Powering Through the Sickness

'Tis the season to be sick, get colds, and slack off! Well, the first two things, no slacking off this winter. With the weather getting colder (or fluctuating from hot to cold in Cali), the risk of getting sick is higher and higher. While there are many things you can do to prevent the bug getting you, sometimes it just comes out of nowhere despite your careful planning. So how do you stay motivated when you're sick? Are you just going to throw out your plans and goals for a week in your bed? Are you going to power through and go to the gym sick? I'd say neither is a good plan, though there has to be balance. You can't just show up to the gym putting everyone in danger of catching what you have. Think about it, you cough into your hand, you touch a dumbbell, do your set, put it back. Someone new picks up the same dumbbell, gets an itch on his face or eye, or randomly decides to put his hand in his mouth, bam! He's got it too! The gym is a bacteria frenzy! Okay I know I've scared you now and yes there's a lot of risk in the gym, but you can take matters into your own hands by taking extra precautions during your workout.

1. Take a towel (or two) everywhere. For you to breath or cough into, and to wipe down the machines after use. 
2. Before use, use a wet wipe or spray and towel to wipe off everything you'll be touching. You never know what the person before you did on there or their condition. 
3. Don't go to the gym if you feel too sick. Which brings me back to what motivates you.

When you're coughing, sneezing, wiping your runny nose, I'm sure it's hard to build up the motivation to even get out of bed. If you have a goal in site like a prep or a fitness challenge you've joined, you'll need to get back into the gym asap. If you don't have a goal in site, by all means, take that time off to recover and get well. This is more for those of us who need to fast forward getting well so we can get back in the gym and attack those goals. You don't want to reschedule a show because you got sick. Could you imagine? Some great things you can do to keep your prep moving forward is move around! Go walking on the treadmill. I know it's hard taking a step from our hardcore workouts and jumping on a treadmill just to walk, but do you feel like running? That's what I thought. So walk for 30 minutes to an hour, keep your body conditioned throughout your sickness. A stationary bike is also a great choice! Sitting down might be all you want to do so it's probably the best choice. I mean, if there were a lying down cardio machine, I'm sure we'd all be in line for it. Don't want to leave the house? Below is an at home workout I've put together that's sure to get your heart beating, while letting you workout in the comfort of your own home.

Low Impact Burpees: Go through the motions of a regular burpee, only walk your legs one at a time back, push up, then back up. Stand up with hands in air, don't jump. (Unless of course you're up to do the high impact jumping)(As many as you can for one minute)

Jumping Jacks (One minute)

Body weight squats (One minute)

Stationary lunges (One minute)

Lying toe touches (One minute)

Repeat this cycle 3 times or as many time desired. That makes 15 minutes of moving around, getting active, and staying accountable. Don't let that cold knock you off your feet, you're better than that! In the same right, don't push yourself so far that you get even sicker and end up being out of the gym even longer. Listen to your body, if you feel you can do it, do it. If not, take a break. Now onto diet, because it's not all about the gym.

When sick, what is the LAST thing you want to do? Eat! And what is right behind that? Meal prep,

eat right, eat all healthy food. Who wants to be in the kitchen all day prepping meals? YOU do if you want to stay on track with your goals. This whole week when I was sick, I prepped every single meal and every single meal was clean. I thought, well if I'm going to be out of the gym, I'm at least going to be on point with my eating. You have push yourself to eat well, you must. The main problem when sick is that you don't want to eat. It's such a chore especially eating like clockwork like we do. My advice is to just do it the second it crosses your mind before you have a chance to think about it. Get up, cook, and soon you'll be able to lie down again. If you're lucky, maybe you'll have someone to cook six meals for you. That would be nice, but who has time for that? You have to want it, live it breathe it! No sickness will get you down. How wonderful it would have been to just order food all day and eat just that. Nope, we can't do that because we have goals to conquer! So dig deep and do what needs to be done in order to stay on track. You can do it! I did :)

Thanks for reading! I hope this inspires you when you're sick to get up and keep fighting for your goals. Bookmark this for when you are sick to try the workout and let me know how it goes!


Mel

Fall Challenges (Workout and Diet)

Hello guys! It's been a while. I took a little break, but I'm back and I'll be posting more. Especially for my clients and people who want to see workouts and clean eating recipes. I'd love to help! So what's new with me? Well I've taken the fall season off from competing so I can have a life and not have to be so strict on myself. It's fall! Time for pumpkin flavored everything, cuddling with hot chocolate, maybe some bonfires, and relaxing without worrying about being so strict. Well... that was the plan. Last week Bodybuilding.com released a new challenge called Shred vs Bulk challenge by BSN Supplements. Contestants have 6 weeks to either present the best bulk or the best shred. Both winners will win $10,000! So yes I have started that. I just can't stay away! From the end of August until now, I have been having cheat days more frequently however, my diet was about 80% clean. My brain and willpower won't let me overindulge. I have goals for next year and I'm not trying to gain weight and ruin my chances. My goal is to kill it next year! I have a great chance, I just need to tighten my glutes even more (I'll get into that later with coverage of the Tahoe Show).

So I started this shred at 130lbs, 7 pounds up from competition weight August 23rd. No big! Nothing I can't handle. The great thing about competing this year and doing prep on my own is that I have gotten to know my body so well and how it reacts to every little thing that goes in it. I know exactly what to do to get rid of my extra water weight. I know exactly what foods make me bloated and what foods flatten me out. I know what not to eat the day of a shoot, event, or show. So I'm excited and I know I'm going to look amazing by November 30th (the end date of competition), but wish me luck! $10,000 would be freaking amazing right now! Especially when supplementing my business Lifting Ladies. I have a lot planned and am super excited about it. Money would help kick start it a lot!

