July 15, 2015

3 Reasons Why It’s So Hard to Get and Stay Lean! And what to do about it-7 tips and tricks.

In this post:

Intro
Metabolism term cheat sheet
3 reasons why its so hard to get and stay lean!
- Short term diet effects
- Long term diet effects
  - 3 reasons getting and staying lean is hard!
  - Why long term dieting can make you fatter
What to do about it- 7 tips and tricks

If you have ever dieted, which most of us would be in this boat, you know it is not easy in the first place but, if you put your mind to it, it will happen, especially if you are a beginner or are on the heavier end of the spectrum, bigger changes happen more quickly.

As your fitness level increases and you become more advanced gaining more muscle or reaching lower body fat levels whether you are cutting to compete in a bodybuilding show or not, getting leaner becomes more difficult. You can feel like you are up shit creek without a paddle when you get on the scale in the A.M. and the number remains unchanged. It is important to note here that weight is only a number and leaning out happens with the right diet and workout program even without tipping the scale.

Chie Terui – International Figure Competitor

Other issues also occur when you are pushing the limits of having excessive muscle as muscle requires a lot of energy to build and sustain while it doesn’t provide much energy when broken down. Naturally the body wants to maintain a “set point” body fat percentage and enough muscle to carry out activates necessary for survival and no more, although, hunting and gathering on the plains isn’t on the modern day “to do” list. Other than that, the battle is on. As a natural athlete, dieting to super cut lean levels is a fight with your body to lose fat while keeping that hard earned muscle. No one wants to lose that sexy booty or swole shoulder caps.

The body is a perfectly coordinated machine constantly trying to maintain homeostasis. There is a fine balance of hormones and processes that keep your body within the same temperature range, hydration levels, energy storage and so on.

So what happens when we throw our bodies into a negative energy balance trying to get below 20-22% body fat for women or 12-15% for men? A whole lot of things. But here is a summary of the short story which is the summary of a long ass story!

This following physiological reactions are from the stand point of a typical cutting diet- moderate to low fat, moderate to high carbs, and moderate to high protein. As you cut calories, you lower your fat to about 20% of your diet, keep protein constant around about 1-1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight and manipulate your carbs and cardio to create caloric deficits.

Before we get started, here is a little cheat sheet you can look back on for clarification… Otherwise, skip on down to the 3 reasons why its so hard to get and stay lean!

Metabolism Term Cheat Sheet

Energy Storage in the Body:

Glucose: sugar/carbohydrate. Stored in the muscle and liver in the form of glycogen. Glycogen is mobilized from muscle and liver cells into the blood stream to be used for energy.

Fatty acids: Fat circulating in the blood stream. Stored in fat cells (adipose tissue). Mobilized from fat cells into blood stream to be utilized as energy. Dietary fat you eat are triglycerides, which is a molecule of glycerol (a sugar) bound to three fatty acids.

Hormones:

Insulin– hormone that reduces blood sugar levels by regulating cell uptake of glucose (carbs). Also anabolic (muscle building).

Insulin sensitivity– meaning insulin will generate a large response in the body as the cells are very receptive to insulin.

Insulin resistance– meaning the normal response to insulin is reduced. Your cells are resistant to insulin and cell uptake of glucose is hindered.

Glucagon– hormone that increases blood sugar levels when energy is needed. Causes a release of glycogen (stored from of glucose) from muscle and liver stores to be used for energy.

Insulin like growth factor (IGF-1)– a hormone that has an anabolic (muscle building) affect and mediates growth hormone

Growth Hormone (GH)– hormone that stimulates protein synthesis (muscle growth).

Catecholamine– (norepinephrine and dopamine for example) Is a neuromodulator. Prepares the body for physical activity like increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels with general reaction on the sympathetic nervous system. High levels in the blood are associated with stress.

Cholecystokinin– hormone that stimulates the digestion of fat and protein.

Leptin– the satiety hormone. Made in fat cells, regulates energy balance and fat stored.

Ghrelin– the hunger hormone. Regulates appetite, secreted when stomach is empty to let you know you are hungry.

Cortisol– the stress hormone. Released in response to stress and low blood glucose by raising blood pressure, blood sugar and modulating your immune system but leads to protein breakdown (muscle loss), fat storage, decreased thyroid and other hormonal imbalances when there are prolonged elevated levels.

Polypeptide YY– hormone that inhibits hunger.

Thyroid hormone– T3 and T4, regulated by thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). Increases metabolism, blood pressure, regulates tissue growth.

Other Helpful Terms:

gluconeogenesis: – generation of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources like protein, aids in the metabolism of fat, protein and carbohydrates.

Fatty acid oxidation: fat burning

Catabolic: muscle breakdown

Anabolic: muscle building

3 Reasons Why It’s So Hard to Get and Stay Lean!

And what to do about it…

All right. Now that you have all those terms memorized and ready to go, here is what happens when you diet by decreasing caloric intake and increasing activity output.

Short Term

Initially, in the short term, your diet goes well, especially for those that are obese or beginners in the fitness realm.

Blood glucose and insulin levels are reduced which is good as this helps to mobilize fat from adipose tissue (fat cells).
Catecholamine release usually increases which is good as it helps to mobilize fat for energy preparing the body for physical activity.
As a result of the changes, fatty acid levels are increased in the blood stream (pulled out of the fat cell) and used for fuel.
The whole effect increases if you deplete liver and muscle glycogen. Many people cutting for a bodybuilding contest (this includes you bikini girls) will have low and zero carb days to use up glycogen (carbohydrate stores) so your body will utilize fat stores.
The increase in fatty acids in the blood stream causes short term insulin resistance which spares glucose and promotes fat oxidation (fat burning).

So far so good… right… well, as you diet for longer periods of time and start getting leaner other things begin to happen…..In the end, the harder you push your metabolism, the harder is pushes back.

Long Term

As you push your limits and go beyond the normal body fat levels (20% for women, 12% for men) by doing more cardio and/or cutting more calories, your metabolism compensates. You start feeling hungry all the time, energy begins to suffer, and you feel cravings for sweet, salty, and fatty foods. Worse than that, depending on individual responses, metabolism has now slowed down significantly or put on the brakes slowing daily calorie burn rate by between 200 and 800 calories per day.

1) Stressed sympathetic nervous system

Your nervous system is categorized into two systems, the symapathetic nervous system also known as the fight or flight system and the parasympathetic nervous system also known as the rest and digest system. These systems maintain a balance in your body and when that balance gets tipped to one side, the whole system is thrown off.

Extreme lower calories diets and continuous heavy cardio, which is commonly seen in a competitors routine, stresses the sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system sending it into overdrive where its “stuck” in the on position and suppresses the parasympathetic nervous system. You may wake in the morning with a higher heart rate, experience sleep disruption, be more sensitive to bright lights, have lower motivation, feel fatigued, retain water and have digestive dysfunction like IBS, gas and bloating.

One good reason to make sure your contest prep is the appropriate time frame for the natural bodybuilder. Trying to lose more than 1.5# per week is too fast and maximizes adverse metabolic effects.

2) Hormone signals go into overdrive slowing your metabolism

Hormonal signals to the endocrine system sends the entire metabolism into overdrive overwhelming much of the regulatory balance, antioxidant/free radical balance, acid/base balance, blood sugar balance and so on. Your body will do its best to slow the metabolism to meet its energy intake and expenditure. Here’s a simplistic version of what happens with your hormones…

Leptin drops

Leptin drops which tells your brain you need to eat! This directly affects liver, skeletal muscle and fat cell metabolism.

Insulin drops

While this may mobilize fat, the insulin drop causes testosterone to bind more efficiently to SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) lowering testosterone levels. Yes ladies, you have testosterone but much lower levels than men. Testosterone is anabolic (muscle building). This is why insulin prevents catabolism of the muscle, when it is low, muscle breakdown occurs more readily.(Also see Don’t Lift, You’ll Look Like a Man!)

Testosterone drops

As mentioned above, testosterone also drops. It can drop as much as 70-77%! This has greater adverse affects for the male than female due to females having much lower levels of testosterone to begin with.

Peptide YY (PYY) drops

This hormone controls your appetite. When levels are low, your appetite will soar.

Cholecystokinin (CCK) drops

This hinders the digestion of fat and protein

Cortisol increases

This is a big one. Cortisol, the stress hormone released in response to stress and low blood glucose, increases as much as 100%. This promotes protein breakdown, stimulates the conversion of protein to glucose in the liver (bad news bears for keeping that muscle) and raises blood pressure, blood sugar and modulates your immune system. Aside from promoting protein breakdown (muscle loss), prolonged elevated levels promotes fat storage and decreases thyroid function among other hormonal imbalances.

Ghrelin increase

The hunger hormone tells you you need to EAT!

Fall in energy state of the muscle hinders protein synthesis but increases FA oxidation (fat burning)

Good for fat burning, bad for muscle retention

Overall- protein synthesis (muscle building) is decreased and breakdown is accelerated.

Impaired thyroid

High fatty acid levels impair the uptake of inactive thyroid hormone into the liver while there are also changes in the liver that hinder the conversion of inactive thyroid hormone to active thyroid in the liver. This negatively affects metabolism, blood pressure, and tissue growth.

Insulin like growth factor (IGF-1) decreases

Due to the changes in liver metabolism, decrease in IGF-1 hinders muscle building and growth hormone.

Growth Hormone (GH) decreases

Decrease in GH hinders muscle building effects.

All of the above are not ideal combo’s if you want to keep all that hard earned muscle you worked for during your bulk phase while trying to get lean! Whether you are a bikini girl or a physique female, keeping that booty or those fabulous quads is important for your competition.

3) Your body will always be hungry below the normal body fat range

When body fat levels are low the combination of signals sent by leptin, ghrelin, insulin, glucose, and a host of other hormones (cholecystokinin, glucagon, peptide YY and so many others) are all involved in hunger and appetite telling you you need to eat… feed me! I am starving! I need to survive! Your body doesn’t know you are trying to look like a fitness model or compete in a figure competition. Think you want to stay 10% or less as a female… good luck! It is possible but not easy.

You will experience cravings, fatigue, mood changes, PMS, low sex drive or sleep disruption which are all signs of hormonal imbalances.

Why long term dieting can make you fatter

Prepare to lay down the fat!

As stated above, your body is concerned with survival first and foremost. The more energy stores you have (fat) the more likely you are to survive famine… to a point. Your body has a set point where maintaining a particular body composition is relatively effortless and differs from person to person. Aside from the obvious reasons for being too thin, there are great disadvantages to being obese as the modern day diets have thrown many into terribly and unnatural obese ranges. At any rate, long term dieting and low body fat ranges will make your body prepare itself to lay all that fat you worked so hard to get off right back on and then some. Combine the decreased metabolism and fat burning with enhanced caloric storage and you’ve got yourself a recipe for some serious badonkadonk if you start eating pre-diet maintenance or more calories again.

What to do about it

7 tips and tricks to get leaner and stay leaner

Even though you are fighting primal physiological survival mechanisms, you can biohack your way into keeping your metabolism primed (as much as possible) while losing fat and at least maintaining muscle….

1) Lose 1 pound or less per week

As this may seem like torture, losing weight slowly will retain muscle mass and keep your metabolism as optimal as it can be. Crash dieting quickly just doesn’t work, exacerbates the stresses in the body and is very hard to stick to. Aim for cutting 50-100 calories per day every 1-2 weeks. A calorie deficit can be created by cardio or a decrease in calories. For example: Week 1: eat 2,000 calories. Week 2: add in cardio. Week 3: eat 1,900 calories and so on. Remember that leaning out happens even though you may not be tipping the scale so pay close attention to body composition and progress pictures.

2) Use cardio sparingly

Keep strength training in and use cardio as needed. Cardio depletes muscle. Having muscle increases your resting calorie burn. Bonus! If training for a bodybuilding contest, you already have the lifting part down. Now try not to get too excited and up the cardio too early. You may find yourself at a plateau too far out from your contest and not even close to being ready when need be. See It’s Not Nice to HIIT for information on how to use cardio and Competition Articles for info on diet, training and resources.

3) Eat protein and keep carbs high

A good rule of thumb is to keep protein intake at 1-1.5 grams per pound of body weight, fat around 20-25% of your caloric intake and fill in the rest with carbs. This is optimal for energy output, muscle building and fat burning. Calculate your macros with the IIFYM.com calculator.

