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.

Powering Through the Sickness

'Tis the season to be sick, get colds, and slack off! Well, the first two things, no slacking off this winter. With the weather getting colder (or fluctuating from hot to cold in Cali), the risk of getting sick is higher and higher. While there are many things you can do to prevent the bug getting you, sometimes it just comes out of nowhere despite your careful planning. So how do you stay motivated when you're sick? Are you just going to throw out your plans and goals for a week in your bed? Are you going to power through and go to the gym sick? I'd say neither is a good plan, though there has to be balance. You can't just show up to the gym putting everyone in danger of catching what you have. Think about it, you cough into your hand, you touch a dumbbell, do your set, put it back. Someone new picks up the same dumbbell, gets an itch on his face or eye, or randomly decides to put his hand in his mouth, bam! He's got it too! The gym is a bacteria frenzy! Okay I know I've scared you now and yes there's a lot of risk in the gym, but you can take matters into your own hands by taking extra precautions during your workout.

1. Take a towel (or two) everywhere. For you to breath or cough into, and to wipe down the machines after use. 
2. Before use, use a wet wipe or spray and towel to wipe off everything you'll be touching. You never know what the person before you did on there or their condition. 
3. Don't go to the gym if you feel too sick. Which brings me back to what motivates you.

When you're coughing, sneezing, wiping your runny nose, I'm sure it's hard to build up the motivation to even get out of bed. If you have a goal in site like a prep or a fitness challenge you've joined, you'll need to get back into the gym asap. If you don't have a goal in site, by all means, take that time off to recover and get well. This is more for those of us who need to fast forward getting well so we can get back in the gym and attack those goals. You don't want to reschedule a show because you got sick. Could you imagine? Some great things you can do to keep your prep moving forward is move around! Go walking on the treadmill. I know it's hard taking a step from our hardcore workouts and jumping on a treadmill just to walk, but do you feel like running? That's what I thought. So walk for 30 minutes to an hour, keep your body conditioned throughout your sickness. A stationary bike is also a great choice! Sitting down might be all you want to do so it's probably the best choice. I mean, if there were a lying down cardio machine, I'm sure we'd all be in line for it. Don't want to leave the house? Below is an at home workout I've put together that's sure to get your heart beating, while letting you workout in the comfort of your own home.

Low Impact Burpees: Go through the motions of a regular burpee, only walk your legs one at a time back, push up, then back up. Stand up with hands in air, don't jump. (Unless of course you're up to do the high impact jumping)(As many as you can for one minute)

Jumping Jacks (One minute)

Body weight squats (One minute)

Stationary lunges (One minute)

Lying toe touches (One minute)

Repeat this cycle 3 times or as many time desired. That makes 15 minutes of moving around, getting active, and staying accountable. Don't let that cold knock you off your feet, you're better than that! In the same right, don't push yourself so far that you get even sicker and end up being out of the gym even longer. Listen to your body, if you feel you can do it, do it. If not, take a break. Now onto diet, because it's not all about the gym.

When sick, what is the LAST thing you want to do? Eat! And what is right behind that? Meal prep,

eat right, eat all healthy food. Who wants to be in the kitchen all day prepping meals? YOU do if you want to stay on track with your goals. This whole week when I was sick, I prepped every single meal and every single meal was clean. I thought, well if I'm going to be out of the gym, I'm at least going to be on point with my eating. You have push yourself to eat well, you must. The main problem when sick is that you don't want to eat. It's such a chore especially eating like clockwork like we do. My advice is to just do it the second it crosses your mind before you have a chance to think about it. Get up, cook, and soon you'll be able to lie down again. If you're lucky, maybe you'll have someone to cook six meals for you. That would be nice, but who has time for that? You have to want it, live it breathe it! No sickness will get you down. How wonderful it would have been to just order food all day and eat just that. Nope, we can't do that because we have goals to conquer! So dig deep and do what needs to be done in order to stay on track. You can do it! I did :)

Thanks for reading! I hope this inspires you when you're sick to get up and keep fighting for your goals. Bookmark this for when you are sick to try the workout and let me know how it goes!


