Competition Update

So I've been working out well of course, eating well of course, but I'm new to the whole competition thing. So I have been researching OVER-researching to be exact lol. Literally spending every extra minute watch bikini and figure shows, watching poses, studying poses, getting bikini ideas, it's crazy. I just want to smack myself and just go with the flow. For me though, I am an over planner and I think ahead for everything so I can't really help it. Plus, it's not really a horrible thing, so whatever. I got my shoes in the mail last week! I have been practicing walking everyday. I'm telling you, it is a workout itself. It's tiring, especially for my feet. The shoes aren't that comfortable and they are very ugly too. That's good though so the judges will be looking at my body instead if my fabulous shoes.

Here are my lovely legs! I'm proud of them, I'd just like to see the hamstrings a little more and I'd be ecstatic. More photos to come! Omg I'm so mad because this water is just making me bloated every single day so taking pictures is just out of the question except right in the morning when I wake up. Who wants to take pictures when they first wake up?! lol Time to break out those water pills. 

Last Wednesday I got the shading and color on my tattoo. It's all done now, yay! I love it so much. It's my favorite piece of art on me done my Joel Bones of Gold Rush Tattoo in Costa Mesa, CA. The day before the tattoo I worked out obliques/abs. Bad idea. "Yes, yes carve into my sore ab muscles, it feels SO good!" Needless to say, it was painful lying on my side with my arm up for 2.5 hours lol. Totally worth it though! 

As far as food goes, I've been doing good keeping my calories up. Hitting 1800 is like celebration time! lol Crazy, I know. I've been eating every two hours pretty much and I have had to switch some things around and add some high protein foods. I'm trying to be in the range of 120-150g of protein per day, 200+ carbs, and 50-60 fat (essential, healthy fats). It's been improving every day so that's good! My diet as a whole is completely clean and I drink 1.5-2 gallons of water a day. 

I pretty much put spinach in everything and have added egg whites to dinner or night meals as well. Any way to get up that protein! I take protein shakes (Beverly International, Chocolate 80% Whey/ 20% Casein) twice a day, one a couple of hours after breakfast with a banana and the other after my workout at night. The middle photo is a recipe I found with whole grain pasta, spinach, broccoli, plain Greek yogurt, salt, pepper, and onions. YUM! It looks gross but it's good lol try it! Inspired by this (http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/13338) recipe, I didn't have anything on the list except the yogurt and pasta so it looks nothing like that beutiful masterpiece lol. 

Alright, shower time. Thanks for reading guys! Feel free to comment, follow me on Twitter, all that great stuff!

Mel 

Before Photo and Goals

Alrighty! So I took these pics sometime last week. I always want to take pics at the beginning of the day when I don't have a gallon of water and a days worth of food inside of me (ugh), but this is last week after a night workout. I'm pretty much going to tell you my goals and what I need to work on during my prep. So here we go!

Okay so obviously my posing is no accurate and I wasn't really aiming for perfect posing. I had a timer on a camera so had to run back and pose lol. So I'm bent over way too much and I look like I ran to the pose. Disregard. FRONT: My arms look great. However, I want to work on my shoulders a little more. I'd like to round the lateral deltoids a bit more. So I'll be doing shoulders a lot more for sure. Besides that, I think that everything from the waist up looks good besides the natural things that will be cut with diet along the weeks. My abs will be amazing! LEGS: Ugh. My thighs are ridiculous, thus bring on the cardio! I hate cardio but I'm GOING to fall in love with it. I want to pretty much shave my inner thighs. Now obviously we can't target where we want to lose our fat, but I'm going to try to lose a couple inches in my thighs. I'll be doing cardio every day which will include HIIT, Kickboxing three times a week, and sprinting. I think cardio will get my legs to where they need to be. As far as lifting goes, of course I'll be having 2 leg days a week. One day for quads and inner thighs, and the other for quads and glutes. GLUTES GLUTES GLUTES!: My main goal is to get my ass nice and hard. Well, a soft layer over a hard butt if you know what I mean. My butt jiggles too much and it is definitely my problem area. So I will be focusing hardcore on my legs and butt. So bring on the lunges and squats! And cardio :( 

Despite the work I need to do, I think that 10 weeks is an ample amount of time and I know I'll do well. I'm not sure who I'll be competing against or how I will measure up next to them. I DO know that I will do my absolute best and make sure I'm the best version of myself when I walk on stage. 

Thanks for reading!

Mel