16 Weeks Out

My first week on the CSF bikini plan went well.  I will say that this eating 6 times a day business is quite the undertaking.  I feel like my lunch box is 200lbs and the amount of plastic bags and Tupperware I use on a daily basis is crazy.   I am also eating a meal at 10:00pm which has been by far the hardest meal to eat.    Last night I had a turkey burger and avocado and raw veggies LOL...not exactly the chocolate bar I was trying to envision but sometimes we have to do things for the bigger picture. 

This plan currently has me eating more carbs than I typically eat and I was nervous to see how weigh-in would go this past Friday. I was actually down to 133.2 which for me, is the lowest I have been since like ....freshman year of high school.  I am really liking the workout plan thus far because each day has a purpose whether it's chest and back on Monday and glutes and legs on Tuesday, I know I am working a different muscle group.  In other news, FINALLY found a pair of shoes for the show.  Literally, 4 pairs later and one fit.  They are pretty uncomfortable but I am hoping that is normal!

I ordered fabric for my bikini this week and am sending it to a designer to make my suit!  I am hoping that I love the fabric in person as much as I did online.  I picked a Fuscia sparkly hologram fabric that will hopefully shine on stage.   I love the shape and tops of her bikinis so I cannot wait to see how mine comes out!  http://www.lidiaconti.com/.  It won't be blingtastic as much as I would like because lets face it, I refuse to pay a butt load of money for my first ever suit.  If for some reason I hate it what am I going to do with an $800 bikini? Still trying to come up with a concrete idea for my theme wear.  Things are coming along and I am excited to see how my body changes!!



Progress Pics - 6/16/12 - lets also keep in mind that these pictures were taken about two mins after I woke up so things are a lil roughhhh.  I don't really see a change but it's only been a week so I will post pictures again in two weeks and see how the guns are lookin!

Weight: 133.2

Walk That Walk

I want to start off by saying I had an amazing weekend.  I didn't even do anything major but it was filled with my favorites things: friends, exercise, food (some clean some not so clean) and family.

Via my last post, I jumped the gun earlier than planned to enroll in Cathy Savage Fitness mainly to sign up for the Sass and Class posing workout shop that was held this Saturday.  I wasn't sure how often they have these seminars so I wanted to get one in early that way I can walk around my house in stripper shoes all day everyday and perfect the walk/posing.  Pretttty sure my boyfriend is already over me showing him my walk since as soon as I got home I pranced around the house with excitement and made him watch me 5 times and again at my parents house. I was assigned my coach and nutrition/fitness plan which both at the moment seem totally doable and not much different than my current routine!

Let me rewind for a second pre-workshop and say how freakkingg nervous I was for this thing!! I felt like it was my first day at school and was terrified no one would sit next to me at lunch.  Would all the girls be veterans and I would look like a goon?  Would I be the chunky one? These types of scenarios playing over and over in my head. 

Within the first 5 minutes of signing in and meeting Cathy I had already met 5 girls who were basically brand new and who were competing in the September show!!! Meeting other newbies really set my nerves at ease and it helped that they were all super friendly.  There were a few other girls that had competed before and looked AHH-mazing. They were competing in the Miami show this upcoming weekend so their bods were rockin!  We learned the proper walk and posing for the bikini show and after a few shaky runs I felt more comfortable and confident.  Overall I left with such an exhilarating feeling and felt proud of myself for taking this whole bikini competition notion and turning it into a reality!

I will start my official check-ins with my coach next Monday since it's every two weeks until the 12 week mark.  Below is my food for day one of bikini prep.  They give you more of a guideline of proteins, carbs, fats ect and you do what you want with it! 

Meal 1: (not shown) 1/2 cup oats, 1 T almond butter, 1/2 cup strawberries, 3/4 cup egg whites with spinach and mushroom
Meal 2: 4 egg whites, 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1 cup yellow pepper
Meal 3: about 3.5 oz turkey breast, 1/4 cup brown rice quinoa mix, 1 cup green beans side of 1 oz almonds
Meal 4: 3.5 oz turkey breast 1/4 cup sweet potato chips
Meal 5: extra lean turkey meatballs with eggplant
Meal 6: casein shake or egg whites with side of green beans

A lot of preparation for this thing.  Should get interesting with no dishwasher or AC in the summer!

And Away We Go.....

Okay, so I jumped the gun a week earlier than planned and enrolled in Cathy Savage Fitness.  YIKES, OMG, HOLY SHIZ, YAY, 5' HEELS AHH, are my emotions all wrapped into one! Honestly, The anticipation has been killing me and I figured I would just enroll now and to get used to the format and workouts until 15 week show prep begins.  I have a lot of work to do but I have not been this excited to start something in a long time, maybe ever.  I will be taking a 2 hour posing "sass and class" seminar this weekend at the CSF Studios.  I may be early but I figure if I can get the proper walk down now then I can practice, practice, practice and do some more practicing. I am just excited to see the progress take place over the next few months and see how my body changes. 


