65 Days: Yes I still blog..

It's been a crazy week, I'm sorry. I think I made this same excuse last week. I'm like a broken record.. or a person you are in group projects with who never participates.. or someone with a job who doesn't want to do it. Okay that's a stretch.. really unrelated.. but it was the "piss-me-off moment" of the day today. BUT! I had a great workout, and I'm over it.

I started a new set of workouts this week. It was great. A LOT of pullups.. most of which I did unassisted. Today I had to do 4 sets of 10-12. That last wasn't happening without a little help, so I took off 10# of body weight and got them done. I'm seriously loving the fact that I can do as many pull-ups as I can though. Last semester in our exercise prescription class we had to make a workout for someone else and the one created for me had the goal of being able to do x number of pullups (without doing one throughout the entire semester). I don't remember what the number was, but I do remember remember I could only do 6. Looks like hard work pays off, people :) Other exciting things about my workouts this week is that leg press and RDL's are back! It makes me love leg days again. I had that yesterday and my hammies are feeling the love today!

Nutrition has also slightly changed. The amount of fat I'm able to have has dropped slightly - which I'm thrilled about. Honestly, it was getting to the point where I was just taking a Tbsp of flax seed oil at night to get all my fat in, and it is not delicious. This is much more doable for me. I can't tell if the drop in combination with the new workouts have made my energy levels drop, or if its just this whole being a good student thing I'm trying out. I know it's not September yet, but I started my September resolution early. I'm reading EVERYTHING assigned for class BEFORE class.. for the first time in my life. Well, to an extent. I only have books for 2 of my 4 classes that require books. But I'm still reading everything else for those classes so it's a huge step for me. Bettering myself one month at a time.

But anyway.. scheduling has really thrown me off. A typical day? Wake up at 4:30, gym 6-7:30, class 8-4ish, gym to do cardio 4-5, home to read/cook/eat/clean/play with Bliz, bed by 9. That's 4 hours of life. Honestly most days I'm ready to go to bed by noon.. and definitely by the time I get home at 5. But I stay up (after 5) to eat. Gotta eat to grow, y'all. On that note, I met an old guy (story of my life, right?) at the gym Wed am. Previously, we've just had the ol' Good morning! How's it going? Good, you? Well, I'm here.. convo (obv I'm the chipper "good morning" one that early). But Wed we had a couple chats. He apparently used to compete with his girlfriend at the time. He told me they'd have 1 beer and a big thing of yogurt once a week - to have fun and keep sane. And that they only worked out 3 days/week for 3 hours/day. That's great. But I am not doing either of those things. He also then proceeded to ramble off a list of exercises I should incorporate into my routines. I love it. Everytime I'm at the gym - and I'm sure this goes for plenty of you with the gym, or with other goals in life - someone can't go on with their day without stopping to give me their advice. Sometimes, I just mean mug. Not during the advice.. but during the approach. I'm not at the gym to meet a boyfriend, so you all can scram. But I've learned that when they give you advice, listen, smile nicely, nod, do whatever. Thank them for their advice and then go on your way and ignore them. You can't take advice and direction from too many people or you will never get anywhere. Listen to yourself, or whoever you choose to follow, but ultimately it is your journey so make it what YOU want.

I got my shoes today! I'm super pumped about it. I love them. All that plastic clearness and 5 inches that goes along with them. They are surprisingly very comfortable. I'm ready to start learning my poses. Everything is coming together great, and I'm so happy about it. What are your thoughts on these bad boys? After Nov. 3rd if you want to borrow them to wear to the club - just let me know.. quite flattering :)

Well, folks, I gotta get to work. Literally. Working 6 shifts over the next 4 days and then I have to do all of my reading/good student crap on top of it. I love life :) Embrace what you have, y'all, we are blessed.

Ten Weeks

Its been a busy week getting back to school, starting a new job, and trying to get in the swing of my new routine, all on top of eating right and lifting heavy. But just being in Greensboro today, I have no doubts how much I want this and how hard I need to work.

Today I went to the Muscle Heat competition that Quincy Roberts put on --same guy that is putting on my show. I have never seen a competition actually in person so I really just wanted to get a feel for the thing, and it is .. well, an experience. The bodybuilding men, figure and fitness women were all what I expected. Except that figure only does the 4 side poses in pre-judging - no double armed biceps, lat, chest, or triceps poses that the body building and women's physique do. The men's physique and women's bikini were definitely the crowd favorites. It was going nuts in there and I really couldn't stop laughing. An experience. But the main thing I've taken away from this is how hard those people work. And the ones who didn't work as hard, well its obvious. There was a guy, 50+ bodybuilder division, who had been outside sucking down on a cigarette. Two minutes later he was on stage with one other competitor, and you could just tell - despite how cut he was - that he smoked. Another thing I took away from it is that every competitor has there own strengths. Some figure competitors have great lats and not well defined abs, while others backs don't have much definition, but there abs are solid. I can't do anything about my genetics, but I can bring my best package to the stage.  If I work hard and really focus and push myself these next ten weeks, then I'll be ready to get on stage and I'll be confident with what I've got. Competitions are so subjective, so all I can do is bring my best self and have fun.

