Good evening!

I know, I know; I haven’t been here in awhile, but a lot has been happening. I’ve actually signed up for FaceBook – I told myself I wouldn’t do it, but after the zillionth person asked me if I was on it, I decided “what the heck?” To be quite honest, it does make keeping in touch with friends a whole lot easier!

But that wasn’t the diffcult decision. After much thought and a lot of talking with my trainer Nate, I’ve decided to postpone my competition plans until early next year. Mentally, I’m pretty good to go, but physically? No. The “last resort” nutrition plan didn’t work, and all it did was add more pressure to an already hectic life. I miss my writing, and my mind was going in circles, leaving me dazed and confused. So I’ve decided to put competition training on the backburner, and get back to my writing.

The last nail in the coffin, so to speak, was when I had attended the WBFF – World Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation. The event was awesome (go see it if you have any interest in fitness), and the competitors were looking great! I took tons of pictures (I had 4 ladies from Lyzabeth’s workshop in the show, including Lyzabeth) and two of them placed in the top 3!! I’m so proud of them. But it made me also realize that I am not anywhere close to where I need to be. Although the ladies looked tall and big on stage, I saw them up close and personal in the lobby after the show, and you know what? They’re TINY – like, 120 lbs soaking wet and all muscle. I’ve got the muscle, but not the size.

Now that I’ve decided to wait, I have a good 3-4 months to prepare. No drastic bodyfat loss plans; I’ll be going back to my lifestyle nutrition plan and lifting heavier weights until it’s time to do this right. Now that I know what to expect, I’ll be ready!! 

Let’s start with the bad news….

I won’t be ready to compete in the October UFE Halloween Mayhem. My trainer Nate says that there is quite a bit of work to be done before I’m ready (read: bodyfat loss!) I’m having a terrible time trying to get my midsection down so that the muscles are on display.  My waist is the first to gain weight and the absolute last to get rid of! It’s going to be a a battle, but one I plan to win.

The new nutrition plan is a battle too – I’ve never seen so many vegetables in one day! And now that my carb day is once every TWO weeks, it just makes my mental focus a little harder to stay on course. *sigh*

The good news…?

I’ll have more friends show up at my first competition. The more the merrier!

Tomorrow is the last day of Lyzabeth’s workshop, and we’re supposed to hold a “mock competition pageant”. Yikes! Talk about pressure!

I decided to try this Pro Tan that is used by the atheletes to make their skin darker. Although I’m already dark, the tanning lotion actually give my skin a dark gold colour – quite nice. Except you have to be careful when it drips or it gets on the palms of your hands (like what happened to me!) There’s only a little, but it won’t come off. I might paint on another coat, just to see how it looks.

I’ve also cut my hair, and the results are great! I might make it a bit shorter, but I did it just to see how it would turn out. I’ll take a picture to show my trainer my results.

I had the week off, and the weather in Toronto was fantastic! But I can’t believe that (a) it’s September already   and (b) my vacation is over – WAH! Monday is a public holiday, but still this week went by so fast!

TTYS

Morning everyone!

I think I mentioned in my last post that the training drains a lot, mentally and physically. Well, it’s also taking a toll on everything else!  From being up at 5:30 am to do my morning cardio, going to work, then the gym, I don’t get home until 8-8:30 pm – just enough time to eat, maybe watch a bit of television, then on to bed! And this is done 6 days a week. If I didn’t have to work, it would be easy, and I’d have some kind of social life! lol

My trainer has changed up my nutrition plan again; we’re doing this “test run” to see if I can stick with it for the next 4 weeks to help with burning off the last bits of fat and getting my body into competition shape. This time, no more fruit, and Vitamin C tablets will be on the menu.

What I have noticed is that my craving for chocolate has all but disappeared; freaky, huh? That’s not normal in my case – lol. I’ve been working on finding a natural sweetener for my tea, and it seems that Xylitol is the best choice, so I’ll be using that from now on.

