My Body Is Running On Good Stuff

I had written a beefy post this morning with all sorts of good thoughts, but somehow my connection was lost and poof..all my smarts are circulating in cyber space!

I am going to keep this short and sweet for two reasons: I can't recall all of the profound ideas from earlier and MTV Challenge/Battle of the Exes is on! Wednesday night is a good TV night-for sure!

Basically...the title of my post was my light bulb for today. The one thing I love about contest prep is : All the good/clean food that goes into my mouth. I love that what runs my body right now is nutritious fuel! It's not too far off the mark of how we eat normally either. Don't get me wrong I love pizza (Flatbreads Organic Style) and beer,but having all clean fuel in me is a satisfying thought. My only wish is to eat MORE of the good stuff-BIGGER portions of oats, potatoes and chicken-yummo!

Brendan and I were having a good talk after our workout today about how we are going to reverse diet better this time. No binging like our life depends on it. I am entirely confident we will be able to do it too. Last time we were misguided. This time around its going to be a whole diff. ball game. The time after prep is a very crucial rebuilding period. I will not go to the dark side of junk food and binges! I cannot wait to come off the diet and do things the right way this time around. No mental games either!

Tonight was legs. My all time favorite! I was STRONG! I am loving this week. My belly has been full due to late wake up times and I have been well rested. This = happy Stephanie & good work outs.

Today was a bonus too- My dear aunt flo came. I love when its unexpected...well not really. I have been an emotional basket case this week, but I thought for sure she was not going to appear until next week. I am happy. Although, I am not sure what that means for the scale this coming Saturday. I think I am due for a cut this week anyway. Time will tell. Until then, I will continue to enjoy my food.

We decided today to get certified in TRX. It will be a good opportunity and learning experience. I am seriously looking forward to it. April 1st! I am still looking in to getting my PT cert. too-excited for that as well. Hopefully its an opening to my future in fitness. How perfect would it be for me to teach and train-pretty perfect!

Tomorrow is a big day for me! I am heading down to CT for my visit. I have been looking forward to this all vacation!

This post was no where near my earlier post...however I am pooped. I'll make it up sometime this week~!

I'll be looking forward to a little bit of this kind of love come June 24th (Minus the pepperoni). Until then I am a clean eating machine!

Vacation Week!

I haven't been very good about blogging. Although this week it seems as though it should be easy for me to blog everyday. It's finally school vacation week, and I couldn't be more happy. Not that I have any huge plans, but time away from the kiddos is perfect for me. Its a long stretch from Christmas until now with no days off. Needless to say everyone was out of the building promptly at 3:00 pm.

This week I plan on catching up on some sleep and getting in some good workouts. Nothing beats going to the gym on fresh sleep and a full belly. Having vacation allows me this lovely pleasure. Also, on tap for this week is a visit to my BFF in CT who just had her second baby...a little girl. I am super excited. Mel is my college roommate and truly the nicest person I have ever met. She makes parenting look magical. I hope to be like her when I have children of my own someday.

On the contest prep front, things are moving along slowly but surely. Of course I would love to be cut up and shredded already,but I know it takes time. My workouts have been strong and the diet isn't too bad yet. Not to say I don't look forward to every meal time but so far so good. The feeling of bloat is gone, which is a major relief. My face looks thinner too. This week I had a sports massage and my lady told me my muscles feel less tight  so that meana my stretching goal is working too! My new kicks still make it fun for me to workout and a new play list is keeping me fresh too. It's getting close to the first big show of the year (April). That will for sure bring new motivation as well as fresh anxiety, but I look forward to seeing whats out there! Motivation ya know!

We have been mixing up our diet every two weeks, which has been lovely. It makes it feel like less of a diet. My last contest prep I ate the same exact thing for about fourteen weeks...looking back now I know that probably wasn't the best thing for my body nutrition wise. But hey, you live and learn right?! I am actually due for a change up starting Monday..we'll see what kind of cut I need to make and how I can't mix up my meals according to my cals.

Its a beautiful springlike day today in Boston. I got up and banged out my morning cardio...later today we have legs. My favorite! I feel its the most rewarding because you can feel right away how badly you killed it. After my leg session, I have a facial..I can chalk this day up to being fantastic!

