28 DAYS OUT!!!

I seriously cannot believe that I am saying this, but I am 4 weeks out from my first figure competition today. In some ways the time has gone by really fast. In others, not so much. Since my last post, I have been pretty busy with all of my contest prep, working, stoning my suit, posing practice and working out. I have now been doing 2-a-days for a week and will continue that until my competition. I have to go to the gym in the morning for cardio on an empty stomach and then I have to go back later to do my lifting. I have now been dieting for 11 weeks total with 4 more to go. I am still doing a ketogenic diet with my only source of carbs coming from veggies and have been doing that for 4 weeks now with 4 more to go. Let me tell you....a low carb diet literally turns me into a mean, neurotic mess:) Taylor probably wonders why he ever married me..lol! On some days, I feel just fine, but on others, I feel like I have no energy whatsoever. To add misery to my low energy, I am STARVING all the time. However, Taylor is trying to gain weight to put on muscle mass so he is eating 5,000 calories a day to gain weight. He has found that if he eats any less than that, he doesn't gain weight. So...put those 2 things together and I literally want to strangle him with my bare hands on a daily basis! Every time he says "oh...it's time to eat again and I'm still so full" I can barely restrain myself from doing the flying monkey leap, tackling him, and kicking him while he's down:) But seriously though, all violent thoughts aside, it get really hard sometimes. For example, we went to the Washington Ironman Competition near Seattle last weekend. It is a 2 1/2 hour drive for us and we knew that it was going to be an all day trip. So, I prepared all of my food ahead of time and packed it in my cooler so that I could stick to my meal plan. Well, I didn't account for the fact that I would be up 4 hours later than I usually am and by 9:30 PM, I had eaten all of my meals and was STARVING! We then had to drive home and Tay decided that he was hungry and stopped at Burger King where he proceeded to order a triple whopper and large french fry. Oh my gosh...the smell of french fries in that little car was almost too much for my starving self to take. Then, he started shoving his face full of french fries and I just felt like having a mental breakdown. NOT one of my better days.... Here's a pic of us at the competition. I look like a giraffe with my neck stretched like that:)


So there's the bad and the ugly of my contest prep. Let's move on to the good! I have officially finished stoning my suit, except for the straps!!! I have to wait until I sew the straps to stone them so I know how long they will be. I can do that about 2 weeks out. Here are some pics...they really don't do it justice! It's so pretty! I can't believe I didn't ruin it! One of my prouder "domestic" moments because it was REALLY time consuming and hard to get it to look right.

Here's the top. Remember, I still have to stone the straps, so it will look better after I do that...
Here's the front of my bottoms...
And the back of the bottoms...
Then I tried putting them together, but the bottoms kept sliding down so it looks kind of funny.

Okay, I know some of you have been requesting pics of me and my progress. I am way too self-conscious to post them yet on here, but I promise I will post contest pics:) I am excited to say that I recently turned 30 and have never been in better shape in my life! My coaches have dialed in my diet so that I have been able to maintain my muscle mass and I have NEVER been this lean before. Super exciting! (even if I am carb deprived) I have especially been noticing changes in the past 2 weeks and it seems like my body finally got the memo that it's time to start changing and shredding off the fat:) It's been an amazing journey to realize what my body can do if I give it the proper fuel and stay consistent with it. Most of you know that I am a very self-critical person and always see my flaws first. I am starting to feel so much better about myself and the way I feel. I can feel a difference in the way I hold myself and I am proud of myself for sticking to this. I am excited for the competition, but more than anything, I am excited that I decided to start this journey. I can honestly say that I don't care if I place dead last in my competition...I feel like if I step on the stage knowing I have done everything I could, then I already won. I am so glad that I found my coaches because they provide so much support and encouragement as well as doing all my diet plans. I hold them solely responsible for the changes that have taken place. They have been GREAT! And, as much as I get mad at Tay, I couldn't ask for a more supportive and amazing husband. He puts up with so much from me and I love that hot man more than I can say! Can't wait...only 28 more days to go!