Mel

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?

12 Days Until Tahoe Show!

I'm super excited for my next show! I look better than ever and have improved SO much since my first show it's crazy. I know I haven't posted in a while, but here I am :) I'm so much more lean than I have ever been ans it's crazy! I wish I knew EXACTLY what it is that has gotten me here. You know what I mean? Like I've tried everything! So many things, so I don't know if it was a certain combination of things I did or one specific thing. For instance: for my first prep, as a fat burner I used raspberry keytones, for this prep I used Liposide by Evogen which is a caffeine based pill. I took fish oil pills three times a day for all three preps. I did fasted cardio for five weeks this prep, none on my first and second. I did way more cardio this time around in general. It would just be great to know what to give the credit to for my fat loss lol. Oh well! In April I was 14% body fat, now I'm 11% and ridiculously vascular. I'm happy, 2014 has been an awesome year for me!

I've been doing show preps since February 1st of this year. So crazy! I took a couple weeks off after taking 6th at the NorCal Championships in Sacramento in June. I just ate clean and worked out normally with random cheat meals and maintain my physique until 5-6 weeks out from the Tahoe Show. Now I'm a little less than 2 weeks out and I just look great. It's awesome, I feel awesome, and I really don't know what I'm going to do mentally if I don't place in this show. seriously. WTF. I'm so sick of "losing" next to girls who don't even look like they spend any time in the gym. They just get on a treadmill and run until they're ridiculously skinny, put on a bikini, and call it day. Okay that's mean, but I'm venting. I just feel like the judges love the higher body fat girls in the amateur shows, but the pros are freaking 10% or less body fat. It's hard to keep up. Somehow I have stayed positive and I'm going to do MY best and kill it on stage. I know in my first show my hips and but were so much bigger than they are. It's crazy! I'm going to post my measurement changes and differences from April 12th show, to June 7th, to now. I'll do that in the post tomorrow! Minus all the water, this is what I'll look like on stage. And I'm happy with how I look. SO happy! :D

I've also improved my posing a little. I've learned to manipulate the stances to make my butt look better with different angles. One thing that I learned at the posing seminar at the NorCal show is to NEVER turn your back to the judges when walking (unless they tell you of course). So walk in sideways to hide that jiggle, and walk off sideways. Sounds so silly! lol My butt looks amazing, but it still jiggles when I walk. One sad thing about losing so many inches and so much body fat in this short amount of time is STRETCH MARKS!!! Ugh. So annoying. I'm not a self conscious person in the slightest, but man I'm noticing them more and more. I've been using the Frank body scrub along with Palmer's Cocoa Butter lotion for stretch marks hoping the combination of the two would fast track them away. I know I have to be patient... but be gone stretch marks! Haha anyway I've posted some new photos in the progress tab, check them out!

For the next two weeks, I'm going to continue carb cycling with a high carb day on Friday and moderate on Saturday, Monday-Thursday are low carb days. I still do the "eat a different meat every meal" thing to keep my meals interesting. It usually goes: morning carbs: oatmeal + 1/2 scoop protein, 2 hours later: 2-3 eggs, then chicken and bell peppers, then shrimp and broccoli, then swai fish and asparagus, then workout and shake, then dinner which is ground turkey and egg whites. On low carb days I have a rice cake with peanut butter on it before the chicken meal and before the shrimp meal. Low carb day is 60 carbs or less. I'm not going to switch it up on peak week, just going to do the same thing with asparagus to get rid of that water weight, take dandelion root, hit the sauna, and rock it! So no water depleting, no real sodium depleting since I don't use salt that much anyway, just what's in food. Can't wait, I'm excited! On a side note: I have not had a Quest Bar in like three weeks... so weird.

Thanks so much for reading! You rock! Feel free tom comment below :)

Mel

Dun Dun Dun My Competition(s) Results. Finally.

