Feeling blue

Have done all my training sessions and cardio for the week. My energy levels are pretty low right now and I'll start depleting tomorrow, so they won't be getting any better for a few days. I don't really feel like I'm in contest shape just yet. Hopefully I'll be feeling a bit more positive tomorrow.

1 week!

This past week has been a blur of cardio and training, with some protein and veges thrown in. I've slept so heavily, and have been lucky enough to have a couple of sleep-ins, but still have moments where I struggle energywise. And I feel a bit like an old lady at the moment - I go to do something, then forget what it was.

Weight: 52.5kg. I suddenly felt 'skinnier' during the week and it turns out I've lost nearly 1.5kg since last weekend. For my last show I cut my carbs back hard about 4 weeks out and lost weight very quickly. This year I've waited a bit longer, done a bit of extra cardio and I feel a lot better for it. I've only been irritable for a week instead of four, lol.

Food: Am loving my broccoli at the moment. And am actually enjoying chicken and kangaroo. And I don't mind having egg whites for breakfast. Boiled lots of eggs this morning and made toy soldiers for Rob. He loved them. I'm not liking fish so much, and I'm sure I'll be having plenty of it over the next week. Will have to cover it with balsamic vinegar.

Just had our shopping delivered and we got a complimentary bar of Belgian chocolate, lol. Have put it away with the bar of Swiss chocolate Vanessa brought me back from her trip to Geneva. I'm sure I'll be dreaming of it once all my fat and carbs go early next week.

Water: Am getting it all in, just. Am sure I am going to feel like I'm drowning at the start of next week.

Training: Only a couple more sessions to go. Will use my spare time for much-needed posing and routine practice as I haven't done nearly as much as I'd like.

Cardio: Intensity and duration will be decreasing after this weekend, thank goodness. I won't know what to do with all my spare time. Ah, yes... practice posing and routine.

Things to do this week:
1 Posing and routine practice
2 Practice applying make-up
3 Make appointments for waxing and nails
4 Pick up lollies, salted almonds, jandals
5 Start packing bag
6 Sew bikini strings to length

My make-up has arrived!

In the past I've had someone do my make-up for me but this year I've decided to have a go at doing it myself. I ordered some products from MAC on Thursday and they arrived today!

Another thing to do this week: practise applying make-up and take pics.

2 weeks to go

I have come to the conclusion that I am going to look different this year. I am not as lean as I was before, but I am fuller, so at least I won't look as tiny as I have done in the past.

Ditzy moment of the week: So the other morning I got ready to go to the gym and couldn't find my keys anywhere. I looked in all the usual places, but nothing. I tried to think of when I last used them, and it was coming in the front door the night before. Sure enough, when I opened the front door, there they were, hanging out of the keyhole. So I'd been asleep in the house all night, with the keys in the front door. Plus my husband is away at the moment. Lucky I have a big dog in the house with me. In fact I think he is the reason I left the keys in the door in the first place - he was so excited to see me when I got home I could barely get inside. Well, that's my excuse anyway!

Weight: 53.8kg. Not much change on the scale since last week but have seen a few changes visually. Can finally start to see the muscles in my quads, yay! Will change things up a bit this coming week to try and get more definition.

Food: Yawn. I was trying to give myself variety by having a different source of protein at each meal of the day. On Saturday I was busy and had some cooked chicken to use up so ended up having chicken and beans for three of my five meals, and chicken and baby spinach for the fourth. And I didn't mind. It was actually easier than having to prepare five different meals.

This coming week I will be losing what little protein powder I've been having, so looks like I'll be having egg whites before I head off to the gym in the mornings. Not sure I can face chicken or fish at 6am. Will cut carbs back to one serve every third day (Mon, Thu and Sun).

Training: My energy levels have been a bit lower this week, but that could be because of the time of the month. I struggled to get to the gym on Friday and piked out of my last set of circuit training. From Monday I am going to up my reps from 10 to 12 so will see if that helps.

Cardio: Will add 4 30min cardio sessions, so will be doing 60-90min per day (60min on weights days, 90mins other days).

Water: 5L a day from Monday.

To do this week:
1 Keep practising posing and routine. Take pics/video.
2 Make appointments for week of show: waxing, nails, hair.
3 Pick up lollies, salted almonds, cheap jandals (dog ate last pair, grrrr)

Treats I Want After the Show:
1 Lemon meringue pie
2 Circa Snickers

That Time of the Month

As you can tell by my last post, I wasn't feeling my usual self at the end of last week. I felt like I was retaining water and was frustrated at my lack of definition. I felt down in the dumps, a bit teary and got irritable at the smallest things. I wanted to eat chocolate. My hips ached and I had no energy. Normally a few of those signs would immediately let me know what to expect, but I was just putting it all down to competition preparation - except the water retention, which really had me stumped. Yesterday my body suddenly seemed to change, my mood improved and so did my energy levels. And today I know why...doh!

