Back on stage - This is what 45 looks like

[sy2502]

Yes, I have psyched myself up to do another Figure competition!

Competition date is June 30th which gives me 14 weeks to get in shape.

This will be my 4th competition and the 1st one in which I can compete in the 45+ category (oh joy! Yey! I am old!).

For my last competitions I was coached by the fabulous Kim (goes by kimm4 around here. Check her out, she's awesome), but this time I'm doing it myself because hubby lost his job and I have to save where I can. If he still doesn't have a job by competition day, I will have to do my own makeup too (I refuse to do my own tan, that's a mess and a half. Leave it to the pros).

On my Bodyspace, in the progress pics you can see pics of me in my last competitions. In my last competition I tried Physique, but got my butt badly kicked: this is one tough show people!

Anyway, since I don't have a coach to be accountable to, I need all of you to put on your Kim pants and kick my azz like she would.

More updates to come.

[MissKB]

Anyway, since I don't have a coach to be accountable to, I need all of you to put on your Kim pants and kick my azz like she would.

Subbed and ready for this ride with you! Good luck and I don't know if anyone can quite top Kimm4, but I'll try and see if I can squeeze into dem badazz pants.

[mavd]

Subbed :-) So I read this as you're going back to Figure from Physique? It does seem to be quite a jump to get competitive in Physique class from what I've seen, and that tends to lead to quite a range of muscularity in Figure.

What are your current and goal stats? What kind of meal plan are you looking at? (That's me trying on my coach hat)

[sy2502]

Subbed and ready for this ride with you! Good luck and I don't know if anyone can quite top Kimm4, but I'll try and see if I can squeeze into dem badazz pants.

Hello, thank you for being here! Please feel free to be as badazz as you wish, we don't mince words around here!

Subbed :-) So I read this as you're going back to Figure from Physique? It does seem to be quite a jump to get competitive in Physique class from what I've seen, and that tends to lead to quite a range of muscularity in Figure.

What are your current and goal stats? What kind of meal plan are you looking at? (That's me trying on my coach hat)

So the story goes as follows:

my 2nd competition was with a natural federation, and I ended up being the biggest on stage, so Kim who's a bodybuilder through and through, suggested next time I try Physique. So I chose the competition for the following year and bam! Right in the middle of my prep the show got cancelled. I had already put together my routine, practiced my posing, everything. I was so bummed!!! There was an NPC show 2 weeks after the show that was cancelled, so I signed up for it. Of course I was smaller than the other competitors, but I already knew it going in. I also signed up for Figure and size wise I think I was on par with everyone else, I am attaching a pic from the Figure lineup, I am the 3rd from the left.Evo2016.jpg

As for my starting point, I took some pics yesterday, didn't have time to upload them, I'll do that tonight in another post, with my current stats, diet, goals. Hold on tight!

[kitpapa]

Fantastic lady!!! Cannot wait to see your success 😊😊

Holler at me if you need an ear!

[sy2502]

Fantastic lady!!! Cannot wait to see your success 😊😊

Holler at me if you need an ear!

I'll holler at you any time I need a dose of awesomeness! Count on it!

[sy2502]

Alright, so here's where I am starting from:

height: 5'6"
weight: 136.5lbs

Images of what I look like here:

Evo2018_2.jpg
Evo2018_1.jpg

I always started prep at around 135lbs, and my stage weight has always been in the low 120s.
Somehow I feel I have a better body composition this time around, maybe because I can see abs, and I can fit in pants I can usually only fit into at around 130lbs. (yes I have different pants for different stages of contest prep)

Diet (daily):

calories: 1550 max (fixed, set in stone)
protein: 140g (minimum)
carb: 130g (flexible)
fat: 50g (flexible)

carbs and fat are indicative, I won't stress too much if I go over one and under the other or vice versa. I eat low fat all year by personal preference anyway.

