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Showing posts from April, 2014

Bikini Contest Prep: 10 Weeks Out

Just popping in to share a progress picture I snapped today- 10 weeks out from my bikini contest.  I am seeing good progress, but I also am standing tall and "sucking in"! ;)  I hope that in the next few weeks, I won't have to try so hard!  I'm happy to be back home so that I can stick to my eating and training routine.  Last week I was off my game with the trip to Dallas and then the Gala on Saturday night.  But, being home, I can eat my food and on schedule.  It's a lot of food to eat, but I'm hungry every few hours, so it's perfect right now.    Also, while I was gone, we didn't get much sleep, staying up with late-night pillow chats that I wouldn't miss, but paid for when I got home.  I'm back on my sleep schedule now (which is CRUCIAL for the workouts I'm doing.  I notice a huge difference in the difficulty level of my workouts when I haven't gotten enough sleep.  Like, I want to quit and go home, but my trainer keeps me going.   I

Eating Healthy When Traveling

With 10 weeks until my fitness bikini competition, I'm getting a little freaked out.  The meal plan I'm on is really tough, mainly because it's boring to eat the same thing over and over and over.  I have not been perfect, but I'm doing pretty well.  I flew to Dallas for two days on Thursday and in preparation for the trip, I brought food so I could stay on my meal plan.  My flight was only an hour, so I packed my small skillet (perfect size for my protein pancake), Pam coconut oil spray, ground oats (for the pancake), brown rice, and protein powder in my checked luggage.  My local friend Cassie brought me frozen chicken, veggies, and egg whites.  We lucked out and landed in the penthouse suit of the hotel that was equipped with a stove and microwave, so I was able to prepare some meals.  But, nothing is easy.  The room was so high-tech that we couldn't get the stove working and the engineer had to come 3 times to get it to work.   My protein pancake had to be coo

Sculpted Ab Routine (Just 3 Exercises)

As I mentioned yesterday when I shared my meal plan , I'm currently 12 weeks out from my first bikini competition and this week, I start doing my ab exercise routine everyday.  I have definitely seen improvements in the last two weeks in the toning/tightening of my stomach. I'm sure it's a combination of my clean meals, workouts/cardio, ab exercises, and perhaps this cream I've been using.  The picture below was snapped on Monday morning (April 15, 2014).   Now that I'm 12 weeks out, I'm doing my ab exercises every day.  I do 3 exercises in a row, and repeat them 4 times.  These exercises can be done in the comfort of your own home too.   1.  Leg Raises- 20 reps When I'm at the gym, I do leg raises on the roman chair.   via At home, you can do them lying on the floor.   via Watch the video HERE . 2.  Medicine Ball V-Ups- 15 reps  These are really hard, but I'm getting better at them. Watch the video HERE . 3.  Russian Twists- 20 reps I don't use any

12 Weeks Out // My Bikini Contest Meal Plan

This week we're turning it up a notch in both the workouts and meal plan.  I still have fat to lose so, right now, there will be no fat in my diet, no sugar, no dairy.  I have to say that the meal plan is not very exciting, just a balance of lean protein, carbs, and veggies - 5 times a day.   This is similar to how I've been eating, but there are things I'm cutting that I previously had been enjoying:  coffee with creamer (I can have coffee but don't like it without a lot of creamer, so I'm trading it for black unsweetened tea), peanut butter and syrup (on my protein pancake), peanut or sesame oil, egg yolk, low sodium soy, salt-free seasoning (in my stir fry), and milk (in my cheerios), nuts.   Keep in mind that this meal plan was given to me for my specific goal of competing in a bikini contest in 12 weeks, and based on where I am in my fitness journey.  I'm sharing it with you partly to document my process and partly to just give you an idea of what these &qu

