In this post:
- Stats
- Diet
- Workouts
- Progress Pics
- Food
- Curb Cravings
- Sacrifices
- Competition Suits
Calaveras State Park, CA
Traveling again…during contest prep… in Sacramento visiting the MIL and some friends. Dragging around my weight scales and food scales. I constantly wonder how annoyed people get when I am always ask them questions like “is this 85% lean ground beef, 75% or 90%” or “what brand of food is this?” and ” how much butter did you put on these vegetable exactly?” so I can accurately enter my intake on MFP. But, my family and friends are supportive and quickly learn I need to dish up before butter is melted onto anything and that they need to not throw away the package before I scan it into myfitnesspal….but it’s all good. I have goals to be on stage and what goes through my mind is, if I did not ask these questions, I couldn’t monitor my intake. I don’t want to over or under eat. I need to lose fat, fuel my body and maintain as much muscle as possible while dieting down below normal body fat levels.
I also got to meet a client I coach online who I otherwise may have never met ever! and, it was awesome 😀
We beasts!
Stats Updates
- 5’6″ tall
- 137 (ish) pounds
Slow and steady wins the race. My prep coach, John Gorman, has me losing weight sloooooooooooooooooooooow.
Looking for that 1 lb per week average but last week my average was up a tad… boo and came down a little bit this week. Although I am not sure where 140 lb came from Thursday.
I mean, I had to look twice, step off the scale, get back on see that horror again and then proceed to move the scale around to various tiles in the bathroom and retry weighing myself about 5 or 6 more times, but who’s counting?
What ev. I predict it will go back down friday and hopefully continue the trend. If not, plan changes will occur.
Wondering about that “sad day” is up there.. well, it had nothing to do with over eating or not hitting the gym. On July 4th, it started with a drink, whiskey, up. And then another, and another. Apparently when in a calorie deficit I cannot handle any liquor because after that first drink I was flying pretty high and then it’s all over. My decision making is crap and I was drunk as sh**! That was then followed by a day of puking and being hung over. What a waste! I won’t be doing that again (at least not while in prep.. okay, or ever, it’s the worst!). Yes, I did go the gym that evening… had to sweat some whiskey out!
Diet
Macros are set at about 175 g protein daily, 52 fat and then carbs cycle. High, medium and low days are specified in the table above: This has been my diet the past 5 weeks.
Low (off day): 130 carbs
Medium day: 165 carbs
High day: 200 carbs
Workouts
Medium-Sun: Quads, glutes, hams (6-8)
High-Mon: Back, biceps, shoulders (20-30 ) 5 HIIT battle ropes or ball slams after w.o.
Medium- Tue Glutes, hams , abs (10-20)
Med- Wed: Back, biceps, (10-15)
High-Thurs: Chest, triceps shoulders (10-20), 5 HIIT battle ropes or ball slams after w.o.
Medium- Fri : Glutes, hams , abs
Off day diet- Sat: OFF
PDF of my workouts on a 3 week rotation with the plyo day in it.
Get Fit. Go Figure. My current workout. April 2016
With all this traveling, it can be hard to get those workouts in. I bring resistance bands with for just in case I can’t make it to the gym or there isn’t a gym close. This week I did a free trial at Anytime fitness which was great. The Roseville, CA gym had some great equipment and very friendly staff and community.
Progress
I think I am lookin pretty good. I have about 12 weeks to go and I feel like it’s not long enough at this pace but seriously, I then sound like half my clients emailing me how they won’t be lean enough in time. I have plenty of time! Anyhoo, I lack a naturally small waist which doesn’t bode well for any division in bodybuilding so I will have to my get ass lean and then widen my back in the back post to help with the “X” factor and make my waist look smaller.
My shorts and pants are fitting all funny. #fitchickproblems. The waist is too big and the ass is too small. Makes for a funny fit and I avoid jeans in any form the majority of the time just for this reason.
Food
So a client of mine sent me some samples of Flex Flavors and BAM, they are awesome!
I used them in TheMacroExperiment.com protein angel food cake recipe I love so much and gosh darn it, it was like eating fruity, fluffy goodness! Then I topped it with raspberries from my backyard. YUM!
One of my fav dressing lines: Bolthouse Farms yogurt dressings. They are low fat and low carb… and tasty!