4) Keep in cheat meals/ refeeds

Keep in a cheat meal once per week so you can take a little break physically and mentally. Remember its a cheat meal, not a cheat day (for most people)!

As your diet progresses and carbs get lower and/ or cardio increases, keep in structured refeed days where your carb intake for that day is 1.5-2 x that of your cutting diet or 20-50% more calories above daily caloric cutting diet levels. This will vary greatly person to person as metabolism, workout and diet programs differ. You may see an increase on the scale the next day but this will decrease over the next few days and then some if your program is on par.

Center high carb meals around your workouts and keep fat low on refeed days as well (if it isn’t already).

When in a deficit, especially a deep one, one refeed a week will raise leptin levels for that day but its usually not enough to tell your body you’re not starving. A few days of refeeding will but then you risk putting fat back on. Not ideal when cutting for a show or dieting in general. But there are still added benefits to a short term 5-24 hour refeed such as replenishing glycogen stores, creating an anabolic environment in your body, eating things you really want to eat and giving you a psychological break more than anything.

5) Cycle Carbs

Refeed days are included in the carb cycling plan but I wanted to put it as its own point. Carb cycling is a method used to help mobilize fat and deplete glycogen ( which mobilizes fat) where total weekly carbs are split up into high, medium, low and/or zero carb days over the course of the week. Daily protein and fat stay the same daily. Cycling carbs is best used when carbs and calories begin to get low or you need a push to get below normal body fat levels (20-22% for women and 12-15% for men).

Coordinating carbs with your workouts are important as this gives your body high carb days centered around workouts that require building important muscle groups for that individual as well as giving you the most energy for intense workout days where low or zero carb days will be centered around off days.

Some structure the order of high, med and low carb days like this:

High day
Medium day
Low day
High day
Medium day
Low day
Refeed day

High day
High day
Zero day
Zero day
Zero day
Repeat

Carb cycling coordinated with a workout plan focused on building shoulders, back and legs.

Refeed day- Saturday: Shoulders & Back – heavy
Med day-Sunday: Legs-Heavy
Med day-Mon: Chest & arms – Heavy
Med day-Tue: Shoulders & back – high rep
High day-Wednesday: Legs & Abs -high rep
Med day-Thursday: Chest & Arms – high rep
Low day- Off day – Friday: off day diet.

6) Try a ketogenic diet

If you need a diet switch up or if you are cutting for a show, a method many trainers are utilizing the last portion of a cut phase (6 weeks out-ish) into a contest is a ketogenic diet. Caloric intake may stay the same but the ratio of macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat) changes where fat becomes 70% of the diet, carbs go to 30 grams or less per day and protein intake may be lowered a bit. Protein in excess can be converted to glucose in the body as this negates the whole point of the keto diet which is to burn fat as the energy source. Once your body is in ketosis after 2 or more weeks, it is beneficial to add in 1-2 refeed days that are low fat high carb if you are highly active or bodybuilding.

Switching up eating higher fat helps to increase leptin and growth hormone levels, decreases cravings and spares protein (good for muscle retention). These are all major bonus benefits that are needed after having dieted down to low body fat levels. The keto diet is a nice push to the end.

One coach that is utilizing this method successfully is John Gorman and his team of fabulous coaches. Check him out!

7) Don’t forget to reverse diet!

Now, if you are a non competitor that has reached a healthy 20-22% body fat range (12-15% for men), maintaining healthy food choices and fitness levels should keep you right where you need to be. For those that have dieted down to lower body fat levels and are done competing or for those that need to maintain lower body fat levels for more contests or fitness photo shoots, reverse dieting is a must. (see reverse diet article)

I have seen so many girls compete, especially those having competed for the first time end up heavier than they ever started because they didn’t reverse diet. They took a mental break and ate junk they wouldn’t normally have eaten but in excess for 2 or more weeks post show. Then thinking that dieting shortly after to get that fat back off will work…. NOT! The metabolism still isn’t up to speed. It takes time to stabilize hormones and physiological processes for a top notch metabolism. (see reverse dieting article). I actually found it easier the second season of competing to reverse diet as I mentally prepared for it, I knew what to expect as I think reversing up is way harder than dieting down! When your hormones start revving up and you get HUNGRY!

Also keep in mind, it can take 3-5 months just to find balance mentally and physically after a contest prep. Make sure to reverse diet to set your self up for success for your next prep a year or more from now!

March 5, 2015

10 Training Tips for the Figure Competitor

What the judges want:

http://sportyafros.com/

Figure competitions are a blend of bodybuilding and fitness. During comparison judging in height classes, woman will line up and do a series of quarter turns to the right (front, left side, back, right side) being judged on symmetry, presentation, and other aesthetic qualities such as skin tone. The “X” factor is important. Shoulders, back, quads and glutes are very important muscle groups to give the “x” type of shape (well formed shoulders and upper back, small waist and shapely glutes and quads). Visible muscle separation but no visible striations is desired. Figure woman are generally in the 5-10% body fat range.

Training Tips:

1) Lift heavy

Pick up those weights girl! Figure girls have amazing backs, shoulders and legs! And for good reason, as mentioned above, it helps create that “x” factor shape. It also takes a long time to really build a lot of muscle for natural athletes (not using anabolic steroids). See also Don’t Lift, You’ll Look Like a Man! Once you have reached your desired shape, size and symmetry, you can change your program to maintain what you’ve got by lifting in higher and lower rep ranges depending on goals. (contact me for a fitness program right for you!)

Lifting in a hypertrophic rep range is a general rule of thumb to build size. For example, squat 4 sets of 8-10 repetitions.

1-5 reps = Strength

6-12 = Hypertrophy (size, heavy)

12+ = Endurance (high rep)

Some programs will have hypertophic rep range days and endurance rep range days. Such as:

Saturday: Shoulders & Back – heavy (refeed day)
Sunday: Legs-Heavy
Mon: Chest & arms – Heavy
Tue: off
Wednesday: Shoulders & back – high rep
Thursday: Legs & Abs -high rep
Friday: Chest & Arms – high rep

Other programs work muscle groups 1x per week with a weaker muscle group worked twice such as shoulders.

3-5 exercises for 3-4 sets in the 8-12 rep range

Day 1: Shoulders (heavy)
Day 2: Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Day 3: Triceps + Biceps
Day 4: Shoulders (High Rep 15-20 rep range)
Day 5: Back
Day 6: Chest and abs
Day 7: off

A beginner program may look like this:

3-5 exercises for 3-5 sets in the 8-12 rep range

Day 1: Chest and triceps
Day 2: Off
Day 3: Legs
Day 4: Back and biceps
Day 5: Off
Day 6: Shoulders
Day 7: Off

2) Lift for symmetry

Symmetry plays a very important part to your score when competing. Not to mention it is also more aesthetically pleasing for your everyday look. You must be symmetrical from left to right and top vs bottom. You don’t want a very developed upper body and no leg muscle nor do you want your left bicep to be bigger than your right. Evaluate yourself at least every 4 weeks to stay on top of your muscular development by taking progress pictures and/ or having another person with a good eye to evaluate your progress.

3) Plan enough time to cut

Figure girls need to be lean! When going into a show, you will need to plan enough time to cut 1-1.5 pounds per week, no more. The faster you try to loose weight, the more muscle you may sacrifice. You also run the risk of totally effing up your metabolism! Its easy to get caught up in cutting more and more calories and piling on the cardio but that can be a HUGE mistake and really work against you. See Metabolic Damage

4) HIIT up that cardio!

HIIT is a great type of cardio to burn fat and keep that metabolism reved so you continue to burn cals through the day. Don’t do hours and hours of steady state cardio everyday. It will only slow your metabolism and make it harder to keep that body after your competition. You may see two a day cardio closer to a show but not 15 weeks out. See It’s Not Nice to HIIT on how to use HIIT properly.

5) Don’t skimp on the workouts

If you have 8 HIIT intervals, you do 8 for the allotted time. If you have 30 min of MISS cardio, you do 30 minutes. Not 29 min and 30 seconds…. finish to the end.

6) Follow and track your program

Keep track of all of your workouts so you can see improvement over time. Track your food with an app like my fitness pal and prep your food at least 1x per week. Then make sure you have your food all set the night before. Every bite counts. One extra bite here and there really adds up at the end of the day. So don’t pop that extra piece of grilled cheese sandwich your kids didn’t eat!!

7) Do not cut salt/sodium

This can be a common mistake through the cut phase and/or during peak week to pull water from under the skin and look “tight.” But cutting sodium to very low – zero levels will only have the opposite effect and cause you to retain water.

The kidneys regulate blood sodium levels to very tight ranges – about 140 mEq/L. If you eat more sodium, the kidneys will filter some out and excrete it through your urine. If sodium is reduced, the kidneys will do their very best to conserve sodium by reabsorbing more back into the blood stream and excreting less in the urine. You can see below, in restricted sodium diets, blood concentrations of serum sodium remain unchanged while the hormone aldosterone sky rockets. Aldosterone is trying to conserve sodium and only make you retain water! Not what you are going for!

8) Drink your water!

Drink 3/4 – 1 gallon per day. 2% dehydration effects performance by 20%! Mark a water gallon to help you stay on track.

9) Cycle carbs and refeed

Cycling carbs is usually only necessary around 6-8 from your contest when carbs are getting low. Carb cycling is a helpful tool to keep your body composition moving in the right direction. Cycling carbs isn’t necessary in a bulking season as you are getting plenty to eat throughout the day.

There are many ways people cycle carbs. For example, they may have a drastic low day of 30-50 carbs with low fat and high protein and then high carb days of 150-200 carbs with low fat and moderate protein. Others have a less drastic shift between days such as a 30 carb difference between high, medium and low days.

Refeed meals. When done correctly, you can have them all the way into a show. Refeed and cheat meals are two different things. Cheat meals are one free-for-all meal per week and refeeds are structured meals with specific macros, usually high carb and low fat. See My Contest Prep 2015 for more detailed info and calculations on cycleing carbs and refeed meals.

10) Keep carbs around your workout

Aka nutrient timing means you time your macros around your workout. When you are cutting calories and carbs start getting low, center the majority of your carbs around your lifting session so you have the most energy to get a good workout! See My Contest Prep and Weekly Updates or examples.

One extra helpful tip for the road: have a support group!

It is SO beneficial to have a support group of people that are also training for a competition. If you don’t know anyone, start meeting people at posing sessions or group workouts. You can also join bodybuilding groups or forums on facebook for feedback and advice.

http://www.getfitgofigure.com/dynamic-fitness-services/

Featured pic from http://purelifts.com/not-too-muscular-bodybuilding-competitions-for-female-bodybuilders/

Heather Owen 2 Comments carb cycling, cheat meal, cutting calories, diet, drink water, figure competition, Figure Competitor, HIIT cardio, myfitnesspal, refeed, salt, sodium, sodium depletion, support group, track workouts, training tips, workout

February 4, 2015

Contest Prep Weekly Updates 2015

Weekly Updates Include:

Progress Pics
Changes to diet
Changes to Workout and cardio
Video diary

Also check out:

Cut phase 2014
Build phase 2014
Contest prep 2015 – Calculations and initial plan
Competition Guide Articles

Week 1 / 15 weeks out
Week 2 / 14 weeks out
Week 3 / 13 weeks out
Week 4 / 12 weeks out
Week 5 / 11 weeks out
Week 6 / 10 weeks out
Week 7 / 9 weeks out
Week 8 / 8 weeks out
Week 9 / 7 weeks out
Week 10 / 6 weeks out
Week 11 / 5 weeks out
Week 12 / 4 weeks out
Week 13 / 3 weeks out
Week 14 / 2 weeks out
Week 15 / 1 weeks out
Contest Day
Reverse Diet

Printables

Week 1 /15 weeks to contest recap

January 4th-10th 2015

See full calculations and plan here: My Contest Prep 2015

Height: 5′ 6″ tall

Weight: 144 lbs 18% BF

Weekly low: 143.8

Daily Macros:

220g carbs
120g protein
50g fat

Exercises: Workout plan and exercises week 1

Diet: Week 1 Printable Week 15

Other printables and templates:

Blank Fridge worthy template: You will have to move your workouts to the appropriate time of day.
- PDF Meal Plan Template – Get Fit. Go Figure or PDF Condensed Version – Meal Plan Template
- Word doc. Meal Plan Template – Get Fit. Go Figure or Condensed Version – Meal Plan Template

Week 2, 14 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, January 11th – 17th, 2015

Weight range: 141.4 -142

Weekly low: 141.4

Workout Schedule: No change. Same as week 1.

