Week 5 of Adventures in Competing-How to select which show you want to do!!!

So here is my week 5 vlog on Youtube!!! This past week I had a LOT of trouble with energy and motivation! I think I threw too much at myself all at once! I chat about that a little in my vlog as well! To re-energize myself, I had a mega treat meal on Saturday! Myself, Husband and BABY went to AUCE Sushi and I TOTALLY refuelled! :) I was feeling much better when Monday came around and I'm ready to get back at it!!!!!

One of the other aspects that got me down this week were the progress pics I took on Friday! They were a month after my last pics, and I've been working my ARSE off since then! I've been eating in a calorie surplus and have been feeling great while doing my exercises. Looking at my quads while doing squats, I was SO IMPRESSED with the development I was seeing!! .....

This was until I saw my pics last week :( I don't see a change AT ALL and it really got me down :( I REALLY didn't want to share this pic with you all, but I figure, I shouldn't only be showing the successes...I should show the struggles too!!! So be kind ;)

ANYWAY, here is my vlog describing how I've decided so far which federations I wanted to compete with and why! I'm gonna keep on trucking....and I got some good advice from Erica Willick.....I have to pick a STRONG "WHY" for the reason I'm competing this time. It can't be to get my body back anymore because I've already surpassed that goal! I need a different motivation this time! Other than visiting with AMAZING friends in Ontario and wanting to look my best for that visit.....I'm not quite sure what my WHY is yet! I have to put my thinking cap on, HAHA

3 Weeks Out!

Last week went REALLY well. I still don't notice the changes in pictures, but I definitely see changes in the mirror. I weigh in on Monday, and by Friday I had already lost 1.6Lbs. The my diet was 6 meals a day..a small amount of carbs in my first three meals (I workout in the morning) and only veggies with my protein for my last three meals. One evening meal had avacado added, and my morning oatmeal had a TBSP of coconut oil. Veggies consisted of cucumber, asparagus and spinach. I replaced chicken with white fish and flank steak. My calories have also been increased to 1750/day. By Friday, I had lost enough.  I've also been in a deficit for a LONG LONG time, so I had a great cheat meal Saturday night! :) Hubby, baby and I went to our favorite all you can eat sushi restaurant for dinner. My husband was pretty happy about this. He's SUPER supportive of my goals, but it has sucked for him that I won't go out to eat as frequently :) We used to do that ALL THE TIME!! In addition to all of these changes, I started adding cardio to my regime, and my knees are actually feeling OK!!! I did three bootcamps, and 2 Steady state cardio sessions for the week. It's nice to sweat again, even though I HATE cardio. LOL

I've been working hard on posing. My Bikini T-Walk posing is looking good, but I have to work on ENERGY!! I think it will be better with music, so I'm trying to track down what songs they are going to be using....no response yet. For fun, and extra experience on stage, I've been debating all along to enter the fitness model category as well. I'm having a lot of trouble learning how to flex and do their manadory poses though!! Just last night, I FINALLY figured out how to get my lats to flex....but now I have to do it without a mirror. To me, it doesn't feel any different, so I may be on stage, not flexed at all, and not even know it! HAHA....This entry is still up in the air.

I DID pick up my suit this week! It looks great in my opinion, still a little snug. I can get alterations at anytime though, which is the great part about hiring a local suit maker. All I had asked her was that my abnormally long bum crack be covered, and that my c-section scar be covered. I was a little worried that it may look funny but the bottoms are perfect and everything is covered! Maybe at the beginning of PEAK WEEK, I'll give you a sneak peak ;) It's nothing crazy! Simple and feminine. I may bling it up myself for my next competition.

As for next week, it's simple! I'm sticking to the plan! :) Here are my pics from this week!

8 Weeks Out

A week ago, I tried to incorporate cardio into my regime, and it didn't go well!! My knees were in agony after very simple steady state cardio :( So this week, I only managed to get two 15 minute cardio sessions in! To keep the downward trend going, I figured I had no choice but to lower my calories more which I didn't originally want to do!! The plan was to stick with this till I feel contest ready...hopefully early, and then just maintain till May. So this week I was eating 1200 calories (which is the absolute minimum I will go to) and low carb. I was doing a little bit of a carb cycle you could say! I'm had two high carb days, one for leg day, and one for back day. (These days I basically just added oatmeal in the morning and removed a serving of fat later on to compensate for it) You know you are eating clean when having a bowl of your once upon a time, everyday oatmeal is the best taste you could imagine for your tastebuds!! HAHA

I was originally planning on having a cheat meal or day, but I think I'm just going to put that off till after my photoshoot in a couple of weeks! The monday after my shoot I'll have a good cheat day, I PROMISE! LOL I thought the week was going well, but I'm really not happy with my pics as compared to the last few weeks :(

TOTALLY out of the blue I'm starting to see that my quads and abs have started to show.  I'm SUPER happy to see this happening FINALLY!!!! (this didn't seem to show up in my pics this week? I just look skinnier) My energy level has still be REALLY good considering the cut of calories!

I've REALLY started to focus on posing....10-15 minutes everyday...if I don't get my body where I want it to be, I will at least be ready for stage presence...I HOPE! As far as my body goes, I'm pretty sure I'll have no problem getting lean enough. My worry is, in order to get more defined I'll start to look too skinny because I didn't build enough muscle before starting the lean out process! :( I'm already excited for off season!! I can't wait to start building some beautiful muscles! ;)

I've had a little fun this week putting all my outfits aside for the photoshoot in Toronto. I want to have lots of options to choose from depending on how things go!! :)

Here are my progress pics for the week! Despite the big cut in calories, I didn't really lose anything. Not being able to add any cardio isn't helping any!!! To me, the pics appear to look better last week
 :( Makes me want to RUN back to what I was doing before!!! At least I know there has been a consistent trend of that working. I'm thinking I will stick with what I was doing before, until I'm not seeing any progress anymore. I will experiment with cutting calories and carb cycling after the photoshoot! I don't want to look flat for the pictures ;)

Until Next week my fit friends!