Anyway, I've been doing more of a balanced diet style for this cut so I can enjoy the fall while keeping my bikini diet. It's more of a 90% clean, 10% cheat diet. My days look something like this:

Meal 1: 1 cup of oatmeal (half of my carbs for the day except Wednesdays which is no carb day and rest day)
Meal 2: Chicken, 2tbs avocado, baby carrots, mozzarella cheese (I don't cut dairy because I don't cut things I love :) )
Meal 3: Chicken, half sweet potato (2 eggs on Wednesday instead), 1tbs Peanut Butter
Meal 4: Shrimp, 2 cups broccoli
Meal 5: Ground turkey tacos, 2-3 eggs,(on Wednesday I make a GT bowl with eggs, cilantro, and salsa)

Calories: 1430-1600 Friday: 2000+

Friday I have a cheat meal because it's my super cardio day and I have to load up on calories, Saturday and Sunday are the same as Monday-Thursday. This is important guys! ONE cheat day a week, not the whole weekend because you're "rewarding" yourself for the hectic week you had. You have a week every week, do you think you need to be "rewarded" EVERY week? Reward yourself with an awesome body! :)

For my workouts I'm trying a new circuit style training by Ashley Conrad on Bodybuilding.com  (click link for complete plan). It's a 21 day cut, which I'm following the workout but not the diet. The diet is a little boring for my taste. If you want to survive in eating clean all the time, you need to be able to customize it to your liking. You don't need to eat bland boring food everyday to be fit, that's silly. This doesn't mean having cheat meals of course, it simply mean find a healthy alternative for each undesirable factor in the plan. If you enjoy following diet plans, then by all means, follow the plan word for word. Anyway, the workout plan looks like this:

Monday: Lift
Tuesday: Cardio
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Lift
Friday: Cardio
Saturday: Lift
Sunday: Rest


Lift days are a circuit in which you repeat the workouts below in a row with a 30 second rest in between. Once done, repeat the circuit 3-6 times depending on physical abilities.

1. Clean and press
2. Overhead medicine ball throws
3. Dumbbell rear lunge
4. Push ups
5. Bench dips
6. Sprint in place
7. Body weight squats
8. Wide grip lat pull down
9. Medicine ball jumping jacks
10. Incline push ups
11. Dumbbell bicep curl
12. Lateral dumbbell raises
13. One arm dumbbell row

Do each workout for 12-15 reps and repeat cycle for desired times. It's a great workout! I would definitely try it, especially if you're in need of something new. That's why I'm doing it instead of writing my own workout for the cut. I put in my own workouts to better fit my needs. For instance, instead of the medicine ball throws, I do kettle bell swings, Instead of rear lunge, I do walking lunges. I replace the incline push ups (because there is a ridiculous amount of push ups in this circuit) with stiff leg dead lifts or hanging leg raises for abs. I try to put more leg stuff in singe my goals are in my legs.

For cardio day: 
Interval training on treadmill:
Walk (level 5) 60 seconds
Jog (level 7) 30 seconds
Sprint (level 10) 60 seconds (dead sprint as hard as you can!
Repeat 10 times (25 minutes total)

Cool down: Incline walk 5 minutes.

If you only do one thing in this blog, do the cardio! It's great! I'm in week 2 now of 6 of the shred. It's going well and I think I look great so far. cleaning up my diet from 80 to 90% has done wonders in just a week. It's awesome! I think it's cool that Bodybuilding.com can release a challenge with 3-4 days to register pretty much saying "hey everyone, I know it's the fall and Halloween and Thanksgiving are coming up but we'll give you $10,000 if you drop everything and lean out or bulk up for the next 6 weeks!" And everyone drops whatever they're doing, joins the challenge, and starts cutting (or bulking). It's crazy to me, awesome, and inspiring. Good luck to everyone who joined!

As always, thanks for reading!


Mel
BodiesbyMel.com <--- Live in SoCal? Need personal training?

12 Days Until Tahoe Show!

I'm super excited for my next show! I look better than ever and have improved SO much since my first show it's crazy. I know I haven't posted in a while, but here I am :) I'm so much more lean than I have ever been ans it's crazy! I wish I knew EXACTLY what it is that has gotten me here. You know what I mean? Like I've tried everything! So many things, so I don't know if it was a certain combination of things I did or one specific thing. For instance: for my first prep, as a fat burner I used raspberry keytones, for this prep I used Liposide by Evogen which is a caffeine based pill. I took fish oil pills three times a day for all three preps. I did fasted cardio for five weeks this prep, none on my first and second. I did way more cardio this time around in general. It would just be great to know what to give the credit to for my fat loss lol. Oh well! In April I was 14% body fat, now I'm 11% and ridiculously vascular. I'm happy, 2014 has been an awesome year for me!

I've been doing show preps since February 1st of this year. So crazy! I took a couple weeks off after taking 6th at the NorCal Championships in Sacramento in June. I just ate clean and worked out normally with random cheat meals and maintain my physique until 5-6 weeks out from the Tahoe Show. Now I'm a little less than 2 weeks out and I just look great. It's awesome, I feel awesome, and I really don't know what I'm going to do mentally if I don't place in this show. seriously. WTF. I'm so sick of "losing" next to girls who don't even look like they spend any time in the gym. They just get on a treadmill and run until they're ridiculously skinny, put on a bikini, and call it day. Okay that's mean, but I'm venting. I just feel like the judges love the higher body fat girls in the amateur shows, but the pros are freaking 10% or less body fat. It's hard to keep up. Somehow I have stayed positive and I'm going to do MY best and kill it on stage. I know in my first show my hips and but were so much bigger than they are. It's crazy! I'm going to post my measurement changes and differences from April 12th show, to June 7th, to now. I'll do that in the post tomorrow! Minus all the water, this is what I'll look like on stage. And I'm happy with how I look. SO happy! :D