Omg guys I can't believe I haven't posted, updated, filled you guys in on my life. Hopefully you've been checking out my Instagram feed and captions for updates. I have to say my first competition really left a bad taste in my mouth and I didn't want to speak badly about the company, show, anything like that... but it's been months now and I really don't care anymore. Sadly, the Muscle Contest Grand Prix show in April was not a fun experience. It was a drag, I felt invisible and an after thought on stage because I wasn't part of a team. I swear they had their winners chosen before the show. There were like 30 people in my class which is a BIG show! So imagine being a judge sitting through all of those classes. Novice classes A-D and Open A-F with 20+ girls in each class. The shows started at 8am, I thought I'd be on stage around one. WRONG. I didn't go on stage until around 3-4! The venue didn't have food and I hadn't planned on a 3PM stage time so I was starving! I had rice cakes but that was nothing. Definitely a "first show" mistake, I have learned from that. So anyway, by the time I got on stage the judges seemed OVER IT. I tried to make eye contact with at least one judge, not one was ever looking at me! At least FAKE like you're judging. Omg I felt like complete shit standing up there and could not wait for it to be over. You can see from my photos I went up there with confidence and all was well in that category, I just pushed through and rocked it. Of course it didn't matter, didn't place, didn't even get a real placing. They literally placed top five and threw the rest of us to the side. So. Yeah.

I was pretty pissed about the whole situation, experience, everything so I didn't even want anything to do with blogging about it, talking about it, anything. I'm not saying that my body was PERFECT and that I should have gotten first or anything like that. I know what I need to work on and know how I can improve, it just would have been nice to be seen by the judges. I spoke with some of the girls back stage and they said the same thing, that the judges weren't looking. So after the morning/ afternoon show I just said fuck it let's go eat! We went to Denny's and I ordered some fries and a quesadilla. I'd admitted to myself that this show was a waste of my time and money and nothing I do is going to change that. I couldn't even eat the food, it was too salty and greasy. So we went back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel I thought maybe I can have a second chance to be seen. I switched my bikini to the red one, practiced my walk even more, and was excited to hit the stage again. So it's finally time for the night show (bikini is last) around 9pm, I get on stage, look down, the judges aren't even there! Ah so sad. I learned that the night show is for family so a lot of girls don't even come to the night show if they don't get first call outs. This would have been GREAT to know, otherwise I would not have wasted my time. Seriously, colossal waste of my time! So after the show, took pics, and left to The Cheesecake Factory for my mac and cheese :) I had no problem eating that lol.

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be positive and say "oh it was a great experience and I'm glad I did it", but you guys know me and I'm going for pro. The only good thing that came from that show were the awesome girls I met, and the pointers I got from girls who've done multiple shows. I've learned that you have to research what shows will work best for YOU. I am muscular, I have muscle, and ASS. I cannot be judged next to skinny twigs with no muscle and expect to win. More about that later. Not that those skinny twigs don't look great, have had an awesome fitness journey, and are just amazing, you just have to know what shows you'll have a better chance at. Research includes going on NPCNewsOnline.com viewing the shows, photos of winners, comparisons, etc. Anyway, that's in the past and I have moved on! I'm just very anti Muscle Contest shows at the moment, I feel like all they care about is money. Especially after the Spectrum Fitness Productions show I went to on June 7th!!

OMG. The professionalism, the coverage, the interaction, the venue, hotel, registration, EVERYTHING was amazing. Seriously, It was like a trip to the midwest vs a trip to Paris. The productions of show quality is miles apart. The SFP show was a lot smaller than the MC one, about 9-15 ladies per class instead of 20-30+. I think there should be a cap for national qualifier shows, but that's just me. They wouldn't want a cap though because then they'd be capping their income potential. Okay so the SFP was June 7th in Sacramento. I drove there from SoCal. Yes I drove that far just to NOT do a Muscle Contest show. Sadly, I had to go by myself because my boyfriend DeAngelo had drill (army) that weekend :( So I also have NO stage shots from the show. I regret not buying photos. Ugh. Anyway, man we were spoiled at this show. The event was AT the hotel where we were staying so we didn't have to freaking sit at an auditorium all damn day waiting until our time on stage. Another AMAZING thing: they text us when it's time for us to go on stage. I don't even think you guys realize how amazing and relieving this is. We don't have to be freaking out wondering when we'll be on stage, if we've missed our class, most of all we don't HAVE to watch the whole show. No offense to the physique men, but jesus there are always SO many of them and I get tired of looking at the same thing for hours lol. Throughout the prep they have you hashtag your photos with #NPCNorcal, feature athletes, say good luck to athletes, LIKE your photos, they post motivation everyday, it's just great. You can just tell that they care so much. Customer service is great, you can see that they respond to all of their questions on their site with no problem, they're just so nice! If you want to do a show I highly recommend SpectrumFitnessProductions.com, the next show is August 2nd!

