No Excuses, Its show time!

[nett]

I already started a journal, but hated the title of the thread and didn't know how to change it, so I started a new one.

The last show I did was in June of 2009 and I had a rough prep for that show and decided to hang up my figure heels. Its been tough since then. I have put on weight, lost focus in the gym and on my diet and have gotten in a really bad place mentally. No goals, no excitement or motivation. When I finally admitted I wanted to compete again, I felt relieved. However, I have also had a very hard time sticking to my diet. The long layoff from competing has made being super strict, be super tough. I decided the thing that works best for me is accountability. So, I decided if I want to get on stage in June and look the best I ever have, I have to start now and I have to let everyone know what I am doing, good or bad. And, if nothing else write what is working and not working.

Sometimes if you write your goals, you stick with them better and if I write what caused me to mess up something, I am better able to recognize what is going on and fix it so it doesn't happen again. So, here we go. My show is June 5th and I have about 18 lbs to lose. No room for screw ups. I have to give my all to the diet and my training. No excuses!

[madelineoneil]

hey peggi,

looking forward to following your journal...im thinking about competing agan as well love your attitude! good luck with all your goals!

[nett]

hey peggi,

looking forward to following your journal...im thinking about competing agan as well love your attitude! good luck with all your goals!

Now my actions need to match my attitude. The training is great, the diet is my achilles heel. Starting tomorrow though, like I said, no excuses (and I have had many) I need to be spot on with my diet. I know with one week under my belt of good workouts and sticking to my diet, I will get that focus back. Its so hard in the beginning though, before you start to see any changes and you feel like you have so long to go. Know what I mean?

[madelineoneil]

Now my actions need to match my attitude. The training is great, the diet is my achilles heel. Starting tomorrow though, like I said, no excuses (and I have had many) I need to be spot on with my diet. I know with one week under my belt of good workouts and sticking to my diet, I will get that focus back. Its so hard in the beginning though, before you start to see any changes and you feel like you have so long to go. Know what I mean?

YESSSS i so do. gotta get those first couple weeks in, and theyre hard!

well i look forward to following your progress! i started a journal as well, but it was before i started thinking about competing again, so its over in the female section

hope things go well tomorrow, ill pop in and see how youre holding up!

[nett]

ok, its 4:30 AM and I am having my coffee and getting mentally prepared for my HIT workout. I am soooo tired, but after my warm up I am sure I will be ready to go. Yesterday was the last day of wreckless eating and not following the diet (and it was bad) so today, going forward, I have to be spot on with the eating. I need to focus on my goal and forget everything else, no matter what.

[MoEcho]

ok, its 4:30 AM and I am having my coffee and getting mentally prepared for my HIT workout. I am soooo tired, but after my warm up I am sure I will be ready to go. Yesterday was the last day of wreckless eating and not following the diet (and it was bad) so today, going forward, I have to be spot on with the eating. I need to focus on my goal and forget everything else, no matter what.

Wow... HIT and 04:30AM .. you are my hero!

[madelineoneil]

Wow... HIT and 04:30AM .. you are my hero!

me too! wow!

[Buns09]

Hey Peggi i wish you the best of luck and i feel your struggle, although i have never competed before in my life and ive only been prepping since january first i feel the struggle that you are going through with this whole keeping on track with the diet. believe me if i did not have someone on my ass all the time with the diet i really dont think i can make it. so im giving you all the support that i possibly can being online and all. so good luck and ill be following you!

[nett]

yeah 4:30 is early, but that is what I got used to. If I had to workout in the evening after work, I could never do it. I am wiped out after work. It really is what your body gets used to.

Hey Buns, thats great you are competing, when is your show? Are you doing figure? For me accountability is king. I do much better when I have to check in with someone. Who is on your ass anyway? For my first show, I had personal trainer and each time we met he would ask how much I weighed and I hate disapoointing, so I always wanted to drop weight, not to mention, if I didn't drop, he would add cardio. Great incentive right there. Now I am more on my own. That is why I decided to do the journal.

In fact. I have decided to write my weight daily. I know that isn't the best thing, to weigh daily, because of fluctuations and all, but knowing I have to write it down for the world to see will really keep me on track, at least I hope.

So, here it goes. I was 137.6 this morning, yikes! The heaviest I have ever been. I was 134 a day ago. So, I know its mostly water from the awful eating day I had yesterday, but that was the last BAD day I am ever going to have. Today I wasn't perfect, I had a few bites of cereal this morning, but why I am proud is that instead of throwing in the towel for the day, eating everything in sight and promise that tomorrow I will be perfect, I looked at it for what it was, a small mishap, and I got right back on track. That other behavior is what got me looking like I do now, so time to change it. You can't expect different results doing the same thing, right? I am taking it day by day at this point with each good day being a victory.

So my diet was very good (but not super great) and my workout and cardio were super. I almost wish I were doing more cardio to speed things up, but I know I will be longing for less in a few months. I don't want to adapt to too much too soon or I will be doing hours come show time. So I better enjoy it while I can

[nett]

I switched my Friday and Saturday. When my alarm rang at 4:15 this AM I knew I was too tired to get in a good workout so I switched my cardio only Saturday to today and will train tomorrow. I normally don't like to train at the gym on Saturdays because its way too crowded and if you are doing circuits, its even harder. But I am glad I did, the extra hour of sleep did me good and I got a strong cardio session in this morning. I did 20 min HIIT followed by 20 min SS on the elliptical. I feel energized now, the way it should be. Tonight its 30 min steady state on the bike. I do doubles on non-training days (40 min in the AM and 30 in the PM).

