Bikini Prep Update 2015 + Why I Didn't Place

Hello! It is October 19th today and I just feel like I REALLY need to blog, and vent, and update the world on what I'm up to (to the .0093774 of people that care). Right now I am 3 weeks out from the Las Vegas Classic which will take place on November 7th. However, I have decided that I will not be doing this show, and as of now any more shows this year. Why? Many reasons. The first reason is we had WAY too much fun in San Francisco last week and spent way too much money. Having another show IN VEGAS right at the beginning of the month is not smart financially and it's just not worth it to be struggling. I want to be able to travel for the holidays, have fun, enjoy life, without worrying about saving enough money for a show and worrying about being on prep. Quality of life. I just feel like my money could be best used elsewhere than trying to bring home a trophy. I have nothing to prove to anyone, except for myself and I've already exceeded my expectations of myself and more. I still work hard everyday to improve more and more on my physique and I just shock myself every time I take pics, it's so rewarding! So a trophy does not validate anything, placing doesn't validate anything, although it would be nice to take home first.

With that said, my last show, San Francisco Championships with Muscle Sport Productions, was one week ago. It was great, I felt great, I had a BLAST, but I did not place. Yet again! That makes five shows now that I walk away with nothing. Am I mad? Yes. Disappointed? Yes? In myself? No way! I look and feel amazing and am just simply not what the judges are looking for. If you're an over planner like me, you STUDY everything and what the judges are looking for. After "studying" the winners of my class in the last show... I've come to realize they just want skinny girls. Plain and simple. I'm not "fat" by any means and I'm not "not skinny", I'm just not THAT skinny. I have A LOT of muscle, I'm 10% (skin fold said 8% so I rounded up) body fat right now. My glutes and thighs are still a problem, as they are too big and my quads show separation with every step I take. Judges don't like that for bikini. They will choose a soft skinny girl over a muscle girl any day, which is what I've learned while doing these shows. I'll be the one to tell you girls, bikini prep is really just leg day and cardio (like crazy) to be honest. They do not care about your muscle. Now once you get to Nationals, muscle up and you'd better bring it because at nationals they are leaning towards the muscular, LEAN girls. Contradicting, I know. Maybe I'm in the wrong state? I see such amazing muscular winners of my class all the time and I just wonder why the shows I do are not this way. For the SF Champs, ALL of the other classes had muscle girls as winners except class C, our class was a softer girl. And the overall winner of the show was exactly what a bikini girl should look like. So it's confusing to guess what the judges like when one class they go for something and the next class they choose something completely different. There were PLENTY of muscle girls in my class, believe me. Also, the judges said it was a really hard class... yet they still chose the other girls. Not to offend those beautiful women who won, it just makes no sense at all.

Winners of Class C, So you can get an idea of the physique they were going for. You guys know what I look like. Picture me next to these girls. 

 Class C Winner. Julia, you're beautiful and great so take no offense :) 

  Now these are the number one girls in each class. Class C is in green. 

Overall winner below! She looks amazing, awesome job girl!

I hope now there's an understanding of what happened at the show, why I didn't place, etc. I want you all to understand, of course the show went the way it did, but I don't want you to think I'm just writing it off as "well I'm perfect and should have won, there's nothing I need to work on, blah blah blah". Because obviously I need to lose size in order to fit what the judges want. I think I'm very close, but not enough to win. I'm just at a point where I ask myself, "is it worth it to lose the muscle I've built, to get smaller just to win a trophy". Of course my plan and goal is to become a pro so it would HAVE to happen. It's just not worth the money right now to keep doing shows when the judges don't like my physique. So that's reason number two.