But I did have some fun this weekend – I went for a consultation with a posing suit designer (i.e. clothes shopping!). My friend Chris was sweet enough to drive me – plus she wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. Karen has a room filled with suit samples, and I happily tried on one after the other until we decided on the best top and bottom for my shape. Then, it was choosing a colour. I’m partial to blue, but Karen said that blue has been done too many times. My friend Chris loves green against my skin tone (I’m dark), but the greens weren’t just grabbing my attention. And then we discovered a sample hidden in a corner – teal, which has a bit of blue and green in it, with silver sparkles sprinkled throughout the fabric. Both Karen and Chris loved it. It took me a little while to get used to it, but the more I held it up, the more I liked it, so teal it is. Now the next thing is deciding on a design pattern for the crystals that will be glued on. Whee!! I feel like a kid in a candy store!

For inspiration, I’m going to keep a piece of this fabric with me at all times, so that if I feel down or doubtful, I’ll look at it and say to myself “this is gonna look AWESOME on me!”

Two other things I’ll be doing – cutting my hair (!) and practicing the application of ProTan. Both will be during the week of Aug. 31, so I’ll keep all of you posted. Oh, and I found a makeup and hair stylist too through Lyzabeth, whose portfolio just blew me away. I’m hoping I can hire her for the October competition. If I’m going to do this, I want to do it RIGHT!!!

See ya!

First off, my morning cardio is going a lot better than anticipated. While the first week was easy, since I was on vacation, this past week (going back to work) was a test of mental strength. I tried a couple of alternatives – the first was to get up at 5:30am (still can’t comprehend that!), get ready, catch the 6:15am bus and train to get to the gym by 7:00am, do my 1/2 hour walk, shower, change, eat half my breakfast and get to work before 8:30am and finish the other half of my breakfast.

The other alternative was to get up at 5:45am, walk for 1/2 hour from home, get back, eat breakfast and get ready for work. The result? No difference in the time I get to work.

This will be my plan for awhile until it gets too dark in the mornings – then I’ll have to stick with option 1.

Last week’s class with Lyzabeth, as always, proved informative, and we had time to work on our walking and posing. But I’m thinking of entering the Figure category, and it’s been difficult to get pointers on that, due to the fact that all the other ladies are entering the Fitness Model category. I’ll need to see what I can do regarding extra information.

I’ve updated my “Watch what I eat” section (sorry I took so long!)

The training is going well, although it does take up a lot of time. Between work and this, I don’t get home sometimes until 8:30pm, and next thing I know, it’s time for bed! But I have a rest day tomorrow, so after Lyzabeth’s workshop, I’m getting a massage! Can’t wait!

The writing has been a no-go, and I think it’ll have to be on the back burner until after I compete. It’s hard to concentrate on both things at once. I had no idea that training can be such a mental drain!

In Canada, we’re celebrating Simcoe Day – but it’s just nice to have another day off!

I realize that I’m late in offering my decision on whether or not I will compete. On Friday, our family received an un-announced guest, my uncle. Now I love the man, don’t get me wrong. But to show up at our apartment with no hotel reservation and no call and in the middle of Caribana? Guess what that means – yup, he stayed with us.

I spent some time entertaining him, but I told him that I had work to do and errands to run. And that IF he had called, I could have changed my plans. ‘Nuff said.

Anyhow, my answer is YES, I will be competing. As to which competition to enter, I’m not sure. There’s one on October 24 and another November 14. I’m aiming for the first one, but will need to see if my body (and my mind!) are ready for it. But I have started the process by consulting with a posing suit designer – there, I said it!

In the meantime, Nate, my trainer, is putting me through a dry run of a nutrition plan. He wants to see how my body reacts and what shape it will be in within 6 weeks’ time (just before the WBBF – World Body Building Federation). If things are looking good, and I still feel set to try it out, then we’ll move on to the next phase.

