Staying Motivated

99.9999% of us have trouble staying motivated to stay on track with our diet and to get to the gym during the holidays. This morning as I was on a walk to get coffee with one of my friends she told me it was the first time she had done anything active in awhile and that she just feels like a big, lazy blob right now. It IS hard to stay motivated when surrounded with holiday deliciousness and the weather is ugly - makes you just want to curl up with a big blanket in front of the fireplace with a plate of peppermint brownies. Soooooo I thought I would make a list of things that keep me motivated to stay on track:

• Knowing that I will be up on stage in very little clothing in less than 18 weeks with a zillion people staring at me under bright lights. Can anything possibly be any more motivating???? Actually I am leaning towards competing in Vancouver at the end of March also which means it is really less than 15 weeks. Ummmm yikes!!!!
• The little green thing on my wrist - just reminds me to stay on track for list item #1!
• Reading other people's amazing body transformation stories. Bodybuilding.com has a lot of good ones. 
• Surrounding myself with other people who support me, especially others with similar goals. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who still poo poo the whole competition thing but I just try to ignore those Snarky Doodle Doos (yes that group of people has a new fancy name!) 
• Wearing my muffin top pants. Oh yea, I have a pair of awesome stretchy workout pants from Lucy that I bought years ago. No matter how many inches I lose off my waist or how much my body fat decreases, these pants never fail to give me a cute little muffin top. Actually, I am wearing them right now with an awesome WaMu CAN t-shirt and some pink polka dot socks. Yes, it is laundry day. And no, I will not take a picture to post. These pants motivate me because I'm determined that someday there will be no muffin top. 
• Thinking about my next cheat meal. I have now proven to myself that I can go a significant stretch of time without a single cheat (8 weeks - holy cow!) but I do look forward to them! I discovered an amazing salad mix at Costco - Broccoli salad. I know, weird that I would LOVE broccoli salad :) This is what it looks like: 

It has broccoli/broccoli slaw, bacon pieces, walnuts, dried cranberries and this amazingly sinful dressing. The dressing packet is HUGE so I didn't even need to use all of it or it would have been swimming! This will now be a core part of my next two cheat meals (last two before April!)

• Visualizing what I will look like in April - I imagine myself looking like I could be on the cover of Oxygen magazine. Maybe not super realistic but hey, we can all dream :)
• My morning cardio followed by a strong cup of coffee (or even better my "Christmas coffee" AKA SF peppermint americano) As crazy as it may sound, I get totally energized by that 40 minute sweat session. I can't imagine NOT doing cardio first thing in the morning now - it would be like not drinking coffee! I just realized yesterday that since I started doing morning cardio, I haven't hit my snooze button at all when my alarm goes off! 

A Little Inspiration Goes a Long Way

You might be asking yourself "what is that green thing on your wrist???" It's the special little piece of inspiration that arrived in the mail today in a green envelope. But what is it? It's the fancy wristband that all registered 2012 Emerald Cup competitors receive to help keep them motivated while preparing to step on stage. It might seem a little silly but it will be there as a constant reminder in a moment of weakness if I feel like skipping a workout (oh please, like I would do that!) or feel like diving into Andy's hidden bag of tortilla chips (that sounds a little more likely!) I can look down and see this little band of green which will remind me of my goal.

I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning as I dashed out to the mailbox just knowing that today would be the day I would receive my EC competitor packet in the mail. I only knew this since I received an email yesterday that it would be arriving in the mail. I actually ran back in the house, gently tore open the envelope (gotta save it as a souvenir of my first show!) and proudly put on my wristband. Then I went to the gym and when I felt like skipping my last rep or two because I was sore and tired, I looked down at the green and went for it! I even upped my weight on a few things. 

This couldn't have come at a better time . .  .I had my 4-week check in this morning on my progress and was pleased and disappointed all at the same time. I have been feeling rather bloated the past two weeks so I wasn't really sure what the numbers would look like. The good news was that my body fat % dropped another 2% but of course I like to set unrealistic expectations and was wanting it to drop another 4% like the last time I had my measurements done. I mentally beat myself up for a few minutes and thought "what did I do wrong?". I realized the answer is NOTHING!!! I did everything exactly as I was supposed to - I stuck to my diet 100% (except for my 1x week cheat but those are planned and prescribed!) and didn't miss a single workout no matter how tired or crappy I felt. So for now my diet and strength training will stay the same and my cardio will slightly increase with an added 5 minutes to my morning session and 15 minutes post strength training 4 nights a week. Very manageable! 

I'm excited to see what my progress will be over the next 19 weeks and 6 days before I step on stage. Now I think it's time to do a little posing practice in my snazzy clear, plastic shoes before tonight's cheat meal. I'm not doing anything crazy this time - just a yummy homemade taco salad and some chips and salsa followed by some lowfat peppermint ice cream. 

Ain't No Food Baby in This Belly!!

Rumor has it that the average person consumes between 3000-6000 calories in the average Thanksgiving meal. Holy food baby! I am proud to say that I survived my Thanksgiving meal with only about 600 calories. This might sound crazy but I don't really like traditional turkey day food that much - I do like turkey and mashed potatoes but that's about it. Being gluten intolerant sure doesn't make inhaling endless amounts of Thanksgiving food easy!

