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!

fa la la la!

T-minus seven days until Christmas. I can't help but have the holiday excitement running through my veins. I feel like a giddy kid...I want Christmas to hurry up and come. It's not the gifts...its just the overall exciting feeling of the holiday.
It sure is going to be a busy week. I hope the school days go by fast and the gym sessions continue to be good leading up to the holiday. We recently took three whole days off from the gym. Completely unlike us to do, but boy it really made a difference. I have renewed strength and spirit. My past two gym sessions were fabulous. I wanted to be there. I wasn't simply going through the motions. I guess listening to my body for once, paid off. I am looking forward to school vacation to be able to lift during the day-it should make for some strong workouts. I am not looking forward to the January first resolutioners to start packing up the gym..grrr!
Our days are numbered, really we have now and January until it's go time. My feelings are mixed. I have days where I just can't wait, but then I have days that I can't wrap my  mind around the do or die attitude that comes with contest prep. I guess I'll just have to really enjoy myself up until then.
I will admit, with the holidays here, I have been thinking about treats an awful lot. I am going to stay clean up until the weekend. Hopefully, I will control myself this weekend. I hate feeling lousy...we haven't been out to eat in a month so its been a little tough. I attribute that reason for my daydreaming of cookies and chocolates. I sure am looking forward to a Flatbreads date night over vacation and satisfying my sushi cravings.

The end of the year is here, it's time to think about some resolutions and things to look forward to...
2012 is gonna be a great year!

Hello Holiday Spirit!

Today is my first official day of feeling the holiday spirit. With report card conferences done and out of the way, from here until Christmas it's good times. Katie's holiday party kicked off my holiday season last night. As expected I overdid the snackies, not like my worst, but def. overboard. I have a weakness for pickies. I made sure I ate a solid dinner plate of food, but it didn't keep my from picking. However, I am not going to dwell on it. Now is the time to do it, because in just about  6 weeks it's all over until June! I don't want waste time over thinking it and beating myself up, rather I am just going to get back on track until Dec. 23rd. Last night was probably as bad as its going to get. The rest of the holiday festivities will be a lot easier to control due to the fact that the food choices will be limited and I don't like to eat my face off in front of my own family. They eat like birds! Moving on!
This weekend was great. I got my hair colored for the first time and I like it. It's a chocolate brown, just a tad bit darker than my natural hair color. I waited thirty whole years until I changed my virgin hair. Its a good look, makes it shine more and hides the gray patch that I am starting to get!
Today  Brendan and I slept in for a change. We were out way later than normal, so it was nice to not jump out of bed and get into the normal Sunday routine. We took our time, ate breakfast and watched the movie Friends with Benefits. Very predictable, but good! We also, accomplished a lot of our holiday shopping which I think is half of the reason I got the spirit running through me! We wrapped and everything! Our tree has presents underneath it. I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. I am excited - I love waking up with Brendan on Christmas morning! Looking forward to some quality time together over school break too.
We hit legs today-hamstring day. I am wiped out and my butt spot is feeling a little rough. It was a decent workout. My lunges are not steady because of my injury, so I did body weight hooked foot squats. My deads sucked because my grip gave out first. On a positive note, my hacks were great! We mixed up our shoulder workout this week too and that was a good change. Over break we will have the freedom and time to play around with some new exercises.
I made delicious turkey meatloaf for dinner. We just finished up. Brendan is busy prepping our meals for tomorrow- he is kind enough to let me do this quick blog! We are about to watch our second movie of the day-I love relax time! I promise to blog more this week!

Looking forward to getting clean this week-hitting numbers and the gym hard!
Personal day on Wednesday to finish my holiday shopping
Christmas show at school
School holiday party!

It's going to be a great week!

What drives drives YOU?

Its that dreadful time of year at school...report cards!

 Today as I worked away on prepping my report cards for tomorrow's conferences I thought about motivation. Tomorrow countless amount of times that word will pass through my lips, whether it be for positive reasons or negative reasons.

It got me thinking,  where does motivation come from? You certainly can't buy motivation or will power. If that were the case we would have a beautiful, powerful, superior world. I got to thinking about my own motivation.
My motivation comes from the desire to feel good inside and out.
 In my career my motivation comes from seeing my students actually understand a concept and then apply it in their work or to hear them say "this is fun." Teaching is a stressful job with a lot of pressure, however, on those days where everything clicks there is no better feeling.
In the gym my obvious motivation is conditioning myself to be my very best self. I have been there...so I know it feels damn good and is worth all the hard work it takes to get there.
In all honesty I really enjoy the journey getting there, it makes the pay off feel that much better. Don't get me wrong- the days of cardio and low cals are killer, but in the end, the feeling of accomplishment trumps those rough days.
I love to workout, always have and surmise I always will. It's who I am. I look forward to going to the gym, pushing myself and I love the feeling of exhaustion after a great workout. There are days when I don't feel like working out, but those days are few and far between. Mentally I need to workout...the physical benefits are just a bonus.

Tonight was leg night. Quad split to be specific. I wasn't all that pleased with my attitude going into the workout. I am battling mother nature and waiting for my dearest Aunt Flow to strike. Needless to say, I have a very short fuse and am slightly on the moody side. I had to do lighter weight becuase my butt spot injury. It has flared up over the past month and is hindering my intensity. I am doing my best not to get annoyed. So light weight it was.  All and all I got a decent workout. It def. helped to curb my crankus mood. Case in point...mentally I need to workout. I always feel better after.
Tomorrow morning is my normal cardio day, but I have decided I am going to take  a full day to rest and recover because of my sore spot. Hopefully, the stretching, icing and taking it a bit easier will help to alleviate the tenderness.