I've also improved my posing a little. I've learned to manipulate the stances to make my butt look better with different angles. One thing that I learned at the posing seminar at the NorCal show is to NEVER turn your back to the judges when walking (unless they tell you of course). So walk in sideways to hide that jiggle, and walk off sideways. Sounds so silly! lol My butt looks amazing, but it still jiggles when I walk. One sad thing about losing so many inches and so much body fat in this short amount of time is STRETCH MARKS!!! Ugh. So annoying. I'm not a self conscious person in the slightest, but man I'm noticing them more and more. I've been using the Frank body scrub along with Palmer's Cocoa Butter lotion for stretch marks hoping the combination of the two would fast track them away. I know I have to be patient... but be gone stretch marks! Haha anyway I've posted some new photos in the progress tab, check them out!

For the next two weeks, I'm going to continue carb cycling with a high carb day on Friday and moderate on Saturday, Monday-Thursday are low carb days. I still do the "eat a different meat every meal" thing to keep my meals interesting. It usually goes: morning carbs: oatmeal + 1/2 scoop protein, 2 hours later: 2-3 eggs, then chicken and bell peppers, then shrimp and broccoli, then swai fish and asparagus, then workout and shake, then dinner which is ground turkey and egg whites. On low carb days I have a rice cake with peanut butter on it before the chicken meal and before the shrimp meal. Low carb day is 60 carbs or less. I'm not going to switch it up on peak week, just going to do the same thing with asparagus to get rid of that water weight, take dandelion root, hit the sauna, and rock it! So no water depleting, no real sodium depleting since I don't use salt that much anyway, just what's in food. Can't wait, I'm excited! On a side note: I have not had a Quest Bar in like three weeks... so weird.

Thanks so much for reading! You rock! Feel free tom comment below :)

Mel

Dun Dun Dun My Competition(s) Results. Finally.

Omg guys I can't believe I haven't posted, updated, filled you guys in on my life. Hopefully you've been checking out my Instagram feed and captions for updates. I have to say my first competition really left a bad taste in my mouth and I didn't want to speak badly about the company, show, anything like that... but it's been months now and I really don't care anymore. Sadly, the Muscle Contest Grand Prix show in April was not a fun experience. It was a drag, I felt invisible and an after thought on stage because I wasn't part of a team. I swear they had their winners chosen before the show. There were like 30 people in my class which is a BIG show! So imagine being a judge sitting through all of those classes. Novice classes A-D and Open A-F with 20+ girls in each class. The shows started at 8am, I thought I'd be on stage around one. WRONG. I didn't go on stage until around 3-4! The venue didn't have food and I hadn't planned on a 3PM stage time so I was starving! I had rice cakes but that was nothing. Definitely a "first show" mistake, I have learned from that. So anyway, by the time I got on stage the judges seemed OVER IT. I tried to make eye contact with at least one judge, not one was ever looking at me! At least FAKE like you're judging. Omg I felt like complete shit standing up there and could not wait for it to be over. You can see from my photos I went up there with confidence and all was well in that category, I just pushed through and rocked it. Of course it didn't matter, didn't place, didn't even get a real placing. They literally placed top five and threw the rest of us to the side. So. Yeah.

I was pretty pissed about the whole situation, experience, everything so I didn't even want anything to do with blogging about it, talking about it, anything. I'm not saying that my body was PERFECT and that I should have gotten first or anything like that. I know what I need to work on and know how I can improve, it just would have been nice to be seen by the judges. I spoke with some of the girls back stage and they said the same thing, that the judges weren't looking. So after the morning/ afternoon show I just said fuck it let's go eat! We went to Denny's and I ordered some fries and a quesadilla. I'd admitted to myself that this show was a waste of my time and money and nothing I do is going to change that. I couldn't even eat the food, it was too salty and greasy. So we went back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel I thought maybe I can have a second chance to be seen. I switched my bikini to the red one, practiced my walk even more, and was excited to hit the stage again. So it's finally time for the night show (bikini is last) around 9pm, I get on stage, look down, the judges aren't even there! Ah so sad. I learned that the night show is for family so a lot of girls don't even come to the night show if they don't get first call outs. This would have been GREAT to know, otherwise I would not have wasted my time. Seriously, colossal waste of my time! So after the show, took pics, and left to The Cheesecake Factory for my mac and cheese :) I had no problem eating that lol.

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be positive and say "oh it was a great experience and I'm glad I did it", but you guys know me and I'm going for pro. The only good thing that came from that show were the awesome girls I met, and the pointers I got from girls who've done multiple shows. I've learned that you have to research what shows will work best for YOU. I am muscular, I have muscle, and ASS. I cannot be judged next to skinny twigs with no muscle and expect to win. More about that later. Not that those skinny twigs don't look great, have had an awesome fitness journey, and are just amazing, you just have to know what shows you'll have a better chance at. Research includes going on NPCNewsOnline.com viewing the shows, photos of winners, comparisons, etc. Anyway, that's in the past and I have moved on! I'm just very anti Muscle Contest shows at the moment, I feel like all they care about is money. Especially after the Spectrum Fitness Productions show I went to on June 7th!!

