Two weeks of my diet

I have been on my diet now for two weeks. I have been good, although I did eat a couple things I shouldn't have.

I took a bite of my husbands rib eye, just needed to compare it to my flank steak. I had a very tiny piece of fried potato slice. That's it, other than that, I have not strayed.

I feel good, and I look good, this will not be as difficult as I was thinking this time around, unless of course my vacation in Mexico totally derails me!

I decided to take pictures with my competition suit on, so I could see just how I look right now. I am happy with my progress. Now my weight has not changed since last week, but I only weigh myself on Sunday and I am in the cycle of my month where I tend to retain some water, so I would not be surprised if I weigh one pound less in a day or two.

I am just back from the gym, after 2 1/2 hours, haven't even hopped in the shower yet!

My body changes so much, I recall when I used to train with an IFBB Pro, that she used to tell me "Every prep is different" and I didn't understand, now I do.

I know I have no definition, but I shouldn't yet, it will come out in good time, after I have dieting for a while, I mean two weeks is really nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I can see that my backside looks a bit soft, and again, that is to be expected. I have a nice V taper, once I lose the fat, the waist will come in and the glutes will be more pronounced and not so "womanly"...they will be hard and tight!

The glute-ham tie in is looking good, no saggy stuff here! Again, when the excess fat and subcutaneous water leaves, the definition will pop.

What I noticed this time around is my body composition is very different. I don't know my actual body fat percentage, SC used to do that for me every week and I haven't seen him in a while, he will check it in March though. And that doesn't really matter yet, it's higher than it should be to compete, so I just have to diet for a while.

But the interesting thing I have noticed is that I seem to have gained a great deal of lean muscle over the last 6 months, and hardly any fat. Totally every one's goal, I know, so I am doing the happy dance.

Just how do I know this? It wasn't difficult to figure it out.

When I compete, I weigh between 118 and 120 pounds, at that time I wear size 0 pants. When I am not competing, and trying to add muscle I get between 126 and 132 pounds and wear size 6 pants (yes I have lots of clothes to accommodate these changes!)

My abs are already starting to show some definition, and this is usually the very last area to show it.

This winter, I got up to 130 pounds and never got into those size 6, I stayed in my 4's. Right now I am at 126 pounds and I am wearing size 0 and 2 pants. I still have 6 pounds to lose, so where is the fat? I am thinking that some of that "fat" is not fat at all, but hard, solid, muscle and I won't have to drop as much weight as usual.

Locker Room talk

I was at the gym this morning and wandered down to the far end of the locker room so I could weigh myself.

I sat down on the leather bench (yes, they just remodeled and they have huge leather benches in the locker room!), and took off my shoes.

There were four other women there, all regulars, and fit gals ranging from mid fifties to mid sixties. These are no slouches either, they either spin or swim every single day.

They all greeted me with smiles and hello's, asked what I had been up to (it's a big locker room and I am usually at the opposite end).

I told them I was on a weight gain goal, trying to get big! They all laughed and said what fun that must be and they wish they could do that.


I had to explain it's not as fun as it sounds, your head gets in the way. They thought you could just eat whatever you wanted and that was how you got big. I explained the right way. Lean meats, fish, brown rice, oatmeal, beans. No sugars, no fats, no candies, limited bread and pasta.

What do you mean "your head gets in the way?" one asked..I looked at her and said "Do I look fat to you?"

"No!" she said with a crazy look on her face.

"Exactly!" I said. "To get lean and look good for a competition, you gotta get big first, and diet later. When you start gaining weight, just as you need to so you can gain muscle, you start thinking you look fat when you are not even close to fat."

 One said "Well, you do look really muscular now"

"Yahoo"! I shouted.

They asked about weights , what should they lift to gain muscle and get big? "Lift really, really heavy" I told them.

"Low reps right?" one asked.

"Yes" I said, "Heavy weight, low reps" I didn't bother telling her that the reps are low because if you are lifting heavy enough, you cannot physically lift the weight very many times, it's just a fact.

I walked away, feeling good.

The last thing I heard as I walked out was "OK grils! Remember this, we can do it too! Heavy weight, low reps! Heavy weights, low reps!"

Go get 'em girls! I know you can do it too.

Bigger and Bigger

I have been eating and lifting, lifting and eating.

You know what happens when you do that? You get big, real big. I have been fluctuating up and down a couple pounds, all depends on what I ate the days before.  I haven't yet hit the 130 mark though and I think it's a bit odd, seems I should have by now.

