Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Discover

It has been nice to get back to the "me" diet. I am starting to feel some what better about being able to make my "own" choices on what I am going to eat instead of finding something someone else says I should eat. For lunch was the perfect example. I decided to make a "me" taco salad for lunch.
Fresh green lettuce I got from the farmers market, little bit of 2% cheese, TVP flavored with homemade taco seasoning topped with a little reduce fat sour cream and salsa. Yummy! A nice filling lunch before my workout. We work on back and biceps today. It was a pretty good work out but I still feel like I could be challenge more since I'm rarely sore after my work outs. But do I have to be sore in order to say I got a good workout?

After my workout I had a banana and a Nectar whey protein isolate shake. I am trying to focus on getting a little more protein in these days. I did 30 minutes of cardio left the gym and did the grocery shopping for the week. Since my son is on his trip to Germany it was odd just buying a small amount of groceries but I can definitely get use to the total $45. I was in the neighborhood of my dear friend Gale so I stopped by for a nice chat. I miss talking with her and she always has such great insight into what I am going through and something I truly treasure about her. Thanks Gale!
Unfortunately, I was pretty hungry when I got home and that doesn't every work out to my advantage. Hubby and I prepared his dinner so I snacked on blueberries and nuts while we did that. Once his dinner was complete it was on to mine. I decided on having a omelet. It was really good. It had four egg whites, one egg, spinach, sun dried tomatoes and a wedge of laughing cow cheese. It was really good but I did eat it way to quickly and was searching for more.

I had a few more almonds, raisins and whatever else I could find. Thank goodness we don't care much junk in the house anymore. So I am being OK with the "little" food binge. I still think I might have a little frozen banana ice cream for dessert but I will play that one by hear.
Not sure if anyone knows but I have considered doing a figure competition. This is something I have thought about a while back and it has come into my mind again recently. I emailed a couple that does figure consulting and I am eager to set something up with them. I am looking forward to hearing their honest opinion about me. My body has been through the ringer and has the scar and wrinkles to show but if they feel like I can do it what do I have to lose. I have come so far what is wrong with taking it one step further. As most people know me I love a challenge and this may be something I could really use. Something to focus all my energy into. I it so exciting to continue to discover what I am made of and what I can truly do with my body and mind.

3 comments:

BBingR.N. said...

Meals look delicious! In my opinion, soreness is not an accurate measure of a "good" workout. As long as you feel that you challenged your muscles (and be honest, if it felt too easy, then it probably was), then you had a good workout. But if you're doing a new exercise for the first time, or hitting the muscle from a different angle, then soreness is to be expected.

Anonymous said...

I concur. DOMS doesn't prove a workout is good, infact DOMS could be an indicator of overtraining, but I don't think it would in your case.

Figure competing is very hard. I haven't and never plan to compete, but I can give you some insights, from what I've read and heard about competing.

Firstly you'd need a diet similar to this.

Steamed "dry" Fish, not oily Fish, (to reduce Fat consumption), Egg Whites, Skinless Chicken, Whole-grain Cereal, Broccoli and Rice, as examples. Maybe using Lemon Juice and Sea Salt as flavour enhancers.

Very restricted to around 1,000-1,200 calories a day, with minimal fat, low Carb and high Protein.

You'd have to train at least 3-4 times a week with weights, doing an hour of Cardio a day, rising to 90-120 minutes of Cardio, in the last 6-8 weeks. either in one go or split into two sessions.

You'd also have to find time to practice posing and formulate a routine.

You would have to make quite a few sacrifices where family time was concerned, to fit your training in, possibly experiencing slight lack of sleep, lethargy, possible mood swings etc etc.

Most amateur shows pay little to nothing. You get a medal, or a trophy if you come top 3 say, and maybe something like a free T-shirt and / or free tub of Protein powder.

Emotional rewards could be very high, and ultimately that kind of champagne, rolls royce moment, where you could feel like one of the most special people in the world.

That's it briefly in a nutshell.

One person I would suggest who is pretty contactable, is Sundie, A.K.A. SJ, who has done BB before, so has some competitive experience, albeit not in Figure, but would have some insight.

You'll find her blog link on mine, and possibly her e-mail address on her profile. She's about 1-2 years older than you, so she'd be a good person to ask about personal experience, judging etc etc, as she's done 3 shows now since 2008.

If you do get in touch, just say why you're asking obviously, and if necessary, say Matt put you in touch, because I thought she would be a great person with some experience, who would be worth asking.

Obviously just say you got the e-mail address off the blog profile, as I don't like passing on e-mail addresses willy nilly like that, to preserve the integrity and trust of my association to other people.

I'm certain she'd have no problems at all with you getting in touch.

Also, if there are any other things you might like to know about competing, please do check out my competing section on my messageboard. No need to post if you don't eant to, but it does have a fairly big discussion about what I said above and more, from past education on the matter.

If this decision was something you truly wanted to do, and believe whole-heartedly you could commit to, and enjoy, I would be very happy to andorse and support your decision, and continue to push, encourage and motivate you to the competition week, and of course whatever you did in life after that time.

I totally believe competing and the look, is 100% right for females, and in no way wrong at all :-).

As always, I will respect anything you do in life, try to respect a Lady completely, and wish you every luck and success in whatever life choices you make.

Anonymous said...

Please be aware though, that you should not consider doing it, then picking a show 3-4 months after that.

You'd need to consider having more calories, as per suggested before, perhaps increase the intensity of your weights to maybe 8-10 rep sets, using 90-95% max weight, though your current schedule may be good enough to keep intact, with just changes to reps and weight level.

Plus 3-4 months wouldn't be long enough, and you'd probably come in severly under conditioned right now, once you'd hit the 10-11% fat mark, so you'd need a good 12 months bare minimum, and then you're talking 9 months to bulk, 3 to cut.

Though of course you need to weigh up is this is the right thing for you.

I think once you were tanned, surgical marks would be very unlikely to show, as some females have competed with scars and stretch marks before, without any problems so I believe.

Again though, GOOD LUCK and know what future plans you decide on, you can count on my fullest support and understanding.

Take care Kathi, and all the very best to you and yours.

:-) :-).

Matt