OMG. The professionalism, the coverage, the interaction, the venue, hotel, registration, EVERYTHING was amazing. Seriously, It was like a trip to the midwest vs a trip to Paris. The productions of show quality is miles apart. The SFP show was a lot smaller than the MC one, about 9-15 ladies per class instead of 20-30+. I think there should be a cap for national qualifier shows, but that's just me. They wouldn't want a cap though because then they'd be capping their income potential. Okay so the SFP was June 7th in Sacramento. I drove there from SoCal. Yes I drove that far just to NOT do a Muscle Contest show. Sadly, I had to go by myself because my boyfriend DeAngelo had drill (army) that weekend :( So I also have NO stage shots from the show. I regret not buying photos. Ugh. Anyway, man we were spoiled at this show. The event was AT the hotel where we were staying so we didn't have to freaking sit at an auditorium all damn day waiting until our time on stage. Another AMAZING thing: they text us when it's time for us to go on stage. I don't even think you guys realize how amazing and relieving this is. We don't have to be freaking out wondering when we'll be on stage, if we've missed our class, most of all we don't HAVE to watch the whole show. No offense to the physique men, but jesus there are always SO many of them and I get tired of looking at the same thing for hours lol. Throughout the prep they have you hashtag your photos with #NPCNorcal, feature athletes, say good luck to athletes, LIKE your photos, they post motivation everyday, it's just great. You can just tell that they care so much. Customer service is great, you can see that they respond to all of their questions on their site with no problem, they're just so nice! If you want to do a show I highly recommend SpectrumFitnessProductions.com, the next show is August 2nd!

Cool, cool, So how did I do?! I got sixth...Out of 9 girls. Not what I wanted obviously, but while in the line up I could already tell it wasn't going to go well. Now this is the complicated part of bikini, they judge you on how the other girls look. If the girls are muscular they judge on muscle, if the girls are skinny with... shoulders? They judge on that. Honestly, I can't stand by the skinny girls and be motivated by that. Not saying they don't work hard, but damn I work HARD on this body and I am not losing muscle just to fit in in the amateur shows. Yes, the amateur shows. These are FITNESS shows and to me being "fit" is not the same as being "skinny" and being a cardio queen. Pick up those weights! I chose this show for many reasons, but a main reason was because it was also a bikini pro show. Ah yes, the pros! They look amazing man, AMAZING! And let me tell you, muscle central! The judges swear up and down that they don't want muscle girls but ALL of the pros are jacked! I want to look like that, but I've had to tone down because all of the shows around me are "skinny girls" in bikinis. It's quite annoying. So yeah, I chose this show because I thought since the pro bodies are fresh in the judges minds, they'd judge us based on their bodies. Nope. Didn't work out for me. BUT despite my placing, I still had fun, it was a great production, I was taken care of, so it was okay. That's how every show should be! And yes I went to The Cheesecake Factory afterwards :)

So I know I need to work on my glutes and thighs. During the prep for SFP NPCNorcal, I did glutes TWICE a week, shoulders three times a week, added in biceps and chest again, I just went hard. I got super lean, I looked SO much better than my first show, I can't even believe it! For THIS prep I'm (sadly) becoming a cardio queen and trying to get rid of this stubborn thigh fat. Fasted cardio every morning should do the trick. I have about 9 weeks so progress should be amazing. The first show prep I did no carbs the week of the show, for the second show I did carb cycling which worked out way better for me. I still came in a little flat by show time because I thought I'd be able to get another meal in, but the show went by sooo fast since there weren't that many people in the classes. It sucks never knowing the exact time we'll be on stage, but it's okay. I've learned that carbs are VERY important the last two days before show. For this prep for my next show I'll do carb cycling again for five weeks. It's SO effective for me and I stand by it.

So what's next?! I've found two prospective show's I'd like to do in August. I really want to do the Tahoe Show (August 23rd)! I've added up costs though and it's going to be very expensive. Like a $1500 trip! And what if I don't even place? Not worth it to me. BUT to stay away from a MC show, I might just have to. Because (I know I talked a lot of shit about them but,) the other choice IS a Muscle Contest Show: Pacific USAs. It's in San Diego on August 16th. Unfortunately, there really aren't that many NPC shows in SoCal besides MC shows so I'll have to tough it up and do them anyway. At least I know what to expect this time! So we'll see what show I can do, hopefully this is the one I qualify. I've also looked into WBFF shows! Those girls look amazing. Who knows you might be looking at the next Fitness Diva :) WBFF appreciates muscle :)

THE PROS! AND WHAT I ASPIRE TO LOOK LIKE

It's been a crazy and awesome year and I have some amazing progress that I'm very proud of. I love this new lifestyle and I can't imagine not living in it. I'm glad I started competing! Thank you SO much for reading this, I can't even believe you read the whole thing and it's just great to know I have people to support me. Comment, share, be amazing, and thanks so much.

~Mel

6 Days Out!

Wow guys I've been SO busy! Sorry for leaving you in the dark. My competition is SIX DAYS AWAY!! I can't believe it! I'm so excited that it's finally here. I have some things I still want to work on as far as my physique, but that will come after the show. For the show, I am ready. I am SO ready. I'm ready to rock that stage, I have my posing down, and after this final week of prep I have confidence my body will be exactly where I want it to be. Besides the glutes. As you guys know, I WANT bikini pro glutes. I have amazing glutes but I want pro glutes lol. That will take a little more time than I have for this particular competition, but for sure within the next month or two, I'll be where I want to be. That's right, after the competition I am continuing training and eating clean. Why on earth would I do anything else? Before the prep I always ate clean and had one cheat day a week, I trained heavy and hard too, so this won't be a problem or too strenuous on my body.

Depending on the results of this show, I'll for sure be doing another show within the next couple of months. If I place top 5, I'll be doing a show in June (so I can have time to perfect my glutes). If I don't place, I'll be doing it again in May. I hope I place! A lot of girls do this to do it for the experience. I'm in it to make a name for myself and a career out of it. I'm hoping to get sponsored and move on to get my pro card. Post shows I'll be training girls who want to take this journey too! It will be fun!