Non food date night- Movie! The one with Reece Witherspoon, forgot the name. Looking forward to it! We were supposed to see it on Vday night but we had a car mishap and actually spent the evening waiting for a tow truck and viewing Bridge to Terabithia before I showed it to my class. It's all good though! I'll keep ya posted on the movie. Hope it's a good one! The last movie we saw was The Vow-AMAZING. A BEAUTIFUL LOVE STORY XOXOX

MY MANTRA FOR CONTEST PREP!!!

Week Three...what a week

Hi all!
What a quick weekend. It's already Sunday, I can't believe how quick time flys...well kinda. This week was a rough one in every way imaginable. I was riding high the first two weeks all fired up about the 2012 season... then bam! It only takes two sick days of the stomach bug sitting around, doing nothing to take the wind out of my sails.
Monday started off in regular fashion, or so I thought. I got up for my morning cardio per usual. Brendan actually came with me because he was starting later than usual so that was a bonus. When I got home I did my reg. morning routine, showered got ready etc. During breakfast I felt nauseous, but I thought it was from doing cardio on an empty stomach. Not the case. On the way to work, I had to stop for some Diet Ginger ale to settle my stomach. Needless to say it got worse as the day went on. By the afternoon I was sitting on any free desk available. I was out for Tues and Wed. All I did was lay around. That is like the worst thing possible for someone like me. I got all mental and it was downhill from there. I have yet to pull myself out of the mental rut. Sucks!
The weekend went by quick...I felt like I wasted it too. I was so lost in thought that it just slipped by me. I was grumpy about diet, I was grumpy about not seeing the changes I wanted to see, I was plain miserable. For no reason. It's early I shouldn't be this crazy. I am actually happy with what I can eat, its not low yet, I have lost a pound a week and my lifts are strong. I should be fine and I will be fine. For any competitor out there, they can relate to the mental mind fuck contest prep is.
This time around I promised myself it would be different and it will. The last time I had twelve weeks so I had to get shredded fast. I like the pace of this prep. although, its tough to think in long terms. That's what gets me. I was saying to Brendan I want the food because I can't have it, not because I really want to eat. The fact that it is extremely off limits is whats doing it to me. Honestly, if I could I wouldn't eat it in my normal life-I don't know its weird. Hard to explain without rambling.
I am turning this rut inside out as of tonight. Done...and moving on. I know contest prep is full of ups and downs and I will get through them. It won't control me, its all what I make of it!
On the up side of things we saw the VOW this weekend. Truly amazing. I am a sucker for a good love story. It makes me think of my own love story. It's was a good reality check!

Words to live by...xoxo

Week two down!

So even though it's only been two weeks, I feel like my old self again. Focused. It def. feels like prep. My metabolism eats up everything I put in my body, making me hungry every couple of hours. It's  good to feel my body start to tighten up. I had successful workouts all week too. I hit my cardio days and continue to push the iron around. It's back to sleeping like a rock every night. I don't feel as bad sleeping in on Saturday mornings with the winter. When I was prepping through the summer I wanted to be up at the crack of dawn to get the most of the summer day. It helps to sleep in as far as my meals go. The later the better!

The month of February will be a good one. The initial changes will be fun to watch. I hope I put on some decent muscle during the off season. I feel different so ...fingers crossed. The hype of the competition season is everywhere. This adds to the excitement of the prep. but also gets the nerves and crazy thoughts going as well. I am going to do my best to keep my brain focused on me and my progress.

I have two weeks until school vacation which I am excited for. No big plans for me, but a nice break from the kids is good enough. I'll get to workout during the day (dead time). and have my nights to do whatever. Brendan and I hit the gym right after school one day this week. It was great! Nobody was there and we were done early. It actually felt like we had an off day. Usually we get home kinda late, need to shower and eat our last meal then its off to bed to repeat the next day! On this particular early day our meals were scheduled differently and we got some down time to enjoy each other-I wish everyday could be like that! Unfortunately, his client schedule prevents us from this, but every now and then its a great treat!

We started new workouts this week. So far so good, I've liked them all. My back is still sore from two days ago-BONUS! I had to do HIT this morning,which was a bummer since we worked legs yesterday. However lucky for me I got a good reading on the scale (slow and steady progress) and  a nice little love note to power me through! I have a new surge of energy today. I have a good feeling of -YES! this is what I do and love! It's the best feeling to have on a Saturday! In all seriousness I love my passion for working out and eating clean. I wouldn't want to live any other lifestyle!

Happy Weekend!