I am not sure how I will balance this with the Get in Shape Girl.  I may have to put that on freeze for the next three months to really stick with the CSF guidelines.  If I am going to do this, I am going all in. I take monthly progress pics and send them to my virtual trainer.  I have been doing this since January so I am accustomed to it at this point.  I am sure my boyfriend loves me on Saturday mornings when I randomly have a bathing suit on and request a front, back and side shot. You would think he would be like, oh yeah, hot mama but it's more like ughh again whata weirdo....


I am LESS than thrilled to post pictures of myself on here but I think in the long run I will enjoy looking back and seeing the progress. Also, I have worked my ASS off for the past 6 months and I should be proud of what I have accomplished.  Maybe I will add my face one of these days but these pics take place typically when I wake up and my crazy bun drool face is not camera ready.

June Stats:
Date taken: June 02 2012
Weight: 134
Height: 5'6
% body fat: 20.9 %

Just as a little background note: jan 2012 by BF % was 24.2 and weight was 143.5!

Patience and Perseverance

No Thank You

I have a feeling I will be saying no thank you quite a bit this summer. 

Thank goodness the mother nature gods provided us with beautiful weather for Memorial Day weekend but with beautiful weather comes bbqs.  I love me a good bbq and I am not in prep mode yet so I didn't have to be on my best behavior BUT it did show me what I am up against for the next few months.  I felt this constant struggle to keep myself in check all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday but  it was very difficult to stay strong for three days of bbq and vacation.  Saturday I managed to eat my apple and almonds but once that snack was gone I was left to my own devices and had to make some choices.  Do I eat a big juicy burger on a bun and some potato salad with chips?  Yes and No.  I ate the big juicy burger with no bun and barely any potato salad and had a veggie skewer.  I managed to hold off from the chips until i got back from the beach.  When I saw the big bowl of Doritos staring at me I couldn't say no.  One Doritos led to 5 which led to far more servings than the proper servings size.  Oh yes, and then there was cake. 

Sunday, I was a bit better with preparation.  We headed to the beach for the day/night and I packed a cooler with NF chobani, mango and protein powder for mid morning snack, Ezekiel, chicken, spinach and mustard for lunch and bought some hummus and baby carrots for my afternoon snack.  Then things went a bit down hill with dinner.  I had the most Delicious chicken breast with mac and cheese orzo and a small ben and jerry's cone for desert.  I didn't freak out about it because I knew I had been clean all day and sometimes you have to enjoy a good meal. 

Monday morning I struggled to wake up but knew I HAD to get in a workout before leaving and going home to ANOTHER FREAKING bbq.  I laced the sneaks and snuck into a nearby hotel gym where I could get in an arm workout and then did some hill sprints.  Monday's bbq proved a little better than Saturday's because I just COULD NOT have another bad day.  Even though it is a holiday it's still Monday and Monday always means back on the wagon.  I made up a quick salad and grabbed my skinny water and headed to the bbq.  I put a grilled turkey burger on my salad, said no to cake and had a side of fruit.  IT CAN BE DONE!

I have come to the conclusion that everything is in the preparation (shocker)!  If you go to a bbq and bring healthy snacks, meal and drinks it is WAY easier to say no to the hot dog and 7 layer dip.  It will always be tough for my to say no thanks to a piece of bday cake but if I want to get on stage in a bikini that could fit my bfs 8 yr old niece, i have to just say, No thank you!  

One Month...who's counting?

Tomorrow marks one month until I start my bikini competition preparation!  I am really excited about the process and feel like I have a good mindset going into it.  I have no intentions on placing,  of course it wouldn't hurt, but I feel like I am REALLY going to try and keep the mind set that I am doing this for FUN.  I don't want to get so wrapped up in everything that I forget my reasoning for doing it in the first place.  I want to push myself and try something new BUT I want to make an conscious effort to still go out for dinner and not be a wreck about ordering.  If I go to a cookout I can't go into it with a bad attitude and act like Whoa is meee, I can't eat a juicy cheeseburger.  I will go to the supermarket and grab some healthy veggies to grill and a nice piece of protein and enjoy the company.  This is my outlook one month ahead...I suppose I will want to re-read this blog in about 2 months. 

In other news, the competition shoes I ordered don't fit.  What a drag.  I literally pounced on the UPS guy when they arrived yesterday all to realize that the plastic stripper Cinderella slipper does not fit.  Who doesn't make half sizes anyway? Now I have to go through all the return BS to get my credit.  The 10 better fit.  I did however order a red scrunch bum bikini for kicks and luckily that fit!  I think with each new delivery I get my dad's eyes roll back a little farther into his head. 

