I just finished my second month in competition prep and I am already into my third month. Crazy!
I am 8.5 weeks out from my first show and 9.5 weeks out from my second show. They are a week a part to optimize my competition prep and they both sound really fun! But wow, typing out those numbers makes it feel so much more real right now that I just got nervous and now suddenly wonder if I am doing enough and working hard enough to be ready by then..ah!
You may think I just went from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds, but when you're working towards a goal and competing these are thoughts that can come often. I just have to remember to breathe and trust the process, which can be easier said than done.
Anyway, there have been quiet a few changes this month that I want to share with you! Perhaps the largest change was that I switched my competition coaches. It was NOT an easy decision and a scary one on top of that. My amazing friend Jana has helped me train these past 2 years and I have learned so much from her and we've become closer friends through it. However, she lives in Michigan and I live in Virginia so the distance was starting to get a little tough and I ultimately decided it would be easier to have my coach be closer to me in the area I live in. So I found a new coach and it's been going great! We have been working together since the beginning of February now.
After I switched coaches I got a brand new meal plan and workout schedule. For my workouts she told me what I should work on everyday and it was really nice for me to not have to make my own schedule, with all the other thoughts consuming my brain, it was one less thing for me to think about. The workouts consist of mainly using the cable machine. This past month we have been focusing on building more internal muscle so when it comes time to shred more weight I will have deeper muscle definition. This is especially a work in progress for my core....it needs to be tighter and more defined than it was last August. At first I was unsure of the cable machine because it was one of those machines I saw, but never used. Well you can work up quiet the sweat on those things!
This month I also started carb cycling. Carb cycling is when you do a few days of high carbs low fat and then high fat low carb days. For me I had 4 high carb days rotated by 3 high fat days. My calorie intake was between 1,500 and 1,700 calories. I was surprised how much food I was eating and the variety. I ate pineapple, black beans, rice, rice cakes, lean protein, spinach, yogurt, flax seed, berries, plus a handful of other foods. My favorite meal was greek yogurt with berries and flax seed because it tasted like dessert to me. I didn't mind the carb cycling and there was times I was hungry, but I didn't feel like I was starving, which is a nice feeling!
Let's talk traveling while in competition prep. It is NOT EASY. Not only are you not at home to prep your food....but you have to pack it for those long days at the airport. I eat 5 times a day and packing my food for the plane easily saved me $50-$60 in food costs since I traveled for 9 hours. TSA allowed me to bring whole meals through security, they took my yogurt and closed iced coffee drink, but only because they were over 3.4oz (see airplane meals below). This month I flew to Cali to visit my sister and the family in Folsom and my fiance's sister in San Francisco. Thankfully, I stayed at my sisters house and she took me grocery shopping so I could buy the food I needed and meal prep. Eating different dinner than everyone else isn't always fun and sometimes I wouldn't even eat dinner with my family because the way my meals were arranged, but they were understanding and flexible. Just know that you can stay consistent with your food/fitness goals while traveling. We went out to dinner with my fiance's sister and her boyfriend and I didn't eat anything I wasn't supposed to. I have a work trip in March so we will see how that goes!
Cravings. Cravings.Cravings. What do I crave most? Peanut Butter. Stacks and Stacks of pancakes. Tacos. Ice cream. Cookies. Quest Bars. Pizza. Chicken Nuggets. Smoothie. Bananas. Cheeseburger. Wine. Ice Cold Beer. But mainly pancakes and peanut butter.
March is expected to see changes in my meal plan and workouts so I am looking forward to a little variety and see what this next phase of my prep looks and feels like.
I am a little over halfway there! Stay tuned for the rest of my journey!
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