I choose my foods from a limited variety of nutritional equivalent sources:

lean protein (chicken, turkey, extra lean beef, fish, eggs, dairy, lean deli cuts)
complex carbs (bread, pasta, rice, corn grits, root vegetables, squash)
fat: extra virgin olive oil, nuts.
Plus veggies, veggies and more veggies of all kinds.

I like to cook and I have adapted many recipes to my diet needs, so my food is always tasty. I tried the big cook out for the whole week, but it was stressful and by the end of the week the food was nasty, and I was sick of eating the same thing, so at dinner I cook 1-2 extra portions, which is very little extra work, and take those to work the following day or 2. I also make batches of sandwiches if I don't have time to cook.

For now, I have divided my food into 3 meals of 500 calories:
- Lunch
- Afternoon
- Dinner
I am never hungry in the morning, so I don't eat breakfast, but as my diet progresses, eventually I will, at which point I split the afternoon meal into a breakfast and an afternoon snack.

Protein is not my favorite food AT ALL, I have to force myself to eat it, I don't digest it very well, and it can upset my stomach, so the protein in my prep diet is high enough to keep my stomach occupied plenty, and I don't foresee being hungry for most of my prep. I don't have a big appetite in general, which makes prep easier, but is certainly one reason I haven't made as many gains as I could have.

For now I don't plan refeeds or carb cycling. I shouldn't need any of that for a while. If at some point my weight loss stalls, I will start playing with those.

I also have 2 diet breaks already planned for this comp:
- April: 10 years at my company celebration. They'll take us out to lunch, give us a present, etc.
- Early June: company party.
I don't plan to pig out either time, just eat what's there in moderation. Maybe have one drink. They won't blow my calories too bad.

This is it for diet, in another post I'll talk training.

[Plateauplower]

Alright, so I make batches of sandwiches

You Have my attention

Hey Sy! Saw this earlier, I don't pop into this section much/ever, but might follow your prep. Why you no put it in the old fuker section?
I'm on a mission to get super lean this summer and thinking about doing a comp myself (big maybe -I'd need some major work on learning to pose/peaking protocols etc) so will be interesting to see your approach as you get close to comp conditioning. GL, I know you'll kill it.

[ProYeo]

Here we go!!

[Echo814]

Hey Sy! Was wondering if you were going to get the urge for another comp

I have to say, I see gains in your legs especially, quads and glutes looking pretty good right now.

I probably won't have much to contribute but I will try!

[sy2502]

You Have my attention

Hey Sy! Saw this earlier, I don't pop into this section much/ever, but might follow your prep. Why you no put it in the old fuker section?

I was debating where to put it, the Female forum has been pretty dead lately.

I'm on a mission to get super lean this summer and thinking about doing a comp myself (big maybe -I'd need some major work on learning to pose/peaking protocols etc) so will be interesting to see your approach as you get close to comp conditioning. GL, I know you'll kill it.

I am an amateur third rate hobbyist bodybuilder, you probably want to take pointers from someone who actually know what they are doing

Here we go!!

Chit just got real, Yeo's in the house!!!

Hey Sy! Was wondering if you were going to get the urge for another comp

I have to say, I see gains in your legs especially, quads and glutes looking pretty good right now.

I probably won't have much to contribute but I will try!

Thank you so much!!! I think I have made some improvements last year, here's a before and after I took a few months ago:

Gainz.jpg

Since I traded leg presses with squats like the big kids do, I have seen a lot of change even though I squat the weight a kindergartener would. The trick will be taking dat there fat off them legs to show the gainz.

[ProYeo]

Since I traded leg presses with squats like the big kids do, I have seen a lot of change.

Them gainz show!!!

[mavd]

Gainz already show!