Saturday: Shoulders + 5 HIIT – REFEED
Sunday: 10 min LISS, Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Monday: 10 min LISS, Chest + triceps
Tuesday: 5 HIIT + High rep shoulder day
Wednesday: Back + biceps
Thursday: 10 min LISS, abs, glutes and plyo excercises- high rep 12-20
Friday: Off

Daily Macros: Decrease 100 calories per day. Subtracts 15g carbs and 5g fat.

205g carbs
120g protein
45g fat

Fridge worthy printable: Week 2 Printable 14 Weeks Out

My Saturday refeed day:

Daily total: 275 carbs, 35g Fat, 130 protein

Meal 1: protein + fat, no carbs
Workout– no dextrose, only BCAA’s
Meal 2: protein, fat, 100g carbs (low fat foods)
Meal 3: protein, fat, 100 carbs (low fat foods)
Meal 4: protein, fat, 75g carbs (low fat foods)
Meal 5: protein + fat if any macro’s left
Meal 6: protein + fat if any macro’s left

Other News:

This week I ordered Jan Tana DIY competition tan products for $70. This will last me about 3 shows and will be the first time I use the DIY method. Eek! Last season I went with the event tanner at $110 per show! This year, the hubby will have to help be apply this as I will be in the buff and can’t reach certain areas and crackerooni’s!

Thoughts:

I feel like I won’t lean out, lose weight in time, do it wrong, look flat on stage, make a fool of myself, place lower than I did last year.. ugh!

Meals and workouts are going well. Not hungry, getting enough mostly. Shit’s just getting started. Shoulder is doing okay, as long as I don’t overdo the upper body stuff. My physical therapist has me strengthening my lower traps along with joint mobility.

To maintain and relieve tight muscles, I have been using as needed a foam roller, lacrosse ball and a tens machine to try and keep my tense shoulder muscles and back at bay.

Week 3, 13 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, January 17th – 23rd 2015

Looking right on schedule. Waist def. looks better than week 1 with a tad more definition overall. Small changes are big changes!

Weight range: 139.6 – 140.2

Weekly low: 139.6 (fluke- one day and then back to the 140’s)

Workouts Schedule: Added 5 min onto each LISS session

Saturday: Shoulders + 5 HIIT – REFEED
Sunday: 15 min LISS, Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Monday: 15 min LISS, Chest + triceps
Tuesday: 5 HIIT + High rep shoulder day
Wednesday: Back + biceps
Thursday: 15 min LISS, abs, glutes and plyo excercises- high rep 12-20
Friday: Off

This week I felt the need to harness my inner Arnold and Run the Rack! Arnold Schwarzenegger would use this method to “shock” his muscles and keep his body from adapting. I have been doing a 1x per week workout for several months. Its time to shake things up!

Here’s how to run the rack: Where you take a dumbbell exercise such as bicep curls, start at a weight that only allows you to hit 6-8 reps, once to failure, set those dumbbells down and immediately pick up dumbbells that are 5 pounds less and do the same and so on until you hit weights that are no longer a challenge.

Daily Macro’s: I cut 10g of carbs per day and 5g of fat. Daily totals:

195g carbs
120g protein
40g fat

Fridge worthy printable: Week 3 Printable 13 Weeks Out

Refeed stays the same. My Saturday refeed day:

Daily total: 275 carbs, 35g Fat, 130 protein

Meal 1: protein + fat, no carbs
Workout– no dextrose, only BCAA’s
Meal 2: protein, fat, 100g carbs (low fat foods)
Meal 3: protein, fat, 100 carbs (low fat foods)
Meal 4: protein, fat, 75g carbs (low fat foods)
Meal 5: protein + fat if any macro’s left
Meal 6: protein + fat if any macro’s left

Week 3 Contest Prep Journal Entries and Video Diaries

The above naked video….. No 139 just yet…. I just need to break 140!

This week my Mom began designing my suit. yay! Not sure on which fabric I will go with but I am going to bling the suit myself with hot fix crystals and buy rhinestone connectors off Etsy.

Week 4, 12 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, January 24th – 30th 2015

Weight range: 139.4 – 140.6

Weekly low: 139.4

Feelin great! No cravings, I am only hungry if I stay up late and work on this blog til midnight… I run out of macros around 9pm. Luckily, I try to get my butt in bed earlier most days…say, 11:45. 😀 Don’t follow my example… you need sleep to recover and build muscle!

Workout Schedule: Added 5 min onto each LISS session, 1 interval on each HIIT and a MIIT session.

Refeed – Saturday: Shoulders + 6 HIIT – REFEED
High – Sunday: 15 min LISS, Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Med – Monday: 15 min LISS, Back + biceps
Low – Tuesday: 5 MIIT + abs
High – Wednesday: 15 min LISS Chest + triceps
Med – Thursday: High rep shoulder day and/or glut + ab exercises- high rep 12-20 + 6 HIIT
Low – Friday: Off

Daily Macro’s: I will start carb cycling: I will have high, medium and low carb days. Refeed day remains the highest.

High day: 190g carbs, 120g protein, 35g fat
Medium day: 160g carbs, 120g protein, 35g fat
Low day: 130g carbs, 120g protein, 35g fat
Refeed day: 275g carbs, 120g protein, 35g fat

High days are centered around important muscle groups and heavy lifting days and low days are centered around off days and cardio only days.

On low days, there are a few meals that specify “0g carbs.” For these meals I have a big mixed greens salad with walden farms dressing or broccoli. Again, some people count net carbs in those high fiber veggies, others leave them as a “free” food. Choose one and be consistent. It will all depend on what works for you and how your metabolism reacts. Check out the High fiber veggie list.

Fridge worthy printable –Week 4 Printable 12 Weeks Out

Week 4 Contest Prep Journal Entries and Video Diaries

Other News:

I had a phys therapy appt today and have been given a clean bill of health. I can lift beast mode heavy on the shoulders… which I have been doing the last couple of weeks with no problem. She recommended I continue on with my exercises while weaning off of them. One piece of exercise equipment she told me to continue to use is the Body Blade…. I really liked it. It can help you increase strength without putting a ton of stress on joints or other painful areas.

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Week 5, 11 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, January 31st – February 6th 2015

Weight range: 138.0 -139.6

Weekly low: 138.0

Workouts Schedule:

Added 5 min onto each LISS session, 1 interval on each HIIT and a MIIT session. Lifting remains the same: Workout plan and exercises week 1

Refeed – Saturday: Shoulders + 7 HIIT – REFEED
Med- Sunday: 15 min LISS, Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Med – Monday: 20 min LISS, Back + biceps
Low – Tuesday: 6 MIIT + abs
High – Wednesday: 20 min LISS Chest + triceps
Med – Thursday: High rep shoulder day and/or glut + ab exercises- high rep 12-20 + 7 HIIT
Low – Friday: Off

Diet:

All I did was exchange a high day for a medium day on Sunday. Printable diet plan stays the same as last week: Week 5 Printable 11 Weeks Out

High day: 190g carbs, 120g protein, 35g fat
Medium day: 160g carbs, 120g protein, 35g fat
Low day: 130g carbs, 120g protein, 35g fat
Refeed day: 275g carbs, 120g protein, 35g fat

Week 5 Contest Prep Journal Entries and Video Diaries

Sunday Feb 1: So far so good. Weight was 139.6 after a refeed day. Usually your weight will be 1-3 pounds (or more depending on muscle mass) higher the day after refeed but, goes down within a few days and still hitting lows by the end of the week. As the weeks go on, I may add 25-50 grams more of carbs to my refeed day as I have the muscle to take it. Let’s see how my weight goes first for the next couple of refeeds. Cutting programs have to be pretty intuitive to make them super individual.

Monday Feb 2nd: War with the scale. So, I hopped on the scale today to see 138.8… new low! Just to be sure, I re-weighed myself only to see 139.6. The same weight as yesterday. darn it. Being all disappointed I got back on the scale-139.6, again-139.6, again-139.6, again-139.6… .okay, okay, defeated…geez

And this is the heart attack he made…..

Week 6, 10 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, February 7th-13th 2015

Weight range: 137.8 – 138.2

Weekly low: 137.8

I wanted to hit the low 137’s this week but I missed 4 workouts due to being sick…so, whatev. This low is still lower than last weeks low! That is progress.

Workouts Schedule: Added 5 min onto Sundays LISS session, 1 interval onto Tuesdays MIIT session, and exchanged LISS for MISS on Friday. I also changed up the rep ranges I am working in as well : Workout plan – Week 6 – Contest Prep 2015

Refeed – Saturday: Shoulders + 7 HIIT – REFEED
Med- Sunday: 20 min LISS, Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Med – Monday: 20 min LISS, Back + biceps
Low – Tuesday: 7 MIIT + abs
High – Wednesday: 20 min LISS Chest + triceps
Med – Thursday: High rep shoulder day and/or glut + ab exercises- high rep 12-20 + 7 HIIT
Low – Friday: 5 MITT

Diet: This week I decreased fat grams by 5 grams per day. My printable diet plan: Week 6 Printable 10 Weeks Out

High day: 190g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Medium day: 160g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Low day: 130g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Refeed day: 275g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat

Feb. 7th, 2015: There is nothing like a litte flu, okay, alotta flu to see a nice decrease on the scale this week! OMG… this weekend my entire household had the flu. I had it the worst. It was pretty much a puke fest and it sucked big time. I am still recovering. hit 136.2 saturday morning but I won’t record that in my weekly lows.

Feb. 10th, 2015: The Plague has swept through our household!

finally eating and now I need gum because I can’t eat whatever I want!……

February 12th: So, I am sick and tired of eating fricken factory farm chicken, its gross. When I make chicken for my Husband and kids, I make a locally raised happy chicken and the flavor is above and beyond this crap I am eating. But, local chickens get expensive! $14 for a little chicken…. yeah. On a better note, I have a posing session with Allison MacArthur (Elite Presentation) this Saturday. With my show being 9 weeks away I have to get posing, like everyday! I am a little behind. I will get on that.

Week 7, 9 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, February 14th – 20th 2015

Weight range:136.4-138

Weekly low: 136.4

Workouts Schedule: exercises and cardio stay the same as last week- Workout plan – Week 6 – Contest Prep 2015

Refeed – Saturday: Shoulders + 7 HIIT – REFEED
Med- Sunday: 20 min LISS, Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Med – Monday: 20 min LISS, Back + biceps
Low – Tuesday: 7 MIIT + abs
High – Wednesday: 20 min LISS Chest + triceps
Med – Thursday: High rep shoulder day and/or glut + ab exercises- high rep 12-20 + 7 HIIT
Low – Friday: 5 MITT

Thursday Circuit this week:

Shoulders, abs and glutes. Do the following 4x through:

1. DB shoulder press 15-20 reps

2. Weighted reverse crunches 10-15 reps

3. Split squat with DB, back leg on bench 12-15

4. Side raises with DB 15-20

5. Hanging knee raises 20 reps

6. Glute thrusters with BB 15

rest 1 min. repeat

Diet: This week I decreased carbs by 20 gram per day. Now my high, low and medium days look like this:

High day: 170g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Medium day: 140g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Low day: 110g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Refeed day: 275g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat

The above macros also do not include high fiber veggies I eat like brocolli.

Refeed stays the same.

Feb 18th: My Sunday and Monday LISS sessions turned into MISS sessions. This means that instead of keeping my heart rate in the 130(ish) range, I kept it in the 150 (ish) range. I was just feeling good and rocked out my workout. I hit 136.4 this morning! Fabulous and spot on for this week but today…. oh today… I ate 20g more carbs and 30g more fat than I should have…. That works out to be about 338 more calories than I should have consumed. I made Emeril’s Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies yesterday and they are just so flipping good, I couldn’t resist. Then, I finished off the Annies Gluten Free Mac n Cheese my kids didn’t eat. At any rate, I had 3 meals worth of carbs all for lunch. AND to top it off, I had to make a paleo cake and kept poppin little bites here and there. BAD NEWS BEARS!!!!!!! Let’s hope my weight will be forgiving and I will at least stay in the 136 range.

Um, yeah…..

Feb 20th: So, I went from 136.4 to 138.2 after that cookie debacle. Today I am at 137.2. Not terrible. Set backs. Things are getting harder. My body doesn’t want to get below 136. It was easy up until now but now I am getting just a little hungry in the afternoons or late evenings. All I want to do is pop a bite of something yummy. But, when I do that, it leads to another bite and another!!! Then, I am two pounds heavier the next day set back by 2 weeks. This is no good. Too many carbs is one thing and I can burn those off, but too much fat in this type of program will be laid right back down on my ass…… I got this…. I can do this!!!

