Playing Catch Up & New Motivation

Hello, friends!

Long time no chat. I was watching YouTube videos today and realized I hadn't posted on the blog in FOREVER. Since March 9th actually, which feels like an eternity. I wanted to stop in and catch you guys up on what has been happening this past week. Spoiler alert: not a whole lot!

Since March I have been puttering away through my prep. I have to remind myself that I am not doing the show in May, although most of the girls in my group are. This means they are leaning down more than I am at this point, and I have to constantly tell myself to be patient and just trust the process. I am about ten weeks out from my first bikini competition, and luckily I still have some time because last week I came down with a gross cold/flu bug kind of thing that wiped me right out.

The photo above was taken on Thursday after my chest and cardio workout. I was feeling a bit off, but figured it was because my body was tired and just ready to go home. Generally my workouts take place in the evening and while I do find I have energy to complete them, last Thursday I just felt "meh" about it all. After doing my cardio workout, I hopped on the treadmill and ran 5km. YES, I RAN! Some of you who have followed my journey (as sporadic and random as my posts are) know that I started off my fitness "career" running. However, since starting this competition prep, I haven't ran much at all. Thursday's 5km run was a small victory in my book.

I woke up Friday feeling like a dump truck ran over me. My head felt as if there were a helmet strapped on and constantly squeezing my brain, and my throat was swollen and ears were crackling. I left work early on Friday, stayed in bed all day Saturday, Sunday, Monday, AND today. Holy cow, was I never knocked on my butt from this bug. It is Tuesday evening and I am finally starting to feel like an actual human again.

I did have some company on Saturday, though. A big thank you to my parents for stopping by with this awesome care package!

Ginger tea, blackberries, an acai berry smoothie, my favourite roasted red pepper soup by Pacific, my favourite fruit gummies, an energy nut bar that I have been slowly picking away at (as my throat permits), plus soup, lemon, lime, ginger & Emergen C. Ryan has also been bringing me home things like soup, Powerade, lozenges - so I am pretty well stocked!

Maybe it was the cardio that knocked me off my feet on Thursday. I may slowly be convincing myself that cardio is the enemy. Muahaha.

If only, if only.

Throwback to a couple Sundays ago at the gym. Posing practice followed by cardio followed by a veggie and egg white fritata with steamed broccoli on the side. So good.

I have been researching competitions more and more the closer I get to June 28th. Of course, most of the things I have read about revolve around American body building federations such as NPC, but the people I have been watching have a whole different approach to the food part of competing. Some follow a meal plan as set out by their trainer (which is what I am doing), and some do this process called if it fits your macros (or IIFYM), I personally enjoy my meal plan (for the most part - too bad red wine isn't part of it!), but there are some parts of IIFYM that I am curious about too. The only downside I see is that with IIFYM, you may not be getting as much protein as you would in a structured meal plan. For instance, if your macros say you should only have 90g of protein in a day, then I am way over that! I personally have 113g of protein alone in my lunch, alongside a butt-load of veggies, so it would be interesting to see how it compares. Neverless, I have found almost a new burst of motivation to complete these next ten weeks to the very best of my ability. I know I can lift heavier and be more consistent with my meals, so I am ready to grind out the next ten weeks and bring a fantastic package to the stage!