts a damper on my excitement to pig out tomorrow.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m gonna eat like a champ!  First stop… Chick Fil A!  I’m dying for a chicken biscuit… but no pizza this week.  What I’m really dying to have is a milkshake!  But I think I have 64 more days until I can get that.  I still have to be very careful about too much sugar.

Two weeks down... nine to go! I think....

Week 1

Sunday January 2, 2011-

After all the fun of the past few days, I was excited to be back home and in my own bed…. So I slept in until about 11 and then went to the gym for my first workout of the day.  I did the usual 45 minutes of cardio keeping my heart rate below 125.  No biggie… I’m used to this by now. 

I'm planning to take pictures once a week so I can see the progress and hopefully be motivated by small signs of improvement.  Also, like I said in the beginning, this is going to be my honest story... so I'm posting my first picture. It's not great.... looking at this picture shows me that there are a lot of areas that I need to work on, getting a tan doesn't top the list yet.  I weighed in at 119.6 today.

On a side note, these pictures were taken after the gym closed so the only people who saw me were Johnny and Marcia.  I would never prance around the weight room in the middle of the day.  The bottom picture was a pose that Johnny said was used in some competitions but not the one I'll be doing.  I couldn't help but laugh as I did this.... I never thought I would ever be flexing and posing in the middle of my gym.

Later that night, I went back to the gym to do a lower body workout, cardio, and meet with Johnny and Marcia who are also going through this same program.  Johnny’s done this a few times before and he’s our go to professional with all training and dieting questions.  This is Marcia’s second attempt.  She made it through about 4 weeks of training last year and decided not to continue.

We start with the diet…. It’s going to be tough.  It’s basically six small meals a day.  It’s a lot of high protein, low carbs, and almost no fat.  The good news is we have a lot of substitution foods so I shouldn’t get really sick of any of it…. At least not right away.  Also, we can use pretty much any herb or seasoning except anything with sodium so I can always change up my flavorings.

Then we go through the weight plans….  This is a six day program so there are three sets of work outs.  I’ll do one on Monday and Thursdays, the second on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the third set on Wednesdays and Sundays.  Saturday will be my day off.

I had a ton of questions… but luckily, Johnny and Marcia were patient with me and helped reassure that I would be ok and it will all pay off in the end.

Sunday I ate a lot of eggs, about seven, some oatmeal, and ground turkey…. I was supposed to eat six meals but only had four because I slept in so late.

The plan from here on out, well as much as I know, will be 45 minutes of cardio in the morning and then weight training and 45 more minutes of cardio in the evening.

On Monday, I was excited… I was so pumped to get this whole adventure officially underway.  I started the day as usual, but I was amazed at the amount of food I had to eat…. I thought there was no way that I can eat ALL of this in one day.  The morning protein shake, followed almost immediately by 6 egg whites and ½ cup of oatmeal was a daunting task.  I think it took me almost an hour to eat that.  I had the usual lunch, some ground turkey breast and spinach.  I never thought I’d be hungry again, but by 3:00 I was starving for my afternoon snack, protein shake and almonds.

I went through the evening work out and it was pretty difficult and I was on my own this time.  I was bored…. I don’t really like being in the weight room working out by myself.  The weight training took forever, almost an hour and a half.  Then I had to finish up with 45 minutes of cardio.

I began questioning myself and wondering what I was really doing here.  What’s the point?  What do I really expect out of this?

Tuesday and Wednesday are kind of a blur to me…. I was a walking zombie for two days straight…  I followed the work out plan and diet as it was written…. I was so sore from the new weight training… I had a terrible headache that lasted for days.  All I could think about was the next time I could close my eyes.  I craved sleep…. But, I know this is all part of the adjustment period.  During the day I felt a lot ups and downs.  Sometimes I was bursting with energy and feeling like I could take on the world, and then just a few hours later I was barely able to keep my eyes open and felt like I could fall asleep.  It was definitely challenging to keep up with work.  The worst part about the first few days was leaving the gym around 8pm, having a protein shake, and then having to wait about two hours to have dinner.  I was eating dinner around 10pm and I was so tired.  I’m used to going bed really early without the two a day work outs and crazy diet.  So getting to bed between 10:30 and 11 this week has been killing me.  There is also a lot of prep work at night for the next day’s breakfast and snacks that keeps me busy in each night.