I do like my meals though… tasty and fresh, sauteed apples or bananas for carbs to switch it up from sweet potatoes, and lots of veggies!

Progress pics comparison, getting better little by little, but I have a lot of work to do!

Week 8, 8 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, February 21st – 27th 2015

Weight range: 137.2 – 139.

Weekly low: 137.2

Did not see 136 or 135 for that matter this week. See entries below on troubleshooting my weight.

Measurements:

	chest	waist	hips	arm	thigh
Week 1	36.5	33	36	13.5	20
Week 8	34.5	30.5	33.75	12.5	19.5

My chest measurement doesn’t seem right but it is what it is. Maybe I had more fat on my upper body than I thought.

Workouts Schedule:

Exercises are the same: Workout plan – Week 6 – Contest Prep 2015. Cardio on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday has changed from LISS to MISS and increased from 20 min to 30 min. On Friday, I added 1 interval of MIIT

Refeed – Saturday: Shoulders + 7 HIIT – REFEED
Med- Sunday: 30 min MISS, Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Med – Monday: 30 min MISS, Back + biceps
Low – Tuesday: 7 MIIT + abs
High – Wednesday: 30 min MISS Chest + triceps
Med – Thursday: High rep shoulder day and/or glut + ab exercises- high rep 12-20 + 7 HIIT
Low – Friday: 6 MIIT

Workout for Thursday: Focuses on Glutes and Abs. No shoulders today as they are hurting. Not the good kind of muscles-have-been-worked-over kind of hurt, but my joints… Must listen to my body!

Diet:

No changes to diet this week.

High day: 170g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Medium day: 140g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Low day: 110g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Refeed day: 275g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat

The above macros also do not include high fiber veggies I eat like brocolli.

Refeed meal stays the same.

Feb 24th: I expect weight fluctuation will be greater after refeed day from now on. This week so far:

Saturday- Morning of refeed day: 137.4
Sunday: 139.2
Monday: 138.4
Tuesday: 137.2

I expect my weight to be 136 by Wednesday, and high 135 ish by Friday for a new low.

Why the greater fluctuations? As my calorie deficit increases through cardio and carb cycling from here on out (my fat is already at its lowest), glycogen in my muscles and liver are depleted through the week. Once I fill up on refeed day, my glycogen stores fill up…. And, for every gram of glycogen in your body, it holds 3 grams of water. Also, knowing my max carb limit will be important when I write my peak week (the week before the contest) as I want to fill up my glycogen stores so my muscles look full and skin tight, but not bloated (or spilled over).

Feb 26th: Troubleshooting my weight. My weight is currently stuck and I haven’t hit 136 yet.. I could have plateaued or my period is coming up and I am retaining water. Once I get my period, my weight will come down to where it should be. So tempted to up the cardio like crazy.. not going to quite yet. I look better than last week so something good is going on. Remember, weight is just a number… how you look is most important. If you look and feel leaner than the last week, you are doing okay. BUT, I will be hitting freak out mode soon if my weight doesn’t’ come down by middle of next week… its getting too close!

Week 9, 7 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, February 28th – March 6th 2015

Bikini Pose Front and Back / Figure Pose Front and Back 6 Weeks out

Figure side poses and model / relaxed poses 6 weeks out

Weight:

Get a load of this drop… on week 9.. 138-135.4….

week 8	8	139.2	138.2	137.2	138.2	138.6		138.2
week 9	7			138.4	139.2 ( stopped spironolactin)	138	135.4	136

Well, on Friday, the day my weight hit 135.4, finally, I got my period… two weeks late! I feel like my body was just hanging on to water or something the whole time. I was in freak out mode! I knew this drop would happen when I finally cycled.

Also, I stopped taking a medication used to treat my acne called spironolactin. It is a mild diretic and a banned substance 3 weeks out of NANBF show. My dermatologist switched me onto an antibiotic until after my shows are done. I am not taking anything yet as my skin is doing pretty well but when I stopped taking the med, I also expected to retain more water as well.

Workout Schedule:

Exercises are for leg day will be higher rep. Instead of 8-10 reps, I will be doing 15-20 ish. My legs are big enough.

I have also incorporated body weight progression exercises to work toward doing 1 arm pull-ups, 1 arm push-ups, pistol squats, and 1 arm handstand push-ups 😀 Workout plan and exercises – Week 9, 7 weeks out

For cardio, I added 1 HIIT interval to Saturday and 3 to Thursday. I changed MIIT to HIIT on Tuesday and added an interval. I added a 45 min LISS session to Monday, Tuesday and Friday in the morning. I like steady state in the morning. I throw on a movie and cycle away on my bike trainer. There are a hundred different ways to schedule and add cardio. This works best for me right now.

Refeed – Saturday: Shoulders + 8 HIIT – REFEED
Med- Sunday: 30 min MISS, Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Med – Monday: AM 45 min LISS + 30 min MISS, Back + biceps
Low – Tuesday: AM 45 min LISS, + later 8 HIIT + abs
High – Wednesday: 30 min MISS Chest + triceps
Med – Thursday: Shoulder, glut + ab – high rep 12-20 + 11 HIIT
Low – Friday: AM 45 min LISS + 6 MIIT

One of my HIIT seshes this week: I rested 10 sec for the first 2 rounds, then 15 seconds the second two rounds. Nice switch up from the treadmill, stair-master and bike…

Diet: No changes to diet this week-except for counting the net carbs of all my veggies (started Tuesday)

High day: 170g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Medium day: 140g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Low day: 110g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Refeed day: 275g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat

Refeed meal stays the same.

Next week, I am upping my refeed day to 300g of carbs. If I don’t spill over, and my weight continues to drop, I will up the refeed carbs to 325g the next week and see what I can handle. With all the added low days I will need it. Also, I want to know what I can handle for carbs in a day so that on peak week, I can eat that amount on my carb up.

March 2nd: Six and a half weeks away and my weight is not where is should be… I am freaking out a little, okay a lot! Even though my weight loss for the last two weeks hasn’t been what is should, there is a noticeable difference in my physique as I can see more abs and my jeans fit a whole lot better. But I still have a bunch of fat to loose in my legs and love handle areas…. EFF! I hope it gets gone over the next month!!!! I have to register for the Gopher State like SOON! UGH!

March 4th: Getting into a little freak out mode. My weight hasn’t really gone down in about two weeks so I may need to step it up in a big way next week. This week I started to count the net carbs of all my veggies. I also stopped taking a medication I was on for acne called Spironolactone. It is a mild diuretic and is a banned substance in the NANBF 3 weeks out. I planned on stopping this med 4 weeks out but my dermatologist would rather trouble shoot sooner rather than later. So, I didn’t expect my weight to drop for a few days due to water retention after stopping a diuretic med. But I am still freaking out. I have been practicing posing everyday now… bikini and figure. I am really looking forward to bikini. It should be fun but if that fat doesn’t exit itself my my lower half, I will be quite pissed!

March 5th: My weight has definitely stalled for the last two weeks… but I am looking better everyday so something good is going on. 😀

March 6th: Finally a weight drop! As you read above 😀 yippee!

Week 10, 6 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, March 7th – 13 th 2015

Weight range: 136-137

Weekly low: 136

Didn’t hit a new low this week. I think my refeed was too high on Saturday the 7th. I will be decreasing refeed from 300 carbs to 250 carbs for March 14th, week 11. Although, you will see below I certainly enjoyed 300 carbs! Refeed carbs, in general should be around 1.5x the amount of your regular daily carbs. The more muscle you have, the more carbs you can handle!

Workout Schedule: I am kicking it up a notch. I am leaning out but my body composition isn’t where I want it. I am feeling pretty good though. Definitely still feel strong and not miserable. Cravings are much better than last season but I am not lifting in volumes like I was, and miss. So…. I am not burning the cals like I was last year.

I added intervals to each HIIT sessions and an early AM workout to Thursday. Friday I added a HIIT sesh. I feel like I am falling into the cardio trap and doing too much. I also know a zillion other competitors doing much much more as well. There are many avenues to reach the desired goal, although, I have a good feeling my former prep coach- Team Gorman wouldn’t approve of all my cardio! Too much. Workout plan and exercises – Week 9, 7 weeks out. Low and medium days correspond to diet.

Refeed – Saturday: Shoulders + 11 HIIT / PM 30 min MISS
Med- Sunday: 30 min MISS, Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Low– Monday: AM 45 min LISS / PM 30 min MISS, Back + biceps
Low – Tuesday: AM 45 min LISS / PM 11 HIIT + abs
Med – Wednesday: 30 min MISS Chest + triceps
Low– Thursday: AM 30 min MISS/ PM Shoulder, glut + ab – high rep 12-20 + 11 HIIT
Low – Friday: 11 HIIT

Diet: Changing Monday and Tuesday from med to low days and Wednesday from a high to a medium day.

High day: 170g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Medium day: 140g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Low day: 110g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Refeed day: 300g carbs, 120g protein, 35g fat

March 7th:

Oh how I enjoyed refeed this week with all the added cardio and low days!

Today’s food: 300g carbs, 30g fat, 120g protein

Meal 1: Egg beaters with onions and peppers + 1 slice Udi’s bread toasted with 50/50 jelly

Meal 2: Post workout Protein drink + 5 servings Creme De Pirouline – Artisan Rolled Wafers Dark

Meal 3 : 4 servings gluten free pancakes with ‪#‎Waldenfarms‬ syrup and 1 cup strawberries

Meal 4: 500 grams of white potato cut into fries and baked + 4 TBsp ketchup

Dinner: shrimp and scallops

Leaning out nicely 😀 The bikini twist is looking better…

March 9th:

Playlists: I need a person to make me a kickin friggin play list… I suck at it and every time I hear songs I LOVE I can’t ever remember what the heck it was later. I was at a UFC fight last Friday and every song they played I wanted on my playlist… did I write any of them down… NO! Ugh.. pandora just isn’t doing it for me right now… getting bored. Is there a playlist guy that will read my mind and make a playlist for me… ? that’s what I need!!! Maybe something like this will work…

March 10th:

So, my girl Trina introduced me to Spotify. She created a playlist for me. And then, I created my own! A Playlist of 35 songs and counting! Click here to see more on that.

Also: kinda freaking out….

I need to be leaner and I only have 6 weeks left!!!

Peanut Butter Jelly time:

March 12th- Body Fat Test:

Well this just goes to show you weight and BF testing are tools and numbers for tracking but the mirror is your ultimate guide! In January I had my BF done and it was 17.5%…. Today, nearly 10lbs down, I had my BF tested at another gym by a different person and they say it is 20%….I went backwards! Not! I am going to just stop weighing myself and doing BF tests!

Selfie..

lats look way better than last year. They better! Core is not bad.. still need some leaning out and I feel like I have no time to do it! I feel behind!!!!!

March 13th:

So, I am nearly 5 weeks out. yeah, got some fat to shed. I feel behind schedule. I am going to rework my lifting program for the next 8 weeks as long as my shoulder stays in good shape! That will help with the calorie burning as well.

Finding time for me right now is a tough one…. I feel like I neglect my kids when I need to go out for a run during dinner time or something. But I rationalize that it is only a short time for this two a day cardio biz. And, me time is always appreciated.

My strength is barely holding… I am getting to the point now where the lower carb days affect my lifting a little bit like I may not be able to do that extra rep or I might need slightly lighter weights. Most of the time I feel pretty good. I think the intra workout dextrose is very helpful with that.

AND! OMG! I discovered PBfit!

Um yeah, in two TBsp, you have 1.5g fat, 4g carbs and 5g protein! Just add water and holy moly you have some good ol PB! It mixed amazing and quickly to smooth peanut butter! It has 3 ingredients- peanuts, sugar and salt. I am totally blown away! I made a PB jelly sandwich and it fit my macros! AMAZEBALLS! I bought mine at Sam’s club but can easily be bought on-line. See a recipe ideas here!

I apparently have all of the Better Body Foods products in my home and use them regularly. (no agave), but love them all!

You should also check out my Pinterest board of low fat recipes to make during contest prep. Follow Get Fit. Go Figure!’s board Recipes- Low Fat (ish) Contest Prep Diet on Pinterest.

Week 11, 5 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, March 14th – 20th 2015 Weight range: 133.6- 137 Weekly low: 133.6 and down 1.5% bodyfat. woot!

