9 weeks!

9 weeks out from the show!

The Waikato show is coming around quick and I’m so looking forward to it! 

There’s a few people from Flex Fitness preparing for this show and everyone is doing so well and looking great, it’s going to be a awesome show!

I have just had my measurements done this weekend and everything is looking good!  I was so happy because the last 6 weeks before that were pretty average!  (well, worse than average :S)

My previous measurements had gone from 16.5% (when I did the Auckland show) up to 18.6%, I was so gutted!  It had been a pretty stressful few weeks before that I did some reading up about stress and fat gain......

There are several ways in which stress can contribute to weight gain. One has to do with cortisol, a stress hormone. When we’re under stress, the fight or flight response is triggered in our bodies, leading to the release of various hormones....and fat storage. Nooooo! L  So!  If you lead a really stressful life, make sure you take time out regularly to relax – it’s the best thing you can do for your body, because it may help speed up your fat loss and reach your fitness goals!  Remember to listen to your bodies and take care of yourselves J

So now my measurements are back on track at 16.7% body fat, which means I lost fat and gained 1.1kgs of muscle, yay!  I’ve had to cut my calories again to 1400 so my diet is looking like this:

Meal 1 – Protein shake, Fruit and Oats

Meal 2 – Cottage cheese and 2 corn thins

Meal 3 – Chicken, Kumara and veges

Meal 4 – Protein shake and apple

Meal 5 – Chicken and veges

Meal 6 – Protein pudding

I decided to cut out all protein bars.....this is a big thing for me because I am addicted :P  Protein bars are a excellent snack, but I got abit out of control when I was eating up to 3 (ok maybe 4....) a day, not to mention it was getting flippn expensive!  My bad....

If anyone is craving a sweet snack I would recommend making up some jelly! (the weight watchers one) We’ve really got into this lately and with only approximately 36 cals in a whole pack, it’s a pretty sweet deal! Mix up vanilla protein powder with a little bit of water and make a sauce for on top so it’s like Jelly and cream J  And just to make it even more amazing we have found CALORIE FREE CHOCOLATE SYRUP.  This stuff is so delicious, and with it being calorie free you can eat as much as you want! If you want to order any of this stuff just ask Jake!

Hope everyone’s having a great weekend!

Stacy

The competition! Its been a few weeks since I did the Auckland Bodybuilding show, and I can't wait for the next one!

The show was so much fun, the week leading up to it was challenging - you kinda get to the point where you are hungry but aren't really looking forward to eating as dry chicken and veges are hard to get down, especially without being allowed any water to wash it down with!!

But it was all worth it because I had such a great time, I wasn't really too sure what to expect backstage, whether it might be abit of a catty situation with girls all fighting for the top spot! But it was nothing like that, all the girls were lovely and everyone was very supportive of each other! It was awesome and I met some amazing people :)

The bikini class was made into 2 groups this year, Tall and Short class, which I thought was a great idea because taller and shorter girls have a completely different shape to each other and it was good to see it being judged fairly. I took 3rd place in the bikini tall class which I was stoked about! I was doing this comp to get some stage confidence to prepare for the Waikato show in October, and to walk away with a medal I was over the moon :)

I have decided to do the Bikini class in the Waikato show in October now, I was going to do figure class but I think I might try and do that in the future so I can build abit more muscle, and stick with doing bikini - it’s a great class!

I did my first measurements on the weekend since the show and I have managed to put on 2% body fat, and LOST 900g of muscle :( So I was abit gutted about that! But in all honesty after the show I did have abit of a blow out, then went through a week of missing meals, and then had a night out where ALOT of wine was consumed……! So the inconsistency was bound to make my measurements take a turn for the worst!

But I'm back on track now and have 15 weeks to prepare for the show so no more mishaps for me, I don't want to let all my hard work go to waste!

If you are preparing for a specific goal wether it be loosing 5kgs, being able to run a half marathon or competing in a competition, always keep your goal in mind and think how it would feel to achieve it, picture yourself succeeding - it will make it much easier to stay committed to your goal!