Okay so my diet and food these last six days. I've researched far and wide and have found out that either you don't change anything for bikini, or you go on an even stricter diet. For me, I'll be going on a stricter diet. For the whole prep, I never cut out carbs (which I'm not ashamed of AT ALL), so this week I will be having carbs for breakfast only and then the small carbs in my veggies and sweet potatoes throughout the day. I'll be pretty much eating chicken one meal, ground turkey the next meal, and fish the next meal, all with veggies (asparagus) or a salad. A lot of people have been doing this the whole prep, but I don't believe in eating the same thing every single day for 10 weeks. That's ridiculous. Just eat clean, count calories, count macros (to the T), and work out hard. Then get rid of water weight the last week. My workout schedule will go as follows:

Today (Sunday)- Leg day (glutes glutes glutes!!) + Posing
Monday- Abs- Shoulders- Cardio + Posing
Tuesday- Back day + Posing
Wednesday- Cardio + Posing
Thursday- Shoulders and some body weight glute workouts (don't want to be sore)
Friday- Rest
Saturday- COMPETITION!! (I'll be pumping my shoulders before I take the stage)

I'm taking diuretics and using the sauna this week (HATE the sauna) to get all of the water weight out. I had my period this past week so I am way fuller than I want to be which is daunting. I'll also be taking thermogenics, fish oil, and I'm not cutting protein shakes like a lot of people do. I'll  be bronzing Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Competition day I'll be "glazing" to make it all shiny and pretty. OMG my suit! I haven't even told you! I totally made a new bikini. EVERYONE has red. I hate it. So I went and got fabric a week ago and have been making a new one. It's almost done, I've been doing it little by little since I've been super busy with work. I'll make a different post about my bikini. One last thing! I'm only doing bikini open class. It's $120 each category and I just didn't want to spend that much on entry fees. My boyfriend and I are moving into a new town home at the end of the month (yay) and would much rather spend extra money on our place. :)

I'm sure this week will fly by! I can't wait for it all! And I can't wait to meet the awesome ladies at the show. As always, thanks for reading and don't hesitate to comment below :)

Mel

Three Weeks Out!

Oh em gee guys! My competition is actually less than three weeks out! I can't even believe it. It's awesome, exciting, amazing, CRAZY! I heard that this is the biggest competition of the year or season. So that means there are going to be TONS of people and competitors there. It kind of makes me nervous! At the same time, I'm a very confident person and don't get scared easily. Don't get me wrong, I WILL be feeling those butterflies, but not enough to scare me away from the competition. I can't wait to meet all of the girls who have been training these past few weeks as well. We're all going through the same thing, we all prepped, we all gave it our all, and we're all doing it together. It should be pretty awesome.

So, update on my body. I look great! I LOVE my body so much. However, for the competition I want to lean my legs out mooooore. That ass man. It just doesn't want to get hard lol. So I've intensified my leg day workout and leg pretty much is full glutes day. I add in hamstrings as well and quads are worked inevitably. Hopefully it goes well, I'll still look good on stage either way. Just not perfect in my eyes in the butt area. For the next 3 weeks I'm doing morning cardio pretty much everyday. I wasn't doing it every day before, but I need to now to clean my legs out. I have also decided to keep my calories around 1550-1600 despite my workout calories burned. This will help to lean out a little more. I have to be careful with my abs because they're definitely coming in full six pack. I love it! But the judges won't love it lol. My mid section is pretty much perfect right now. I'd rather go up there with a six pack than nothing at all. Ugh I sound so cocky. Don't take it that way, it's just something I do. You have to love yourself and be confident and just hope for the best. I have no idea what the other girls look like and how I will compare to them. All I can do is try my best and go up there looking my best and hope for the best! There's no point ever in being self conscious.

I practice in my heels and they hurt my feet so much! Ugh I hate them. Believe me, I broke them in! They just squeeze my toes in together so much lol it sucks. After going through the previous two competitions, EVERYONE is wearing red bikinis. If you know me, you know I HATE being like everyone else. I can't do it. I went and bought some fabric to make a new one. It's going to be amazing. I'll have to surprise you with the color. Guess what color it is!

You can always comment below, follow me on Twitter, Instagram, ask questions, whatever you'd like! Thanks for reading!!

Mel

Clean Eating

I hate the perception that if you have to eat clean, it has to be boring and nasty. Some of the best meals I've had are clean meals. Steak and potatoes, when made with the right ingredients, clean and delicious. Have you taken on clean eating? Are you discouraged and eating the same, boring meals everyday for lack of imagination or don't want to cook for hours? Well I'll help you!

When I first started eating clean, I did the meal prep thing. Cook tons of chicken, pounds of rice and veggies and just grab and go throughout the week. I would recommend it! It's easy, a one time thing every week, and great for working people or busy people. I used to do that, but not anymore. Personally, I prefer to make my food meal by meal. The food that was prepped Sunday, on Thursday it gets to be a little dry. Plus the mental note that you HAVE to eat that food is annoying to me. Instead, I like to throw random things together every night after the gym. Don't get me wrong, I'm ALWAYS tired and never feel like cooking. You just have to get into your head and remember that nothing is more important than getting your nutrients. Be mentally strong and get past that lazy barrier. Most of all, DO NOT sit down! lol You won't get back up.

I typically use the same variation of ingredients: chicken (or swai fish or shrimp), some kind of vegetable (I choose broccoli, lots of spinach, and sweet potatoes), egg whites, salsa, whole wheat tortillas, bananas, peanut butter, protein shake. I take a shake twice a day. So with these ingredients I can combine them all to make a big bowl, make tacos, add some kind of whole grain pasta and make a pasta dish, make burritos, omelette, the list goes on. It may sound lame to you, but wow it's so good! For seasoning, I use Mrs. Dash, pepper, and onion powder on everything. I rarely use salt anymore.

