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.