Healthy Pesto and Chicken Salad

If you've been a little burned out by all the prepared meals I've been sharing here, you're in for a treat with today's Healthy Pesto and Chicken Salad recipe from Morgan of Morganize with Me .  She's a girl after my own heart with a passion for health, exercise, organizing, and of course, her family (they have three adorable youngsters) and are currently living abroad.  That she lists "Target, pedicures, books you can't put down, and happy tears" as some of her favorite things makes me adore her even more.  I hope you like this healthy pesto and chicken salad.  I told Morgan I've never made pesto before, but this makes me want to give it a go!  And chicken for added protein? Perfect! ________________ I'm really thrilled to be here today and to share a yummy recipe with you! I'm also so happy that spring time is here. The fact that I am able to start wearing my flip-flops again just makes me giddy. Do you know what also makes me giddy? B

Can You Get More Toned Skin From a Bottle? (Bliss Fat Girl Six-Pack)

Happy Monday friends!  Hope you all had a great weekend!  With all the working out I've been doing lately, I've noticed that I've been more tired at the end of the day (which is a good thing!) because it means I'm getting to bed at a decent hour instead of staying up way too late.  I even slept from 9:30 p.m. to 10:15 a.m. on Sunday.  I guess my body needed it.  As I write this on Sunday night, I'm thinking of the Monday morning workout with my trainer, which I know is gonna be awesome (and so hard).  I'm loving these workouts and actually look FORWARD to them! I showed y'all last week that, although my tummy is looking much tighter these days, there's still work to be done.  I was provided a toning gel  formulated  to help firm and tone your skin, called Fat Girl SixPack by Bliss .  I'm giving it a try and will let you know what I think. The product states that it's not a weight loss or fat loss cream, but is formulated with a mino acids, creati

Sample Bikini Contest Prep Meal Plan

I know some of you would appreciate a bikini contest preparation meal plan that includes the nutritional breakdown of the food, so I snagged one from a friend of mine who is a bikini competitor. She is in her early 40s, about 5'3 and this is her second year competing.  She gave me permission to post the meal plan here, so it's all yours! Have a great W E E K E N D !

Veggies, Mushrooms/Onions & Brown Rice Meal Prep

We all know it's important to eat our veggies, but how many of us are actually doing it? I know I wasn't until recently.  The surprise is, I really like it!  I look forward to eating my vegetables, especially a variety, and prepping them is really easy.    I'm eating a good 2-3 cups of veggies per day and typically prep a big bunch (my husband eats them too) so they are ready to eat right away. On Monday evening, I made a colorful variety of steamed veggies, brown rice, and sautéed onion and mushrooms to add to my lean protein meals.  Be warned, this makes a lot of veggies, so you may want to half it.  Veggies = appx. 17 cups  broccoli (2 bunches) cauliflower (1 head) squash (2) zucchini (2) carrots (1 cup) Mushrooms & Onion  mushrooms (16 oz pre-cut)  onion (1) Brown Rice = appx. 10 (1/3 cup servings) brown rice (1 cup)  After washing and chopping my veggies , I put them into a large pot with about 2 inches of water.  Put the lid on and let the water come to a boil and

Bikini Contest Prep Training Schedule // 14 Weeks Out

Last week was my first full week with my trainer.  We worked out three times for one hour, I did 5- 30 minute cardio sessions on my own (3 on the treadmill, 2 on the stair mill) and also did an ab routine (3 exercises) 4 days.  That's hard work so I felt pretty proud of myself.  So, I think I'll be keeping the schedule below for now, until he changes it up.  I'll probably end up doing longer cardio and abs every day by the end. On Friday, my trainer measured my body fat using calipers and the skin fold test.   Body Fat Percentage  – is the amount of body fat (pounds) divided by total body weight listed as a percentage.  I told him I guessed I was at 18% body fat.  He took the measurements and said he'd text me after he calculated it so we could get right to working out.  But, based on the measurements he just took, H most of my fat is in my stomach, lower back, and calves.  Later that day, I did my ab routine and 30 minutes of cardio.  Afterwards, I snapped a pic of my