September 1st: 6 weeks out!!!

I CANNOT Believe its September already. Where the heck did summer go?!  I won't lie, ever since I decided to compete on October 13th, I have had TUNNEL Vision, and definitely am not "living in the moment" like I should be. As someone said, I truly have "laser vision." My mind is entirely focused on successfully following my prep: diet, training, and everything else involved.

The past 6 weeks, I have gained a TREMENDOUS amount of discipline, and have proved that I AM capable of getting on stage. I have reached the point where I am incredibly anxious and excited to finally achieve what I've visualized for so long. Post-competition concern tries to distract me, but I'm trying to avoid negative thoughts. For the time being, I need to focus on PRE-CONTEST, and doing whatever it takes to train hard and continue to get leaner. 

Every competitor is different, but it does seem like an overwhelming number of female competitors boast about their 1-2 HOURS of cardio 7x a week. Going into prep, i KNEW that I could not handle that much cardio volume on top of my intense workouts...nor did i NEED that. I'm sorry...but I believe that if you TRULY keep your nutrition program clean and are meticulous with your food, you don't need to climb stairs for an hour as soon as your eyeballs open in the morning. As a matter of fact, when I was earlier in prep, I was doing morning and pm cardio, and saw the back of my legs looking looser, and freaked out. Guess what I did? Stopped the 2x cardio, and went HARDER in one session. I won't lie, I'm doing more cardio than I'd like to right now, but its just enough to get me where I need to be, to push my body over the edge to burn the calories. And my workouts are so tough, and are very demanding, so I only have about 3 INTENSE cardio sessions (45-60min) per week. I do cardio 5-6 days a week, never over 60min in a session. I typically spend 75-90 minutes working out if I'm combining strength+cardio.

I'm not going to lie and say I'm eating a healthy diet with 1800 calories a day. I started at 12 weeks out with 1740 calories, and have been decreasing since then. The meal plan I follow has moderate carb cycling involved. On days that I strength train, I eat rice cakes post-workout, bringing my daily carb total 40g higher than days that I don't workout, or just do cardio. On complete rest days, I don't have oat bran for breakfast either, bringing my carbs 80g lower than workout days. (long story short...less muscle work means less or no starchy carbs. no rocket science.) My calories come from 40% protein, 40% carbs, and the remaining 20% from fats. My calories are the lowest I've EVER kept them, which concerns me for post-competition, as I want to REV my metabolism so I can stay lean on more calories.

Another thing that contest prep has taught me is that the body doesn't starve your muscles away. I used to get so MAD if I went 3 hours without food. Now, I understand that your body can do MORE than survive if you don't feed it exactly on time. In fact, I just take my BCAAs and Glutamine after a tough cardio session, and WAIT an hour to have anything..hello extra fat burning potential!

I got my suit a couple of weeks ago, and it fits TIGHT like it should. the top is tiny, and will fit when my boobs are done shrinking (bye boobies...), and the rhinestone connectors on the hips give me just enough muffin top to motivate me to keep leaning out. The color is amazing, and I am THRILLED. The blog will NOT be seeing my suit until the competition! 

I really hit a wall of physical exhaustion and mental turbulence last week. My increased training volume, decreased calories, and addition of a new job and schedule all accumulated, and resulted in absolute CRASH on saturday and sunday. TWO back-to-back rest days, and a major accidental cheat on sunday night (Talking 1000+calories later..) I felt WAY better on Monday, and guess what..my abs were TIGHTER by tuesday. My body had been TOO deprived all week, and the extra calories did more to HELP than HURT. Now, I will resume my weekly CARB day. Nothing wild, just double serving of oat bran, a CLEAN carb source that I LOVE for breakfast. Keeps me full for 5 hours too.

I am going to try to blog MORE, since I'm settling back into my school schedule, and will have set hours at work. I refuse to blog worthless shit. I know nobody wants to see pictures of broccoli, eggwhites, and a tablespoon of flax...EVERY DAMN DAY. Or hear, "So today, I worked out!" Like...Duh. I only blog when there is something i feel is WORTHY, and trust me, I have a TON of things I would DIE to write, but it's so much effort. I would make a Vlog, but frankly...every Vlog is annoying. Who wants to watch some girl they don't even know (or do know) awkwardly self-tape a monologue about fitness and nutrition for an unnecessary amount of time? 

For pics, make sure to follow me on INSTAGRAM : Lizbrody
I will figure out a way to get my iPhone pics to my blog ASAP so there are pics to go along with the writing.

Hope you enjoyed the update--no matter how fast you eyeballed it :)