Workout Schedule:

Feeling pretty good. Cardio is going okay. I like it. Not losing strength… quite yet. Cardio will stay the same this week. Med and low days refer to diet. I am changing my lifting program to working muscle groups 2x per week. My shoulders are doing well and I would rather get calorie burning from more lifting than cardio. Here is the new lifting plan. I will tweak it as I go: Workout Plan – Week 11 – 2x a week

Refeed – Saturday: Heavy Push + 11 HIIT / PM 30 min MISS
Med- Sunday: 30 min MISS, Heavy Pull
Low- Monday: AM 45 min LISS / PM 30 min MISS, Heavy Lower body
Low – Tuesday: AM 45 min LISS / High Rep Push + 11 HIIT
High– Wednesday: 30 min MISS High Rep Pull
Low- Thursday: AM 45 min LISS/ High Rep Lower body+ 11 HIIT
Low – Friday: 11 HIIT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snXXYrTGsH8

Diet:

Diet is changing. I am decreasing cals by 100 by taking out 25 carbs per day. I then changed Wednesday from a medium to a high day. Apparently, sugar free candies are out of the question as the sugar alcohols still count! Just like gum… must limit any of those things to only a few pieces a day.

High day: 145g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Medium day: 115g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Low day: 80g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Refeed day: 300g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat

Lets clarify the carbs I am counting: I count all carbs and sugar alcohols like those in gum and sugar free candies. I also count all carbs in fruit, sweet potatoes, rice and such. I do subtract insoluble fiber from veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and lettuce. Some people count all carbs not matter what they are. Makes things a bit more simple but, what fun would that be. 😀

Werther’s Hard Candies— count the sugar alcohols!

March 14th

I love me some refeed day! I had 1.5 servings of Piroulines, 3 servings of GF pancakes with 1 cup strawberries and Walden Farms pancake syrup. Then later I made a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich with Udi’s GF bread, Jelly, PB fit and I can’t believe its not butter. OMG it was so good. I would have taken a pic of it but I ate it too fast. To finish off the carbs, I had some cinnamon life cereal and almond milk. Nailed the macro’s.

Dream a little dream….

Just thinking about the yummy foods I will be eating post contest… but also prepping my brain to get back in the game the Sunday after. Its not a two week free for all eating binge after a contest. Reverse dieting is super important to keep that bod and ramp your metabolism back up so it can handle lots of yummy carbs and fats! Reverse dieting is actually harder than contest prep…. I swear! I failed miserably at it last year! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9VrR8ts7Uo

My suit is done!

My Mom designed my suit for the bikini division. It is flipping gorgeous and fits perfect… I will be wearing my figure suit from last year for my upcoming contests.

Progress pics:

Bikini Poses, 5 Weeks Out to NPC Gopher State 2015, 9 Weeks to Mr and Mrs Natural MN

5 Weeks Out to NPC Gopher State Classic

March 19th:

I feel like I have fallen into the cardio trap. Now that I am lifting 2x per week, it is probably too much… I don’t mind the program and am not dying…. yet- maybe.? Also, last night I ate 15-20 grams too much fat… ugh!!! NOT GOOD! I cannot do this!!!!!! I must watch it! Bad news bears! I was making a quick “ice cream” for my kids in the food processor- coconut milk, frozen banana’s and peanut butter topped with mini chocolate chips… one spoonful taste turned into a few more… although not a total loss, nor a binge… I got this!

HIIT Sesh:

Going to try more negative rest and less HIIT intervals. Today, I will attempt 8 HIIT intervals at 30 seconds on, 15 seconds slow… Done and, yep they sucked….

Running while my son bikes.. so fun!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSORQzdlbkY

Some of my fav snacks getting me through prep: PB Fit on celery and turkey slices with laughing cow cheese on them! YUM!

I discovered Crystal Light!

I don’t think I have ever had this stuff. I don’t ever touch this no calorie low fat crap but man, in prep, crystal light does the trick!

According to these bad boys, I have lost 1.5% BF in the last week.. WOOT!

My marshmallow obsession

During prep, I just crave marshmallows. I did last year too! This week I put some in my pancake batter and made up pancakes for refeed on Saturday and then I have been eating them as a carb source for my post workout meal…. they gotta be the mini regular marshmallows.. not peeps, not giant ones, not chocolate or mint marshmallows… just plain, ol mini marshmallows!

Marshmallow motivation to get me through Friday’s HIIT sesh!

My new gym bag! woot!

Seemingly hairy armpit picture.

I swear I shaved, I think its hoodie lint! 😀 I also feel like my forearm looks all huge… call my Pop Eye the Sailor (wo)Man!

Week 12, 4 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, March 21st – 27th 2015 NPC Gopher State Classic on April 18th, 2015

The demons have set in and are in full force

3.5 weeks out to the Gopher State Classic. This may be a typical time frame when you obsess in the mirror every time you pass one over those last fat patches that need to disintegrate. You are tired, working hard, getting just enough to eat to not starve but not really satisfy. I feel like I won’t get lean enough, I feel like I am wasting my time and money, I feel like my body type is so square and I am so flat chested that I won’t look feminine enough on stage for bikini and don’t have the muscling or leanness for figure…. What am I doing!? This is the time that separates the neurotic from the level headed. This is the time to decipher whether or not this is something you should keep pursuing in the future. Do you have what it takes? Do you have the strength? Do you have enough sense to keep your head on straight? Can you put your family and your health first? It is all possible, but challenging. There is a dark side of competing which keeps many from doing it again. It can exacerbate internal issues people already struggle with- eating disorders, body image issues, trying to get results the wrong way wrecking their metabolism for months and months afterward. Sure, everyone has their demons, their insecurities, their doubts but you have to have the strength and confidence to be smart about training and competing. You must always prioritize your health and make sure your program encourages a healthy, balanced method of prepping. (See How to Choose a Great Contest Prep Coach) This is where having a supportive group of people that also compete around you as a resource. This is when you need supportive family and friends. They can guide you and ease your worries. Even the most experienced pro has doubts. Now, I don’t want a supportive group of people (fam, friends or competitors) to sit there and tell me I look perfect and don’t need to change a thing when I full well know my lower half needs some serious leaning out. I want the truth. What I do need are motivating people that can help me push through the struggle, give me coping mechanisms, know that I am not the only one struggling. Who are my support groups? Family and friends of course but I also need some people who compete so, I am a part of local bodybuilding facebook groups, bodybuilding forums like SimplyShredded.com and my former prep coaches facebook team page. I am lucky enough to still be on it even though I am not paying for their services this year. Trying to save money.

Week 12 Weight range:

I don’t know. I stopped weighing myself as it was driving me crazy. I am at the point now where the mirror will be my guide. I know where I need to lose fat and those fat patches are evident… like my love handle area and my lower half.

Workout Schedule:

Cardio volume is a bit high, I am very tired and losing strength. I thinking reversing some cardio out is a good idea now that I upped the lifting program to lifting muscle groups 2x per week. I am glad to be back at that lifting schedule. Workout Plan – Week 11 – 2x a week. Diet will stay the same. To reverse cardio out, I will start by decreasing each MISS cardio session by 10 min and see how my body composition hold and progresses. When I do HIIT sessions, they vary in that sometimes I will do 11 intervals of 20-30 seconds on, 30-60 seconds off and other sessions I will do negative rest where I will be 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off and repeat. Good for post workout calorie burn!

Refeed – Saturday: Heavy Pull + 11 HIIT / PM 20 min MISS
High- Sunday: 20 min MISS, Heavy Push
Med- Monday: AM 45 min LISS / PM Heavy Lower body + 11 HIIT
Low – Tuesday: AM 45 min LISS / High Rep Pull + 20 MISS
High– Wednesday: AM 45 min Liss / High Rep Push + 11 HIIT
Med- Thursday: AM 45 min LISS/ High Rep Lower body+ 20 min MISS
Low – Friday: 11 HIIT

Diet: Week 12

Diet will stay the same this week.

High day: 145g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Medium day: 115g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Low day: 80g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Refeed day: 300g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat

Saturday March 21: Refeed Day

Refeed days just Eff with my head at this point… when my carbs are getting low, it just messes with my mojo and it takes me all of Sunday to get back in the game! crap… I feel super full right now and super fat. I know I am not fat but I have a goal to lose some more L-B’s and I feel like I went backwards, even though I know I didn’t. I know my metabolism needs the refeed days to stay up and running! But seriously, my stack O pancakes with strawberries were so fabulous! Some take refeed days out all together at this point and just cycle in high, medium and low carb days. Every prep for each individual can be so vastly different, even season to season for the same person due to muscularity, leanness, metabolism and lifestyle. I have been reading a little bit on how carb cycling is not necessary the majority of the time in prep. Those that follow this may only use carb cycling when body fat levels get to below normal levels closer to a contest. Otherwise, carbs are the same all week but kept as high as possible. No refeeds. Interesting stuff.

Tuesday March 24th: In need of a detox

I wrote a post on feeling a little toxic after utilizing fake sweetener food to fit things into my macros. (Article: In Need of a Detox) The above pic is how I would occasionally curb an after dinner sweet tooth… 2-3 strawberries with 1-2 TBsp of Walden Farms Chocolate syrup. But, there are artificial sweeteners in all these supplements I take like protein powder and BCAA’s. It all adds up… bleck. I am taking a break from the added calorie condiments for a while. In lieu of eating all these toxic inflammatory foods and supplements, I then decided to write a post about joining the Real Food Revolution.

Thursday March 26th: Just grab a handful

My low carb days (less than 30g) aren’t so bad. I like when push comes to shove. But on the high carb days, you have to really make a point to stop eating. So what if I didn’t portion it on my plate, there is still more in the kitchen! Must chew gum, drink water, go for a walk. If I say to myself- you are done eating, you don’t need it and it won’t help you reach your goal, I can make it. Its when I think, well, I have 15g of carbs left for the day, I’ll just grab a handful of __X___. Then it starts. A few handfuls of somethings can really add up. Just like a bite here or a bite there.

Trying to get it all in- one sick kid

My oldest kiddo has been sick for the last few days. I do love the extra snuggle time …. but, this makes it very hard to get my workouts in. I can’t take the kids to the gym daycare, but getting a good workout in at home while I have one well kid under my feet and another sick one that needs lots of love isn’t easy. I have been getting up early every morning to get in most of it and then I will do a bit more after the husby is off work or I will just hit the gym then. But, when I or my husband has an evening commitment, hitting the gym in the evening doesn’t work either. You just got to do your best to put family first and then get in your fitness.

Friday March 27th, the end of Week 12

I am happy with the leaning out that has been happening over the last 2 weeks. My weight isn’t dropping a ton but I am burning off that fat and gaining some muscle. I have been using body fat calipers 1x per week at this point and not weighing myself regularly (maybe 2 x per week as opposed to everyday.)

Got my Shirts!

Progress Pics

Bikini poses Week 12

Figure poses Week 12

Let’s do a little eval. On the bikini poses, of course, as a woman, my upper half is leaning out nicely but the lower half is a little “thick” for bikini right now. I have to lean that out. (aside from the fact that I have no boobs which I keep getting the feeling that really does matter in bikini.. but oh well.) For figure, I need much more shoulder muscle to be top notch as well as much much leaner. I need to be able to see the muscle lines in my legs. Not shredded but be able to see the separation between the quad muscle groups. I’ve got three weeks to get on the stage…. hopefully I am somewhat ready.

Some posing session excerpts from March 28th 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmXRqlaXhjM I’ll post the figure posing video later… for now, I am tired! good night.

A little more back action for fun. 😀

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC6rQgPd7gQ

Week 13, 3 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, March 28th – April 3rd 2015 NPC Gopher State Classic on April 18th, 2015

Pardon my French:

This SHIT is HARD as hell!! It is NOT for the faint of heart…. FUCKity fuck fuck. That’s what I have to say about that. AND, it can be so discouraging when you are working so effing hard and you feel like you are not leaning out enough. Really, at this point, the leaner you get, the harder it can be to get lean. Boo. Damn, I was almost ready to quit the other day thinking, what in the mother effing hell am I doing this for? Why torture myself? An hour later I was fine. Its fun, its a challenge, a competition against yourself, your friends, your not yet friends 😀 … what ev. I just love being in the sport as I have met so many supportive, kick ass people. I just love it. And bonus, I get a hot bod out of the deal. and a few trophies (hopefully).