Cool, cool, So how did I do?! I got sixth...Out of 9 girls. Not what I wanted obviously, but while in the line up I could already tell it wasn't going to go well. Now this is the complicated part of bikini, they judge you on how the other girls look. If the girls are muscular they judge on muscle, if the girls are skinny with... shoulders? They judge on that. Honestly, I can't stand by the skinny girls and be motivated by that. Not saying they don't work hard, but damn I work HARD on this body and I am not losing muscle just to fit in in the amateur shows. Yes, the amateur shows. These are FITNESS shows and to me being "fit" is not the same as being "skinny" and being a cardio queen. Pick up those weights! I chose this show for many reasons, but a main reason was because it was also a bikini pro show. Ah yes, the pros! They look amazing man, AMAZING! And let me tell you, muscle central! The judges swear up and down that they don't want muscle girls but ALL of the pros are jacked! I want to look like that, but I've had to tone down because all of the shows around me are "skinny girls" in bikinis. It's quite annoying. So yeah, I chose this show because I thought since the pro bodies are fresh in the judges minds, they'd judge us based on their bodies. Nope. Didn't work out for me. BUT despite my placing, I still had fun, it was a great production, I was taken care of, so it was okay. That's how every show should be! And yes I went to The Cheesecake Factory afterwards :)

So I know I need to work on my glutes and thighs. During the prep for SFP NPCNorcal, I did glutes TWICE a week, shoulders three times a week, added in biceps and chest again, I just went hard. I got super lean, I looked SO much better than my first show, I can't even believe it! For THIS prep I'm (sadly) becoming a cardio queen and trying to get rid of this stubborn thigh fat. Fasted cardio every morning should do the trick. I have about 9 weeks so progress should be amazing. The first show prep I did no carbs the week of the show, for the second show I did carb cycling which worked out way better for me. I still came in a little flat by show time because I thought I'd be able to get another meal in, but the show went by sooo fast since there weren't that many people in the classes. It sucks never knowing the exact time we'll be on stage, but it's okay. I've learned that carbs are VERY important the last two days before show. For this prep for my next show I'll do carb cycling again for five weeks. It's SO effective for me and I stand by it.

So what's next?! I've found two prospective show's I'd like to do in August. I really want to do the Tahoe Show (August 23rd)! I've added up costs though and it's going to be very expensive. Like a $1500 trip! And what if I don't even place? Not worth it to me. BUT to stay away from a MC show, I might just have to. Because (I know I talked a lot of shit about them but,) the other choice IS a Muscle Contest Show: Pacific USAs. It's in San Diego on August 16th. Unfortunately, there really aren't that many NPC shows in SoCal besides MC shows so I'll have to tough it up and do them anyway. At least I know what to expect this time! So we'll see what show I can do, hopefully this is the one I qualify. I've also looked into WBFF shows! Those girls look amazing. Who knows you might be looking at the next Fitness Diva :) WBFF appreciates muscle :)

THE PROS! AND WHAT I ASPIRE TO LOOK LIKE

It's been a crazy and awesome year and I have some amazing progress that I'm very proud of. I love this new lifestyle and I can't imagine not living in it. I'm glad I started competing! Thank you SO much for reading this, I can't even believe you read the whole thing and it's just great to know I have people to support me. Comment, share, be amazing, and thanks so much.

~Mel

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