5 Days until Show Time!

The nerves are kicking in....if I think too much about it I start to feel sick to my stomach.  There are no longer weeks that separate me from the stage... we are talking DAYS!  In 5 days I will be Suppa duppa tan, glama-fied and strutting my stuff in 4.5 inch clear heels.  This is the week I have been waiting for since I signed my name on the dotted line back in June and now it's here. 

I want to soak all of this nervous, excited, and crazy energy in and truly make the most of this last week.  I have worked my ass off for this and I want to go up there Saturday and give it everything I got!  I want to have fun and truly appreciate my hard work.  I never thought in a million years I would be doing something like this but I wanted to prove to myself that I can do anything I set my mind to.  I would be lying if I said how I place doesn't matter to me but in the end that's not what this is about.  All of these women sacrifice their time, sweat, tears, social life and relationships to do a show and the reward is so much more than a trophy or a score.  It has been such an amazing learning experience going through this process.  There were mornings I didn't want to get up and run hills or make myself food at 10pm but I did it anyways not because I had to because I wanted to. 

With all of that said I am really looking forward to living my life again.  I want to eat at my parents house for dinner and not have to pack a salad or go out to dinner and not read the menu 20 times over to make sure I can find something healthy.  I am not planning on driving to MacDonald's here and ordering everything on the dollar menu...I just want to enjoy my hard work with a glass of wine or a carb at dinner once in awhile. 

My life for the next 5 days is going to get a little weird.  My diet is bland to say the least and it's the first time in this process where my carb intake is low.  My boyfriend has been a saint through all of this so I need to remind myself of that this week before I go all Tyra on his ass for something trivial because I am hungry! 

Bikini Queen Week of Show To-Do list:
Mani - scheduled for Thursday
pedi - done
threading brows
waxing - done
spray tan - scheduled for Thursday
jan tana - Friday
food prep for show day - Friday

A lot to get done this week but I cannot wait!  I will make sure to take a picture of myself pre and post tan so you can see HOW tan you have to get and HOW freaking pale I am right now!  Stay Tuned...lots of goodness is on the way :)))

2 Weeks...A Look Back

 I don't want to go all soft on y'all but I want to reflect back on this journey and how far I have come.

I have never worried about my weight or had body image issues but being involved in athletics in highschool and college always had me doing something active.  I drank...quite a bit...in college and pretty much ate what I wanted but in the months after my graduation things started to catch up.  I stayed in Newport, RI for the summer with my best friends and worked random, sometimes late hours.  Working out somehow fell off of my to-do list and by the time I moved home in September of 2009 my parents looked at my like...what the hell happened?! 




August 2009 @ around 155

My mom had lost a lot of weight my last year of college and when I moved home I was at my highest weight ever (around 156).  I was so uncomfortable in my own skin that I had a hard time being supportive.  I would get snappy with her when she would talk about how her clothes no longer fit because they were too big meanwhile I could barely get in my biggest pair of jeans!  Feeling the way I do now in a new body and new mind frame I can't help but feel bad about how I handled the situation.   I was bitter and unhappy that I had let myself go and went through a stage of depression the first few months I moved home. 
From September 2009 through about November 2011 I had gone up and down with my weight.  I had a trainer at the gym but it wasn't giving me the results that I was looking for.  I thought I was eating right but my willpower was weak and I always managed to revert to bad habits.  I noticed the Get in Shape Girl on facebook and had followed her page but never took it to the next step and signed up. I was constantly living through everyone else's lives and adventures and not living my own.  One day I was just fed up with my routine and decided to just go for it. 

January 2012 (143.5)



Day I joined GISG

This step forever changed my life and the way I look at health and fitness.  From January 2012 to about June 2012 I had lost the 10lbs I had been trying to get off for years!!! I had never really lifted or done circuit training but it brought my fitness level to a place where it had never been before.  I knew what I was eating and why I was eating it.  I switched to eating 5 small meals a day and lowering my carb intake later in the afternoon and night.  All of these things changed my life completely for the better. 

I've become so much more confident in how I look and more importantly feel.  I would have never been able to sign up for this Bikini Show if it weren't for the Get in Shape Girl so I am eternally grateful for meeting someone like Kyra, who prides herself in pushing you to move out of your comfort zone and just GO FOR IT!


My mom and I (sept 2012)

So, now I am here.  It's September 2012 and it has been 3 years since I was at my lowest point.  I am a new woman and I will never look back.  I encourage everyone to try something that literally scares the SH*T out of you and I guarantee it will make you a better person or at least teach you a lot about yourself. 

Show Stats:

Weight: 127
 
 

3 Weeks...Holy Shish-kabobs!!!!

3 Weeks...Holy Shish-kabobs!!!!  3 as in 3, 2, 1....!!!! This is for real and it's happening in less than three weeks and I am beyond excited.  Excited is wrapped in anxious, terrified, thrilling and many other pee your pants types of emotions.  I am dying for ice cream and a hamburger but overall the diet has NOT been unbearable.  The lack of cheats and alcohol are unrealistic for normal life diet but I have to say that I have never felt better. 

I had a great weekend with my family and this experience really helps you to appreciate the people around you!  Saturday, I went to watch a soccer game that my boyfriend helps coach.  Now, if you ask me what my favorite sport to watch is...soccer is not on the top of the list.  There are times in life when you do things because you know someone would really appreciate it and I knew going to the game meant a lot to my boyfriend.  He has been so supportive the last few months and even if I didn't want to watch the game I went to show my support for him and his team because it's what you do for the people you love. 

This weekend was great in terms of progress on Jane Bond!  My glam gun has been collecting dust waiting for me to come up with a routine for my theme wear walk and I kept drawing blanks.  I finally nailed down a quick cute walk that captures the Jane Bond look I was going for with out offending anyone with my gun!  A little wink action and blowing some gun smoke never hurt anyone! 

Stats:
Weight 128

 

4 Weeks...Bling it on!

BIG NEWS!!  My Suits finally arrived!  I have been waiting for these bad boys to arrive since I started this whole process and and being able to put them on made everything feel a thousand times more real. Big shout out to Lidia Conti Designs for creating such a beautiful bikini!  I had two made from her, one for the actual bikini round and the other for the model round.  I had initially purchased the pink fabric to use as my main bikini but switched to teal last minute and I am so glad I did. 

Lidia put as much bling on as she could for the amount I paid but after Sunday Session I found out I need to make that baby shine.  For once in this whole process I actually went to a store to purchase my swarovski crystals and not online!! Not having to wait for something to come in the mail and just be able to go home that day with the purchase is awesome.   Let me tell you, these crystals are not cheap!! I almost had a heart attack at the register when she gave me the total.  The only upside here is that if I had paid someone to do the crystal application my suit probably would have totalled over $600 bucks. 

Here is a before the bling and after bling shot!  I have never bedazzled anything so needless to say I was terrified to start now, on a $200 bikini. 

 The pictures don't really do it justice because you can't see the sparkle...I am really happy with the way it turned out especially since I literally had no game plan.  I highly suggest you get a large coffee before attempting to stone a suit because it took me 6 hours.  I was a bling addict.  I could not stop bedazzling.  After the suit, I did my 007 gun, which looks super cool!  Things are coming together and I cannot believe it's September and we are now in the same month as the show...holy Toledo....time flies! 

Progress Pictures:

No face this week people.  It's a holiday and things were looking a little rough when sleeping beauty woke up!  and the tan is gone...so sad :(

Weight: 127.8

BF: had my BF% taken at the gym at the end of august and it was 15.4