So what does "time off" mean? Most girls take time off to build muscle and get bigger for nationals. Luckily, I have no problem in the muscle area :) My time off means cardio cardio cardio. Keeping up my cardio plan while reverse dieting back into a healthy calorie range. From this day I'm staying on prep diet and plan for this week, then starting my reverse dieting next week. I'll be adding 10% carbs and 5% fats (every other week) based on my progress. Right now I'm at 1350 range of calories with carbs at 120. My goal for my reverse diet is to get to 200+ carbs daily and 60+ fats daily. To somewhat maintain my physique while losing the last bit of fat in my legs and butt. According to the body fat test I have 10lbs of fat in my body out of 122lbs, which doesn't leave much to lose which means I'll most likely be burning some muscle... Sadly, but we'll see.

I will definitely keep you guys updated because I've never done a reverse diet and I'm excited to see the changes. I'm keeping my cardio at 5 fasted sessions a week and lifting will be 3 lifting circuits a week. One leg day circuit, one upper body, and one full body. I love circuits! They're fun and keep your heart rate up for the entire duration of you're workout. Plus they're short and sweet... well not too sweet, they're killer, but effective. Circuits are a way to implement your lifting routine while also burning more calories. With circuits you're not lifting for weight, so no heavy lifts, aiming for 12-20 reps per exercise while also incorporating cardio moves like jumping jacks and pop squats. I actually don't lift heavy on anything anymore except back (actually I do heavy deadlifts still and heavy hip thrusts and bridges). I don't target quads specifically, nor do I target inner thighs, I only go light on hamstrings now. So yeah my workouts are pretty limited, so circuits it is! I build muscle fast and as far as my physique goes, I'm done building muscle, I don't want any more. I know that sounds silly to some people. I can always appreciate more back muscles though, I love my back!

So here are some photos below of me on stage from my boyfriend in the the crowd. I wanted to save on money so didn't spend the $85 on professional stage shots. I find $85 to be ridiculous... it might have been worth it though lol.

There you have it guys! No more shows for me this year, more traveling, more money, and MORE FOOD by the end of the year. Sounds like a good plan. I plan on doing another show in February or so before our EUROTRIP, but we'll see. We're also moving at the end of January aaaand updating our apartment to hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances and a huuuuge bathroom. I think all of that is better than paying for a.... trophy, right? :)

Keep following for updates and IIFYM reverse dieting, pre prep, and lifestyle upgrades! Thanks for reading :)

3 Weeks Out From SF Championships and Progess Photos

Hey guys and girls! Long time! So I'm sitting here THREE WEEKS OUT from my next show, the San Francisco Championships. I'm very excited (of course) and it's been four weeks since the Tahoe Show. "Well, what happened at the Tahoe Show?!" you say, well I will tell you and you can watch it all in the video below! 

So for the Tahoe Show, I felt great. I try very hard to keep a critical eye on my body since I don't have a coach, and while my boyfriend is also a trainer, he sees me everyday he'll always say I look amazing. Especially coming from a prep and transforming so much, it's hard to tell someone they aren't ready or that they need to work on something when they've done so well so far. Well, I'm not about that for the most part, I try to stay critical while also staying positive in loving myself. So with that said, I should have come in leaner, tighter, and downsized my glutes and thighs (What the judges said as well, I spoke to all five of them). This has been my goal forever, my problem is in my butt, it's ridiculous. Coming from a body with a 42 inch "fat" butt (as in a big butt consisting mostly of fat, not muscle), and transforming it to a mostly muscle butt wiht little fat, is A LOT of work. It doesn't work the way people think, muscle doesn't "replace" fat and fat does not turn into muscle. While building muscle, you must also be losing fat. Which means heavy lifting AND cardio like crazy! I've come a very long way! I'd say my butt is now... 60% muscle? You can see definition clearly, you can see my tie in, you can see my round glute definition and I am SO happy about it, it's great! The transformation continues though, as it was not "enough" to win the Tahoe Show. I got 9th place out of 18 girls in my class. Of course I wanted higher, there's no doubt about that. Unfortunately, in this category and industry, they'd much rather prefer someone who is skinny without as much muscle vs someone who is most muscular with some fat. Which means I need to kill it, kick up the training even more, and come in leaner and leaner than expected. Of course this all comes with knowing your body and how it reacts to diet and regimens. So let's just say the Tahoe Show was a "trial" show this year, because it really put fire under me to fight even harder for that trophy.