So what did I have? Turkey of course along with a serving of Tru Roots organic bean trio (found at Costco) and of course broccoli! I did do some extra cardio so I could have a pumpkin spice gluten free cookie (and yes I enjoyed every bite of it!) The funny thing was that I still felt like I was in a food coma afterwards - must have been from watching everyone else pile up their plate!

I woke up Friday morning at my usual time to jump on the treadmill only to witness the ultimate food coma in action . . .I headed down to the basement with both dogs running after me chasing each other and making lots of noise. I get downstairs and there is my significant other sound asleep on the couch. Of course I still flip on the light right above his head - he was warned that I would be up at my usual weekday time to do cardio whether or not he had passed out on the couch in the man cave watching TV or not!  As soon as I turned on the treadmill and hopped on I expected him to grumble and head upstairs to continue sleeping. He barely even moved! I should have known he went for round 3 of turkey, etc. after I went to bed since there was empty Tupperware in the sink and dessert crumbs on the counter. 

Seeing that made me feel even better about not stuffing myself and needing to get out my fat girl pants! After watching several people sloth around at work and seeing the endless amounts of cardio people were doing at the gym in hopes of making up for the previous days mountain of food, I knew that I made a VERY good decision about my food choices on Thanksgiving and I don't feel like I missed out on anything. I still enjoyed quality time with family which is more important than a giant piece of pie and a mountain of mashed potatoes. 

Now if I can control my food intake on tonight's cheat meal  . . . . . .

Food Hangover

Don't get me wrong, I loved my cheat meal last night but I could have done without the horrible feeling I woke up with this morning. I can't even remember the last time I had a drink (July maybe?) but I woke up feeling like I drank an entire bottle of wine. My stomach hurt, my head was throbbing, and I just didn't want to get out of bed.

Despite feeling like I was either going to throw up or my head was going to explode, I got myself up and out of bed and to the gym right away. I knew that once I got through the first few minutes of cardio I would feel much better. I did mention the receptionist at the gym that I wasn't feeling all that great after my cheat meal and she offered to put a bucket next to the elliptical for me :) Luckily I didn't need one!

WARNING: Food porn ahead!

So what did I eat last night that left me feeling like a small whale with a drinking problem this morning? I had my chili of course with some cheddar cheese and Fritos on top. Then I had a few cookies and handfuls of M&Ms. It was absolutely delicious but as soon as I had the M&Ms I knew that my eyes were clearly bigger than my stomach.

So here I am sipping on water and finishing up meal #2 (Paleo egg muffin and some oatmeal) and I must say that after a good 40 minute sweat session on the elliptical and a grande americano with 2 pumps of sugar free peppermint syrup, I felt like a whole new woman. And boy oh boy was I excited to get back to my regular diet!

Lesson learned: don't go overboard with the sweets on the cheat meal! I could probably handle some coconut milk ice cream but clearly cookies and M&Ms were a bit much for this girl on a mission to look amazing on stage!

You're doing what??!!! Are you crazy???

Yes, it's true . . .I've decided to compete in my first figure competition. I thought the title of my first post in this blog dedicated to documenting my journey to the stage was appropriate since many people think I have completely lost my marbles for a) competing in ANY figure competition b) choosing Emerald Cup as my first show (rumor has it that it's quite an intimidating show for a first time competitor) and c) it just so happens that EC 2012 is the 30th anniversary which means more competition. You know what I say to those people who think I'm insane? Go big or go home!!

So I bet y'all are wondering why I am competing. I'm doing it for ME! I've thought about for years and have always admired anyone who had the willpower and dedication to make it through the preparation process. So why haven't I done this sooner? I honestly don't think I had the drive to do it before. It's kind of funny that my ex-husband was a personal trainer but at that time I didn't WANT to workout because I felt like I had to. He also ate more crap than anyone else I think I've ever known. Kind of hard to stick to a strict diet when your significant other encourages binge drinking and late night stops at Taco Bell!

So what changed that made me think I can do this now? I suddenly discovered this magical thing called willpower. Okay, maybe it's not really that magical but after sticking to the Paleo diet for 3 months earlier this year and losing 24 pounds and 5.8% body fat, I realized that I can stick to something if I really put my mind to it.

Yesterday was exactly 22 weeks from EC 2012 and after 10 weeks of dieting and a structured workout plan I'm feeling pretty darn good! I managed to go 8 weeks without a cheat meal and didn't even gnaw off a hand in the process! I'm now having one cheat meal a week (instead of an entire cheat weekend like I used to do!) and I actually really like doing cardio first thing in the morning. And you know what the best part of my hard work so far? I can actually see changes when I look in the mirror! My significant other commented how he could see my six-pack the other day . . .if only I could see it :) I know I'm getting there but I sure wouldn't call it a six-pack by any means! Maybe in a few more weeks . . . .

Time to go put the final seasonings in tonight's yummy cheat meal - homemade chili!