Back to the stage after a 6-year break.

[IronMom]

I'm 8 weeks out for the OCB Arizona Natural. I'll compete in women's bodybuilding. I am both nervous and excited. Being nervous stems from my not actually making it to the stage yet again. Yes, I have gone through the prep phase too many times and been derailed by life! Pissed off about it again and again so I just waited. Plus I had a baby. I'm starting my thread with putting down thoughts then on to my training and diet.

Sophia is 21months old and I have been lifting again for only a year having been off for a year. Sophia is my wild card. So far she eats my pre-measured food and is so needy some times training is difficult. I'm actually weaning her too! Yes, that's right, I'm still nursing. I can't believe it being 12%bf. I'll be gone to whole day of the show without her and that will be hard for the both of us.

I've estimated that I only need to lose roughly 5-6 pounds in 8 weeks. Shouldn't be tough BUT the scale has actually gone UP! The bf% has stayed the same. I really don't want to reduce my cals too much right now, it seems waaaay to soon. That being said, I ate over 1800 cals last night. Here's the breakdown: 73/10/10 or 334gr. of protein/ 50gr. carbs/ 21gr. of fat. I'm a believer in keeping the carbs low. Up until a week ago, I didn't rotate my carbs. I am stepping up my diet by rotating carbs so I don't have to reduce the cals. So today and tomorrow I get my carbs from veggies only which don't really count anyway but for the sake of journalling it's worth mentioning. So Thursday I'll have two servings of carbs. My cheat meals are typically a few corn tortillas with carne asada as a taco. Nothing crazy. Those will be eliminated very soon. I may slowly drop my cals down by 200 each week. We'll see after this week.

My training is a four-day split. Mon & Thurs I train my upper body 5x5 with a warm up doing 30 reps of lat pull-downs and lateral raises. Then on Tues & Fri are leg days where I focus a lot on the glutes with squats, dealifts, lunges and kick backs. I'll follow the 5x5 with the exception of the lunges and kick backs where I increase the reps to 15. I add in the leg extensions and raises as well as work the calves. Abs get worked on the upper body days. I always do bi-sets or trisets when ever possible. I work in plyomotrics with the tri-sets. Cardio has been increased this week. I'm doing 30-40min M, T, TH, & F. On W & Sat I'll do 45-60min of cardio so this should help melt some fat without the calorie reduction. I hope!

I feel strong about the diet and the amount of training. Honestly it's the baby that drives me nuts!! She's been SO whinny lately. Wakes up frequently and is ultra clingly. UGH! Sometimes it's hard to stay focused and jazzed about doing a competition when she acts this way. I'm dedicated though.

So here goes...Wish me luck.

[ZandP]

Best of luck to you!! You look amazing for having a baby at home still and only being back for a year, you are such a great inspiration! I cannot believe you are still nursing wow! I sent you some questions but I see a few of the answers here and will follow you along!

I am guessing this is your cutting diet and you did not eat with those stats while building this past year? Would be curious to see that as well. I am sure you will do very well, and ps, love Phoenix, Scottsdale is one of my fav places in the country, love hiking Camelback Mt, love the Boulders Resort in Carefree, just love the area period! :)

[IronMom]

Yesterday started out rough. My baby keeps wanting to eat my pre-measured food. Even if I have something for her, my food looks better. Who can turn down their baby? Well I ended up drinking a few shakes until her nap time then I got to start eating solids. I put greens in my shake to help with nutrition, satiety and fiber.

I'm logging 40min of interval sprinting on the treadmill. 5min at 4.0, then alternating 1min to 8.0 sprinting and down to 4.3. I felt good, had good energy.

It was leg day. I did plyometrics and jump rope in between the 5 squat sets. The groupies make it hard to get my time in. LOL. I go to train when the baby naps so I need to be all about business. Hard to break away from the gym friends. The squats were heavy with wide stance. Working 80% of max. The deadlifts a little lighter than usual up to 15reps. High rep lunges where difficult, very tiring. The last tri-set of leg extension, leg raises and calf raises went fast. No rest in between sets. My finisher was donkey kicks-25reps x3.

I ended up with 1600cals. Over 300gr of protein. It was a no carb day. I only ate veggies which I don't count. I am keeping full with creatine but will have 2 complex carb meals today. The fat came only from trace amounts of fat in the chicken as well as CLA's and flax oil.

I can definatley see I'm getting harder everywhere. I'm looking forware to pics on Thursday.

[IronMom]

Best of luck to you!! You look amazing for having a baby at home still and only being back for a year, you are such a great inspiration! I cannot believe you are still nursing wow! I sent you some questions but I see a few of the answers here and will follow you along!