I use Truvia for sugar. This is a big one people have a problem in changing. "Ew sweeteners are so gross!" Okay here's how to help that. Whatever you add sugar to, whether it be your oatmeal, coffee, or anything, try it without sugar. Have one day of the food without sugar. Add Truvia (Stevia) afterwards. Your mouth will be reintroduce to a different way to taste sweet. It sounds silly, but it works!  Kind of like how I did my juicing cleanse last year. I tried it because my friend recommended it to me after watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on Netflix (check it out!). It intrigued me, so I tried it. I went FIVE DAYS juicing! NO food! It was the craziest yet most rewarding week of my life. It tatight me disciple and I learned a lot about what fruits and vegetables do for you in terms of energy and nutrients. It was fun thinking of recipes! That definitely made it better! The first couple of days were the hardest, but after that it was like a new lifestyle. Anyway, after the cleanse, I didn't even want  a cheat day. I wanted clean food! I couldn't even imagine eating a burger, EW. Even to this day I am completely turned off to the thought of greasy food (except fries... I love fries!). I haven't had In and Out Burger in a year and a couple months! Since right before my cleanse. So yeah, clear your taste buds of what you're used to, then reintroduce it to better things!

Still think clean eating is boring? Check out these YUMMY pumpkin protein muffins I made! SO good. I got the recipe from DashingDish, but it's also below :)

So good! Try it out, I hope you enjoy! If this wasn't enough to motivate you, go to Instagram and search the hashtag "cleaneating". SO much motivation, ideas, inspiration, it's awesome! Or check out the website cleaneatingmag.com, so much inspiration! I love it. It never gets boring, so spice up your healthy life and get cooking!

Pumpkin Protein Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup	Canned pumpkin
1/2 cup	Applesauce  (I took this out)
1/2 cup	Plain lowfat Greek yogurt (I like Chobani)
3	Egg whites
1 3/4 cup	Old Fashioned Oats
1/4 cup	Protein powder
1/2 cup	Baking stevia OR 1 cup sweetener of choice that measures like sugar 1
1 tsp	Baking soda
2 tsp	Baking powder
1/4 tsp	Salt
1 1/2 tsp	Cinnamon
1/2 tsp	Pumpkin pie OR Apple pie spice
Optional	Add-Ins: 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds, mini chocolate chips, raisins or dried cranberries!

1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with foil cupcake liners, or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

2

In a blender, (or food processor), mix all of the ingredients together. Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth. ( I usually help move mixture around in my blender carefully with a spoon!)

3

Divide mixture among muffins tins, and place into pre-heated oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tops are lightly golden brown.

*Note this batter is very moist, and a toothpick may not come out clean…Don’t worry it is baked through if the tops are golden brown! 

4

Cool muffins before removing from pan. ENJOY!!!

So good! Try it out, I hope you enjoy! If this wasn't enough to motivate you, go to Instagram and search the hash tag "cleaneating". SO much motivation, ideas, inspiration, it's awesome! Or check out the website cleaneatingmag.com, so much inspiration! I love it. It never gets boring and neither should you, so spice up your healthy life and get cooking! 

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment, follow, ask questions, etc. :) 

Mel

Update! Final Four Weeks Plans

Omg guys it's been five days! I feel like that's a long time. Some things have changed in terms of goals. So I'm FOUR WEEKS OUT NOW! So crazy and exciting, I can't even contain myself. I seriously have been researching, watching videos, and obsessing over competition prep. Constantly looking for something I may have done wrong or may be doing wrong. It just seems so easy, I feel like it's TOO easy lol. I'm certain that prepping for figure would be WAY more intense. I guess it's because I've been living a "prep lifestyle" for over a year now by working out 4-5 times a week and eating clean. With the exception of one cheat day a meal of course. I was totally fine with that lifestyle, and now with no cheat days, somehow it's been fine. Weird. So naturally I've been researching to see if I'm doing everything right. It turns out I am! lol I'm totally fine and am freaking out for no reason. My body looks great and I could step on stage today. I'm very confident and excited!

With that said, as far as my own goals go, I still want to lose at least 1-2% of body fat and my butt still jiggles more than I want it to. I have some back fat associated with my ridiculous ass and my abs aren't completely exposed. They're there but not like I want them to be. So for the next four weeks I will be switching up my diet. Let me explain how my diet is set up right now. My macro split is 40/40/20, 20 being the fat. In all honesty it really ends up being around 42/38/20 with carbs being high. I love carbs lol and I find it hard to imagine life without them. I have been eating scrambled egg whites with my veggies and chicken instead of brown rice. My calories per day is set at 1580. If I don't work out that day (which is Saturdays or Sundays), I take in 1580 calories. If I work out that day, I take in the extra calories I've burned. So If I burned 500 calories that day, I need to take in 2080 calories to make up for the deficit. Why? Because my calories eaten are set at a -500 calorie deficit per week which is one pound per week. 3500 calories= 1 pound. -500 calorie deficit per day= 1 pound loss per week. If I burn those calories working out without eating them, that would put me at a net calorie (total calories per day) intake of 1080, which is too low! The deficit of the day would then be 1000 calories and loss of two pounds per week.

So now knowing the above, my next four weeks will go as follows. I'd like to take a more aggressive approach with the cardio in the morning. I haven't been doing the fasting cardio, I've just been doing it at night after my workout or having cardio days at night. So for week one I'll be doing morning cardio every day. For those days I'll take in 2000 calories for the day assuming I'll burn around 500-700 calories for the day. This might be on the low side, but I'd like to try it to see my results. If effective, I will continue to do that the second week. I've been doing low sodium for the most of the prep because I got tired of being bloated. For the last two weeks, no salt, and I'll be carb cycling. I'm thinking one day 150-180 carbs and next day 80-100 carbs. Something like that. My protein is always between 120 and 180 which is awesome so we'll keep that. Fat never goes above 40.