Eighteen days until Christmas! I put in for a personal day for next Wednesday, to finish up some shopping!
Time sure does pass by quick!

LIVE IS SHORT LIVE IT UP!

One week down!

It's been awhile...

So far it's been one week since we have decided to clean it up a bit pre contest. Starting Monday, it has been nothing but clean, strict eating. The good efforts have paid off a bit too. The official bloat has gone down. I am no where near satisfied, but I def. feel less puffy. I hope that its a step in the right direction, I know it is.

This weekend we didn't dine out, instead we made delicious turkey meatloaf and kept to our cals. Honestly, it wasn't difficult-mind over matter I think. I miss the act of going out to dinner, but I am willing to keep to the sacrifice and do this thing right! I keep telling myself -nothing tastes as good as lean feels! Plus, it is no fun when date night involves big baggy sweats and sweatshirt because you feel too shitty to get yourself ready to go out. Instead you hide behind the big clothes and continue to make it worse. It's a viscous cycle. Feel bad, eat more, feel worse.

 We packed our meals all weekend and did great. I'll be honest, today was the toughest day. We had a fabulous opportunity to go to the Pats game today-club seats and all! It was so great, but it raised temptation for sure. Pulling into the lot seeing all the tailgators munching on Doritos, M&M's and swigging on cold beer as early as nine in the morning made my taste buds water. It looked like a fun time too. Instead Brendan and I noshed on Greek Yogurt and PB...and laughed at ourselves all the while. There is no denying eating is social and when you take it out of the equation in life...it makes things a little bit harder. Let's just say its a blessing that Brendan and I are in this whole lifestyle together! I wouldn't change my lifestyle of eating healthy for anything...

My workouts have been good-very focused. I feel like I got my swagger & intensity back at the gym. I am determined to never get this unhappy about my body image again- it's not worth it. We have another clean week in store for us this week. We have our first cheat meal of this pre contest clean up plan this Saturday. It's my friend Katie's holiday party. There is sure to be lots of food and drink. Part of me doesn't even want to cheat, but the other half of me is looking forward to a treat. Hopefully, I can keep myself in check and only eat what I truly think is worth it. I know Brendan will not let us fail! First thing Sunday morning we are back on track until Christmas. I will enjoy myself guiltless on this day.....pretty much knowing the real end of treats and cheats is nearing very soon after.

I have to get back to blogging on a regular basis...I miss the way it makes me feel. So I promise to get back on track.

Things I am loving...

• Seeing houses with holiday lights and decorated tress in the windows
• The idea of celebrating my first Christmas as husband and wife
• The love an support of Brendan
• Report card cconferences being OVER on Friday!
• My new North Face bag-love it! Compliments of my husband

Shredding time!

Happy 3 years-Here we come 2012 competition season! We got our swagger back & it's shedding time!

It's been awhile..too long. I am back and better than ever. Today is the first official day of deflating my body and pre-prepping for my contest prep that starts nice and early-Jan 30th. I have got my head on straight and my motivation back. I enjoyed my Thanksgiving holiday treats and all. I have a lot to be thankful for this year and always. Top of my thankful list is my husband! Today is actually our three year anniversary of being a couple. Even though we now have a wedding anniversary, it's nice to take a moment and reflect on the early days when we first started. It's been great ever since day one!
This thanksgiving break put me over the edge a bit. Brendan and I decided now is the time to shed some unwanted body fat. I personally have been a miserable beast since returning from my honeymoon. I haven't loved putting on some lbs., even though to some degree they were necessary. I know I can't be low body fat all year long, but this puffy, bloatedness is officially over!! I am going down from here. Being a figure athlete, I know I tend to have a tad bit of body dis morphia and think I am way bigger than I probably look in other peoples eyes. The thing that gets me the most is my confidence has been nonexistent for some time now. I want to feel like a figure athlete and get that look back. Today was the first step in the right direction! Woot Woot! June 23rd here I come. It's hard to think that far in advance but I am ready.

I started day one of pre prep by rising early for my morning cardio session. I wasn't a happy camper to have to get back in the groove of things, but cardio helped wake me up and get my mood turned around. Good ol cardio. Twenty five minutes on the elliptical machine flew by. It was nice to wake up in the mild air-today was in the 60's again. Craziness!
As far as my diet goes, I will be carb cycling from now until two weeks before the end of Jan. when the real prep starts. Today was a low carb day..so far not bad. I think my mental bliss has taken over. Mind over matter right Bren?! We have exactly six cheat meals left before our go time of Jan. 30th. That's nuts-I am so beyond ready for it. I think this contest prep is going to be diff. from last time because we didn't know any better. This time around I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel as far as dieting goes and this time around we are going to come off the diet way better, without any evil influences of binging friends. We are all good this time around. I am hoping the 2012 season is a good one for us both. I have two shows in mind. One June 23rd, then since I am staying lean all summer going to end the season with the Cape show.

Enough contest talk...sorry can't help it. I got my drive back. I am feeling like my old figure self again. Determined, motivated and fierce! We are approaching the holidays...I am getting excited. We put our tree up as we have done the past couple of years the day after Thanksgiving. It looks as lovely as ever. I am most excited to share the holiday with Brendan in our bubble. I have got to get my shop on soon. My wheels have been turning for some ideas...can't wait to wrap up some gifts for under the tree. I am loving seeing the lights on houses already...I think people took advantage of the mild weather and put lights up early. Yay! It's way more festive driving around now. Speaking of festive...are you loving my new background!? Bring on Christmas!!