Wednesday, June 8, 2011

You want me to wax my what?!

Well, I have 9 days until Toronto and now that I have one competition under my belt I feel like I can prepare better. It's all a learning experience and nothing is going to be perfect right away. I learned in hindsight and will continue learning and improving. After the Vancouver show I rebounded really hard and that was the biggest learning experience for me.

After Toronto I am going to take it easy and drink a lot of water instead of binging on food because once you start, its really hard to stop. My mind needs to be in this because this was my originally goal and I feel that I was super disciplined for the Vancouver show so much that I would eat a single almond out of my food plan and this time I find myself having a strawberry here and a little bite of banana there but I should have my head in this 110% right?!

My weight is good and I'd like to lean up a little more and put on a few more pounds of muscle which won't happen in a week but over time I think that's where I'd like to be. I only have a few cardio sessions left and 5 weight days before I leave early next Thursday. The difference this time is that I am flying to the show instead of it being local. Thank goodness Natalie will be there will me for support. Last time I had Christa which was awesome but all the girls are really great back stage so the make it fun.

I met with Natalie last week and she reached over and tapped my arm and said "were going to shave this for Toronto." I looked at with a confused look and replied with, "no way." As we went back and forth several times she was shocked at my resistance to shaving my arm hair. I don't know why I'm so apposed to it but I did give in and made an appointment with Dina, the only person I would remotely trust to do this. My other notion was where do you stop? Do I wax the whole are or the partial arm? The reason behind doing this is to showcase your veins and muscles more when you are on stage. Natalie did it for the first time in Louisiana and said it will grow back. This is what I am afraid of. That and rubbing up against someone with my stubbly arms. In the name of fitness I am going to do it!

Yesterday David and I did a super hard crossfit style leg workout and I am struggling with life today. I had to spin on the bike for 10 minutes this morning before I even started my cardio to loosen them up. It is my fault because I was the one that told him to kill my legs. I've planned one more leg workout for next Monday so that I can still walk come competition time.

Speaking of competitions.....I think I am going to compete in Calgary on July 2nd in the bikini category. Now that I know how the competition works I think I want to do it. What's there stopping me? For the bikini category you do a swimswear round and evening wear which means I would need to get a dress which is easy enough. For the Toronto show I have entered the Oxygen model search where I plan on wearing a "fitness outfit" like you'd see on the girls in Oxygen and the Muscle Mag model search where I will wear a bikini. I thought I might as well do both while I am there.

Lots going on and I am so excited to compete and for the competitions to wrap up so that I can focus on finishing my personal training certification so that I can start training people early August! Woot woot!
Anyways, I know I haven't written in awhile but I am feeling okay at this point about next week. Waterloading and exfoliation starts Sunday! Holler.

Eat. Train. Sleep. Repeat. Toronto here we come!

xo Nic

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Look out, lean machine one the loose!

Life is nothing short of surprising and the dream world I've been living in has continued to leave a smile on my face. Maybe the key to all this is the happiness I have found in the little things that life offers. Whatever it is, the feeling is indescribable.

Yesterday I woke up tired and a little later than planned but the day turned out to be a great and even thought I will admit to being a planner, sometimes you have no control over how things change at a moments noticed but you have to remember that life goes on. If we constantly get hung up on road blocks, life would be full of disappointment. After laying in bed for a few minutes the last thing I wanted to do was to get up and go to the gym. Maybe you can relate to waking up in a warm cozy bed and not wanting to get up to sweat at the crack of dawn but when I arrived to the gym I found myself in the midst of a great cardio session on the spin bike. With sweat running down my face and my quads burning, all the passion that had gone missing was back. I have 2 weeks until Toronto and I plan on doing everythig in my power to be leaner and more muscular than last weekend.

This time around, I've made my meal plan, scheduled and planned my weight workouts and precooked all my food except dinners. I am ready and let's be real, pre cooked steak sucks. It's much better fresh off the bar-bee. I am doing 2, 45 minute cardio sessions a day to help keep my heart rate up and help my lean up a little more. David is in charge of putting on the muscle...and break! Over the last few weeks I've made friends on "the Facebook" and I have recruited some help with regards to my posing because I definitely winged my last performance on stage as much as I'd like to think I was prepared I wasn't.

Another challenge I faced this week was failure because I didn't place. I've really had to look at this in a new light and stop making excuses. The plain truth is, I didn't win. I can't help being a competitive person. It's in my bones. Even though I didn't leave with a trophy, I did leave with the satisfaction of knowing I competed one of my two goals and learned a lot about post contest life which they don't tell you about. I've learned that I can set my mind eyes on something and after seeing photos of myself last weekend is something I am very proud of. Someone once said, the only thing stopping us from being successful is the doubt we have in our abilities.

