Here are pictures of me from last Tuesday (of course I have to critique!):
This pose is much harder than it looks. It's the one pose where you have to keep everything flexed from head to toe and it's the one a lot of people spend the most time in on stage. Here my arms are too wide out because I have trying to keep my lats flared, so I have been working on bringing my arms down while keeping my lats flared and bringing my chest up. Easier said than done. :)
This was my first time working on my side quarter turn.
Like the front pose, this one is harder than it looks. The thing I have been working on most is keeping my lats flared and not sloping my shoulders forward. I also have to work on putting my rear out further on this pose. I joke and say, if I can see my tan lines under my butt, then I'm doing this one right! Lol.
Side tricep. Did posing with David this past weekend and really tweaked this one and improved it a lot. In all of the mandatory poses, I am realizing that I am not doing it right unless my lower back is screaming. Posing is not for wimps! Thank goodness I have a great chiropractor! As for these next poses, I will try to get some updated pictures this week for comparison, but my mandatory poses are still pretty rough.
I was really surprised by this. My bottom half has leaned out a lot more than I thought it had. We made the decision last week to not try to cover up my tattoo on contest day. It would be a lot of work, and I think we will be able to see what I have when we get there. I still have a lot of leaning out to do in my back, shoulders and arms, but I have made a lot of progress.
I still can't take the ab pose serious. I has to be the most awkward pose of them all. You can see here how my legs are coming in and getting some size. You can also see that my stomach is still quite stubborn. It has shrunk a lot, a LOT, from before, but it's still holding steady.
This week has been the reality check week for me. My diet has become real - I dropped 100ish calories two weeks ago and another 100ish last week. I actually don't really struggle with the discipline of the eating. I still eat a lot of food, given that all of my macros are coming solely from whole foods. I am not yet having issues with feeling hungry or having insane cravings that I have heard others report. The caloric drop has really shown up in my energy level. I was so excited that my strength held through my first big caloric drop. Little did I know that was short lived, as this past one did a number on me. My energy level has waned some, which means I am really just high energy versus my normal manic state (HA!), but I feel it. It's not unlike when I was early in my pregnancy. I feel a little scattered and a general sense of fatigue. My workouts are still strong, but I do not have the energy or stamina I had even last week. I also have been getting to bed later than usual recently, so I think this compounds the issue, and I will likely see an improvement in my energy level once I get back to getting enough sleep.
The big thing with diet this week is the elimination of all sweeteners. Even Stevia. Big frowny face! :( Coffee with almond milk and stevia has been my one indulgence, as was I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray on my veggies, and that is gone, too. I guess Orbitz was an indulgence, too, as I had to cut that out, too. This will help tremendously with some of the stubborn belly fat. In the meantime, I power through black coffee and have coffee breath. Oh the irony - eating more broccoli, tilapia and asparagus, and drinking black coffee, and no gum to offset the breath! Sorry guys! :)
The other reality check is the fact that I am not going to step on stage looking like I am ready to compete in a national show or even a more attended state show, for that matter. This is ok and I am not distressed about it, but the reality of show vs. life conditioning is settling in more and more. I am in great shape, I look great and I feel great. Conditioning for a show is a lot more than that, and I am starting to settle in with the idea of a happy medium. This is a good place to be for a first show, especially a smaller one - ready to get on stage in the best shape I have been in in a long time, but understanding that it's me I am competing against, not anyone else. If that makes sense.
In the process, I am more and more used to the disciplined eating. Although I look forward to having more variety in my diet than I do now, I am accepting that this idea that I can once again eat whatever I want is not a healthy one. I have talked about this before, but I think, if anything, this process has really driven home for me how much food is about control. When I have cravings I generally stop and analyze them for a second, and I almost always realize that it is about me wanting what I think I can't have rather than having a real craving. When I look at it from that perspective, I have found that the cravings have lessened and I realize that I am happy and satisfied, so long as I stay on schedule with my eating. If I miss my timing, it's a whole different ball game, as 30 minutes late can equal ravenously hungry in a very primal way, which kicks off my desire to eat anything other than the food I have prepared. But I have learned that even when that happens, if I acknowledge the fact that I am legitimately hungry and go ahead and eat what I have prepared, after the first few bites, my cravings settle down and all is peaceful again.
On a final note, I got a mileage check from work, so that paid for my posing suit! Woot! The idea of the posing suit simultaneously fills me with excitement and with fear. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that I will be on a stage, doing a posing routine, in that thing, in less than 8 weeks. Hold on while I have a mini panic attack...
...ok. I'm ok. I have always been ok, and I will be ok as I progress on. 7 weeks and 4 days. It may be something I pursue further. It may be something I check off of my bucket list and then move on to something else. Either way, I have set the goal and I have followed through with it. That, above all else, is what feels really good.
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