Motivation Monday | Don't Make the Process Longer by Giving Up!

You've heard it over and over yet you still are where you started, or worse, further back! Sometimes it's hard to keep going when you're seeing little to no progress, but it does not happen over night. Seeing your body everyday makes it even harder to see the tiny changes going on. I would suggest taking full body progress photos every single week. Put them side by side in Layout, and compare. You think there's no progress? There's definitely SOME change. Sometimes it's mental state as well. People forget how important mental health is. It's not taught and it's not pushed enough. Your mind has to be healthy enough to perceive progress and take on challenges. If you're in constant battles with yourself and dealing with self doubt, you're more likely to give up time and time again. So if you aren't seeing bodily progress, work on your mental state because if your workouts and diet are right, there WILL BE CHANGES. Actually, just workout your mind regardless of body changes. Learn to love yourself. Learn to be well rounded mentally AND physically. Once you've achieved this, you've truly succeeded.

Motivation Monday- YOU HAVE LEGS!

Do you ever find yourself sitting on the couch DREADING going to the gym? This will help you get a different perspective not only in fitness, but in life. Learning to be appreciative in what seems to be the smallest things in life, truly helps in the long run. But think about it, is having a functional healthy body really a "small" thing to be thankful for? What if you were to lose it all today? You're paralyzed now. I bet you'd look back and think of all of the times you could have gone to the gym but took advantage of your beautiful, functioning body. Next time you're feeling lazy, remember, you GET to work out, not HAVE to.



Happy Monday!

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! :)

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? 

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.

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?

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

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!