My diet is pretty much the same at the moment leading up to the comp, but I have to get back into 30 minute of cardio per day again. Errghhh….. :P

Is anyone bored of doing the same old cardio routine? Try mix it up abit by doing this cardio session:

10 minutes on treadmill - Start on incline 1, jog at speed 8 (slower or faster depending on fitness level), for every minute up the incline 1 level, you should be on incline 10 by the time you finish

500m row sprint then 2 minutes fast pedal on bike, repeat 2 x

2 minutes fast as you can on X-trainer then 2 minutes punching boxing bag, repeat 2 x

This should take you approximately 30 minutes, and will burn a lot of calories! Remember to push yourself :)

Just 1 more day to go now!  It’s getting closer, and I’m getting thirstier :P

My carb depleting this week hasn’t been as bad as I thought it was going to be, I haven’t really felt  too hungry – just alittle bit unsatisfied with my lunch and dinner meal… chicken and vegetables with no salt, seasoning or sauce is yuck!  It’s not easy to watch Jake eating yummy cheese corn thins in front of me either…. :P 

I think the hardest part is just the limited water, I’m was down to just drinking 1.5 litres of water yesterday, and that’s for everything – 1.5 litres to make 2 shakes, my oats, and drinking water!  Down to 750ml today, SO THIRSTY!

It kinda makes you appreciate how lucky we are to have running water at our fingerstips!

Back on the carbs now, so I’m allowed some kumara with lunch and dinner and some banana chips and cashew nuts for snacks, yumm.

 

The reason behind carb depleting and carb loading is to lose water that is under the skin to make the muscles more definite and look hard but after you deplete your carbs your muscles will look flat, and then you carb load which makes the muscles fuller and tighter with less water under the skin, sounds complicated but bottom line is it (should) make you look good! 

I’m doing the bikini class competition, so my body fat percentage doesn’t have to be too low, this week is probably just the tip of the iceberg of how I will feel the last week before doing the figure competition in October when I have to get down to 8-9% bodyfat!

I can’t imagine what the guys must feel like at 2% bodyfat! 

  

Does everyone know that to succeed in weight loss it’s actually 80% nutrition and 20% exercise?? 

Which in other words means that doing exercise is great and has TONS of health benefits……but if you haven’t got your nutrition sussed, then it’s going to be a hell of a lot harder to lose weight than if you were making healthy choices with your eating. 

Just by swapping to some of these alternatives you can save LOADS of calories, and just watch weight drop off:

-Instead of sugar use liquid sweetener (Sugromax is the best I’ve found (pink bottle)– use it in coffee, tea, porridge, baking, anything!)

-Instead of chocolate bars buy protein bars – my favourite is Atkins brownie bars, sooooo good. 

-Instead of using oil in the fry pan – just buy spray oil

-Instead of ice-cream, put Calciyums yoghurts (adults can eat them too haha) in the freezer and eat when icy

-Instead of onion dip, blend a sash of onion soup with cottage cheese, as good as onion dip!

Those are just a few healthy alternatives…there’s so much out there that you can substitute with, that still tastes as good!

Hope everyone is having a great week so far and everyone is doing well with their exercise and nutrition, nearly the weekend! 

Stacy :)

Last Day Of Pepsi Max :P

So my first competition is just 6 days away!  Its pretty nerve-racking thinking about getting up on stage and having your body judged...but I’m really excited, and even if I don’t place I’ll still be incredibly happy for just getting up there and knowing that I did my best with my training and nutrition :)

I think I’m mostly worried about wearing my 5 inch heels....those things are not easy to walk in!!  And assing over on stage would not be a good look..... :P

I have to start my carb depleting diet tomorrow, so I’m not allowed carbs at lunch or dinner anymore or ANY salt at all, so my meals for the next week might be abit bland tasting.  I’ve also been told I’m not allowed my protein bar in the evening and have to give Pepsi max the cut, noooooooo!!  I have a feeling that I’ll be pretty hungry next week!  Ah well....it’s only for 7 days and it will be worth it :P