[sy2502]

Ok, so here's my training:

Day 1: Chest + biceps
Day 2: back + rear delts
Day 3: legs + triceps
Day 4: shoulders + calves + abs
Day 5: cardio

Depending on the time I have, I may be able to tag 30 mins of cardio at the end of a lifting session too.
The reason of that split is that I want to isolate the stubborn body parts, so I train those with completely unrelated body parts. It's a combination I came up with after years of experiments, and may change again if I feel some muscle group needs some extra love.

My personal preference is to train as heavy as possible and to failure, which I do for most muscle groups. After having logged sets and reps for years, I have noticed which muscle groups can take lots of weight without flinching and which poop out after the first set. So for example, for my back I can use the same heavy weight for all sets and get about the same number of reps in all sets. For other muscle groups I may get 10 reps in the first set and only 6 in the following sets, so to still do a decent volume for those, I may use the max weight for the 1st set and take it down a little for the following sets. I found logging sets and reps can give a wealth of information about how your muscles work and how to optimize your training for each.

I do 3-6 sets for each exercise.

I am fortunate we have a small gym at work. There's a rack, plenty of dumbbells, and a few machines, so with a bit of ingenuity I can get quite a lot done. We also have a cardio room with plenty of cardio machines. The gym is 2 hallways down from my office, so that makes it really easy. On weekends I go to a commercial gym.

I work out 5-7 days a week, depending on the time I have and how I feel.

[jessswooo]

Oh my god hi!!! you look amazing. And we have the same height!!! and almost the same weight (i'm fatter). I'll be following your journey for the competition. if I ever would want to compete this would be very useful information for me, haha. Thanks for sharing <3

[sy2502]

Oh my god hi!!! you look amazing. And we have the same height!!! and almost the same weight (i'm fatter). I'll be following your journey for the competition. if I ever would want to compete this would be very useful information for me, haha. Thanks for sharing <3

Hi there, welcome! I hope you'll find it useful!

[MissKB]

It sounds like you have most of this down to a science! I'm excited to follow along.

[sy2502]

It sounds like you have most of this down to a science! I'm excited to follow along.

Thank you, welcome!

[sy2502]

Things you forget about competition prep: the million and a half trips to the bathroom a day. Seriously it's not by butt that is shrinking, it's my bladder!

[ProYeo]

Things you forget about competition prep: the million and a half trips to the bathroom a day.

I was up at like 3 gallons of water at one point... so I hear ya loud and clear!

[sy2502]

Alright so since I am doing this myself, I am keeping a short leash on myself (there's a bit of split personality stuff going on here methinks) and have decided to weigh myself twice a week, to make sure

a) Progress is in fact happening
b) Natural weight fluctuations don't freak me out too much.

I am happy to report I lost 0.5lbs in 0.5 weeks, so that's right on! Of course mind phuks being mind phuks I was hoping for more... I don't know, like... 10lbs maybe? JK.

Here's some of the foods I like, when prepping:

Dannon Light & Fit Greek yogurt
Egg beaters egg substitute
Brownberry thin sandwich buns
Sargento reduced fat provolone (the lowest calorie sliced cheese I found so far)
Indian spice mixes. If you like spicy food, they could make an old sock taste good.
Prepared, packaged hard boiled eggs (can't beat the convenience)
Roasted peppers preserved in water (at 10 calories per oz, you could eat the whole jar without breaking the caloric bank)
Oscar Meyer deli meats (all around 50-60 calories per serving)

Also let me tell you about this bad boy:



This is a air fryer. You put in potatoes and out come delicious fries. But wait, where does the oil go? There isn't any!!! That's the beauty of it! Fries without oil. And they are delicious. I actually served them at a party and I couldn't keep them coming fast enough. And people fell off the chair when I told them they weren't fried. Yes, you can have tasty food when you are prepping.

[MissKB]

Your favorite cut foods are mine, too! My cutting "treat" is always marshmallow fluff + pb on one of those sandwich thins

[sy2502]

Your favorite cut foods are mine, too! My cutting "treat" is always marshmallow fluff + pb on one of those sandwich thins

I know, those sandwich thins may not be the tastiest of breads, but I guess they do the job of holding ham and cheese together LOL.