Oh yeah, and I didn’t have a fitness test – our underground transit system was shut down and I spent 10 minutes hoofing it outside until it was up and running again. Needless to say, the test didn’t happen! But we did do quick measurements on July 31 and my waist is down another inch – all going in the right direction!

The morning cardio has been going better than expected – I’ve been wide awake all this week and feeling more energetic – a good sign! But now the real test begins – this past week, I was walking when the sun came up, about 6am.  But as it is still dark at 5am, I’ll be heading out to the gym to do my cardio, then going to work, THEN hitting the gym again after work. This first week will be a real test of mental strength.

I just added some updates to the Fitness and Writing Pages.

After weeks of impatience, my book finally got its first review! Look under “Writing” for the link to the reviewer’s website.  They said that Under Cover of Night “is a fun suspense story”, which was exactly how I wanted to portray it (other than the explicit sex scenes of course!)

Fitness-wise, another informative workshop with Lyzabeth with tons of questions! And don’t worry; I will make up my mind by the end of the month – still 3 days to go – anything can happen!

In the meantime, my trainer Nate now has me doing cardio first thing in the MORNING. I am not a morning person. but so far, the last 2 days haven’t been so bad (probably because I’m on vacation this week!) Actually, this is the best time to start – I can adapt to the new routine before heading back to the grind. It means getting up an hour earlier, but whether I do the cardio at home or the gym doesn’t matter – I’ll have to get up at the same time (that’s 5 A.M. people!!) 

The dreaded (uh, anticipated!) fitness test looms ever closer this afternoon. How do I feel about it? You tell me! haha

Char

Yeah, I know – I haven’t been around lately.  But the cold I had was a lot worse than first thought – I was off work for three days and after two weeks, do you know I still have this damn cough? Whatever you do, don’t catch it!

 Let’s see, what’s been going on?

 I took some pictures as my trainer had asked. He needs to see how my body is shaped currently so that he can get an idea of what work has to be done in the next three months.  Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy with the results! The arms look good, but my lower body really needs to be trimmed down. My body fat is still high, and it’s going to be a battle of wills versus food to get it down significantly. On the plus side, the muscle I’ve developed is just dying to show itself off!

 Oh yeah, I won’t be competing in the WBBF in September. Why? Just not ready. But the UFE has their Halloween Mayhem during the third week of October (I think?) so that gives me 3 full months. There’s also another competition in November in Montreal, called Fitness Star.

 Having said all that, my mind has not been completely 100% on this. No, I still haven’t made up my mind. Even though I’ve bought the shoes, attended workshops and told Nate my goal, I can’t wrap my mind around it. There’s still resistance – to what, I haven’t figured out yet – but I’ve decided that, by the end of July, if I still haven’t made a decision, then I would postpone my plans until next year.  In all fairness, I can’t have my trainer commit his time and energy to me, if I don’t plan on doing something with it.

 And my worrying has also affected my writing.  Everything is intricately intertwined – once you start worrying, everything in your life is shot to hell.

 I’m on vacation the last week of July, so that will give me plenty of time to consider my plans.  And I will keep you posted on what I plan to do.

And I don’t mean training either.  I’ve been sick as a dog this past week, which puts a halt to anything related to training (other than an injury).

Unfortunately, it also affected my eating habits. Being sick brings the word “comfort” to mind, as in “comfort foods”  (lol). I didn’t indulge, but it’s thrown me a bit off course.  The main culprit? Tea with brown sugar. Like, three times a day, with toast…or having bacon when it should be lean ham, that kind of thing.  My only consolation? That I was able to eat at all. There were times that the thought of food would make me nauseous, but I stuck to the plan of eating small meals 5-6 times a day and that has kept my energy up. So today, other than a slightly congested chest cough and still feeling rundown, I feel pretty good – good enough to make it to Lyzabeth’s Workshop #4 tomorrow. I may even do a very light workout afterwards…