I am guessing this is your cutting diet and you did not eat with those stats while building this past year? Would be curious to see that as well. I am sure you will do very well, and ps, love Phoenix, Scottsdale is one of my fav places in the country, love hiking Camelback Mt, love the Boulders Resort in Carefree, just love the area period! :)

Thank you! You're sweet. The nursing is just one time a day. She's a mama's girl for sure. I'm hoping my milk dries up soon from the diet but I guess I'm still getting enough cals for us both. I keep my diet super healthy for her.

I only decided to do the show a week ago so my diet has not undergone a huge transformation. I eat like this all year long. I have cut out most to the cheat foods and that's about it. The cals are still pretty high for my small body. I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible. My BMR is around 1100, it might be advised to consume around that figure instead of the higher cals that I am consuming. I want my cardio to do the work and keep the protein high so I have a chance of actually gaining muscle for maybe a month still. It would be miniscule growth but I would come in denser.

I love Arizona SO much! Spent time in the mid-west and rockies and while they each are special in their own way, Arizona feels like home. I love how there are mountains everywhere the eye can see no matter what part of any city or burb you're in. I love the flowers year-round.

I'll go looking for your q's. The baby just woke up so I'll TTL.

[IronMom]

I'm down a pound now 110.8. Quads are starting to show separation. The legs are always my concern especially the glute area.

Yesterday was cardio only. 45min LSD on treadmill. I worked in some intervals, nothing very intense however since my leg workout was haunting me a little getting started.

My macros are good. 1487 cals. 241P/64C/19F.

[IronMom]

A few pics going through the paces. Too bad about the fat. Still 7 and a half weeks left though and the magic usually starts in week six.

[IronMom]

It's been a while since I logged anything. Just busy with the baby and everything else I guess.

I've changed my diet to a 50-20-30 plan. Today was day one of that. I'm really enjoying eating white potatoes & almonds. I don't feel deprived or hungry.

The training has changed too. I'm doing supersets and a 3on 1off. That's gonna be tough since I have a "planned" family day on Sunday. Not sure how I can manipulate the new training program.

I got a new booty on Saturday morning. I know that sounds funny but because I'm so small, changes can be drastic for me when I diet. My abs are SO vascular it's silly! My back must be like 1%bf or something crazy like that. YAY! It's still the booty and the thighs I'm waiting for but the changes are happening so stay tuned.

[IronMom]

Really woke up wiped out today. The supersets killed me yesterday. I've not had trouble with energy during m workouts and in fact am lifting even heavier in some exercises. I knew yesterday that I had definately had a good workout because I rarely hurt during a training session. I'm hoping I can get out of this after a few meals.

Did posing last night and I'm looking very lean in the upper body. My booty is leaning out but ever so slowly. I think it'll be just in time. I'm down to 109, a pound a week it looks like. It'll be interesting to see how my body responds to the new 50-20-30 diet a big change from 70-20-10 that I was on. It seemed like my body really liked all of the protein and being low carb and low fat but truethfully it was not as fun as this new diet. Same calories btw, I'm at 1300 every day now. I'm a machine!

I found a really pretty suit on Etsy that I love. It's plain but shimmery velvet burgandy. I'll feel great wearing it. I'm trying to decide how I want to wear my hair. I'll definately do an updo but I want pretty curls. Even though it's bodybuilding, I still love looking like a girly girl.

Today is shoulders and arms. It's hard to hold the baby after an arm workout so I dread that part for two days. Tomorrow is weigh-in, 3-site bodyfat check and pics. I'm gonna see if the gym has a fat test that's better than my calipers.

[Kapers83]

Really woke up wiped out today. The supersets killed me yesterday. I've not had trouble with energy during m workouts and in fact am lifting even heavier in some exercises. I knew yesterday that I had definately had a good workout because I rarely hurt during a training session. I'm hoping I can get out of this after a few meals.

Did posing last night and I'm looking very lean in the upper body. My booty is leaning out but ever so slowly. I think it'll be just in time. I'm down to 109, a pound a week it looks like. It'll be interesting to see how my body responds to the new 50-20-30 diet a big change from 70-20-10 that I was on. It seemed like my body really liked all of the protein and being low carb and low fat but truethfully it was not as fun as this new diet. Same calories btw, I'm at 1300 every day now. I'm a machine!

I found a really pretty suit on Etsy that I love. It's plain but shimmery velvet burgandy. I'll feel great wearing it. I'm trying to decide how I want to wear my hair. I'll definately do an updo but I want pretty curls. Even though it's bodybuilding, I still love looking like a girly girl.

Today is shoulders and arms. It's hard to hold the baby after an arm workout so I dread that part for two days. Tomorrow is weigh-in, 3-site bodyfat check and pics. I'm gonna see if the gym has a fat test that's better than my calipers.

Looks like you're moving along nicely! How did the bodyfat check go and pics? Keep up the great work!