Thursday started as a normal day until I was almost finished with the weight-training workout.   My stomach hurt so bad I thought I was going to die… ok maybe not exactly, but it was really bad.  I could barely move.  I stayed curled up in a ball watching Man vs. Food until I fell asleep.  I told Johnny that there was no way I could make it to the gym Friday morning for my cardio workout.  He wasn’t happy but told me to do double cardio Friday evening.

So Friday morning, I slept in a little later and went straight to work.  I was feeling about 80% better…. I think my new glow in the dark air force ones really helped brighten my day.  So I continued business as usual Friday and met Marcia at the gym for our evening workouts…. She left after weights and cardio and then I stayed and finished my extra cardio since I skipped that morning. 

Friday night I came home, made my dinner and watched the Gray’s Anatomy…. After the week I had, this was the perfect relaxing night for me. 

There’s no way to sugar coat it…. This first week was tough.  I wanted to quit several times.  I just knew there was no way I could keep up with this diet and lack of sleep.  It made me a really bitter person… I was pretty grumpy most of the week.  I’m pretty sure that I’ll throw up at the sight of another protein shake…  Honestly, I think these are the worst part of the program.  One is good, but three a day is way overboard!  I just had to keep reminding myself that it never always gets worse.  I’m hoping that the newness will wear off soon and this will become more of a habit and normal routine.  I’m planning to do more prep work on Sunday so that I’ll have my entire food plan ready for each meal and I won’t have to do a lot of measuring and weighing portion sizes each day.

Below is a shot of the progress in the first week.  It's hard to really compare to the first shot because the pose isn't the exact same.  I dropped 3.3 pounds this week and weighed 116.3 Saturday morning.  Now it's time to pig out.... I think I'm starting with a bagel and cream cheese, then ordering a pizza for lunch, and maybe Steak and Shake burger and fries for dinner!!!!

Thanks for following week one.... Please check back next week or see my facebook for more daily struggles.  Also, feel free to post a comment if you have any tips to share or words of encouragement!  

The Warm-Up

I'm easing in to the training program for the next two weeks.  I'm trying to get my body used to the work outs before the shock of the new diet really hits me....

Day 1- December 20, 2010

Ok so the competition is about 12 weeks away.  Today I start my “two-a-day” training.  That means the alarm is set for 5:45am.  Seriously?   What am I getting myself in to…. This can’t be my brightest idea ever.   I’m so worried that I’m going to oversleep I end up not sleeping much at all.  So I think I woke up to check the clock every 20 minutes from 3:00 to 5:45am.  So my cute little alarm gently wakes me up.  On a side note, I am deathly afraid of the traditional alarm clocks. Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but I refuse to have my first emotion of everyday be that eerie freaked out cringe, panic in the pit of my stomach.  I prefer something on the softer side.  It is currently set on BB_Groves Smooth Latin.  So my smooth latin wakes me up at 5:45… I was so tired Sunday night that I didn’t pack anything for the morning.  Now I’m scrambling to get everything together… shower stuff, work clothes, and my exercise clothes.  As an added bonus, it’s about 30 degrees so I layer up on the outerwear also.  So I get to the gym and jump on a treadmill…. Woo-hoo!  Training has finally started.  I’ve been anticipating this for so many months.  I start with a brisk warm-up jog ready to really rock it in a solid 45 minute run.  Johnny told me to keep my heart rate under 125 so after a five minute warm up I check my heart rate.  Don’t remember what it was but it was way too high.  So I slow down a little keep checking my heart rate every two minutes…. Still too high.  Eventually I ended up in a slightly increased walk around 3.9 mph on the treadmill.  Holy cow this is awful!  Soooo boring.  I was all hyped up for a good burn and this is what I get?  But, I have to say, I was fairly warned of this.  So I try not to be too bored and power through my 45 minutes of cardio to get this party started. 