3 weeks!!!

Welcome to my rollercoaster. For my last show I lost fat fast, started looking a bit skinny and ended up having to increase my carbs in the couple of weeks beforehand to maintain my weight. This year I've been eating a little more throughout my preparation, so I'm looking bigger (which is a good thing) but I've been worried that my body fat isn't going to come down enough in time. It's a bit stressful after cruising in last year. I'm trying not to think about it too much as I don't want my cortisol levels to rise and stimulate body fat storage. I can see a few changes after dropping my carbs and increasing my cardio this week, so hopefully a few more tweaks each week will have me in the right place by show day.

Weight: 54kg. Most of this week's weight loss seems to have come off my butt, thank goodness.

Food: Cooking is definitely easier at the moment, but my food is starting to get a little monotonous since I don't have as many choices and can't add sauces etc. Luckily it's not forever.

Training: I'm beginning to hate my circuits. I'm absolutely exhausted by the end of them. I'm hanging to do straight sets again, with no supersets, giant sets or circuits. I am enjoying doing some plyos, but my calves are really starting to feel it. ***Note to self - I'd like to fit in some yoga in the off season.***

Cardio: Will increase to one hour a day from Monday. My legs are starting to feel really tired from all the exercise they're getting from the circuits and the cardio, but I feel like it's worth it after the change in my butt this week.

To do this week: Keep working on my posing and routine

My bikini has arrived!

Yay! It's just what I wanted, thanks Jo!

It's all starting to feel much more real now.

Another thing to do this week: find a bracelet and ring to go with my bikini.

4 weeks to go!

This is probably the best I've felt physically and mentally this close to a show. I know it's only going to get harder from here, but having had a fairly good time of it so far means I can head into the next four weeks with a positive attitude. I had a back massage on Friday night and had the best sleep afterwards, so am feeling nice and relaxed now.

Weight: 55.4kg.

Food: As of today carb rotation is droppping to two carb meals on the first day, one on the second, none on the third, then repeat. Dairy is now out, so is any processed food (sauces etc), and my protein powder is going to be used sparingly. Still going to have one serve of low-GI fruit a day, probably an apple on weight-training days and berries other days.

Drink: At least 4L a day, preferably 5L. My aim is to get through a 1L bottle before each meal.

Training: The circuits are killers but I'm doing a different one each week so I'm getting plenty of variety in my workouts. At least it's fairly quiet in the gym at 6.30am so I can go from one exercise to another without worrying too much about anyone being on the equipment I want to use.

Cardio: Increasing to 6 x 50 minutes.

Posing: Ahem. Here I was thinking I was doing fine, posing in front of the mirror, but snap a pic of me and I can see plenty of things wrong. Will have to start doing the poses then looking in the mirror to see if I got it right. It's not like I'm going to have a mirror when I'm on stage, LOL.

To do this week: Register for show

4.5 weeks to go

Am feeling much better this week. Apparently my body was just getting used to the adjustment of the loss of carbs. I've had lots of work on lately, so I'm feeling a bit tired but am aiming to catch up on my sleep and practice my routine this week. Have noticed I've been doing a few ditzy things on my low-carb days: starting to do something then forgetting what it was, and being clumsy (or more so than usual). I'm also really feeling the cold at the moment. Have gone to bed fully clothed with my beanie on the last couple of nights, very sexy - not! Have had the odd feeling of 'am I going to be ready in time' as I usually do about this far out, but I know lots of changes start happening about the 4-week mark so am not stressing about it too much.

Weight: 55.8kg. Not much change in this department. My body is playing its usual tricks.

Food: Have learnt an important lesson in balancing my macros. When planning my day's meals, I plug the meals I want into my Excel spreadsheet. One of the meals usually includes egg whites. If my macros for the day are over, I now take an egg white out, if they are under, I add one in - simple! I don't miss an egg white or two, and it's much easier than trying to fiddle round with grams of chicken here and there.

Drink: The volume of water I'm drinking per day is slowly creeping closer to the 4L a day I'm supposed to be having. Doing the extra bit of cardio is making me thirstier.

Supplements: Have added in a calcium supplement as I'm probably not getting enough through my diet at the moment.

Training: Last show I did splits until the week before my show, but as of Monday I started doing full body programmes 3 x per week, circuit style. Will be interesting to see if that helps me with my energy.

Cardio: Still 4 x 40min per week. Will do on the days I don't do weights.

To do this week:
1.Practice routine!
2.Take progress and posing pics