The heaviest I have been in recent years is 132 and that was December of 2009, exactly a year ago. I want to get as much muscle as I can, and to do so I need to lift heavy and eat enough calories to gain weight, but every time I see that back fat start hanging over my bra top, or a jiggle around the waist, I get a little skitterish and seem to back off.

Its a simple process, I tell others all the time "Embrace the process", "You must go through this to be successful", yet I have a difficult time listening to my own advice.

Sunday morning and I am standing in front of the fridge so you can see how big I have gotten.

The glutes look great still! I think the fact that I run up and down 300 stairs, 4 days a week helps, but then that is a form of cardio and that makes me burn more calories. I only spend a total of 20 minutes though, so not too much.

And the shorts? I love em! They are actually underwear, but when I wore them to the gym today, I got a "cute shorts" from one of the most conservative women there, so I know I am OK.

These are Under Armour Mesh Series Boyshorts, and I am going to get them in the other colors too. Blue, Black and red/white splash. Not only do I like the way they sit low on my hips, they are super thin and feel like wearing nothing!

So I realize these aren't very great pictures, or in fact, very complimentary at all. I guess after spending two and a half hours at the gym I could have taken a shower and put on some make up first, maybe even done something with my hair, but do you really care?  This is what I am looking like now, and what I will look like for a while as I try to get bigger and bigger for the next two and a half months.

Bottoms up!

Off Season Eating Right

It's been four weeks since my last competition and I have been focusing in on building as much lean mass as possible, and I am not even ready to slow down yet.

I am relaxed in the picture, no sucking in the stomach or flexing the muscles, it's me! As you can see, the completely cut look is gone, but I still look great, I am 7 pounds heavier and it's right about where I will most likely stay. I feel I look better a couple pounds lighter, but that isn't going to help me gain the muscle I am looking for.

I am able to maintain a low body fat consistently because I learned how to eat properly year round from my nutritionist.
 

Although I do like some great junk food now and again, I am not a snacker, I don't care for nachos, chips don't do much for me, and I have my health and my goals in the back of my mind at all times.

I am just about adjusted now, emotionally I mean to my bigger size, which in most people's books is still tiny and slim. I can see my arms are really looking better, unfortunately it's my legs I am hammering!

This morning at the gym as I walked downstairs after my workout a woman I know from our children's school events turns and looks at me and says "Just when I was starting to feel good about myself and you walk by..." with a smile of course.

I thanked her and said it helped me to hear it, as I still wasn't quite adjusted to the weight gain. Her eyes rolled waaaay back in her head and I laughed and had to explain the whole thing about competing....
 

Then at the grocery store (not my usual one)  near my house the produce manager asks me where I train. " Courtside" I said, and he replied "Cause I can see you train, a lot"

I told him I just had a Figure competition too and would love to try bodybuilding but I just can't get big enough. He said "Well whatever you are doing, keep doing it because it works and you look great."

These are comments that help get my head on straight! I needed those for that last push over the "feeling fat" stage, I am over it!

My diet has been relaxed although I have stayed loyal to my macro nutrients at most every meal (making sure I have 4 ounces lean protein, 3-4 ounces complex carbs and lots of vegetables). I have 5 meals some days instead of my usual 6 if my calories have been higher than usual, and have been adding fruit to my oatmeal on occasion.

A few drinks here and there, and eating dinner with the family  once in a while. I can maintain this weight and low bodyfat without a struggle and life is fairly normal.

I have been really pushing hard in the gym, lifting as heavy as I possibly can, less reps but heavy, heavy weights. My cardio is 20 to 30 minutes three times a week in the gym after lifting, and 2 to 3 times a week I hit the bleachers across the street and run through some plyos, never more then 15 to 20 minutes.

I believe in eating, eating a lot! Unfortunately to prepare for a Figure competition, many women starve themselves and it doesn't work in the long run. Drastically reducing calories is not only unhealthy, but it sets them up so that as soon as they have reached their goal, they will blow up and gain a huge amount of weight. They have never learned to eat properly, so they cannot ever maintain a reasonably low bodyfat percentage and weight. To prepare for another competition they must launch themselves into a horribly restrictive diet for several months again.
 

If they learned to eat properly, prepping for a competition wouldn't be as difficult, it wouldn't require so much weight loss, they shouldn't be fluctuating so much.

I was listening to a podcast today on the elliptical and the fellow talking said something that really made a lot of sense about Figure and Fitness competitors.