I've looked into tanning and have decided on just using bronzer for the show. I'm going to buy some this weekend to try it out. I'll show you guys the before and after photos. For all of you black competitors out there, I hope to help out with the tanning aspect. My take on it is that if girls are tanning to be MY color, why on earth would I tan to be darker? It makes no sense to me. I do agree that the dark skin helps with seeing those beautiful muscles!

I've been practicing walking and I've gotten very good and confident at it! I havlol. Oh well, I'll power through.

e to say, my feet still hurt in the shoes. My toes just weren't made for those shoes

In addition to my prep, I've been working on a pretty big project with Lifting Ladies. For those of you who don't know, I'm trying to make this a big thing. Even thinking of making a competition team! It's going to be great so stay tuned. In the mean time, please support by following Lifting Ladies on Twitter and Instagram, LIKE Lifting Ladies on Facebook, and stay tuned for many awesome things to come!

Thanks for reading!

Mel

The Mel Movement :)

Hello there! So I've decided to take yesterday and today off. It's been an intense and good week of lifting and cardio. Next week is going to rock too! I am SO pumped for this competition! I love it. Okay this is going to sound mean, and you're going to learn that I am a very confident, competitive, outspoken, person who is not modest at all. With that said, I should have done the contest this past weekend. When I started my prep five weeks ago, March 8th seemed WAY too close! Well after seeing the results, the line up, and the winners of the contest in LA, I should have done it! I totally would have placed. I wish I could talk to all of the girls that competed to hear about their experiences and how they prepped and stuff. A lot of people approach it differently and have different goals. I know that some girl who might not look the best may look the best in her opinion and through her journey and that's all that matters. As in, maybe she weighed 200lbs before and now she's competing for the experience, that's great! As for me, I'm going up there giving it MY all. I cannot say I don't want first place. I WANT FIRST PLACE! "And if I don't get it I'll be happy for the experience" blah blah blah, all of that cliche stuff you say when you don't win. No. If I don't win top five, I'm doing another competition two weeks later. If (when) I do place, I'm competing a month later for my pro card. I want to do this and my goal is to somehow become sponsored soon as well. I'll try my best! I'm really excited, and once I'm done, I'm going to help other girls train to become the best versions of themselves, become confident, and get that first place too. We shall call this, The Mel Movement :) Stay tuned!

Loving The Process

Hey everyone! Things are going so great, I love it. I feel like I'm not even prepping for anything because it's become such a lifestyle. I don't even think twice when it comes to eating healthy food. Going to the gym isn't even a second though. The thought of skipping the gym is so far from my mind it's crazy! I can't even imagine a day without going tot he gym. My rest day last weekend consisted of practicing in my heels and googling fitness info. There are a lot of warnings and precautions about cheat day after the competition. It's so funny because I cannot even see myself not living this lifestyle. I love it!

So yesterday was back day and I made a video of me squatting 205 for three reps, yay yay! Watch, like, enjoy! Yesterday morning I also did 30 minutes of running when I woke up. I had a banana and a half a cup of coffee so it wasn't completely fasted cardio. I feel like my lungs are getting better and my stamina is increasing. I can run for longer without getting super tired which makes running more fun and doable. When I first woke up and did cardio I felt like shit all day, no joke. It was so tiring and just daunting on my whole day. Now I feel like I can conquer the world! lol So I will continue doing the morning cardio every other day, opposite of night kickboxing cardio. I'm hoping cardio will get rid of the fat in my lower back. My ass is so ridiculous it's going up my back lol. I know a lot of you will be like, what fat? It's there, I see it and know it's there! So I'm going to run it all off. Speaking of things I need to work on, my ass. Again, a lot of you will be like "whaaat? I love your ass!". Yeah it's great, but I'm disappointed. It still jiggles and it's annoying, it's just not where I want it to be at all. So commence "butt day" twice a week for the next five weeks. That should do it! Other than that, I'm very confident about my physique, I love my body, and cannot freaking wait for the competition.

A recent discovery: Egg whites are amazing! By themselves: blah, with other things as a main or secondary ingredient: amazing! Omg. I have been making egg whites and salsa for the past couple of days. That's it, no other ingredients! Try it, it tastes way too good :) I eat it as a brown rice replacement on low carb day.

Today I did three tricep super sets before my hour kickboxing class. 

Tricep and cardio Day 

1. Tricep cable push down (light weight)
35lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

Tricep reverse grip cable push down
25lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

2. Dumbbell overhead extension
30lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

One arm overhead sideways tricep extension 
10lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

3. Machine Tricep dips
50lbs x 12 reps x 4 sets

Body weight tricep dips
12 dips x 4 sets

1 hour cardio 

Thanks for reading guys! If you're not following me on Twitter yet, please do so, that would be awesome :)

Mel

Glutes Glutes Glutes!

Hey everyone! So I've been obsessed with competition stuff ALL day today, it's ridiculous The Arnold Classic really inspired me, A LOT. Today was leg day and I could not have been more motivated to work out my glutes after watching those bikini pros. SO excited that I mixed up my leg day a little. In my mind, I for sure thought today was glutes and hamstrings day. Sound weird to you? I don't have a glutes and hamstring day! lol I have quads and inner thigh day VS hamstrings, glutes, and outer thigh day. I was totally set on glutes and hamstrings until after my first super set of stiff leg dead lifts with barbell and one leg stigg legs with dumbbell. Then I was like, "wait, I did this recently" lol. So after that I did my quads and inner thighs as planned. I think I am going to just do glutes on all days. Why not? Yes, so it's decided, glutes on all leg days. I kind of already did that by committing to do lunges on all leg days and deadlifts on all back days so my glutes were getting their attention, don't worry :) .

