19 Days Out...Holy Moses!

Hi friends!

Haaaaaaaaaaaapy November, ya'll! I'm totally pumped we are beginning a new month and the fact that it starts on a Monday makes it that much better!

First, I'd like to welcome my new "Followers". Yay! I felt so excited to see on my Blogger Dashboard that a few more awesomely fantastic people pressed "Follow" and are now joinging me on my journey to the Bikini and Fitness stage. It makes my little heart smile to know there are others out there helping me along. Truly, your comments all help me stay focused and keep my motivation and dedication up! Maybe when I get 100 followers I'll do a big fat giveaway to celebrate such awesome peeps! ;)

So, today marks 19 days out from my first ever bikini competition. HOLY MOSES, the days just keep sneaking up on me! I have so many mixed feelings right now. It really is hard to grasp that I'll be walking across that stage in less than 3 weeks. I really don't feel ready physically, but mentally I'm ready to 'get 'er done', ya know? The past few days I've been feeling bloated and "big" and when I weighed myself this morning it said I was up 2.2 lbs. Sigh. Whatever....

Greek Goddess
(sorry for the lame camera phone image. I swear we're getting a replacement camera in a week or two!)

This past weekend I went to a Halloween party. It was super fun! Hubbs and I went as a Greek God and Goddess. We had a lot of fun but you would not believe the spread of food they had! Everything from chips/dips, cookies, cupcakes, pudding, chili, chicken fingers, crackers, cheese, etc. was staring me in the face and taunting me. I won't lie- it was really hard just drinking my Diet Coke (and later a black coffee) watching everyone else nosh on YUMMINESS! It just didn't feel as "festive" when I had to sneak a protein shake in the other room (so others wouldn't make fun of me) and not fully participate in the holiday (which of course includes eating yourself into a sugar-induced coma, right?)

That being said, there was one thing that made it all worth it and that is when this girl came up to my husband and asked, "So, um, where does your wife work out?" He said, "Huh? How do you know she works out?" and she said, "Well, I'm lookin' at her guns. Geez!"....That made me feel really good! She came up to me later in the night and asked me questions about my workouts and it made not eating all the fantastic food not so bad, because it reminded me that it is not worth it right now. However, I have a feeling Thanksgiving will be "worth it" hehehe

I just wanted to take a second to remind all you fabulous readers that I did not start this journey to the bikini stage particularly "fit". I was still in the process of dropping weight since starting a Body-for-Life challenge back in May. I lost 10 lbs doing the BFL challenge and from there have lose about 17 more pounds since starting my competition diet. You can read the cliff's notes version here. I say this because I think it is important to remind readers that I'm still getting used to this new weight and size in general. I think my body is fighting so so so hard to stay at this weight because it seems I continue to plateau at this weight and I haven't noticed any major changes in my body for a month now. It's uber-frustrating, especially as I'm now counting down days until the competition. I read a lot of other competitors who say that the last couple of weeks is where they see a lot of changes in their physique, and I'm hoping (and counting!) on that.

I'm treating these next 19 days as if this competition were my JOB! Meaning, just like you go to work and have things you must do, there are things I must do, also, as part of my "job". My responsibilities these next 19 days are to do 40-60 minutes of fasted, morning cardio every single morning, plus my usual weight training splits in the afternoon, plus another 30-45 minutes of cardio in the evening. I'll just continue checking these duties off my calendar and hopefully I'll blast through this stinkin' plateau and get to my goal weight. My goal weight isn't even particularly that low for my height and I'm thinking next competition I'll need to lower my goal by 5-7 lbs since I'm not really seeing the definition I want to see in my abs. Eh, I'll cross that bridge in the Spring. Right now I'm sticking with my initial goal weight and sure hope the extra cardio helps me get there!

Well, it's time for Meal 2-- Chicken and either some almonds or cashews (probably cashews because they are cooler)-- then I'm going to hit the gym to work my Shoulders/Glutes! I'm working these twice a week now because they are my favorite and I'd like them to stand out more on stage. Hey, gotta make up somehow for the waning "abbage" going on. I know "abs are made in the kitchen", but I eat so clean and I'm still not seeing as much definition as I'd like, so maybe I can distract the judges into looking at my shoulders instead HAHA....kidding, kidding...I know it doesn't work that way. The only way to really get the definition I am seeking in my abs is to lean the heck ouuuuut, which for me means more c-a-r-d-i-o...Sigh... Ah well, it's only 19 more days. I'll just go to Barnes & Noble today to grab a good novel to keep me distracted on the bike or dreadmill in the evenings;)

Question:

1) Did you dress up for Halloween this past weekend? I loved dressing up as a Greek Goddess with my studly Greek God in tow. Hubbs looked gooooooooooood!

2) What is your favorite candy? A few years ago I had White Chocolate Reese's PB cups and they may as well have been dropped from the Heavens because they were DIVINE!!! Haven't had one since, though:(