Workout Schedule:

I am doing more HIIT sessions outside- SO MUCH BETTER! This week I am taking out some more cardio. I am still leaning out. Again, upping the lifting program helped a lot and sticking to my diet is very important to keeping out the cardio. This week I am decreasing each LISS session by 15 minutes and moving to a pre-workout (PW) carido session. I am too tired to get up in the AM’s. This way, I will have a super long warm up, lift for about an hour, then get in a good 20 min if MISS or HIIT cardio. This is last weeks workout plan printable: Workout Plan – Week 11 – 2x a week

Refeed – Saturday: Heavy Pull + 11 HIIT / PM 20 min MISS
High- Sunday: Heavy Push + 20 min MISS
Med- Monday: 30 min PW + Heavy Lower body + 11 HIIT
Low – Tuesday: 30 min PW + High Rep Pull + 20 MISS
High- Wednesday: 30 min PW + High Rep Push + 11 HIIT
Med- Thursday: 30 min PW + High Rep Lower body + 20 min MISS
Low – Friday: 11 HIIT

Diet: Week 13

Refeed ended up a bit higher than planned on Saturday. I just couldn’t stop eating marshmallows! At any rate, it ended up being 350g of carbs, not 300g . But, my weight held fine so my body needed it. phew. In the clear. Anyway, this week, I am keeping the high, medium and low days this week but the low day will be a zero carb day and the high day will be 145. 0g carb days will include 3-4 servings of veggies like asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower.

High day: 145g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Medium day: 70g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat
Low day: 0g carbs, 120g protein, 35g fat
Refeed day: 350g carbs, 120g protein, 30g fat

My after dinner savoir

Darn fake foods.. sure are helping me out in a pinch. After dinner I always want just a little extra, so, I get out the Crystal light. I started mixing it with sparkling water… YUM! and, its very refreshing on a warm spring day!

Video Diary- waxing, exfoliating and marshmallows!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQP5pwTRf7E

Marshmallows!

How to Bling Your Competition Suit

Super Sweaty Cardio Sesh …..

Hmmm, my heart rate monitor sticks out furtïher than my boobs…. When I am lifting, it looks like a third one!

Finally got the stinky out of my HR monitor! See how here…

Progress Pics at the end of week 13:

Week 14, 2 weeks to contest

Cut Phase, April 4th – April 11th 2015 NPC Gopher State Classic on April 18th, 2015

Body Composition

I had a 7 point body fat test done today by Andrew Brightman (Personal Trainer & bodybuilder). My body fat right now is around 11-12% ish. I wanted to be leaner by now but, its a good place for bikini, not for figure. Prepping yourself is tough when it gets to these stages and you have NO ONE to answer to but yourself if you cheat or didn’t prep correctly. Beginning this week, Andrew will be prepping me to keep me on track. As I have stated before, my body is all in-between with too big of legs and back for bikini but not big enough shoulders for figure, but, I am going to role with it for now and then work on these shoulders in the off season now that I have the shoulder issues under control!

Keeping the Shoulder in Good Health

My issues stemmed from poor posture including a rotated shoulder blade, old severe whiplash trauma injuries, super tight muscles and weak lower traps. If I keep my lower traps strong with my rehab exercises and get regular massages and chiro adjustments (my chiro uses the activator method for which I will never go back to other chiro’s that twist my neck around to get that crunch), my upper body is GOLDEN!!! The biggest thing is to be able to keep up on the regular massages (darn :D) and keep my lower trap muscles strong. Totally a BIG DEAL!!! the above affects my posture in a huge way. When things are not aligned, bones rub on things they are not supposed to causing pain and possible severe injuries. Posture is super key, especially when lifting heavy weights.

Workout Schedule:

I took out 10 minutes of each PW session. For lifting, I have been instructed to add some shoulder exercises every other day before and after my lifting sessions. Gotta build them shoulders! Otherwise, I will keep the lifting schedule I have been doing. Workout Plan – Week 11 – 2x a week

Refeed – Saturday: Heavy Pull + 11 HIIT / PM 20 min MISS
High- Sunday: Heavy Push + 20 min MISS
Low- Monday: 20 min PW + Heavy Lower body + 11 HIIT
Low- Tuesday: 20 min PW + High Rep Pull + 20 MISS
High- Wednesday: 20 min PW + High Rep Push + 11 HIIT
Zero- Thursday: 20 min PW + High Rep Lower body + 20 min MISS
Med- Friday: 11 HIIT

Diet: Week 14

My new diet given to me for this week looks like this:

High day: 85g carbs, 150g protein, 10 fat

Medium day: 55-60g carbs, 160g protein, 20g fat

Low day: 40-45g carbs, 155g protein, 40g fat

Zero day: 10-20g carbs, 189g protein, 35g fat

I put in a range for carbs because the high end number is total carbs not subtracting any insoluble fiber from veggies.

Sunday April 5th, 2015

Happy Easter! I made this raspberry lemon meringue pie for Easter and managed to not lick anything… okay, I got a little on my finger and tasted!

Monday April 6th, 2015

Made up a butt load of Tilapia and rice. Me and white fish are buds for the next few weeks!

Tuesday April 7th, 2015

Thank you yesterday’s Leg Day for making every set of steps feel like this…..

Haiku Ladder, Hawaii

Wednesday April 8th, 2015

I love high carb day. Even though its not really high, psychologically it fuels me.. I think I am going to call low carb day- high day and high day- ultra high carb day 😀 If you need me, I’ll be on a chocolate safari until my next meal! ….. I currently dread cardio and have the last month…. usually I like it but when calories are low and you are doing it everyday and most of the time 2x per day, I… Loathe… Cardio….. Early morning cardio, in the rain! Didn’t mind it. I like running in the rain! I have been looking through pinterest to find good ways to do my eye make up for contest day. I don’t quite know if I have the skill to make this all look good! Follow Get Fit. Go Figure!’s board Competition Make-up on Pinterest.

Week 15, Peak Week

Cut Phase, April 12th – April 18th 2015 NPC Gopher State Classic on April 18th, 2015 So, I am currently in peak week, I have been prioritizing sleep and focusing on getting everything together for the NPC Gopher State Classic on Saturday. (Order of events for Saturday Click here) Peak week doesn’t look terribly different from the rest of your training with the exception of a different carb up day or your carbs may be a bit higher to keep glycogen stores in your muscle full and looking nice and plump with your skin tight. This is the week you drink 1.5-2x the amount of water. Some dehydrate and or sodium deplete at the end of the week, others drink lots of water right up until Friday night. Your diet on show day may be rice cakes all day long with some honey and almond butter or it could be pizza and Gatorade. It all depends on who is prepping you and what works for you as everyone’s body will respond differently. See

This year I will be competing in Figure Open Masters 35+, Figure Open, Bikini Open Masters 35+ and Bikini Open. Should keep things moving along! Last year I competed in only figure. If you don’t know what to expect on Show day, see these posts: Contest Day-What to Expect and the Not-So-Glam and Your Competition Tan- What to Expect I have been contemplating not doing the May show. I am tired and this takes over your life. We will see. So, this week, I am putting on the finishing touches to my suits and shoes. I hit my goal weight for this show which is 130 lb’s. Yes, I know, I am doing a DIY pedicure in about 10 minutes! Morning Selfie 😀 These are two seasonings I use at nearly every meal. I put cinnamon on my oatmeal and sweet potatoes and the kickin chicken gets dumped on my veggies, fish and rice! And, I got my crack waxed and my hair did! Progress pics from last Saturday April 11th, 2015.

Wish me luck!

Gopher State Classic 2015 Results

In this post:

Run down of the day
Figure placing
Bikini placing
Judges comments
Score sheets
Having fun
In the end….
Credits

Figure

See videos here: Gopher State Classic 2015

By Liquid Spectrum

By Liquid Spectrum

Figure Open 35+ : 5th Place

By Liquid Spectrum: me on far right.

By Liquid Spectrum

Figure Open: 2nd Place

By Liquid Spectrum: Me 2nd in from left.

By Liquid Spectrum

Bikini

See videos here: Gopher State Classic 2015

Bikini 35+: 4th Place

By Liquid Spectrum, me on far left

Judges Comments

We are allowed to contact 1 judge from the panel to ask for feedback. As I did, this was my message:

Congrats on competing at the Gopher!!

So you did both bikini and figure, am guessing your a little torn on what direction to go? Based on the pictures you sent and from my horrible memory :), I think your a bit more suited for bikini right now.

Your not far from figure, but could use a little more muscle and shoulder development. I think you looked really good condition wise and your posing and stage presence was good too! So I would say, keep going with bikini or work on adding a little more muscle and some more fullness to those shoulders and shoot for figure.

I hope that helps, please let me know if I can help you with anything else.

This feedback of course, I was told before by prep coaches and was evident in my progress pics. No surprise here.

Score Sheets

What do these numbers mean? How can I get a 10 in one figure class and a 26 in another? What do those numbers even mean?

well I will tell ya… from what I gather…

The judges have to score quickly. Instead of having a set of criteria on paper that has to be scored, the judges simply use their awesome knowledge and experience to take all the criteria into account in their head. On paper, the judges will rank each competitor in the “place” they feel each belongs such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. Then, the highest and lowest score is trashed and the rest of the numbers are added together. The person with the lowest number wins.

If ten judges rank you as first place, you will get a score of 10. If ten judges rank you as 5th, 7th, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 5th, 6th, 5th, 4th 3rd, – The 2nd place and 7th place are discarded and the rest of the numbers are added up to 41, and that is your score.

The more people in a class, the higher the number will be for competitors that won’t place.

Having Fun!

Goofing around, meeting fellow competitors and chatting is one of the best parts of the whole, long ass 13 hour day. By 9 pm, I feel like I have known many of these gals and some guys for more than just a Saturday.

My photo ops with IFPA Pro Chuckwumah Anwah have become a tradition as every show- competing or not. 😀

IFPA Pro Chuckwumah Anwah

A little photo op below with Fred “biggie” Smalls the guest poser! totally awesome performer!

IFBB Pro Fred Biggie Smalls

One last time from the NPC Gopher. Guest Poser Fred “Biggie” Smalls.

Posted by Liquid Spectrum on Sunday, 26 April 2015

In the end…

Just sitting here thinking about the weekend and the journey that got me there. From the very first thought of competing to a second season and a 4th show, it sure has been fun. The best part of it all is meeting some pretty fabulous, supportive, fitness oriented people. This sport certainly has its challenges, the ups and downs along the way, the emotional mind F*** of it all, but some how, we keep getting back on the roller coaster for that one thrill of being on stage- ripped, lean, tanned and oiled.

I was going to compete in the Mr & Mrs Natural Show May 15-16 but I decided not to. My body build is too in-between divisions right now in that my shoulders need to be larger to be more competitive in figure and my body is a bit too muscular and not shaped well for bikini. So, knowing that I may do okay but not amazing, I am going to hang my suits up for the season and ditch the gallon jug….. And just enjoy living the fit chick life until next year.

Credits!

Thank you’s have to go out to Allison MacArthur of Elite Presentation for her fabulous posing sessions, Andrew Brightman (@builtbybrightman) for getting me through the last few weeks of my prep as well as reversing out of it, to my Mom for the fabulous competition suits, and to my Husband, family and friends for supporting me the entire way… AND to my kiddo’s for putting up with my irritability from a 15 week caloric deficit! Those little buddies would just laugh at me un-phased. Rascals. 😀

On to reverse dieting… joy!!!! not.

My reverse diet the last two weeks:

April 19 – May 2, 2015

See Reverse Dieting – Who needs it and how to

After my contest 2 weeks ago, I didn’t go out to eat. We were all too tired. Instead, I had a giant Cossetta’s lobster tail pastry the hubby got the day before and a bunch of marshmallows. yum. Then, Sunday I relaxed on my diet and ate whatever, but not until I was overly full. BUT, my diet relaxing extended to 3 days after my show, not just 1. Oops. I couldn’t help it, I was hungry! Damn reversing is hard. After that, I have been pretty darn good. I gained 6 pounds within the 3 days of eating whatever I wanted. Then I got back on a plan and followed the a reverse (outlines in Reverse Dieting- Who needs it and how to) and have held my weight so far.

reverse comparison- 2 weeks post contest a

Blue bikini: 1 week before contest, Two right pics: 2 weeks post contest and 6 pounds up.

reverse comparison- 2 weeks post contest figure pose

2 weeks post contest. 6 pounds up and holding.