I go through a normal day at work and then head back to my home away from home, Midtown Athletic Club.  I start my work out with 30 minutes of spin class.  After that I go to the Group Power class.  This is one of my absolute favorite classes.  It’s an hour long choreographed weight training class and takes you through ten work songs, each one targeting a different muscle group.  Its up to you how much weight you want on your bar for each exercise.  I need to start writing down my normal weights so I can see when I need to increase weight and attempt to monitor my progress….. note to self for next time. 

I think the main thing to thing about today and this first week is learning what to expect in the work outs and getting used to the new routine. 

Day 2- December 21, 2010

My sweet smooth latin alarm gets me again around 5:40am this morning.  I decide to wake up five minutes earlier to ensure that I get there by 6:15 because I’m doing another Group Power class.  I know I shouldn’t go weight lifting so close together but I had to rearrange my schedule due to some work stuff.  So I go through another full body weight routine in the morning before work. 

To round out the day I go back to the gym for 60 minutes of cardio.  Again, the focus is keeping my heart rate at 125.  I think this is going to be the hardest part of all the training.  I really feel like such a slacker when everyone else is huffing and puffing through they’re intense work outs and I’m barely sweating, or glistening, as a polite young lady like myself should say.   So just to keep from getting too bored, I do 30 minutes on the elliptical and then switch to the treadmill for my last half of the cardio work out.

By the way… I’m not dieting yet.  I’m nowhere near where I should be on the diet.  That part will start January 2.  I had to wait until after Christmas and New Year’s before I could commit to something like that.  I know it’s gonna be super duper hard!

Two days down, only a bajillion more to go.

Day 3- December 22, 2010

Once again the cute little latin alarm wakes me up at 5:45…. Yippee!  Here we go again.  I head to the gym and try to decide which cardio machine to do today.  I ended up picking the Espresso bike machine.  This simulates, so I assume, a real bike ride on hundreds of different trail options.  I’ve never really ridden a real bike on a real trail, so I’m only guessing that this is what it would be like.  So I randomly pick a trail and start riding.  The handlebars are really sensitive so my biggest struggle the first five minutes was just staying on the course.  One thing that I really liked about this bike was that the heart rate sensors were right there on the handlebars and easy to use.  So I was able to monitor my heart rate the entire time.  Again, it was very difficult to keep my heart rate exactly at 125.  On the hills it would go up, and on the down hills or flats it would go down.  Not to mention every time I glanced to check my heart rate, the sensitive handlebars would drift and I would steer off course… geesh.  So difficult, I just want to sit still and move my legs in little circles.  Is that too much to ask?  So I kept trekking along for 45 minutes and managed to average a 126 bpm heart rate.  Getting closer, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades…. Gotta get better next time.

So today was a little difficult for me on the personal side.  I ended up taking the afternoon off work and coming home to sulk in my sadness.  I ate fast food crap for lunch and grazed on some delicious Christmas cookies as an afternoon snack.  It took a lot of self-control not to pour a large glass of vino! 

After beginning to get bored at home I decide to head back to the gym.  I was a little early for class so I walked on the treadmill for an additional 30 minutes of cardio.  This wasn’t part of my plan so I don’t know if this is good or bad for my training.  Six o’clock rolls around and I venture in to the Sports Circuit/Boot Camp class.  This class is all about, well… everything.  We did some jumping over steps, suicide sprints, running mans, step taps, push ups, bungee runs, planks, laps around the track, several rounds of stair runs… and probably a lot more than I can remember right now.

This is the first difficult work out that I’ve had in about two weeks so I was definitely feeling it after about 20 minutes in.

Good news is I’m off tomorrow… so I’ll really enjoy the time off and chance to rest up a bit.

Day4- December 23

Yay!  Off day…. It felt so weird to sleep in!  I slept about 2 hours later than usual and the crazy thing is, I felt like I was missing out on something. 

Off to work for a few hours then I was on the road to Nashville to start my much needed Christmas break.

Day 5- December 24

I’m in Nashville today with my family for Christmas.  I’m not sure what time I woke up but I got up went downstairs, and figured out we didn’t really have any plans so I decided to bundle up, get a leash and Tini and head out for a brisk morning walk.  We went for about 45 minutes and it was faa-reeeeezzing cold.  I think it was about 29 degrees actually.  Also, I’m pretty sure Tini was mad at me because her poor little feetsies were so cold.  When we came home we cuddled up on the couch with a cup of coffee and enjoyed the rest of our holiday with the family.