[IronMom]

I dropped 1.8%bf. The scale actually went up so I suspect it's water weight from my carb up night. I'll weigh again today or tomorrow as I will somewhat depleted from the carbup night. I'm keeping my bodyspace up to date for the nice graphical interface.

I began weaning the baby this morning. Big thing in our house! BIG! Sophia did well, surprisingly. It was time. I pray that it continues to go well.

Diet is going well but I admit to salivating over the cheese pizza last night. Friday is pizza night at our house. Two large cheese pizzas came through the door. Oooowey and gooowey and smelling like a slice of heaven. I sat eating my chicken taco salad made with only lettuce, chicken breast and salsa. I finished it off with a teaspoon of natty PB. 6 more pizza nights to get through, just sayin'.

The training moved on to MET. I'm having trouble getting the cardio in on the machines so I do plyo's, jumpropes and metablic movements in between sets for an hour. There's no doubt that I'm doing a version of HIIT while weight training. Today I will do only cardio. Short intervals, followed by 20min of HIIT, followed by 20min of SS on at least two machines. Gotta say, the MET is tough! This morning, I'm dragging.

[IronMom]

Off on Sunday and ate an 8oz sirloin with a 5 oz white 'tater! I went over my allowance by 100 cals. Not too bad. No workout, just chilled with the family.

Today I woke up tired. It followed my like a weight around my waist. I napped with my baby this morning and decided that I must be over training so I stay home. Ultra dieting today to make up for not going to the gym. I'll end up somewhere around 1000 to 1200 cals today. I always keep my protein between 1 to1.5g/lb so I'll be fine and I'm inactive today so no burning muscle. I'll go to bed early tonight and hit the gym hopefully refreshed tomorrow.

The mirror and clothes no doubt show that I lost weight. I'll do calipers tonight. A new problem to deal with is empty skin on my bum. Dang! That's a shame. Pretty skin on the back side of the thighs though so I'm sure the bum will look better in a few weeks. One lesson that I have learned is to NEVER STOP CARDIO. I feel so lied to about that. All those warnings about losing muscle if you do cardio does not apply to this girl. I'm one of those that needs to do cardio a few days a week and HIIT at that. It just keeps the fat off of my bum. My butt would never have gotten fat if I had just done HIIT a few days a week. It makes me mad to think about it. Well no more!!!!! Once I get my new butt through dieting, cardio and training for this show, I'm KEEEEEPING IT!!! No more traditional bulking!!!! I'm literally working my butt off and I like it this way! My peprsonal rant is over now.

[IronMom]

Having a great day! I feel good so the rest or extra day off was just what I needed. I'm still lifting heavy so no noticable muscle loss. I lost a pound so all is going as expected. The diet is still fine, not having too difficult of a time with it. I've gotten really good at splitting up my macros to make 7 meals instead of the 5 that were originally allocated. Same cals, same macros but it's like a slow drip of food to the viens, I'm always eating. It works.

Cardio was awsome, I felt great! HIIT seems to work for my body and I love it too. I'm so striated in my arms, chest, shoulders and abs, I'm just waiting for the quads and glutes to show up. Oh, forget about the glutes but the quads will show up probably last week, right before the show. That's ok, as long as I don't jiggle. LOL. The striated upper body will go a long way to making the judges happy.

I get to carb up tonight. Yay.

[Kapers83]

Having a great day! I feel good so the rest or extra day off was just what I needed. I'm still lifting heavy so no noticable muscle loss. I lost a pound so all is going as expected. The diet is still fine, not having too difficult of a time with it. I've gotten really good at splitting up my macros to make 7 meals instead of the 5 that were originally allocated. Same cals, same macros but it's like a slow drip of food to the viens, I'm always eating. It works.

Cardio was awsome, I felt great! HIIT seems to work for my body and I love it too. I'm so striated in my arms, chest, shoulders and abs, I'm just waiting for the quads and glutes to show up. Oh, forget about the glutes but the quads will show up probably last week, right before the show. That's ok, as long as I don't jiggle. LOL. The striated upper body will go a long way to making the judges happy.

I get to carb up tonight. Yay.

Nice to see that you're shedding fat like crazy and are lifting heavy with no noticeable muscle loss. Kudos for the striated upper body too! Can't wait to see progress pics and keep up the great work!

[IronMom]

It's amazing how the changes are visible in just a matter of days. I now have separation in the quads. Wow, 6 weeks out and I have quad separation. It gives me hope that everything is coming together timely. I aways worry (dumb) that I won't be ready on show day. I actually think I will be leaner and come in on show day heavier than my last show.

[IronMom]

My suit came in the mail today!

OMG, it's SO tiny! It sure is a good thing the fat is all but gone, there's gonna be lots of skin showing. I adore the fabric. So pretty. I have pics due this week for my status update so the world will see very soon.