<--- I am hoping that 4 inch shoes are okay to wear because I will literally break my face in the 5 inch ones.







All this variety is the spice of life mumbo jumbo is really paying off because the scale is moving in the right direction!! I think adding the 5k race in after my cardio sessions on Tuesday is giving me an extra push.  May i mention that my time is faster than when I ran in college!! Granted I drank like a fish in college and ate shitty food so I am sure that has something to do with my times.  I set a PR from last week and got myself a smiley metal! 

Place Name               Time      Pace 
27 MADALYN     24:47.5PR  7:59 

Thus far this has been a really good week.  I have switched up my food, ran a 5k, struggled like a mofo through my HIIT sprints but got them in and really looking forward to my weekend.  I get to see my roommates from college and I am super excited.  I am one work day, a grocery shop and CATZ class away from enjoying my weekend.  

Clean Eatin'

Thank the sweet lord it's Friday! Friday also means grocery shopping day which to some is a dreadful event but I happen to LOVE it! Friday is typically when things start slipping in the diet! I am super strict during the week by the time the weekend comes all i want to do is consume mass amounts of CRAP.  Grocery shopping allows me to know there's a light at the end of the cheats this weekend so I can get back on track!  Lists may be one of my favorite things to do mainly because I can cross things off and watch it get smaller and smaller.  As much as I miss living at home and free groceries, I really enjoy buying my own food because I have total control over what I am going to eat. I always make a list before I go to the super market because if I don't I will end up having 5 lbs of ground turkey and one side for the week.  I make a list of Mon - at least Thursday of what the bf and I will eat for dinner that way I know exactly what to look for.  this week we are having (may I add my cooking skills are very limited):


Monday: Shepard's Pie with extra lean ground beef, mixed veggies and cauliflower mashed on top


Tuesday: Grilled chicken and salad (normally yellow pepper, ff feta, cucumber, kalamata olives and tomato with yogurt dressing)


Wednesday: Grilled shrimp with asparagus and butternut squash mashed


Thursday: Ground turkey meat balls with spaghetti squash


Friday : TBD


Other staple items that are always purchased on grocery day:


Unsweetened almond milk
Non-fat plain chobani
eggs and pasteurized egg whites
turkey bacon
spinach
strawberries & blueberries
sweet potatoes
frozen veg
broccoli in a bag you can steam (makes the house smell like a big terd)
almonds
perdue grilled chicken strips (when I am lazy)


Clean eating has really made such a difference in my choices at the supermarket.  When I was in college and shopped for food my list looked more like: 100 cal pacs, smart ones, high sugar yogurt and plenty other foods that I THOUGHT would help me lose weight.  Advertisers are so brilliant in how they market food to women.  There will be this twig snacking on a 100 calorie pack riding in a convertible and life is fantastic.  Realistically, what value are you getting out of that snack? There is no nutritional gain, just processed crap.  I think one of the best things I have learned from clean eating is to make sure all the food I am eating as a purpose. 


On a side note, ordered my competition shoes!! Straight up, swing around the pole, stripper shoes.  My parents will be so proud.  

Plain Ol' Vanilla

When people say that variety is the spice of life, they are not kidding!  I think we all get so caught up in the same comfortable routine that we forget to switch things up and add some excitement back into our lives.  I am a very type A vanilla type of person and I like my routine BUT sometimes I think it also prohibits me from reaching my full potential.  A lot of the time I don't try new things because I am afraid of the unknown and putting myself out there but THIS HAS TO CHANGE! Last week I met Krya Williams ( the GISG) to try CATZ for the first time.  This was a great experience especially since I workout alone 5 days a week.  I enjoy working out alone because I am less distracted but it's motivating to have people around you pushing you harder.  I signed up for 10 classes which I have to attend in a months time frame.  Maybe a little over anxious but that's just how I roll.

This week I am trying Hookslides Good Times running series.  It's a 5k casual road race which will be fun minus the fact that it's cold and dreary outside.  I have tried to get someone to volunteer to come with me tonight but no dice!  I mean it is at 7pm on a Tuesday.  Not exactly convenient but that is my vanilla side talking and I am trying NOT to listen to her.  I get to meet a GISG member tonight which is always exciting!  All of these new little ventures will hopefully build me up to sign on the dotted line for the FAP show in September.  As of now I have talked myself into signing up but I can't officially pull the trigger until June when I join CSF (Cathy Savage Fitness).  I listened to the call Krya had last week about competing and what you need to know and it was very informative!  After reading Krya's blog about competing I caught myself agreeing to all the reasons she listed for wanting to compete. I want to push myself to try something new, I am a complete girly girl and will have a ball prepping on game day, I cook all my food and I have plenty of time to work out.  I can't wait to start documenting the process next month!!