Now I just need to keep holding on!

5 Weeks Post Show

I am 5 weeks post contest and started a keto diet about 2 weeks after the Gopher State Classic 2015. It was the switch up I needed so I wouldn’t lose my shit trying to add calories back slowly.

For a ketogenic diet, 70% of my calories come from fat and I allotted 30 grams or less of carbs per day. So, at 1500 calories, my macros were 115g of fat, 30g of carbs and 90-100 g of protien.

My lifting program has switched to a bikini focus with a lot of plyometrics. My weekly cardio consists of four 20-30 min LISS sessions and 2 HIIT session.

I am currently at 2000 calories (155 fat, 30 carbs, 90-100g protien). I certainly reversed faster than I should have if I wanted a more cut look, but I really like where I have been holding my weight. I am 8 pounds up from my stage weight and I feel really good! I feel strong and sexy. I am a happy girl. Its hard finding a balance after going through a contest prep, but I think I finally figured it out this year.

More reverse updates to come. 😀

Links and printables from my contest prep:

Workout Plan, Build Phase, Sept-Dec 2014 Heather Get Fit. Go Figure
Exercises – Workout plan and exercises week 1
Exercises –Workout plan – Week 6 – Contest Prep 2015
Exercises – Workout plan and exercises – Week 9, 7 weeks out
Exercises – Workout Plan – Week 11 – 2x a week

Blank Fridge worthy template: You will have to move your workouts to the appropriate time of day.
- PDF Meal Plan Template – Get Fit. Go Figure or PDF Condensed Version – Meal Plan Template
- Word doc. Meal Plan Template – Get Fit. Go Figure or Condensed Version – Meal Plan Template

Diet: Week 1 Printable Week 15 or Condensed Version – Week 1 Printable Week 15
Diet: Week 2 Printable 14 Weeks Out
Diet: Week 3 Printable 13 Weeks Out
Diet: Week 4 Printable 12 Weeks Out
Diet:Week 5 Printable 11 Weeks Out
Diet: Week 6 Printable 10 Weeks Out

(Great free PDF converter:Convert Neevia.com)

January 31, 2015

My Contest Prep 2015 – Figure and Bikini Guide

Failing to plan is planning to fail

See Also:

Brief Recap of Cut Phase 2014
- Diet, Supplements (brief),Workouts,Results
Build Phase 2014
- Overview, Diet, Workouts
Weekly Updates- Cut Phase 2015
Competition Guide Articles

In this Post:

Contest Prep 2015 (Cut Phase / In- Season)
- Overview
- Timeline
- Diet
  - Week 1/ 15 weeks to Contest
    - pics
  - Calculations
    - Lean Body Mass
    - Body Fat Percent
    - Goal Weight
    - How much to lose?
  - Macro’s
    - Calculate daily calories and macro-nutrients
  - Meal Plan
    - Week 1 / 15 weeks out
      - Meal Plan
      - Printable – Meal Plan Sheet
      - Diet Guidelines
  - Food Prep
  - Morning Weigh In
  - Supplements
  - Refeed / Cheat Day
- Workouts
  - Weekly Plan
  - Week 1 recap
  - Weekly Entries and changes to plan

The following information is regarding contest prep for me specifically. There are a lot of individual adjustments and plans that should happen to keep you healthy and at your best. Consulting a qualified person is strongly suggested. This is not a substitute for an in person consultation. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please see a physician before starting any program. Note, dieting to very low body fat levels can be serious business if done incorrectly causing major stress on the bodies processes and functions.

LiquidSpectrum-5396-(ZF-8252-15149-1-019)

by Liquid Spectrum

Cut Phase / In-Season 2015

January – May 2015

Overview:

So, here we go, January 4th, 2015, marking the first day of my prep. 15 weeks from the NPC Gopher State Classic on April 18^th 2015 at the Minneapolis convention center. I was not originally going to do this contest but skip it and focus on the Mr and Mrs Natural show in May and then the NPC Minnesota State contest in June, but, what the heck. I am actually really really nervous to go about prep on my own, but, I have all the tools to move forth so let’s see what happens.

At this point, while getting over my shoulder impingement and tapering off physical therapy, I have come to terms with the fact that my shoulders didn’t develop as well as my back and legs to place better in open figure next spring. So, I have decided I am going to cross over and try out bikini as well. This means I will be entering both figure and bikini divisions at the NPC Gopher State. The NANBF Mr. and Mrs. Natural Show in May will not allow this and I must choose one or the other. But, I am undecided at this point. Ideally, do to well in the figure division, I would take another year to build before stepping on stage.

Note: there is a lot of initial information in this first section for week 1 to explain how I came up with my contest prep plan. The following weeks will be shorter with updates to workouts and diet, pics and video diaries. When working with individuals, especially cutting for a show, you have to be pretty intuitive as many factors will play into a persons life that will affect how their body responds to the diet and workout. It’s an art…a subjective inner understanding. It may not be as black and white as you’d expect. If you are going to embark on such a journey as training for competitions, be smart and stay healthy. Use this guide for tips and a better understanding of how things go in the world of bodybuilding. Each program must be very individual and this is not intended to replace an in person consultation.

Also, bear with me on some formatting issues such as the light grey titles.

Timeline:

Your Journey Starts Today ——————–→

This timeline will give you an idea of what you need to do during your contest prep. Click here or on photo.

Diet – Cut Phase 2015

Week 1 / 15 weeks to Contest

So, here I sit, planning my next 15 weeks. I have done calculations for a bikini body and a figure body as I am still deciding, and it will go something like this…

Current stats:

Height: 5′ 6″ tall
Current Weight : 144 lb @ 18% (ish) body fat
Measurements:
- Chest- 36″
- Waist – 33.5″
- Hips – 36″
- Bicep – 13.5″
- Thigh – 20″

Calculations

Current Weight: 144 lb

Current Body Fat: 18% (done with calipers)

Lean Body Mass (LBM): -all but the fat like muscle, bone, organs and such.

Lean Body Mass (LBM) = Your Body Weight – (Your Body Weight x Your Current Body Fat Percentage)

144 lb x .18 = 25.92 lb fat

144 – (144 x .18) = 118.08 Lean Body Mass

Goal Weight:

LBM/ (1-desired body fat %) = goal weight

Desired body fat ranges:

Bikini 8-15%
Figure & Fitness 5-12%
Physique 5-10%
Bodybuilding 5-10%

My Bikini Body: 10% Body Fat

118.08/ (1 – .10) = 131.2 pounds

13 lb loss

My Figure Body: 5% Body Fat

118.08/ (1-.06) = 125.6 pounds

18 lb weight loss

My goal weight for the bikini division will be around 131 lb and for figure, 126 lb.

This is the range I will shoot for. As I get closer, the mirror will dictate where my weight ends up, that is, when I decide which division (bikini or figure) I would like to focus on this year.

Macros

fitnut.com

Track your intake:

To calculate a starting point for calories / macros, the best thing to do is track your food for a week. Find out where your metabolism is at. Don’t make any changes, just track your food. Once you have a good handle on your daily caloric level, you can then figure out your macros. You don’t want to start your prep on too high of calories and gain weight or too low of calories because you need to be eating as much as possible. Macro calculators can be pretty inaccurate but you can use them as I did below.

Or, use a macro calculator:

Keeping it simple, I went to the IIFYM.com calculator.

Step 1: I entered my weight, body fat % and activity level of 6x per week and got a BMR of 1529 calories and a TDEE of 2304 calories. The TDEE is the total daily calories required to maintain current weight and activity level. You can also take your bodyweight (BW) and multiply it by 14-15. An active person, in order to maintain weight, will need to consume 14-15x their body weight in calories where a sedentary person would consume 11x with ranges in between.

To get Daily Calories, Multiply BW by:

11 Sedentary job and little to no exercise

12 Low activity, train 2-3x per week or have an active job

13 Active job + train 2-3x per week or sedentary job + exercise 4-6x per week

14 Active job + train 4-6x per week

15-18 athlete, highly intense activity, 5-6 days per week, sometimes 2x per day

Continuing with the IIFYM calculator. On the same page:

Step 2 Goals- clicked 20% for fat loss
Step 3 Common plans – clicked IIFYM
- Protein – Custom: 1 gram per pounds of lean mass
- Fat – .40
- Hit Calculate
Step 4 View your results.

My starting daily macro’s, 15 weeks to my contest will be:

220g carbs 50%
120g protein 25%
50g fat 25%
Total of 1830 calories

From this data I will adjust my calories and cardio weekly creating a 50-100 calorie per day deficit each week either by cutting calories or adding cardio. I will shoot for a 1 pound per week loss.

I will track my weight daily, my body composition and pictures every 4 weeks or so. When I am 4-6 weeks to the contest, I will take pics every 2 weeks for review.

Meal Plan

Daily Macro’s:

220g carbs 50%
120g protein 25%
50g fat 25%

To start, I split into 6 meals to keep hormone levels more constant:

There are two tables below, the first one is a simple quick macro breakdown to look at. The second is a more detailed meal plan.

Printables:
- Fridge worthy-Click here for my Week 1 Printable Week 15 or Condensed Version – Week 1 Printable Week 15
  - Blank Fridge worthy template: You will have to move your workouts to the appropriate time of day.
    - PDF Meal Plan Template – Get Fit. Go Figure or PDF Condensed Version – Meal Plan Template
    - Word doc. Meal Plan Template – Get Fit. Go Figure or Condensed Version – Meal Plan Template

(Great free PDF converter: Convert Neevia.com)

Diet Guidelines:

I split the protein evenly across 6 meals.

As fat grams are cut through prep, they will be cut from meals first around my workouts.

Carbs are currently spaced evenly. Once they are cut, I will cut them from meals away from my workout. Essentially:

Fat: eat away from workout
Carbs: eat around workout

The meal consumed within 30 minutes after my workout consists of whey protein and a carb source. This meal is very important as is ceases the catabolic (tissue breakdown) process and feeds your muscles to aid in repair, recovery and growth.

Switch it up

The above meal plan includes suggested foods. You can switch out what ever you want as long as it fits your macros.

Some things I do:

Egg whites can sure get boring over time but I like to spice them up with sautéed peppers, onions, and hot sauce. Another idea is to use laughing cow cheese. A wedge is only 1.5 grams of fat and 1 carb. You can put them on your eggs or smear it on your chicken salad, or just chicken for that matter. I also love to spread laughing cow cheese on my gluten free toast in the morning. It’s a tasty way to flavor up that toast without tons of added fat or sugar like butter or jelly. Another fav of mine is to fry up banana’s or apples in a skillet with a spray of coconut oil. If things get a tad dry, I will sprinkle some water on the skillet.

Below is a list of foods to give you ideas for meals.

Count trace macros….I track my food on My Fitness Pal and sometimes I have to adjust meals #5 or #6 if I have gotten extra carbs or fat grams earlier in the day ( sometimes 5-10 carbs or 5 g fat). Not all macro info is correct in Myfitnesspal.com so make sure to double check.

Other Important Notes and Guidelines:

-Eat every 2-4 hours. This keeps your hormones / metabolism in a more even state throughout the day.

-Drink 3/4 – 1 gallon of water per day. (3.78 liters=1 gallon). Being 2% dehydrated can cause a 20% decrease in performance. You want max efforts when lifting each day. Your body can safely process 1 liter of water per hour. Too much water too fast can cause electrolyte imbalance.

-Eat sea salt. I usually sprinkle about an 1/8 of tsp per meal for most of my meals.

-Some people count net carbs in their high fiber veggies and some don’t. Just be consistent. Veggies should be raw or steamed. See High fiber veggie list.

-During the cut phase when prepping for a show, a mix of higher and lower glycemic carbs has shown that people lose weight better. The higher gylcemic carbs are usually centered around the workout pre, intra and post. In the bulk phase or off season, more lower gylcemic carbs should be consumed.

-All food is weighed raw, uncooked. This is much more accurate than after the food has been cooked.

-Avoid the random bites of food throughout the day. Those add up fast as you don’t know exactly how much you had. And, that one bite could turn into a binge session. Better to not do it. Stay focused.

-Use cooking spray instead of oil or butter in your pans. Otherwise, that butter or oil must be counted if you do so.

-Avoid nuts with add sugars like honey roasted peanuts. Salted or roasted nuts are best.

-Anything you drink must be counted toward your macros. You can drink diet drinks or liquids with zero carbs such as sugar free crystal light. Diet sodas are terrible for your health but, if you need a fix, go ahead in moderation! 1-2x per day max!

