The “why am I doing this again?” phase
We are officially 10 weeks away from the competition! In this industry, the number of weeks away from a competition is referred to as “weeks out”. So right now, I’m 10 weeks out. Only 2.5 months to go!
I reported in my last blog that I was feeling pretty good about prep so far - the past two weeks, I feel less good. Don’t get me wrong, physically I feel a lot better. I’ve lost a good chunk of my bulking bulge and I am finally fitting back into my pants comfortably again. That’s definitely something that I don’t think I’ve ever reported after weeks of Christmas & holiday celebrations.
The part where I’m struggling the most after four weeks is on the mental side.
Honestly, when I decided to do a competition, one of my biggest goals was to try to not let it get to me and make me crazy. Well, turns out that’s a bit impossible - prep life = moderately crazy life. It’s not so much my diet & workouts are that hard when I’m at home… it’s when I’m out that it becomes a struggle. For example, I tried to go out for dinner with my family and ordered a heavily modified meal. $26 later, I couldn’t even eat what they brought me because, while they’d modified it as best they could, it still wasn’t a good enough match for my prep meal plan. At this point, I figure if I’m putting in all this effort to keep it as strict as possible, there’s no point in ruining it over oily vegetables.
People have been asking me if I’m craving anything and the answer is no, not really. My biggest cheat over the past three weeks has been, wait for it… half a cookie. Yes, I had half a cookie on Christmas day. Not even a big cookie. It was probably the size of a sand dollar. So yeah, living on the wild side! The thing that I miss the most is having the flexibility to have some popcorn if I want to, or sip on some red wine at dinner. It’s more just having the option that feels like the biggest limitation.
I also have noticed that my body is becoming super sensitive to literally everything.
From my emotions (wanting to cry because the line up at Costco is too long) or my stomach blowing up like a balloon if I have too much broccoli (I feel like I'm tip-toeing the line of too much fibre on a regular basis), it’s becoming harder and harder to not notice the little things. Gotta love the effects of an elimination diet!
Workout-wise, things haven’t changed much - I’m still only working out 6 days a week (only). A little birdie told me though that this might have to ramp up in a couple of weeks to really push my body fat percentage down. Soon, my hour at the gym a day will likely be a two-part saga of morning cardio and evening lifting. So if anyone wants to join for a cardio sweat session - definitely let me know! You might even see me at one or two group classes in the near future - taking them, not teaching them!
I had also promised that I would take pictures of what I was eating so that everyone could see the transformation. I have officially discovered why no one takes pictures of their prep diets, and it’s for two reasons: first, the prep food is extremely boring. It’s literally almost the same thing every day - protein and green vegetable (not the most photogenic of foods). Second, your mind is so busy thinking about prep that often you just forget to take pictures. Most of the images that I have on my phone of my food are half-eaten meals because I’ve remembered halfway through that I’d promised I’d try to show the steps.
So, all this being said, do I regret my goal? Not at all.
I told myself I was going to do this, so I’m going to get it done. I do get bursts of butterflies and excitement at the thought of seeing my abs and walking out onto the stage. It’s a journey, not a sprint. Excited to see where I’m at when I check in next!