A tasty ass lunch with some turkey burger, greens, avocado and other veggies topped with some thick, good balsamic vinegar. YUM!
This following meal was created by Blue Apron and delivered to our door. We got all the ingredients and directions and we made it up in less than a half hour. And it was super GOOD!
And then or course the sweet potatoes in the crock pot. I won’t ever go back to peeling and boiling or baking. Just pop these bad boys in the crock for 2-4 hours on high, no water needed, and those skins will slip right off and be ready to portion!
Um, more protein angel food cake with 3 servings of PB2 and 1 serving of chocolate chips! YUM!
A fav go to snack: PB2 and apples.
And still taking in that 2 TBsp apple cider vinegar a day…
I bought a bunch of the Quest Protein powder samples and WOW am I impressed. With the exception of sucralose being in there, BUT, as the last ingredient (so I make excuses), these protein powders are the best tasting I have had thus far. The cookies n cream flavor is my favorite followed by ALL the other flavors! SO GOOD!!
Curbing Cravings:
I get this question a lot from clients and rightly so. Cravings are there for most cutting diets… You all know my fav way of dealing with that is to drink crystal like in la croix fizzy water.
I buy the truvia sweetened crystal light instead of the kind sweetened with sucralose.
You can also chew gum or try and find simple recipes that will curb cravings.
There are recipes like protein fluff, nacho things, protein angle food cake (DUH on that last one right?!).
Sometimes I will snack on lunch meat + laughing cow cheese rolled up with pickles, Or, pickles dipped in kethcup (I am weird), or straight up PBfit/PB2 in a bowl. I do love me some turkey pepperoni or fat free cheese ( you get used to it in desperate times) or both baked together like mini pizza’s as mentioned in my last update blog post.
Sacrifices
When you are in contest prep, you sacrifice many things like going out and having a margarita whenever you want or chillin with your girls eating buffalo wings and downing giant soft pretzels. During prep, you cannot drink (maybe a wine here or there) and you have to take TIME, a lot of TIME in planning and prepping food, entering food into a food tracker and getting to the gym.
TIME is the biggest one but the social stuff is a whole other beast. You may have friends that are not supportive or get all annoyed with your lack of eating the buffalo wings instead having opt’ed for a salad plate while bringing your own dressing. You have chosen to go through a contest prep to get below normal body fat levels to step on stage. You have to make sacrifices. You cannot be eating or drinking whatever. I have a few clients that still want to keep their social life as is and it just isn’t going to happen.
Contest prep can take over your life! I spend so much time prepping food and going to the gym. It’s a hobby and I enjoy it.
A person not competing, yeah well, you also need to exhibit self control. Treats are NOT an everyday thing. Refined sugar is not something that should be in your diet regularly. If you want to be fit and maintain a healthy bod, you need to make healthy choices all the time. All the time. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. Of course you can have your fav treat… every once in a while! Like, 1x per month or 1x per week but not everyday or every other day.
Choose whole foods every time… whole foods. I am talking meat, veggies, nuts and healthy fats. Where do carbs come from you ask? From sweet potatoes or squash and some fruit. Most over weight people will do very well just cleaning up their diets and get moving. Some this will only get the so far, mostly females and they will need to take it a step further and create a calorie deficit to get the extra pounds.
Sure those expectations may seem very high for many people but make changes slowly. Start with one meal a day and choose unprocessed foods. When you are ready, do two meals a day. You can start cold turkey but that can be very overwhelming to many.
Stay positive, set small goals along with the big end goal and celebrate those small victories along the way! You got this. You have the power in you to do this right now!
All right, enough of that rant… let’s talk suits!
Competition Suits
I haven’t thought about competition suits or shoes until this week. I have been so focused on clients, but I took some time to find my favs.
What I have been loving are suits from Mayra Collections.
or suits from Muscle Dazzle.
I SUPER love the ombre crystal pattern from white to whatever the color of the suit is.
But really, you don’t need to spend $100’s on a suit that you will only where for a short time. Competition suits with sequin fabric sparkly just as much as rhinestone bikini’s as I have had both and they were equally as gorgeous!
Shoes…. I can’t decide… all I know is I want ones that sparkle!
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