I’m having an extra meal today as a little cheat before I have to start the carb depleting tomorrow, me and Jake have had some protein treats to sample – Protein chips and Protein pudding.  Oh my god, I honestly can’t believe this stuff is good for you, it tastes amazing!  We might be stocking these at Flex soon so if you’re interested in ordering some, express your interest with Jake :)

I trained legs yesterday and my glutes and hamstrings are so sore today!  I really want to tighten my glutes (in other words get a better looking butt haha), this exercise (in pic) is awesome for doing that. 

I trained shoulders this morning (my favourite!) which was fun, I tried to do a few different exercises this morning as I think my body is getting to use to doing the same thing so tried to mix it up, I did:

Machine press - 3 sets of 10

Seated shoulder press - 4 sets 12

Standing single alternating push press - 3 sets of 12

Barbell clean and press - 3 sets of 8

Upright row superset with plate press - 3 sets of 10

If anyone is interested in training for a competition, I would definitely encourage you to try it out :) 2 years ago I would have never thought that I would ever get up on stage in a bikini, but if you love going to the gym and working out then why not train to compete?  There’s a few guys and girls at Flex already training to do competitions this year, if anyone else is interested please come and talk to me or Jake about it!   

Hope everyone is having a nice relaxing Sunday!

Stacy :)

Welcome!



Figure ladies - hopefully will have
a mean body like them one day!



Welcome to my blog :)  I’ve decided to keep a journal as I prepare for the upcoming bodybuilding competition season.  I’ve got two competitions that I’ve decided on doing, Bikini class in the Auckland Champs on 28^th May, and Figure class in the Waikato Bodybuilding show in October.  This will be my first year competitng so I’m pretty nervous!  But also so excited :)



BAD - needless to say they
 are not on my diet plan :P



Jake is currently doing my nutrition and all is going well so far!  It’s amazing the transformation I’ve seen in my body just from changing what I was eating, not that I was eating too bad before....but I had been known to eat a whole box of fruit sticks in a day :S (even though they say low in fat, its still all sugar, basically cake! :P ), and timing, frequency, and what types of food you eat makes a HUGE difference in how your body looks.  Since changing my diet I have lost that ‘puffy’ look, and have been able to build lean muscle and drop fat.  Which is always good!

My stats before I started on my diet were (29th January):

Body fat: 18.5%

Weight: 53.1kgs

Lean mass: 43.2kgs

Now I’m sitting at:

Body fat: 16.5%

Weight: 54.5kgs

Lean mass: 45.5

So I’m happy with my gains so far, obviously would like to gain as much muscle as I can before October to hopefully do well in the figure class, but it doesn’t happen overnight so I’ll just keep on working hard!

My eating plan currently looks like this:

Meal 1: Oats/Peaches/protein shake

Meal 2: Protein bar

Meal 3: Corn thins with chop chop & veges

Meal 4: Protein shake and apple

Meal 5: Chicken/Kumara & veges

Meal 6: Protein bar



My lunch - YUM



  

So I’m eating around 1650 calories a day, it’s funny, before I started on my competition diet I was actually eating more calories but felt a lot more hungrier, now I’m eating less calories but feeling a lot more satisfied as the food keeps me fuller for longer, its great!

At the moment I’m training 5-6 days per week

Monday – Back/Biceps

Tuesday – 40min cardio/Abs

Wednesday – Rest day

Thursday – Triceps/Chest/light shoulders

Friday – Legs

Saturday – Cardio/abs

Sunday – Shoulders

I’m really loving my training at the moment, it’s fun to push myself every time I’m in the gym – you’ll be surprised just how much you can do if you put your mind to it!

So that’s alittle abit about me....  I’ll be updating regularly, please feel free to post any comments or questions. Hope you enjoy reading about my journey to my 2011 competition season!

Keep up with your training to see great results!

Stacy :)