 My initial plan before the Tahoe Show was to do a show four weeks later (last weekend). I decided after the show after seeing my photos and what I need to work on, that I would do a 7 week prep instead and another one 4 weeks after that. I figured not much can change in four weeks especially with how much fat I needed to lose in my glutes. Well, I don't know if it was because I was still in such a fat burning phase with my body, the increased cardio (from 30 minutes fasted 5 days week to an hour fasted 5 days a week), the on point diet, or all of it, but wow I look so much different than the Tahoe Show. In just four weeks I have managed to transform even more to a point I felt I would have been stage ready last weekend. Well imagine what three more weeks can do! I'm more motivated than ever and I'm determined to beat not only myself but those skinny girls that are always favored. As always, no offense, but there's definitely a look the amateur judges go for and I'm not it. They don't like "thick" even though I see plenty of pros with thighs for days! lol Anyway! I can't wait to see my package in three weeks and I can't wait to take home the trophy from San Francisco. Fingers crossed! 

So three weeks, San Francisco Championships. My birthday is THIS WEEKEND! But no celebration because I'll be two weeks out, which is fine, I don't need cake and junk food. The Sunday after my competition I'll celebrate my birthday with my wonderful boyfriend in the beautiful city that I love, San Francisco. It will be amazing and worth it and hopefully with a trophy by my side. I can't go too crazy though because four weeks after that is the... LAS VEGAS CLASSIC!!! Which I have heard is a HUGE show. Let's see! I hope to win first in my class at this show and maybe overall. Big dreams? Yes. I think I can do it, and I'm going to try very hard of course. This will top off my season and I will be done for the year!!! I'll come back next year for nationals and go for that pro card. I wish there were more national shows at the beginning of the year. It's so dumb that they're all in the summer. I want to go to Vegas pool parties, I always miss out! :(

 Anyway, so this second show is in Vegas which means I will be celebrating afterwards for either winning or for the season to be over lol. Or I'll be sad and celebrating that the season is over... but secretly planning another show in December or later in November lol. Probably not though. After my Vegas Shenanigans, I'll be reverse dieting to get myself to a healthy daily calorie intake of 2100+ calories. I've never eaten that much consistently in my life. I REALLY want to be healthy during off season and start next season way leaner than I did this year. Normally, I don't count meals, I just eat whenever I want (which is seriously 2-3 times a day), and never get enough calories, but still go to the gym and kill it. This time I want to be fueled and get over 2100 calories consistently. I know it sounds so silly to people who love eating and eat all the time. Most people try to eat less or try to fit what they want into 2100 calories. These are the goals! Also: next March my boyfriend and I will be going on a... EUROTRIP!!! Ah yeah! lol And I won't be tracking anything. :) 

Thanks so much for reading and you can find more videos from peak week and more on my YouTube channel. Like and subscribe if you enjoy them and I'll keep making them. If you have any questions feel free to comment below. 

P.S. This post is going live one week post SF Champ Show. Whoops! :) 

                                                   

What I look like now, Four weeks later! :)

2.5 Weeks out - Bikini Posing Practice

Here is my two and a half week out update! As I'm typing this, I am TEN DAYS OUT from the show. It's next freaking weekend! I can't believe it! I'm so happy, excited, an READY! It's going to be awesome and I can't even express how happy I am with my progress. I'm going to post another blog entry later of my progress and you guys will be shocked. It's ridiculous lol. In my defense, I didn't know I was competing again this year. But no excuses, I will NOT look like that at the end of my next off season lol. Anyway, here is my posing routine. I've changed my routine a million times these past months, but now I have one in stone that I have down to muscle memory. I hope you enjoy watching and it would help if you'd subscribe to my YouTube channel. I'm trying to update a lot! :)