So for my 1st comp I downloaded an app to track calories and macros, it was the simplest I could find because I don't need forums and daily inspirational messages, etc, I just need something that
- Lets me set goal calories and macros
- Can look up calories and macros for foods (and actually find them)
- Logs the food for the day.
- Lets me enter calories manually
- Lets me create recipes.

and any of the above shouldn't require 34 clicks, submenus and hoops to jump through. Turns out finding such an app is extremely difficult. But anyway I downloaded one called Tap & Track, it did what I needed, I got good at using it quickly, all good. Well something happened to it, and it doesn't work like it did anymore, it's turned into this unusable, obtuse piece of crap.

So since I have wanted to learn to write apps for a while, I am writing my own. And since I have written interactive programs and user interfaces for almost 20 years, I think my app is going to kick azz. Or at least, it's going to be made so that the features I use the most are so easy and quick to use that it's going to kick azz for me personally, which is better than nothing I guess. And moreover when I get engrossed in something I enjoy doing, I forget everything else, including hunger, carvings, etc. So this is going to be so good on so many levels! Fun and useful and keeps my mind off food.

And who knows, when I am done with it, I may ask for some testers around here to tell me what they think, and I may even end up making a marketable product out of it?

[Partyrocking]

Do you like English muffins? You can get the light ones for 80-100 calories, and IMO, they're tastier than sandwich thins (they do have less surface area though which is not ideal for a sandwich).

[sy2502]

Do you like English muffins? You can get the light ones for 80-100 calories, and IMO, they're tastier than sandwich thins (they do have less surface area though which is not ideal for a sandwich).

Oh I never thought of english muffins for sandwiches, I always only thought of butter and jam. But great idea! That's thinking outside the box! Thank you!

[ProYeo]

I'm intrigued with your air fryer!! I got an instant pot for Christmas and it was amazingly helpful for my prep. I'm into quality kitchen gadgets... so I'm giving the fryer some serious thought now!!

[Cardioconvert]

So glad to see you journaling a prep again!

Count me in

App sounds cool, excited to follow that journey too!

[sy2502]

So glad to see you journaling a prep again!

Count me in

App sounds cool, excited to follow that journey too!

Woot, welcome!!!

Ok so 1 week down, 13 more to go.
Weight: 135.5lbs

First week went well, my digestive system is adapting to the higher protein intake, I have had some indigestion because protein is so much harder for me to digest, and had some days I didn't hit my calories because I was not hungry at all, so I thought better not force it, if I am not hungry, why eat, right? Especially when the whole point of the exercise is to lose weight

Workouts have been strong, without workout related soreness (yeah that's what happens when you eat enough protein, who would have thought, right?).

I have been pretty tired this week, but then I am tired all the time anyway, so what's new. I've always been that way, my grandma used to tell me I was born tired, and that's when I was a kid and I was supposed to be full of energy. I fall asleep immediately and sleep like the dead, and still wake up bone tired.

Yesterday did back and rear delts. The gym was a bit crowded, so I just did a lot of sets on whatever equipment I got my hands on. So
- Warmed up with a bunch of pull ups
- A chitload of very heavy rows
- A chitload of very heavy high rows (I love that machine, it's the one that hits my lower lats really well)
- A chitload of dumbbell rear delt raises.
- 30 mins of cardio.

I have 2 commercial gyms close by and choose which one to go to based on the equipment they have. This time I needed some motivation so I went to the one where my gym crush goes (not really a crush, the guy is just really good to look at, what can I say, I am a dirty old woman) so I had something to contemplate in between sets.

[mavd]

Oooh pick me for app testing. I've actually worked a stint as a software tester.....

[sy2502]

Oooh pick me for app testing. I've actually worked a stint as a software tester.....

Sweet!!! I'll keep you in mind, thank you so much!