We went out for brunch in Nashville and I had one of the best meals of my whole life.  We were at the Loveless Café and it was well worth the hour and a half wait. Thank goodness the diet hasn’t started yet.  I had BBQ omelet, grits, and a mason jar bloody mary….. gotta love the south!  I’ve had my fair share of omelets in my life but this was not an omlete.  I’m not really sure what it was but I’m not going to question it because it was a-freakin’-mazing.  

The rest of the day was filled with cookies, toffee, cookies, peanut brittle, cookies, dinner, and a few more cookies.  Did I mention the diet hasn’t started yet?

We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.

Day 6- December 25

Christmas Day…. Heck no I’m not training today!  Woo-hoo!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Actually, I was planning to take Tini out again today but it was snowing all day so of course I decided to stay in and do what else… eat cookies!

December 7- December 26

Time to head home from Nashville.  It’s still snowing so my mom wants all of us (me, my brother Steve and his fiancé Kristin) to head home pretty early before the roads get any worse.  So we leave Nashville about 11am/noon eastern. I get home about 4pm.  By the way, longest drive home from Nashville to Atlanta… not sure why but people were driving so slow.  I’m not really one to take it slow on the highway so I was beyond frustrated.  I just wanted to get out of the darn car.  So I get home to Atlanta and it’s still snowing.  Geeze….enough already!  So I unpack my car, change clothes and head to the gym.  I feel like a blob of cookie dough so I had to get moving.  I did about an hour of elliptical… of course keeping my heart rate below 125.  This is still not getting any easier.  It’s really hard to keep this pace because I feel like in order to burn a lot of calories and get skinnier you have to be busting it with cardio and really sweating your ass off.  After an hour I go back to the locker room and step on the dreaded scale.  How many pounds did I gain with the thousands of cookies that I ate in the past four days?  Surprisingly, the damage was less that one pound. 

Day 8- December 27

I’m off work all week so here’s my challenge…. Do I keep my early morning routine, or just go to the gym whenever I wake up, 9, 10 or 11 am?  I decided to keep the early routine because it will be easier once work starts back and the “real” training begins.  I got up at 6am and braved the freezing cold to get to the gym.  I did my 45 minutes of cardio training and rushed home to get back in bed.  I spent all day on the couch dozing in and out of countless naps and mindless television entertainment.  I went back to the gym in the evening and did 60 minutes of cycling, then did some weight training with Marcia.  We focused on biceps and triceps.  This was my first taste of what the real training was going to be like.  Oh geeze! This was pretty hard-core.  We did three sets of each exercise.  The first set was at a medium weight and we did 12 reps, then we increased the weight and did 10 reps, the last round was the heaviest weight possible for 8 reps.  It took about 45 minutes to go through these exercises.

Day 9- December 28

I slept in just a little bit later this morning.  Got up at 6:45 and was in the gym by 7:15.  I did my 45-minute cardio work out on the elliptical. This is still pretty boring… I’m having to keep checking my heart rate every 2-5 minutes to make sure I’m not going over 125…. Which I am, of course, so I keep slowing down.  This makes it feel like the longest, slowest work out of my life.

I go about the rest of my day and meet up with Marcia again at the gym Tuesday night.  We went through our legs workout and did quad work, squats, leg extensions, and leg presses.  Then we did inner thigh adductors and calf raises.  We finished up the training session with 45 minutes on the stair climber.  I forgot my music so this really was the worst cardio exercise ever.  I managed to fight through the boredom by reading some magazines.

Day 10- December 29

Ok so the early mornings are starting to get to me.  I really wanted to stay in bed and enjoy my vacation this morning.  But I knew my competition wasn’t sleeping in.  If I was going to do this thing, I’m going to do it right!  I’m not going there to lose.  I’m in it to win it!  Yeah, so I get myself pumped up and make my way to my new home away from home.  Just a little more of the same old thing…. 45 minutes walking on the treadmill.  I’m just following the directions I was given.  I’m dying to run…. I just really want to let get out on the open road and forget about this heart rate restriction.  But I have to keep reminding myself that this will all pay off one day…. March 19!  Yay!

