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