7 weeks 3 days to go

Just decided at 8 weeks out that I'm going to compete again. Today I have felt:

optimistic

thin

strong

disappointed

tired

doubtful

sad

calm

fat

determined annnnnnnnd

anticipatory? is that a word

I hope people understand why I am doing this. I hope Its not too hard to say no to all the fun things I will have to say no to. I hope those who encourage me keep encouraging me and I hope that in the end I'm so glad that I did this again. I think I will be.

"She believed she could so she did"

5 days to go...

I fail at blogging.

I'm so sorry I haven't keep you updated! This whole journey has been a physical and emotional roller coaster but I'm beyond thrilled that I've done it. I have 5 days till the show...5!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's insane. I am so excited to be able to spend time with my family and friends again without worrying about what I can and cant eat and WHEN I can and can't eat! I'm also a little bit sad that this whole journey is coming to an end. I know, I know, I'm crazy! I'm just going to have find some balance between eating purse chicken and cheeseburgers, protein shakes and beer! It'll be a challenge but I'll need a new challenge when all of this is over. I've been a pinteresting fool lately and I'm really excited for when this is all done to start cooking and eating more cleanly and to start experimenting more in the kitchen. I've got so much to tell you about everything but for now I've got to get to bed. I'll leave you with update pictures. Beginning, middle, and today (5 days pre show)

week 4?

Well I think it's been about 4 weeks since I started training for this competition. Maybe a little longer? I'm on week 3 of my official diet plan with www.absrenewal.com and it's going really well! Week one was the carb depletion and it was DEFINITELY the worst! They told me that week would be the hardest and I wish I had listened. I did my carb depletion while working restaurant week at The Capital Grille and that probably made it 1000 times harder but let me tell you, by day 7 I was ready to quit this WHOLE thing! I was working like 8-12 hour days for 5 of my 7 days on carb depletion and it was HARD... I was exhausted, cranky, hungry, and more exhausted. Carb depletion really messes with your hormones too, at least it did mine. I very seriously thought about giving up and am so glad I haven't. I expected a big drop in weight after the carb depletion and that that would make it feel like the whole thing was worth it but NO WEIGHT DROP came! I was completely defeated. I knew that I was too far into my training and that I had commited to too many people and so quitting wasn't an option. After yet another amazing pep talk from my trainer I decided to buckle down, pull myself up by my boot straps as they say, and keep moving forward. I started cooking and portioning out all of my chicken ahead of time. I steamed a TON of broccoli and keep it in a giant bowl in my fridge. I steamed green beans, broccoli, bought brussels sprouts and asparagus. I STOCKED up! My food is planned out by my nutritionist in formulas from which I have to put my own meals together. This seriously stressed me out at first. I would get emails that say:

Meal 1: Protein, starch
Meal 2: Protein, fat
Meal 3: Protein, veggie, fat
Meal 4: Protein, fat
Meal 5: Protein, veggie
Meal 6: Protein

Trying to figure these out and actually put meals together as I went was totally daunting and a lot of the time I would end up skipping meals or not eating enough because I just didn't know at the moment what to eat. Finally I sat down with my meal formuals and wrote out exactly what I was going to eat for every meal of every day. It made SUCH a huge difference! Even if I felt like eating a cup of broccoli instead of 8 asparagus spears it made me feel better to have the veggie written down. Maybe I'm crazy! It has seriously helped me stay on track and helped make eating the same foods everyday a little more bearable :)

I am now in the middle of week 3 of the official diet and am finally starting to see some progress! My weight has dropped to 142.6 (I started at 148) in the last 10 days or so and we are measuring body fat percentage again tomorrow! Seeing progress is making it all worth while. Im starting to think I can actually do this! I'll post progress pictures soon and would love to hear any feedback, encouragment, or advice that you may have!

Thanks again for listening and supporting! 72 days to go!

Katie

day 5...

I'm struggling

carb deplete day 2...

Well it's the end of the day on day 2 of my carb depletion and I've feeling much better than I did yesterday! Yesterday after 8 hours of sleep and then a 3 hour nap I went to bed at midnight (early for me) and slept another 10.5 hours! Yikes! My body thought it was going into hybernation! I got up and went to the gym to do my pre-breakfast sedentary cardio and thought I was going to die I was so tired! After 30 minutes on the arc trainer I got to eat my breakfast of 5 eggwhites, 1 whole egg, 1/3 c. red bell pepper and 1/2 c. broccoli. I added all the veggies in the hopes that it would power me through the rest of my workout. After my quick breakfast (still at the gym) I got back to it and ran sprints on the treadmill then tried to blow through my circuit workout. BOY WAS THAT ROUGH! Stairclimbes with dumbells, box jumps, upright rows, bungee bicep curls, squats, bungee tricep pull downs, lat raises, up and overs, bulgarian lunges, and kettle bell sqaut thrusts... TIMES 5! Literally I did that circuit 5 times and was in tears by the end of set 2! At the peak of my frustration I got a text message...My amazing trainer who is in California at Disneyland with her family had sent me a video of herself saying "Get going Katie!" It was too cute and too wonderful of her and it totally made me smile and helped me finish my workout. It was long...it was hard...but I got through it.