Back down to 134 this morning, phew. Now to make the downward tread a lasting pattern. The only way I can do that is to be spot on with the diet. Lets make it a good day!

[Buns09]

Im doing a warm up show in april and the big one in june. and im doing figure so i have no clue how to pose or anything all i know is my diet and training. and the person who keeps me in check is my boyfriend, hes doing bodybuilding and the same shows as i am. I also live with him so he knows what i eat all the time. if you don't already i would suggest writing down your macros, like the calories in the food with the carbs, protein and fat. and set goals for yourself also. like my macros are 35/150/125. and i have to hit them everyday. without tracking them i would be totally lost lol. oh and something else if you like chocolate Godiva makes these chocolate pearls that you can have like 2 or 3 a day and it should count but i never write it down because the macros are so small it does not matter this far away lol. But im glad that you were down to 134! and good for you for going in the morning. me and my boyfriend have to force ourselves to get up at 6:40 to go to the gym. Oh one last thing its great to have found another girl on here! and if you are ever curious about my workouts/weight or how i did during the day i always post on Team Striated Glutes. and my boyfriend on there is Blazed lol. well good luck with your diet and good workout!

[nett]

I did used to do the macro thing and track everything on my diet, but now I have an exact diet to follow. What to eat, when to eat it and how much. It doesn't vary much except maybe 15 extra carbs on days I weight train and do cardio vs days I just do cardio and 45 extra carbs on the carb up day, but the meals are all planned out and don't vary much at all. I guess I am pretty bored with the diet. But I have to suck it up if I want to look good on stage. This nutrition plan was designed to help me lose fat, not to thrill my tase buds.

that is awesome you are competing with your boyfriend, it is definitely much easier to have someone doing it with you and on your ass all the time. My husband wants me thin, but then he always says, take a bite it won't kill you.... little does he know. When you have a husband and kids eating and snacking all around you, it makes it hard!

I will definitely check out your journal, I remember seeing that title. You're right, it is great to see another girl in this contest prep journal section. By the way, who is doing your diet?

[nett]

Weighed in at 134 again today which wasn't too bad considering my diet wasn't the best yesterday. I have to get it right with the diet or I will never make it, or make it but with the risk of muscle loss while desperately trying to lose fat as the show gets closer. I have set up a support system for accountability, I went and got some essentials at the grocery store today, so I think I am good to go.

I did a really fast paced, heavy HIT workout followed by 30 min at 160 bpm of cardio. I finished the whole thing in an hour, short but intense. I was sweating and panting. That is how I like it.

[madelineoneil]

Weighed in at 134 again today which wasn't too bad considering my diet wasn't the best yesterday. I have to get it right with the diet or I will never make it, or make it but with the risk of muscle loss while desperately trying to lose fat as the show gets closer. I have set up a support system for accountability, I went and got some essentials at the grocery store today, so I think I am good to go.

I did a really fast paced, heavy HIT workout followed by 30 min at 160 bpm of cardio. I finished the whole thing in an hour, short but intense. I was sweating and panting. That is how I like it.

nice work!

[nett]

I didn't check in yesterday because we went away skiing for a couple days. Its so hard to follow a diet and workout plan when you go away, but I didn't do too bad. I packed my meals and ate them except when we went out to dinner for my husband's birthday, but even with that I had a salad with grilled chicken, roasted peppers and portabella mushrooms with no dressing. Today after skiing everyone had pizza but I pulled out my tupperware right in the pizza place and ate my cold steamed broccoli, cauliflower and ground turkey all mashed together. That is dedication.

Yesterday was just cardio and I did it in the hotel while my husband and kids went in the pool. And luckily today is a rest day because after a day of skiing in sub zero temps., I am in no mood to go down in the cold basement and do cardio. Back to it tomorrow. I am a little nervous about weigh in tommorow because its that time of month and I feel like beached whale, but at least I know that will be part of any bump up in weight. The rest of course is not being 100% on the diet. But that too will change. New week and I am ready to take it on. Like I said, no more excuses. I feel like I have time until June, but in reality, I have a lot to lose and June will be here before I know it.

[MoEcho]

Good job staying on track whilst traveling! I know it's always such a pain in the butt...

[nett]

Thanks. It is tough to travel when in contest prep, sometimes I would rather just stay home, but I don't want contest prep to take over my life, I want it to be part of my life.

As far as sleep last night, I got about 4 1/2 hours. I will post my sleep now since it is said to have an effect on fat loss. My goal is to get more. I got this idea from buns09.

I was right, the weight bumped up 2 lbs to 136 lbs. But it is day one of that time of month, so I am not surprised as that is always good for at least 2 lbs of water, but still who ever wants to see the scale go up. But after a week of good diet, training and coming to the end of my cycle, I hope to see it go back down by the weekend.

Good workout this morning despite having to do it in the basement. I was able to do it all with the dumbells and blowflex. I am starting a new cardio as well. Instead of 30 min after training, I will do 20 min in the Am after training at a mod steady state and then 20 min in the evening at higher intensity or HIIT. I like this better because it gives me more time to weight train inthe morning, since the sessions are shorter, I can go harder, and it gives my metabolism a boost at both ends of the day. We'll see how it goes. My fear is 20 min at one time isn't long enough to dip into fat stores, but I figure in the AM after weights, I will be dipping into fat stores, and in the PM, doing it high intensity lets me go with EPOC. Can't wait to see if it makes a difference.