My Journey To My First Figure Competition, 4 Weeks Out!

Stats: 134.5 lbs; 10.35% Body Fat; Last week: 135.9 lbs; 9.96% Body Fat; I toyed with some simple sugars on Monday and Tuesday and in result my body held water from it….mistake!

Calorie intake: Diet change! 1725 daily still keeping flax seed, fish oil, cabbage and green beans, salmon and tilapia, protein shakes, egg whites and oats.  I came across a whole new enlightenment on my food and I go into great detail on that post HERE!

Cardio: I have a HUGE cardio change coming my way. We’ve been concerned about me losing my muscle mass as I diet down on a calorie deficit, so I came across a great audio post on Rx Muscle Radio Dr. Layne Norton and Dr. Jake Wilson recently. I’ve traded my steady-state cardio in for 3-5 HIIT sessions riding the spin bike. The jest of it is I do 4×15 second or 3×20 second all out interval sprints in those short time frames and then recover when my heart rate gets to 125. Want to know the details and more info? Listen to the audiocast here!

Lifting: New split this week; I added in some abs….but I also get them doing dead lifts, too!

Rest Days: Saturday and Sunday; I had a great posing clinic on Saturday with several other gals training for upcoming shows. So fun to be around like-minded people!

Picture Update:

A share from the heart……..

On Saturday as I made a post with my before and now pictures, a follower commented in reference to a scar from my surgery (implying a quick fix!).  One of the main reasons I was hesitant to have surgery at the three-year mark was because of just that, I didn’t want anyone to undermine my years of hard work and point directly to “she looks like that because she had HELP”.  It happens.  People have their own issues and they’re going to pounce when they get a chance.  But the choice to have six inches of skin removed from my lower abs was something my husband and I agreed was a gift to me  mentally and phyically.  I had worked SO hard to change my lifestyle and reshape my body and the skin below my belly button looked like that of a 90-year-old woman.  (See my pre-surgery pictures here!)  I hated it and it became such a negative, draining focal point to me and was something so ugly on my body, yet something I could do NOTHING about.  I had consulted with three surgeons, all of which said no more weight loss, lifting, diet, pills, potions or lotions could do anything about.  Going into the surgery I was a size 2 weighing 135 pounds, down from my original 225.  I had a then body fat amount of 16-18% and felt it a good time to go under the knife given the upcoming cold weather season.  I also knew I wanted to get on stage this spring, so the timing was right for me.  Funny thing, I weighed MORE after my surgery because of all the muscle I eventually put on.  Again, it was just a fix to majorly loose skin and not about fat or weight loss…that was MY job!

For anyone looking to have ANY kind of surgery, just know that it is not a quick fix.  It is not a green light to eat pizza and ice cream ongoing just because someone took some extra skin off your stomach or fixed other parts on your body.  If you want to have a total body change, then you make a total lifestyle change.  You track your food and water daily.  You educate yourself on which foods are right for your goals.  You show up and sit through weekly diet plan meetings or stick to the plan that works for you.  You learn how to lift safely in the gym and find a cardio plan that salvages your hard earned muscle.  You also get used to saying “No thank you” to 95% of the junk food that floats around you on an ongoing basis.  A doctor may have been able to fix a part on my body that I couldn’t, but his work is a very small part in my transformation.  I’m grateful for the blessing to have this surgery, but it in no way is the why in my before and now.  I earned this change and still do so every.single.day!  There is NO QUICK FIX, period!

 

Rant over….stay tuned next week as I push on toward the Figure stage!