He was actually talking about the extremely low calorie diets some people live off, and unfortunately, there are " a few, very well known and popular who are  leading many" with the concept of starving themselves, instead of feeding themselves."

Figure is a sport, just like any other physical sport, yet it is one of the only ones that thinks starvation is the way to achieve their goals. I think you see this in gymnasts and ballerinas, but no other sport do they starve themselves, and it just doesn't work for long.

He likened it to a concentration camp.

"You can put many people in a concentration camp and not feed them, some will survive longer than others, some will die sooner than others, but eventually, they will all die of starvation." 

Don't starve yourself.

I'm Ready!

I went to see SC this morning (Friday) to have bodyfat checked. I am one week away from my competition.

When you get to this point, you just cannot see yourself as you really look to others, and I don't have a trainer, or a nutritionist, or a coach, or anyone else to help me, only David who says everyday "You look great!".

Thanks hon, but I need a little more detail....

SC last checked bodyfat on September 9, and I was at 6.9%, neither one of us was too happy about it.

I walked in, he was eating oatmeal on the couch in a different office, then he followed me into his office. "Kristy- you're  walking around in bootie shorts!"...."No" I said, "they are underwear"... I was wearing my favorite Nike compression shorts, blue this time with a great orange waistband.

He checked the 9 sites, it gives you a really good average, in fact it comes within tenths to the hydrostatic testing when done correctly. 

Here are the results: 

Tricep          0
Bicep           0
Subscapular  3
Supralliac     0

Pectoral       0

Abdominal    2

Kidney         2

Quadricep    3

Calf            1

Lower Glute 9

Weight: 122 pounds    Fat: 2.7%    Lean Mass: 118.70 pounds

Where was I 16 days ago on September 9?

Weight: 123.6 pounds  Fat 6.9%     Lean Mass: 116.80 pounds

I am quite excited that I weigh 122, at my last competition in July I was at 120, and bodyfat was at 3.93%. This means I have added lean body mass! 

 

So what did I do do drop all of this fat so quickly? I started carb cycling and adding more cardio. My carb cycling consists of eliminating starches at dinner for three nights, then adding them back in the fourth (3 ounces). 

 

I then increased cardio from 30 minutes to 50 minutes every night.

I have continued lifting and lifting as heavy as always, I don't reduce calories much from my typical diet, the most drastic change is a reduction of starches by 1 ounce at every meal for a couple weeks at a time. My biggest change is in the macro-nutrients ratios, so I usually don't have the fatigue that many people do from lack of calories.

What does this all mean now? It means I need to now start on my one week pre competition changes, adding more carbs back in to fill out, and a little more fat so I don't start looking stringy. 

 

I will also start circuit training now, and moving away from my usual heavy lifting, I want to keep all the muscles full and round looking.

I will lose more weight, you cannot just halt it instantly. I will still do cardio, but cut it way down.

I need to tighten up more, I feel like my skin is not tight enough, of course, being 49 might have a little to do with it! Once the creatine continues to leave my body, and I dehydrate closer to show time, I should look tight enough, or at least as tight as I will ever get!

Oh, this also meant for dinner I had this:

4 ounces Filet Mignon, 3 ounces red potato, mushrooms and green beans...all covered with pepper and lemon (about all I can use right now). It was wonderful, only missing a glass of red wine!

Scale

Do you own a scale? This is the only scale I have, and it is for weighing food, not people.  I weigh my starches (carbs) and my protein.  If you are serious about maintaining your weight, or attempting to lose weight you must have a scale.

It is so easy to over estimate the foods you are selecting, it just isn't a wise idea to try to maintain your diet without a scale. You work hard at the gym, you are eating the correct foods, but if you don't eat the correct portion, you are working against yourself.

They are not expensive, and you can get as fancy or plain as you like. The most important features are the ability to zero it out, so that you can place any plate or bowl on it and reset it to zero so only the food added gets weighed. The other criteria should be one that can easily be read when a large bowl is on it.

Some have their own clear bowl that comes with it, and that is fine too. I suggest getting one that is small enough  that you can easily leave it on the counter all the time, so you are sure to use it.

I even know a couple friends who carry portable scales in their purses! I don't do that, although I will bring my own pre-weighed bag of chicken breast to add to my ramen when I go out with my family!

I detest appliances on the counter, in fact I have my microwave and toaster oven behind a closed cabinet door.  But my wonderful little stainless steel scale is right there, in plain view at all times.