Hers a goal for you and it doesn't have to be long term or running a marathon, although it can be but it can be as simple as walking for 20 minutes after dinner or drinking more water throughout the day. If we don't set goals for ourselves, we will have nothing to measure our successes against. Nobodies perfect and we have to accept that we can only do so much but the things we can do, we should do.

Today was another great day. I did weights (chest and back) with David and then my morning cardio. I visited my grandma which was good and then Alison and I went and watched the Canucks game downtown which was amazing! We left right after the game and then it was off to the gym. Since the Oval closes at 9, I went to the gym near my house. It was dead considering the game had just ended which was amazing because I hate a busy gym. I know that sounds super snotty but Hillcrest gets mad busy and its impossible to sneak an extra 10 minutes on the cardio machine before someone kicks you off. After getting home at 10pm and being out since 845am this morning I couldn't stop thinking about the steak I had in the fridge so I eat it. Not sure how my body feels about digesting the 6 oz steak I just inhaled but I'll wait a little longer before I pass out.  

Anyways, I'm back on track and even though I have a plan, I'm enjoying each day as is comes.

Keep up the hard work to all of you who are making life changes to live a healthier and more active lifestyle. Your body and heart will thank you.

Eat. Train. Sleep. Repeat.

Xo

Nic

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Pinch me, I must be dreaming.

This week has been nothing short of a whirlwind. I feel like I have won the lottery on life and explaining why or how I feel is really hard but maybe you can relate to an amazing week that you've had where you feel like you are walking on a cloud. Ever since Sunday afternoon when I received the email saying I passed the written portion of my personal training exam things have just stayed up on the moon. I think a lot of it has to do with my attitude. When you have a positive attitude and you exert that you will benefit in return.

After a very bad few days of binge eating I put it all to a stop after I bought out the meat section at SaveOnFoods. The next time I compete I will be prepared with food options for when I come home because that was my down fall.  No being prepared and not drinking water. Drinking water is sooooo important. Get a handle on your water intake by buying a water bottle with a handle. This makes it easier to carry around and you will actually drink more because of it which will probably reduce any food cravings you do have. Most of the time we aren't actually hungry but thirsty. If you are hungry though, eat.
Last night was probably the best night ever! My cousin Crystal messaged me in the early afternoon asking me what I was doing for the game and I said I was just planning on watching it. She then responded with, "Do you want to go?" Hmmm, let me just think about that for a minute....YES!!!!!!!!!! It still feels like a dream though. Did that really happen. Did I really go to a Stanley Cup Playoff game. It was the most amazing experience of my life. The atmosphere outside and inside GM Place (Rogers Arena...I dislike this) was like the Olympics all over again.


Only 16 sleeps until Toronto and I decided that I am going to compete in the Oxygen Model Search and the Muscle Mag Bikini Search. It was frustrating competing this weekend because everyone backstage kept saying I should have been in the bikini category which makes me want to go to the WBFF competition in Calgary in July. My brain is turning on this idea....Its hard to know what the judges are looking for because girls could do two categories. This means that someone doing Figure (bodybuilding = major shredded) could cross over and compete in Fitness Category (athletic build) and my body isn't figure. I realize that Saturday was a learning experience and now that I know, I am getting an ich to compete...again to see how I do in the bikini category.

The only thing that is holding me back is that I will be in LA for a week with work and plan on enjoying the experience. The last two times I've been down, I couldn't drink or enjoy all the goodies, trained in the morning and evening and pre-packed a lot of my food because I was "in training."  I shouldn't make it sound that bad because it's my choice. It also makes me realize that I don't want to compete because I want to be able to eat whatever I want. This just goes to show how much of our daily routine is based around eating. Just stop for a  minute and think about how much your socializing involves going out and drinking. Scary right. Maybe the next time you have a girls night, have a potluck at someones house or do to a comedy club and have appy's or an activity like basketball or squash.  I just want to be able to eat whatever one else is eating even though I know a lot of that stuff isn't good for me. I feel like I am in a good place and technically it is a new point A. Just because I took a few days off doesn't mean my body has gone back to the stage it was in back in January, it just means it was were I left it on Saturday. Today I was back in the gym early and it felt really good.

It has also been really nice to be able to just enjoy time with my family and friends the last few days and being able to not be 100% all the time to everyone. Now that I know what to expect for this competition, I know what I need to do for myself to get the job done. Its go time, again :)

Here's to the good life and the next 16 days. Toronto here I come! Thanks again to everyone for all your kind words. It definitely kept me going and I appreciate it a lot. 

Eat. Train. Sleep. Repeat.

xo

Nicole