-Stevia or xylitol are low carb sweeteners. Stevia is a powder where you use just sprinkles of it. Xylitol is a 1:1 substitute for sugar. It does contain carbs but much lower than sugar.

-If you choose to chew gum or eat mints to curb cravings, they usually have 1g of carb per stick or per mint. Doesn’t sound like much but, if you chew 40 pieces of gum that day, you will have consumed 40 extra carbs! Believe me, I have chewed 40 pieces of gum in a day…it totally adds up.

-Spices are great to use to flav. up your foods, especially when fat gets low in your diet, as long as they have no added sugar.

-Condiments count! Things like ketchup, BBQ sauce and mayonnaise must be measured out and counted in your daily macros.

Condiment substitutions:
- Non-sugar sweeteners
- Spices: Cinnamon, chili powder, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, cumin, ect.
- Butter/Cheese flavored sprinkles
- Fat Free butter spread or spray
- Lemons
- Limes
- Balsamic vinegar
- Non-fat, low sugar salad dressings
- Mustard
- Hot sauce
- Heinz Reduced Sugar Ketchup
- Walden Farms brand of calorie free condiments. Sometimes these are in the diabetic section of the grocery store. I am not one to advocate for artificially sweetened things, but this brand is pretty good when in need of some calorie free flavor. I recommend the salad dressings, BBQ sauce and pancake syrup. Other products may not be so tasty. But that is just personal preference.

Food prep:

Prep meals ahead of time at least 1x per week!!! As mentioned above, all foods are weighed before you cook them! (See also: How to weigh your food) Food scales are essential as measuring cups are not accurate across the board. I have the OXO Good Grips Food Scale and I love it!

An example for making a batch of rice: Weigh out 10 servings of raw dry rice, then put in the pot, add water. Once cooked, weigh cooked rice and divide that number by 10. You now have an accurate serving of cooked rice.

I like to make up all the things that freeze well like chicken, fish, rice and sweet potatoes and portion serving sizes into containers. I put these individually portioned packages all in the freezer. Each night, I pull out servings needed for the next day. The rest of my food consists of veggies, nuts and healthy oils. I will steam up veggies per meal.

If you need to pack your lunches, have everything packed and ready the night before. You can also pack the entire meal in a container on food prep day and freeze it all together, then pull it out, throw it in the micro and eat it. I avoid the microwave at all costs (as we don’t own one), so, I will make the veggies fresh and heat the protein and carb source in our Nuwave or the toaster oven.

Morning Weigh in:

Weight is taken in the morning, in the buff, after going to the bathroom but before you eat or drink anything. This gives you an accurate reading for comparison. Weight does fluctuate so, I only highlight and compare the weekly lows.

For example:

Monday: 146.7
Tuesday: 146.0
Wednesday: 146.4
Thursday: 145.8
Friday: 145.6 (weekly low)
Saturday: 145.8

Supplements:

I like to buy supplements in bulk whenever possible from BulkSupplements.com. Otherwise I really like to check out AllStarHealth.com, Vitacost.com, and Amazon.com.

Here is my stack:

In the morning on an empty stomach, right when I get up, at least 30 min before food:

Collagen ( Buy This Specific Product ), I take this in capsule form although the most effective way is through drinking bone broth.
Serrapeptase ( Buy This Specific Product ). I cycle this taking it for about 4-6 weeks, then stop for 2-4 weeks and so on. See more info

With Breakfast:

Rainbow Light woman’s multi-vitamin (Buy This Specific Product). Choose a whole food vitamin, preferably in capsules. I take 2 tabs with breakfast and 2 with dinner.
Norwegian Cod liver oil ( Buy This Specific Product )

Pre-Workout:

Coffee. I drink this on my way to the gym.

Intra Workout mixed together in water:

**Mixture of 2/3 Dextrose to 1/3 Maltodextrin, I take 2 Tbsp = 20 carbs
ModernBCAA Plus, 1-2 scoops ( Buy This Specific Product )
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) – 500g Pure Powder, 1/8 to 1/4 tsp

Post Workout- within 20 min after lifting session

I mix all of this into my whey protein drink: ( I don’t mix in the water until I am going to consume it.)
- Whey Protein Powder
- Creatine Monohydrate – 500g Pure Powder, I take 5 grams
- Acetyl L-Carnitine (ALCAR) – 250g Pure Powder – I take 1/4 to 1/2 tsp
- N-Acetyl L-Glutamine – 250g Pure Powder – I take 1/4 to 1/2 tsp

**I take a mixture of 2/3 dextrose to 1/3 maltodextrin. For biochemical reasons, the combination makes dextrose more digestible leading to faster and greater absorption and circulation of carbohydrates during your anabolic window (intra or post workout).

Dextrose also makes a great post workout carb as it contains no fructose which hinders the release of human growth hormone, a hormone which aids in muscle repair and growth among other important things. But, I would rather eat my carbs than drink them. So, dextrose intra workout and fruit, cereal or fruit snacks post work out. (I buy fruit snacks that do not contain added fructose. They do contain sugar which is made of up of a glucose + fructose as fruit contains small amounts of fructose but we won’t get into all that right now)

If you choose not to drink dextrose intra workout, or at all, have a pre-workout carb 20 min prior to working out.

Edit 9-2-15: Research shows that L-Carinitine or Acetyl L-Carnitine do not help you burn fat. "L-Carnitine is involved in energy metabolism and mitochondrial protection.Supplementation of L-carnitine does not burn fat unless the individual is deficient in L-carnitine." (examine.com) There are benefits such as improving insulin sensitivity and blood vessel health as well as alleviating the side effects of aging, like neurological decline and chronic fatigue. Download your free copy of The Top 6 Supplements for the Bikini and Figure Body.

Read a more in depth regarding supplements in this PDF – Supplements Explained

Refeed/ Cheat Days:

Refeed and Cheat meals are not the same thing.

Cheat meals are meals you get 1x per week (a meal, not a day), where you can eat whatever you want until you are full. Usually within 2 hours after your workout. No restrictions except that you shouldn’t over do it and you must workout before hand and the next day. An off day cannot fall on or after the cheat meal. These meals are usually utilized during bulk/build phases.

Refeed meals are structured high carb, low fat meals or a set of meals within 2 hours after your workout. Refeeds are usually utilized during a cut phase. The daily carbs for a refeed day are about 1.5x your total daily carbs. You must workout before hand and the next day. An off day cannot fall on or after the refeed meal.

Note: the more muscle a person has, the more calories burned, the more they need to eat. You will find that if you continue to compete year after year, your cut phases will look different. One of the ways it looks different… you can eat more calories, usually in the form of carbs due to increased muscle mass. Some muscular figure and physique woman will eat 400+ carbs for their refeed.

My current refeed day meals:

Daily total: 275 carbs, 35g Fat, 130 protein

Meal 1: protein + fat, no carbs
Workout– no dextrose, only BCAA’s
Meal 2: protein, fat, 100g carbs (low fat foods)
Meal 3: protein, fat, 100 carbs (low fat foods)
Meal 4: protein, fat, 75g carbs (low fat foods)
Meal 5: protein + fat if any macro’s left
Meal 6: protein + fat if any macro’s left

I plan my reefed foods a day ahead and make things up like gluten free pancakes or low fat brownies, I then portion them out per meal. This makes it quick and easy so that I can come home from my workout and start chowing down!

My reefed days are on Saturday, the day I work a muscle groups in need of building for me which are my shoulders.

Workouts

For week 1, I will be adding 2 HIIT sessions of cardio and three 10 min LISS sessions.

Continuing to Work each muscle group 1x per week works very well for me and keeps from aggravating my shoulder. I do love the 2x per week plan as stated in the Recap 2014 section. But for now, its 1x per week for me. I do however, try and hit my shoulders 2x that week with a heavy and a high rep day as well as the glutes.

Current plan for week 1:

3-5 exercises for 3-4 sets in the 8-12 rep range Resting for about 60-90 seconds.

Highlighted acronyms are cardio. Click here for Cardio explained

Saturday: Shoulders + 5 HIIT – REFEED
Sunday: 10 min LISS, Legs and abs (quads/ hams/ calves)
Monday: 10 min LISS, Chest + triceps
Tuesday: 5 HIIT + High rep shoulder day
Wednesday: Back + biceps
Thursday: 10 min LISS, abs, glutes and plyo excercises- high rep 12-20
Friday: Off

Download (PDF) my detailed set of exercises – Workout plan and exercises week 1

I will incorporate drop sets, super sets and and isolation exercises into my workouts. If I had battle ropes or a sled available to me, I would SO incorporate those things.

See My Weekly Updates Here!

Weekly Updates- Cut Phase 2015

Links and printables from my contest prep:

Blank Fridge worthy template: You will have to move your workouts to the appropriate time of day.
- PDF Meal Plan Template – Get Fit. Go Figure or PDF Condensed Version – Meal Plan Template
- Word doc. Meal Plan Template – Get Fit. Go Figure or Condensed Version – Meal Plan Template

Diet: Week 1 Printable Week 15or Condensed Version – Week 1 Printable Week 15

See my Contest Prep Weekly Updates 2015 for the weekly changes in diet, workouts, progress pics and video diaries. 😀

3 Reasons Why It’s So Hard to Get and Stay Lean! And what to do about it-7 tips and tricks.

In this post:

Intro

Metabolism term cheat sheet

3 reasons why its so hard to get and stay lean!

Short term diet effects

Long term diet effects

3 reasons getting and staying lean is hard!

Why long term dieting can make you fatter

What to do about it- 7 tips and tricks

Metabolism Term Cheat Sheet

Energy Storage in the Body:

Hormones:

Other Helpful Terms:

3 Reasons Why It’s So Hard to Get and Stay Lean!

And what to do about it…

Short Term

Long Term

1) Stressed sympathetic nervous system

2) Hormone signals go into overdrive slowing your metabolism

Leptin drops

Insulin drops

Testosterone drops

Peptide YY (PYY) drops

Cholecystokinin (CCK) drops

Cortisol increases

Ghrelin increase

Fall in energy state of the muscle hinders protein synthesis but increases FA oxidation (fat burning)

Impaired thyroid

Insulin like growth factor (IGF-1) decreases

Growth Hormone (GH) decreases

3) Your body will always be hungry below the normal body fat range

Why long term dieting can make you fatter

What to do about it

7 tips and tricks to get leaner and stay leaner

1) Lose 1 pound or less per week

2) Use cardio sparingly

3) Eat protein and keep carbs high

4) Keep in cheat meals/ refeeds

5) Cycle Carbs

6) Try a ketogenic diet

7) Don’t forget to reverse diet!

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10 Training Tips for the Figure Competitor

What the judges want:

Training Tips:

1) Lift heavy

2) Lift for symmetry

3) Plan enough time to cut

4) HIIT up that cardio!

5) Don’t skimp on the workouts

6) Follow and track your program

7) Do not cut salt/sodium

8) Drink your water!

9) Cycle carbs and refeed

10) Keep carbs around your workout

One extra helpful tip for the road: have a support group!

http://www.getfitgofigure.com/dynamic-fitness-services/

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Contest Prep Weekly Updates 2015

**Week 1 /15 weeks to contest recap**

January 4th-10th 2015

** Week 2, 14 weeks to contest **

** Week 3, 13 weeks to contest **

Week 3 Contest Prep Journal Entries and Video Diaries

** Week 4, 12 weeks to contest **

Week 4 Contest Prep Journal Entries and Video Diaries

** Week 5, 11 weeks to contest **

Week 5 Contest Prep Journal Entries and Video Diaries

** Week 6, 10 weeks to contest **

** Week 7, 9 weeks to contest **

** Week 8, 8 weeks to contest **

Measurements:

Workouts Schedule:

Diet:

**Week 9, 7 weeks to contest **

Weight:

Workout Schedule:

**Week 10, 6 weeks to contest **

March 7th:

Week 1 /15 weeks to contest recap

Week 2, 14 weeks to contest

Week 3, 13 weeks to contest

Week 4, 12 weeks to contest

Week 5, 11 weeks to contest

Week 6, 10 weeks to contest

Week 7, 9 weeks to contest

Week 8, 8 weeks to contest

Week 9, 7 weeks to contest

Week 10, 6 weeks to contest

Week 11, 5 weeks to contest

Week 12, 4 weeks to contest

Week 13, 3 weeks to contest

Week 14, 2 weeks to contest

Week 15, Peak Week