Week 23, 16 Weeks to Go!!!

This past week, I changed up my program a bit, just to spice things up a little. It was a 5 day split from Fitness RX Magazine. There weren't any active rests so my total caloric burn for the week was less than normal....the only day I got a CRAZY burn was the lowerbody circuit on Saturday!! I burned double what I normally do, and felt for the first time in a long time, that I had to barf! HAHA It's now Monday and I still can't sit down without pain! LOL

As for pics and weigh in today I gained a bit :( Which means, I'm gonna change my diet again this week. 100 calories less per day. So my plan this week will be to eat 2000 calories a day and stick with this 5 day split for another week. We will see what happens next Monday and work from there!! I'm not crazy concerned that things aren't going in a downward trend just yet. I will get really focused on that 10-12 weeks out! I'm sure you are getting sick of collage after collage of pics that look pretty much exactly the same, but I'm going to keep posting for accountability!! LOL

I'm going to be playing a bit of catch up too, as I'm REALLY feeling under the weather today, so I stayed home from the gym today. My daughter had the flu shot on Friday, and has a runny nose and such, so I'm assuming I'm getting something from her :(

Happy Workouts and Clean Eating Everyone!!! Keep up the hard work!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

 

I was SO spoiled this year for my big 32!!! Usually I keep quiet and hope that everyone around me just forgets and lets it pass!!! Bah humbug, I don't like celebrating getting older:) I still didn't want a big celebration as I'm not keen on being centre of attention, but this year was the best I've ever felt! I have so much to be thankful for. I'm in the best shape of my life (despite having just had my daughter and being sleep deprived), my family is happy and healthy, I have an awesome support system of friends, we are paying the bills, planning for the future, and I've found such a great group of people online through my blog, facebook, twitter, pinterest, and instagram!!! (YAY #mompowerteam) The opportunities for 2013 are endless. Not to mention I'm on my way to completing my goal of competing in May....something I've wanted to do since my early 20's but never followed through with! I've never been so focused on my goals!!!

 

I ALWAYS say I don't want anything for my birthday....I'd rather spend the money doing something with my husband and daughter, like going on a family trip, etc. For the most part my husband listens to me, but this year he outdid himself!! He remembered me complimenting someone on their ring over xmas, (more than once) and he got me one similar with my daughter's birthstone in it. Such a thoughtful gift and this picture doesn't give it justice~!! I just got home from picking it up from being sized :)

 

 

Not only this, but he also insists that I go to the Monica Brant F.E.M Camp that I've been wanting to go to. (Either Kelowna or Toronto, we have to figure out childcare) This isn't necessarily my bday gift, as we will both be paying for it, but it makes me feel really special that he thinks I deserve it and wants to make it happen for me! He's in a band that has a big concert all weekend during the Kelowna Camp and he was willing to cancel just so I could go! (which I obviously won't let him do, but we will figure something out) I can't WAIT for this Camp, I think it will be the experience of a lifetime, I'll meet some awesome ladies and learn so much!!!

 

Immediately after I decided to go to this, Erica at sisinshape.com was contacted by THE Monica Brant and given a spot at the F.E.M Camp to #mompowerteam to giveaway!!! I'd LOVE IT if one of you won, and I could spend the weekend getting to know someone I've met through social media! It really is amazing!!! 

 

See Below for Details

 

 

 

 

Fit Power Moms have teamed up to giveaway the fitness experience of a lifetime…entry to one of Monica Brant’s 3-day F.E.M. Camp™ in 2013 ($650 value)!! Get social with us to enter...

Visit
http://www.sisinshape.com/#!power-mom-fem-camp-giveaway-2013/c1df0 for details about the camp, or to enter

You can also enter by going to my facebook page
www.facebook.com/operationcompetitionlean.com and clicking on the giveaway icon!!!

Good luck everyone, it would be AWESOME to see you there!!!!!!!!

 

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 20 Progress

Well, another week down!!! I gained a pound this week...a little more than I had planned, but my BF went up much less so at least some of that was lean mass!!! :) I hate seeing the scale go up, but I love feeling stronger, and thinking how much better leaning out will look with some more muscle!!!

This Friday, we are going on a family vacation to Palm Springs. I've planned ahead to stay within my calorie range, but not worry so much about my macro's being perfect. I've worked my rest days into the vacay so we will only have to work out a couple of times while away, but we'll be getting lots of active days with all day shopping, hikes and swimming :)

When we get back from Vacation I will be 17 weeks out, so competition prep will REALLY start!! I`m looking fwd to it, but I`m also worried that it won`t all come together on time!!!

 

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??!!