Mel

Full Day of Eating: Low Carb Day

New VLOG up! My full day of low carb eating. I break down my macros, total calories, and all of the food I eat on these wonderful energy filled days. JK on the energy, but I definitely made sure I was full throughout the day, I didn't feel like I was "starving", and I ate good food! Yup, down there you see a turkey burger, bread, guacamole, and yes, those are tortilla chips. I use the If It Fits Your Macros approach in order to achieve my goals for this prep and I'm very happy with it. No, I don't try or claim to fit donuts and poptarts in, but I DO make sure I hit those specific macros in a clean way. See more macro fun in my refeed video on my YouTube channel. I do a 2500 calorie refeed day with the majority of the foods being clean (I fit a poptart and pancakes in :) )







If you guys enjoy my videos, please like and subscribe to my channel, it's greatly appreciated!



Mel

Training Legs (aka glutes) With My Boyfriend

Well... not WITH my boyfriend, he trained me. I told him to kill my legs and glutes and he did! He even showed me some things I haven't done before (wierd, I know!) which is awesome! For those who don't know, I'm a personal trainer and my boyfriend is as well. We both have different approaches of training with our clients and often times we bounce ideas off of each other to stay inspired. As a trainer or seasoned athlete, you can learn a lot from other trainers and athletes. It's always good to surround yourself with knowledge and be open to learning new things. I'm totally that stubborn person who always thinks my apporach is the best, but I have to stop and remind myself that there's always more to learn. I saw something the other day that said "If you're the smartest person in the room then you're standing in the wrong room". I love this! Surround yourself with like minded people as well as those you want to learn from in order to excel and expand your knowledge in life.

The training video is below, I hope you enjoy! Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more fun videos!

Mel

BodiesbyMel.com <--- Live in SoCal? Need a Personal Trainer? 

Five Weeks Out and New Updates!

What's new? Lots! Let me start with my upcoming bikini competition. I'm competing in the Tahoe Show again this year on August 22nd in Lake Tahoe. Let me just say that this show is the most amazing NPC show I've ever been to! They put so much love into their production and it shows! They take care of their competitors and it's evident that it's about more than money for them. This is important to me so I don't mind traveling to the show to support them. My boyfriend and I decided we're driving there instead of flying to save the $700+ it would take to fly. It's a 7 hour drive so ROADTRIP!!! And meal prep lol. This is good though because I can now pack whatever I want without worrying about it fitting in a suitcase (like my own weights to pump up in my hotel room). See I told you I'm still cheap. :)

I'm five weeks out from the Tahoe Show which means strict strict strict! Up until now, I have done the IIFYM approach (in a clean way, not adding donuts and oreos). I eat a lot throughout the day and work out and burn A LOT of calories and there are a lot of different elements about this prep than last year's. For instance, last year's preps were 100% clean, no cheats, no "maybe this can fit", nothing that wasn't a whole food, grown, or natural. Which there's nothing wrong with that approach at all! It worked greatly, but I wanted to try something different. This prep I had a cheat day every Friday which included eating whatever I wanted with no guilt. Needless to say, this prep has been pretty easy for me. It IS my first show this year so I'm not burned out yet, thankfully! In my opinion, five weeks out is the time where you should be where you want to be despite water weight and final tweaks. At five weeks out, you essentially have three more weeks to be 100% stage ready (which pretty much means cardio). At two weeks out, you need to be stage ready. If you're still trying to make tweaks or build muscle, it's too late. Keep in mind the peak week strategies that can make or break your stage presence. Peak week can be approached in many ways, personally I will be cutting salts, sweeteners, extra fiber, and protein shakes because I know how my body reacts to these things. Water I'll slowly cut towards the end of the week, I'm not going to dehydrate myself all week. I'm very excited and feel that my progress and body looks way better than last years! We'll see how the show goes! 

Of course there will be way more posts about my prep for the next 5 weeks, but guess what, I started a YouTube Channel! Oh yes! So you'll get to see my Vlogs as well in case you don't feel like reading. :) Of course the two say different things but hey, people have their preferences. Please subscribe if you like my videos and want to see my progress and show coverage. There will also be workouts, full days of eating, and bikini prep tips! Here's my intro video I posted a couple of hours ago. 