Alright so I looked into my show a little more and had come to the"problem" I ran into at the beginning. The reason I haven't registered for my show yet is because I couldn't decide whether to sign up for the "Novice" class or "open" class. Seriously, for the past hour I have been googling for answers and sifting through blocs to get an opinion on this. My conclusion is that apparently a lot (or some, I don't know) of girls sign up for both on their first show. The pro of this is that not only can you be judged with all first timers like you, you can see how you place against people who have been doing this or are aged in the event. I need this. I also read about a show that only had 2-4 people in the novice category so they one second place by default. There is no way in hell that I am doing all of this work to be second place by default. Fuck that (excuse my french). I'd rather be judged with 20 girls and place than 5 girls. Am I crazy? I just want to be the best. And to be the best, you have to beat the best. So what's my decision? I'm doing both. I can see how I stand with the newbies and then how I stand with the "veterans" so to speak and work from there for me following show. The only downside to this is that each entry fee is $120 per class. That's okay though, it will be worth it.

My workout today was crippling and tomorrow is going to suck ass. That's all I have to say about that one!

Leg Day: Hamstrings  Quads, Inner thighs, Glutes

Super Set
Stiff leg deadlifts with barbell (lightweight)
60lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

One leg stiff leg deadlifts with dumbbell
22.5lbs (was the only reasonable one open lol) x 10 reps x 4 sets

SQUATS SQUATS SQUATS
I really focused on getting low on every rep making sure to squeeze my butt at the top to engage those muscles. I also did light weight, high reps. I warmed up with the bar for 20 reps to perfect form.
135lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

Super Set
One leg leg extensions
25lbs x 12 reps (straight reps on one side then switch to other) x 4 sets

Super wide sumo squats with dumbbell between legs
25lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Wide stance 45 degree angled leg press
90 lbs x 8 reps x 4 sets

Walking lunges with barbell (total killer! Omg)
I only used 30 pounds. Do a super wide and exaggerated walk for best results, make your back knee touch the ground every time. It really gets deep in your butt. Doing the wide stance also helps your inner thighs. Walk ten steps forward, turn around walk ten steps. Repeat with no break. Then take a break. Repeat. Done! With lunges anyway.

Super Set
Close stance (legs pretty much touching) leg press machine
100lbs x 12 reps x 4 sets

Machine butt kicks
30 lbs x 10 reps per side x 4 sets (this was SO hard to do after leg press. Those quads were on FIRE!)

Abductor machine
40lbs x 25 reps x 4 sets

After this hell I ran a mile on the treadmill. I'm not sure what I was thinking, it's going to hurt tomorrow. I guess that's what I get for watching the Arnold Classic. Such inspiration! In turn, I hope I've inspired you. Thanks for reading!

Mel

Progress Bikini Photos!

Oh hey guys! Exciting things tonight! Progress Photos! Yay!! lol I'm super excited to share them because I love the way they look and the way I'm looking lately. I'm not super bloated anymore all day so I actually got to take some good pics mid-day. One of the weird things is that I have gained three pounds, which is crazy because of the deficit of calories I take in every day. Either I gained muscle or my body is trying to get used to actually hitting at least 1500 calories a day. At first, before prep, I wasn't eating enough. Now that I'm eating a lot more, I feel like that contributed a lot to the bloated-ness and weight gain. Either way, whatever, don't care, I look awesome! I have six weeks (42 days) left so I will really be focusing on cardio, cardio, cardio to lose that extra fat in my lower back and legs. You'll see what I mean in the photos when I say my upper body is "bikini ready", but my lower is not.

A lot of people are telling me I'm too critical of myself and that I look great (which I do), but I am "comparing" myself to the pros. I LOVE the way they look! The muscular, yet feminine sexy physiques, that's what I want. I've seen a couple of bikini competitions in real life and the girls look so flabby and not muscular at all. I understand the bikini girls aren't supposed to be muscular, but don't tell me that and then put those muscular bikini pros on stage and expect me not to train as hard as them lol. Example: Nathalia Melo. She is crazily muscular, won 2012 Bikini Olympia, and looks amazing. Yet, everywhere we read about bikini stipulations, it says no definite muscle. Watch this video though and admire her amazing glutes! Wow.

Amazing right? I was watching the Arnold Classic today and she kind of seemed like she was in 4th or 5th place or so. The girls above her were a lot less muscular and of course looked great! It's just so difficult to understand what the judges want.Trial and error will be a good test though. I haven't seen who won yet though. We shall see what happens! Okay here are my progress photos. Let me know what you think!

So exciting! Okay so for the bikini, it's not completely ready yet. After watching the shows today, again with the rules, these girls are wearing thongs. Three fourths coverage my ass lol. So I need to take my suit in a little and make more skimpy. The back I have right now is not completely full back but definitely three fourths coverage. It needs to be a little more cheeky. I also am going to add some jewels to the middle part and up the other part of the triangle. I just haven't found the jewels I want.

So yeah my goal still is to tighten up my butt and let these hamstrings come through a little. That would be so awesome! I really am going to work very hard and maintain this great thing I have going on. Eating has been great, working out has been great, progress has been great, I have no complaints. Then again, I did start out pretty lean in the first place, but hey I can still celebrate! Seriously though guys, don't be afraid to comment or contact me with any questions or comments or anything. I love doing this and I love inspiring! Today was rest day by the way.

Thanks for reading!

Mel