Week 22 Progress and 17 Weeks to go till Competition!!!

I'm back from family vacay just over two pounds lighter...oooops. I knew that I wasn't getting in my whole 2100 calories per day but was hoping the fact that I wasn't working out at all, would balance everything out! Ah well, lesson learned.  At least I know now, with little changes in intake it'll start coming off easily!! (for a while anyway)  I missed progress photo's and weigh in last week because we were away, but I won't be missing any updates from here on out!!!

(Aug 1st, Jan 7, Jan 21)

I just finished the 12 week James Wilson Body Earned Program (without cardio) and it was recommended to take a full week off before going on to something else! I'm glad that landed while I was on vacation because it was SO HARD to take time away from the gym!! I did end up going the day after we got back for a speedy "sanity circuit". I know I know, I have to learn to rest!!! Other than that, I took the entire week off ( it sure did a body good!!!) and I'm READY to get back at it today!! :)

As for the plan this week....

I'm sticking with 2100 Calories as I seem to be losing little by little with that. I don't want to get too ahead of myself! I will REALLY evaluate at 12 weeks out! I'm going for a VERY slow lean out as I want to keep as much of my muscle as possible!!! I'm not to worried that I won't be able to get lean, I'm more worried that I will look scrawny once I do! I've found it SO HARD to put on good muscle!!!

It's funny!! As a woman, I've always wanted to be lean..and I was so excited for this upcoming leanout phase, but now that I'm saying goodbye, all I can think about is, after this competition is over I CAN'T WAIT to get back to trying to gain more muscle mass!!!

I've been reading more and more about protein consumption. I've been eating 40%protein, and at this higher calorie intake I'm pretty much consuming really expensive carbs. I don't need that much!!! However over the past few months, I've noticed my body doesn't react well to a higher carb diet either! (or I feel bloated on it at least) The solution?? I'm going to try increasing fats instead and see what happens! So my breakdown this week will be 30% Pro, 40% Carb, and 30% Fat.

On another note, I started sleep training with my daughter and she's in her own crib and doing great!!! More sleep for me should REALLY help things out as well!!! :)

So I'm Signing out till Wednesday!! A little birdy tells me that there will be an awesome giveaway announcement that I WISH I could have gotten in on!!! Keep your eyes peeled because you won't want to miss it!!! :) Hopefully it will be ready to start by Wednesday!!!

Week 19 Progress Pics

WEEK 19 Progress

This week I was eating 2200 Calories /day, my workouts were a little messed up as the gym was closed for the holidays. I planned ahead and got one of this weeks workouts done last week (so one extra workout last week) and had one less workout day this week.....so a little less of a calorie burn. I also changed my macro breakdown from 40/30/30 to 40/40/20....the extra carbs made me feel a bit bloated, but I was feeling SUPER strong and my energy levels were good. My goal for the week was to see a little bit of weight gain, hopefully being in lean body mass. The scale showed a little increase, which, even though that was my goal...scares the crap outa me!! HAHA (I know I know) it was only .4 of a pound. Since I was feeling great during the week I'm going to stick to this calorie intake till I start leaning out at the end of the month!!! Let me tell ya, I CAN'T WAIT to start leaning out and really seeing if I builtANYTHING under all this fat :) HAPPY NEW YEAR AND BRING ON THE FINAL STRETCH!!!!!

What is a Vision Board and do you have one!!!?

I'm a goal setter, and I have always liked to journal my progress!! It seems like everytime I take a break from writing things down for me to see, is when I fall of the wagon and forget where I'm wanting to be! Just recently going through boxes I came across journals from as far back as 1998!! YIKES!!! It's so interesting to see how your thoughts change over the years, and how what I ate changed with the fads....low carb, low cal, a few meals a day, many meals a day...One thing that has never changed is that I have ALWAYS been focused on diet and exercise...and to a fault in my highschool years...maybe I'll tell you more about that one day ;)

ANYWAY, most of my journals have little clippings glued in of recipes and models that I aspire to work toward, diet and exercise advice from magazines etc. About a year and a half ago, I decided to take some of those clippings as well as cutting out more and make myself a vision board!! I wanted my aspirations to be up front and centre so I could see them on a daily basis and keep my motivation going strong!!!

HOW DO YOU MAKE ONE?-Get some poster board, and magazine clippings to motivate you and paste away!!! Put it up somewhere you will see it everyday!

I'm thinking of revamping my vision board and starting over for the new year...to document #myjourney!! This is the new focus of the #mompowerteam in January!

My last vision board has a lot of babies on it (we were wanting to have a baby pretty badly at the time without quick success so if was first and foremost on my mind ) We focused on it, took the steps we needed to to make it happen, and now we have our beautiful daughter!! :)

I also hved pictures of holidays on it, which we took (luckily we were able to combine my working trips with some great trips to Mexico so it didn't cost an arm and a leg!)

