Hello March!

It has been awhile since my last blog post. I have every good intention to get regular with my posting but can't seem to make it happen-YET! I will though. I enjoy blogging for sure, but I want to put value into my posts. I love the fact that it is a good outlet for me to chat it out in words. This is a good place to release!

I have been enjoying so many wonderful blogs lately. I feel inspired by all of you who blog on a daily basis. I love what you have to offer and share. Each blog I read, I feel like I take something of value away. Sometimes, it's just a good mood boost in the morning, or motivational push or a good book recommendation-I am digging it all.

I am looking forward to trying some of the many wonderful recipes I have come across... after my contest prep is over. The good, clean,  foods in the creative dishes sure give me a light at the end the prep tunnel. Must I say it again-this time around is going to be different. When I come off my prep diet, nothing but clean foods are going into my pie hole!

Contest Prep check in:

Things are moving right along. The weeks keep getting smaller which is nice. It's no longer a crazy number of weeks like 20! It's more on the side of a reg. prep time. I think we are coming on 15 weeks out. The scale continues to move slowly down- SLOW being the key word. This was the goal from the start to go slower this time to conserve muscle and preserve sanity in a sense! Each week I feel better. I still have days where I feel fat...but its in my head. I am having more options in the clothing department too,which makes getting ready for school in the morning not so annoying anymore.
I realize now, that the last two or three months leading up to this prep. I let myself go more than I wanted to. I think I had the mentality of not getting to eat anymore so  screw it! I know now, that wasn't right. Live and learn. This figure journey is all about learning from previous mistakes and boy have I learned a ton! I am excited that this time around my mind is in a good place and so is everything I put into my body. The last prep. we used a lot of artificial flavoring on our food. Let me tell you the huge difference of not using that is!! I feel awesome...never bloated or gassy. I think so far that has been my most important lesson along with my knew knowledge of coming off the diet properly. We were misguided in a major way last time because we didn't know any better. Again living and learning.

The key def. is to keep busy. We have been doing a great job at this the past couple of weekends. We have been tackling some home projects and keeping busy with errands and good prep. It is way better than sitting around looking at the clock waiting for the next meal.

My workouts in the gym have been satisfying too. I continue to get stronger. The extra motivation of the show helps but so does the idea of getting my body back! I am so excited that I feel better about the way I look. Major bonus!

My birthday is only a few weeks away. I am not so excited about another year older but I am excited to have a night of not eating out of tupperware. We have been looking forward to this since the start. IIt's our middle of the way cheat. We are going to a fancy restaurant having a good steak and potato dinner with salad! I can't wait! We are also going to see the Hunger Games! Working so hard over the past seven -ten weeks is going to make this night so much more rewarding. I cannot wait to get dressed up and have a date with my husband!t

Until then....I'll be training hard!

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!

First week in the books!

It's been far too long since my last post. So much for being consistent with my blogging. Oh well. Moving forward. I do intend to at least try to blog every few days or once a week. I really want this to be my written journey of the ups and downs of contest prep. I try to remember what last contest prep was like and it seems like a blur. So this time around I want to remember and log the details.
We killed the last weekend of freedom with the usual indulgences including Flatbreads pizza, Blueberry beer and ice cream and our last sub date until the summer. I was truly ready on Monday to move forward and get back to the real me who eats clean and loves it. Don't get me wrong, I love ice cream and Flatbreads but I got out of whack for a bit time. I truly lost my self control. Being restricted for so long and not knowing what my healthy balance was did  a number on me mentally. All is good now. The first week was a breeze, I hit all my numbers and felt fantastic about it. Slowly the bloat from the weekend festivities subsided and the tightness returned. I am by no means happy at how I look at this point, but I do feel like the garbage that was in my body is being wittled away to freshness again
I had renewed focus and drive at the gym...pushing through the toughest of sets to squeak out a last rep. I feel mentally strong which in this game is more than half the battle. I weighed in for the first time yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. I am not starting as far off as I thought I would be and this time my prep is longer so it's looking good. I plan on weighing in Wednesdays and Saturdays for now. Our meal approach is to swap it up every two weeks so we dont' feel restricted. We'll hit our numbers but try and varying our meals. Last prep I ate the same exact thing for twelve weeks straights-as you can imagine that sucked! Variety will be key.
The big happiness for me now is that there is no second guessing my decisions or being wishy washy about my choices-its go time. The guesswork is out...now its follow one path that's set.
In non competition happenings life is good. Looking forward to spring. The mild weather here in the Northeast has been nice. Although its throwing me for a loop as far as what month it is. The weather we are having matches that of the month of April, certainly not the end of January. School is going by fast and keeping me busy. I think I have fourteen teaching days until Feb. vacation, which is exciting.  No trips planned due to dieting, but time off none the less is good enough for me. 

Things I am loving:
My new Nike Airmax 2009 kicks-
New book- Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Our new bowling competition we started for the prep season when we can't go out to eat for date night.
Patriots being in the Super Bowl, although I am feeling nervous about or match up against the Giants (fingers crossed...toes too!)

More to come...Get ready, Set GOOOOOOO- 2012 prep is officially on!

Happy 2012

Hola 2012! I welcome you with open arms! This is my first post in what I promise will be more consistent blogs from here on in. I hope the end of the year holidays brought much cheer and happiness. It's crazy how time flys by. I myself had a wonderful Christmas with  my husband and family. It's always a crazy time full of mixed emotions, but overall it was stellar. I can't wait to do it again next year....well not so fast. My vacation was nothing crazy, just a good time to rest up and relax. Although, those two are not my strong suits. I often get restless and bored when I don't have a full schedule of things to do.
It's hard to recap on the week and holiday, but take my word for it, it was wonderful. I ate out of character for myself and am paying for it now. I am looking like a stuffed sausage as of right now-full of bloat. However, my days of being able to eat anything are numbered (26 to be exact) before contest prep starts and the switch flips to all business. Until then I am going to enjoy the remainder of time. Nothing too crazy though, I am going to eat clean until next weekend when we go away and then I think two more cheat meals after. It is so bittersweet. I really want to lose this incubation I have been carrying around my muscles, but at the same time 20 wks. is a long time!
Enough diet talk...tonight will be a battle at the gym. I am looking forward to getting a good workout in. It makes me feel less puffy. Going forward I am going to detail my blog better. It will keep me accountable and organized and it might make for a better read too! As of right now, its full of random rants and raves.
Speaking of, I finished the Hunger Games series and it was amazing. Although now I am left with nothing to read. I had a real attachment going on. At least there is good TV returning as of this week. That's one thing I am not looking forward to is having nothing to do during dieting. Most everything revolves around going out to eat or spending money. Two of the things which we want to stay away from. Eating is a no no during contest prep and we are really going to buckle down and save money for a house! Once the Christmas bills are paid-dunzo no more. The only thing on my wish list is a Nook-which I am most definitely purchasing this weekend. At least I can read during those 20wks-that's allowed! I am looking forward to getting into another good series.
I have to get a new playlist going and get organized for tomorrow- first day back to school-sad times!
Alright, until tomorrow-See ya later!