I'm also a day out from launching my online training platform (BodiesbyMel.com). Right now I'm a personal trainer in Orange County and train my lovely clients in person one on one. However, if you don't live in sunny California, I can train you online. No matter what your goals are, I can help get you to your dream body. We'll have a consultation call or Skype at first so we can get to know each other and we can go from there. OR if you'd just like to buy the plan, by all means, buy away! 

LiftingLadiesFitness.com is now live and more to come from there. I went fabric shopping last weekend for fabric for.... LEGGINGS! That's right! I'm starting  legging line because I'm so tired of buying leggings that show my ass when I bend over. Also, having leggings for girls with big butts, bigger thighs, and little waists who don't want to resort in wearing high waist all the time (I'll have high waist designs too). This will branch off into jeans I'm sure. Isn't it so hard to find jeans having a 36 inch butt and 26 waist? Solutions are coming! Lifting Ladies is the platform for online training and merchandise (t shirts, sports bras, leggings, crop tops, launching soon!). Custom bikinis are also in order. So head over to my sites, check them out, subscribe, like, and thanks for following my fitness journey! 

Mel

Hardships and Bouncing Back

Wow it's been so long since I've blogged! I've been in prep for... 10 weeks now and of course have gotten back to social media, but last year I had to take a break. I had to unplug from the "fitness world" completely. Of course I kept up with my workouts (actually I toned it down a lot after prep) and stayed consistent doing whatever workouts I had planned, but mentally I had to check out. You see, when I want something, when I dive into something, when I start something, I go 1000%. I got to a point where I would wake up, track show hashtags, look at other peoples' progress, look at my own, obsess over shows and future shows, deciding on when to compete and I just decided to turn it off. I can't do half, I have to give everything 100%. It's completely unhealthy being in the that way of thinking and I just needed some time off.

The fitness industry in general is a hustle every single day. Making sure you post, hashtag, interact, blog, update, etc. is a job and a job you don't get paid for in the beginning. Maybe in the end it's worth it and it begins to pay off, but you never know until you're completely swimming in it. Also, a lot about the fitness industry pisses me off like companies using athletes as affiliate programs for nothing in return, people liking photos just to get followers and following people to make themselves look good, lying to customers and clients about results, making up BS to build a brand, the list goes on. I hate it so much. I want nothing to do with anything that's not passionate. I can't stand behind a product, company, or opinion without being whole hearted about it and believing in it 100%. I know I'm talking like I'm some huge name in the fitness industry (which I'm not), but I just don't want to get involved with most of it. I love being in the industry to help people reach their goals and motivate to love themselves. I'm in it for the passion.


With that said, I'm back! Now a little heart to heart. There have been some times of trouble and struggle towards the end of last year and honestly I did not think I would or could have any plans of competing in 2015. Competing is EXPENSIVE, and even in my frugal way of prep, I just knew I wouldn't be able to afford it this year. Well, let's not say I "knew" because at the beginning of this year I started working my ass off to build my brand(s) and it has proven to be worth it and I'm back in the game. I'm so grateful and happy at where I am right now and how hard I had to work to get here. There's no going back now and I'm in this to win it 100%. By "in this" I mean life. I will not fail, I will not suffer or ever be able to not afford what I want ever again. I know it sounds so silly and everyone says "money isn't everything". Well there's a saying back that "the only people that say that are people that have never had money". And it's so true! I NEVER want to be back to where I was and yes money is great! I shouldn't have to calculate how much money I have in my account to be able to buy something. NEVER AGAIN! I'm still SUPER cheap though and honestly, it has taught me to be more smart with my spending. So there is a lesson learned there, always come out with a lesson learned. If you're poor, there's hope, just keep on fighting and working your ass off. DO NOT STOP until you are where you want to be. Nothing is going to fall into your lap to change your life, only YOU can do it.