My dream car is there (a Toyota Tacoma...I know, not much of a DREAM car, but I've always wanted one) Over the time I've had the vision board, I've saved enough to afford one, but with the baby here, my priorities with money have changed. I need to stockpile a little more before I'll take that jump....expecially with gas prices now adays!!

My vision board also has a picture of Alicia Marie (a fitness model) that I've been saving for YEARS!!! I've never really applied myself as much as needed to even make it close to getting on stage, so this is going to be my FOCUS this year! Along with quality time with my family, and a couple of trips. The first one is to Palm Springs this month....and then maybe the WBFF in Vegas in August??? (Just to watch ;) I'm also going to focus on promoting my social media pages, ie(facebook, my blog, and try to figure out the rest, HAHA) Maybe even start a youtube channel to document my journey to the stage???? (help deal with my fear of being centre of attention LOL ) Maybe that would help others who are trying to train on their own :)

TWITTER-@competitionlean
Pinterest-smackid
Instagram-smackid
Facebook-www.facebook.com/OperationCompetitionLean

ANYWAY!! That's enough babble, my point is, having your goals up front and centre and seeing them everyday makes you more likely to achieve them!!! With the power of positive thinking, and the constant reminder of what you want, NOTHING can stop you!!! Want to join me in planning your own journey for 2013 by making a vision board??!!

Week 18 Progress Pics

Week 18- I was eating 2150 Cals/ Day (40p/30c/30f) And no cardio. I am still doing a circuit type workout with active rests. I'll be sticking to this kind of workout for two more weeks, then back to one bodypart/day, 5x/wk. My weight went to 123.2 (down .2) and bodyfat on the scale was 20.7 (down .1) The calipers measured WAY lower than last week. Frustrating to say the least. I'm doing some research to find out where in Calgary I can get my BF measured more accurately, just for my own interest!

My plan for next week is the same type of workout, and eating 2200 Cals/day (40/40/20 to see how my body likes more carbs!!?)

I see a little change in my midsection, and a tiny bit in the shoulders...slowly but surely!! :)

No excuses over these holidays. I'm getting all my workouts in, and sticking to clean eating 100%!!

Progress Pics for week 17...a little late!

Progress Pics for Week 17

Here are my progress pics for Dec 17th. This week I was eating 2100 Calories a day as a last month effort to gain some muscle and strength!! If I don't gain weight I'll continue to raise my calories till mid January when I'll start the cutting process!!! I'm feeling a bit bloated and soft, which I don't like, but my strength is going up which I LOVE!!!

I'm still doing the circuit style workout , no cardio, and doing a 40/30/30 macro split! I'm thinking of raising the carbs a little in the next couple of weeks!!!

Currently 5'5" 123.4lbs and 20.8%bodyfat. Since there wasn't too much change in weight, I'm increasing my calories next week to 2150. Just a little raise this week, as I don't want to put on too much bodyfat!! We'll see how it goes!!!:)

Dec 11 Progress Pics. Week 16

Progress Pics for Week 16. The first Pic is always my start of eating clean with No Workouts!! This was three weeks after I had my daughter via c-section so it was another 5 weeks before I was able to ease myself back into working out!!

The subsequent pics will always be the most recent two weeks, so in this case it's Dec 3rd and Dec 11 to get a comparison week by week.

This week, I was working out circuit style, very little rest, 5x a week for 45-55 Minutes. No Cardio, and 2000 calories a day. Macro Split has been 40/30/30 (Pro, Carb, Fat) and I'm always within a couple percent.

Keep in mind I AM breastfeeding, so I need a little more calories than average!!

I'm currently 5'5" 123lbs, and 20.8% BF

I WON!

I recently posted in my notes section on FB how I go about setting goals for myself!! If you read it, you’ll remember that I set a BIG goal (competeing) but in order to get there I also set smaller goals along the way to help me achieve that ultimate outcome!! )

Well, the past two months I have been working on a short term goal to keep me motivated! It was Daria McDermott ‘s get transformed challenge!! I figured if I’m doing all this work, why not try to win some prizes!!! HAHA Well, I won!!! Wohoo!! What a nice surprise!!

Do you guys have a fitness goal to reach?? I highly recommend joining a challenge like this for more motivation along the way!! It’s fun, and ultimately if it helps get you closer to the big picture, you’re a winner either way!!!

http://dariamcdermott.com/welcome/2012/12/6/our-get-transformed-contest-winners

Here’s the writeup on Daria’s Page. It tells my story the past few months, and also of the runner up!! Some of the prizes were perishable, so I donated to the US runner up!! This was such a great surprise today!!

I Signed Up!!

I promised all my fb followers that I would sign up for my fitness competition by the end of November….well….its the last day of November and I’m a woman of my word!
I have officially signed up for the
NPAA competition in Calgary May 19th. I’m scared as you can possibly imagine, but as excited as can be at the same time!
It’s go time! Full force till the end! I have a lot of work to do!