December 30-January 1

I took these days off to really enjoy my last few days of freedom.  I enjoyed a lot of good food, plenty of adult beverages, and the company of my friends and family.  I didn’t want to miss a minute of the fun. 

Up next…. The serious training begins January 2, 2011.....

Intro

Welcome to my new blog that will take you through my newest adventure and possibly biggest challenge of my life.... several months ago I decided to try my luck at a Figure Competition.  This is a competition that judges women based on their muscle definition and symmetry.  Below is the definition from Wikipedia (so it must be official, right?)

Figure competition is a newer sub-category of Fitness contests; Figure shows exclude the routines round common to Fitness shows. The competitors are judged solely on muscular symmetry and tone; as in Fitness shows, muscle size is downplayed. Figure competitions appeal most to women who want to compete in a body competition, but wish to avoid Fitness shows' additional athletic and creative demands (for the routines round), or bodybuilding's demands for heavy muscle mass.
A typical figure competition includes two rounds, though this varies by organization. In the symmetry round, the competitors appear on stage in high-heeled shoes and a one-piece swimsuit in a side-by-side line that faces the judges. They execute a series of quarter-turns to the right, allowing the judges to view and compare them from all sides for symmetry, presentation, and other aesthetic qualities such as skin tone, hair, make-up, and stylishness of clothing. In the next round (the group comparisons), competitors return in high heels and a two-piece bathing suit, executing a series of quarter-turns. At this stage, they are judged more critically against the others for conditioning, leanness, and how "feminine" and "athletic" (as opposed to brawny) their muscularity is. Included in either of these rounds, or perhaps just the evening show, the competitors come out individually on stage for a model walk where they are judged on presentation, gracefulness, confidence, poise, and professionalism.


So before we jump in to this, I’ll give you a little bit of my fitness level and athletic background.  I played soccer in high school and ran cross country for a few years also, but that was a long time ago....  In college I worked out at the student gym occasionally, maybe once or twice a month.  I definitely wasn’t committed to a serious work out plan or diet... unless that diet was Paradise Martinis on Tuesdays followed by Wendy’s #4 combo meals on Wednesdays.  Also, Chick Fil A lunch on Monday’s was a staple in my life for about 2 years.  After college I began working in Atlanta and found a gym that I loved!  I worked out at least 4 or 5 days a week and I was loving it.  I did a lot of group exercise classes and jogged on the treadmill a little.  Then, I got a puppy.... my gym life was over.  I had to rush home from work every day and work on housebreaking the dog and never really made it back to the gym.... even when the dog moved in with my parents.  I attempted a few new work out programs and tried to get in shape but never got really motivated to achieve anything.  While I was at the beach for Georgia/Florida weekend (Halloween 2009), my friend Emily was talking about a half marathon she wanted to run in April 2010.  (On a side note, as a means of comparison, I'm 5'1 and weighed about 135 at this point)  Emily was 8 ½ months pregnant with her second daughter at this point... I knew if she could deliver a baby then care for a newborn and toddler while still training for a half marathon, then I had no excuse but get my lazy but in gear.  It was time to get off the couch and back in the gym that I had once loved so much.... I started back in the gym about 3-4 days a week.  I got a personal trainer to help keep me on track... he tried hard, but I still swayed quite a bit.  I ran when I wanted to, ate what I wanted to, and complained A LOT.  I just didn’t really want to follow the rules.    So I did my own thing, ran the race in April and was proud of my accomplishment.  But as soon as I crossed the finish line I knew I had to do the next one better.  I was looking for a  challenge now.
Over the next few months I really started working hard in the gym.  I increased my intensity and tried to keep a steady 5 days a week.  I did a lot of spin classes, boot camp type classes, and weight training.  I was loving it!  So in August 2010 I decided to tackle what I knew would be my biggest challenge ever.  I called my trainer and told him I wanted to do a Fitness Competition in the spring of 2011.  I knew the training program would be at least 12 weeks long so I didn’t want to do anything until after Thanksgiving and Christmas.  So I kept working hard and got my body used to a good, steady working regiment again.  And that’s where we are now…. It’s time to get this party started.