So I made a decision awhile back; that I would start training for my next figure competition after our recent vacation. It is going to be a challenging goal because I have gained some weight since my last(and first competition) last August. After my competition last August my husband got really ill. As in near death ill. He was in the hospital for three weeks while they tried to figure out what was wrong with him. At the end they did find out what was wrong and it was and is very serious(in fact, it’s a miracle he is still alive).  I am not going to go into it in this blog entry but he MUST take care of himself to prolong his time here on this earth, with quality nutrition, exercise and medication.

So while he was in the hospital, I closed our business and focused on helping him….forget anything with fitness during that time. In fact, once he came home I still focused on him and slowly worked my way back to making the business go again. And of course our children required alot of attention…so my health took about 4th place and well I just put it on the back burner till another time. A year later and it is finally another time. I am getting back into this health and fitness thing with a vengeance. I have to drop about 15% Bodyfat in the next 12 weeks or -hopefully 15 weeks depending on which competition I do. As for scale weight I have to drop about 25 lbs of fat and put on a couple pounds of muscle. Will be posting my current (before) photos this week. My current stats are: 133lbs and my bodyfat is 27%. So you and I know exactly WHERE  I am NOW. My goal is to be 110lbs @ 12% Bodyfat for this competition (WHERE I am GOING).  

Although I do have alot of changes to make, it is doable if I go strict(very clean eating) and hard(intense cardio and weigh training) at it. Also I didn’t entirely give up on working out and eating somewhat healthy or the damage would be alot worse than it is. I just wasn’t consistent enough with it over a long enough period of time. So here I am ready to put it all on the line…

I sat down a few days before starting my training and wrote down exactly HOW I planned on achieving this goal.  What is it going to take daily for me to succeed at this endeavor?

Well, I have to clean up my eating…no more processed carbs I and everyone else loves so much. So cereal, bread, crackers, cheezits(my fav), ice cream, candy, soda, alcohol, pasta and the list goes on. Basically everything in the snack aisle at the grocery store is a no-no. Must start eating natural, as GOD made it food. Lots of veggies, fruit and lean meats. Must limit anything processed. If it is processed it probably has had most of the nutrients processed right out of it and lots of chemical that are not good for my health or metabolism added to it. So it’s a no-no. In fact I really have to limit anything that is not natural because of all the chemical crap they put into most food nowadays. Really messes with anyone’s metabolism and well I need my metabolism to hum from the getgo. Small clean meals through out the day…that should do it. Will make changes along the way as necessary.

Must get my daily cardio in…will alternate between steady state and interval…steady state on weight training days and interval on non weight training days. Will weight train 3 – 4 times a week. This time I also have a training partner, Chrystal, one of our trainer’s at our studio who is also going to compete in the figure competition. She is currently much fitter(less bodyfat) than me so….her challenges will be different from mine.

So WHY am I doing this? My answer…because I can. When I decided to compete in last years competition I had let it go for awhile then as well. At the beginning of the year my mom passed away very unexpectedly and it sent me into a not so healthy situation where I just was not that interested in working out or pretty much anything for quite some time. I did realize that at some point I would get back into it and I did…and I did pretty good. I set a date and I followed through with it. Just like I am doing here. It is a mindset and it will be the topic of my next blog entry.

Sometimes life does get in the way of your health and fitness…and that is OK but when the crisis or situation has passed then it is time for you to move on and think about your future and your health. Get back into that routine that made you feel alive. Made you feel like you could do anything. Made you more confident then you ever felt before. Helped you have the stamina to overcome major challenges…helped you become a better you.

As always I am interested in hearing any feedback…

God Bless You,

Evey

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Evey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.