I got a second wind around 4:00, enough to do three loads of laundry and cook three pounds of chicken and now I'm home and getting ready for bed. Hopefully my energy is on an upswing for the rest of the week and the pounds start dropping! I'll keep you posted on that :)

GOODNIGHT!
Katie

carb depletion

Here we go! This week I am doing 7 days of complete carb depletion to deplete my glucose levels and force my body to start burning fat. Here is a little explanation of how this works:

 

"Diets that restrict carbohydrates to an absolute minimum deplete the body's stores of glucose, the building blocks of carbohydrates, within 12 to 14 hours. After the body's stores of glucose have been depleted, the body starts to burn fat. Most of the body's cells can use fat as a fuel. The brain can only use glucose or ketone bodies, a by-product of fat metabolism in the liver, as an energy source."

 

Not all carb depletion diets are the same but for me, this week, it means ONLY protein veggies and very limited types of healthy fats. Of course I am still getting some carbohydrates from the veggies but I am keeping track of those as well and keeping them under 20g per day. It is now the end of day 1 and I'm not feelin too bad. I'll definitely keep you posted throughout the week. Im expecting headaches and to be tired and moody but I also don't want to make that into a self fulfilling prophecy so I'm trying to stay positive! One piece of advice my nutritionist gave me is to think happy thoughts (I know it sounds silly) and to let the endorphins help me through. We'll see how it goes!

 

Energy levels are definitely low which I was warned they would be at the beginning of the week. I got a full 8 hrs of sleep last night but was still drained by the middle of the afternoon so I laid down for a nap. I meant to sleep for 1 hr and woke up (having completely ignored my alarm) three hours later! Yikes! I ate another 3oz chicken, 1 c. of green beans, and a small salad with cucumber, vinegar and 1 tablespoon of olive oil then went to the gym. My workout went really great actually! I came home to have a piece of salmon and 6 steamed brussels sprouts and now I am exhausted again. I'd tell you more but I'm falling asleep in my protein shake!

 

Wish me luck! Goodnight!

 

Katie





96 days and counting...

So for those of you who don't know I have decided to compete in a bikini fitness competition on April 20th! 96 days to go! I have been eating clean for about a week now and haven't had a drink in 8 days. It has NOT been easy but I must say I'm feeling pretty great! I'm technically only on my 6th day eating COMPLETELY clean and even though I feel great I'm not seeing results yet like I hoped I would... I know, I know, its only been a week! Have you met me? I may be a little impatient :) I took a before picture last week and will post updated pictures every four weeks or so if all goes well.

I know a lot of people have misconceptions about these competitions and might not understand why I'm doing it so I thought I'd offer up my thoughts and goals with this whole things.

First, I know that these competitions can seem silly. 15 leves of spray tan, big hair, big makeup, tiny bikini's and stripper shoes! A little over the top, I admit. The thing to remember is that the stage look is just that...a look for the stage! The goal, at least for me, in doing this competition is to work as hard as I can to get into the best possible shape I can by a certain date. Yes, I suppose I could just pick a date or an occasion to work towards rather than competing on stage but I know myself and I know I need something BIG to make me stick to it. Standing on a stage in front of hundred of people in a teeny bikini being JUDGED on what you've accomplished is that something big. I do not intend to maintain my competition day figure, in fact it would be unhealthy to do so. I know that I can and will gain some weight back and I'm totally OK with that! I really want to do this just to prove to myself that I can. Like everything else it won't be about the day, it wont be about the competition or whether or not I place, it will be about the journey. It will be about what I learn about my body, my will power, my self. It's only been a week but here are some things I have learned so far:

1. It is not as hard to not drink as I thought it would be! I haven't been terribly tempted this week since by best friends have happened to all be out of commission for one reason or another but I DID go to a house party on Saturday night AND brunch with ALL of girls on Sunday without so much as a sip of wine or a mimosa! At brunch I even asked the restaurant to make me an eggwhite omelet! It's definitely harder than indulging, drinking unlimited mimosas and having biscuits and gravy but its not impossible. Thank God for the best friends in the world!

2. Steamed veggies are not as gross as you think they are! Steamed veggies get a bad rap! They sound so bland and boring and DIETY! Maybe your taste buds change when you're eating differently but all of the sudden steamed veggies are starting to taste pretty darn delicious! Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, bell peppers, spinach...they all get a little sweeter and their flavor seems to intensify when you steam them. I'm sure I'm not turning you into a convert but give it a shot every once in a while...kind of a refreshing and not nearly as icky as you might think!

3. Spaghetti squash could and should be your new best friend. 1 cup of spaghetti squash has only 42 calories and 10 grams of carbs and in case you've never tried it, it is DELICIOUS! Seriously a treat. I'm a big fan of some spaghetti squash with a little low sugar tomato sauce, some grilled chicken and little dash of parmesan. It will SERIOUSLY satisfy your parmesan chicken craving for like a bazillionth of the calories.

That's all I've got for now. Wish me luck on my journey and I'll keep you posted as I go! Thank you for reading, listening, supporting... Thank you for your words of encouragement. I know they're coming my way! ;)

Katie