After being here this morning, I'm anxious to get back to the gym and get lifting. I'm anxious to cut my diet even more to get more defined. And I'm especially anxious to start posing and get the shoes.

A couple more hours and I'm off to watch the finals. I'll give you a re-cap on that later. Have a great weekend, give the best you can and you'll always feel successful.

74 Days: Feeling Great

Well, Bliz and I made it back to Chapel Hill in one piece. We stopped in Nashville Saturday night instead of doing it all in one night again. She is such a good watch dog, she just sat at the end of the bed and watched the door all night instead of sleeping, which made Sunday a great day of driving. She just snoozed the whole way. It's been so funny having her back in the hill though. Every time I leave she goes right to her kennel as she always has, but when I get home and let her out she is so dang excited and jumps up and down and runs circles around me licking my ankles and elbows (weird? maybe.). I love that furry animal.

It has been so great being back in my familiar gym with familiar faces... even if it is more crowded then ideal. I'm just happy to be back and smile (or curse.. depending on the lift) through my whole workouts. Yesterday I got all 32 pull ups unassisted and today I added 15# onto my dips. It was awesome doing things I either was nervous to attempt or hadn't completed yet. I'm still getting PRs on almost every exercise and progress is going great, in my opinion. I'm not going to lie, though, wearing a weight belt with the weight and chains hanging.. I felt like a true meathead. Proud moment :)

Nutrition has been awesome these last 4 days (the 2 day drive and 2 days I've been back in CH), despite all the temptations. We had a pot-luck lunch for the first years orientation - of which I could eat nothing - and then left overs and a birthday today, of which I ate nothing. AND it was angel food cake for the bday dessert! That is MY birthday cake. I get one from my lovely family EVERY day the week of my birthday. I may be spoiled.. but I just can't help how much my family loves me :) It honestly wasn't that hard to resist though. I'm getting down to it.. almost 10 weeks away.. and I'm devoting myself 100% to this. I have classmates and teachers give me so many wonderful compliments and bits of encouragement and support these last few days, and it truly is motivating. I want to do this. I want to transform my body. And I want to win. Period. I don't need to give in to temptations. A piece of cake may satisfy me for the 2 minutes it takes to eat it.. but accomplishing my goal will satisfy me for years. Easy choice!

I hope you all are having as great of a start to this week as I am. Don't worry about everything on your to-do list and everything you want to accomplish. Break it down into little steps -- mini goals -- and you will achieve anything!

"Slow down. There is no need to rush. Whatever happens in this day can prepare you for future days. Everything cannot happen at once. Allow each day to unfold as it is meant to be." - Kathy M Irr

79 Days: Ouch!

I am accident prone. This is probably no surprise to my family and anyone I've played sports in, but I think it is seriously getting out of hand since I am now injuring myself in my sleep. Last night, well approximately 3am this morning, I rolled over in bed and BAM! slammed my face against the desk next to the bed. It started bleeding so I slept with an ice pack against my face and was crossing my fingers I wouldn't wake up with a black eye. Luck was on my side (I suppose), because I just woke up with a nice cut and bump above my eye, and slight bruising around the cut. No black eye.. yet.

Then, when I was helping my mom move a table, I ran the table over my foot and nearly tore off my toenail and that started bleeding all over my foot and sandal. Luckily I was wearing my black Rainbows, so no damage done. :) I will say, though, my ability to clot is phenomenal.

I'm planning on trying out for UNC's club soccer team this coming week. Although given my injury history, this may be a bad idea for the competition. But even if I didn't try out, I'd be playing adult league, and that's where I got hurt this last year so it just might be inevitable. Whatever.. I'll heal.

Gym today was great. It was my second back/rear-delts day and I hit them HARD. I got a PR in EVERY SINGLE LIFT. I'm pleased to say the least. My butt was burning/sore this morning though, so I forewent (you like that? twice in one week! All this reading sure is paying off) cardio. I'll finish it up Friday and Saturday before leaving for Kansas.

This is a short post. I have important things to get back too. But nutrition and workouts have been on point so far today and I'm loving life. Not looking forward to the drives I have ahead, lots of planning to get ready for those!

80 Days: The Best YOU

What a wonderful wonderful couple of days it has been. Yesterday was perfect. Workout was solid, although I forwent (yup, thats the past tense of for(e)go.. I looked it up :) ) cardio, and nutrition was SPOT ON. No treats, no unnecessary snacking, and it made me so happy, because at dinner time, I was able to have fruit. Y'all don't understand.. I don't know the last time I had fruit. I had to cut it out of my PWO smoothies and haven't had it in maybe over a month. I was happy. And then I got to have a second serving of dinner! Life is good.

Today, I had a great gym workout - hit legs hards - and finished up with some cardio. I increased weight on squats (up to 270 now!) and lunges, and FINALLY got to get back to doing my hamstring curls prone, not seated. Yesterday, I also got to finally use a barbell for my standing BB Press and not the smith machine which was a blessing as well. Next week I'll be free to use barbells and benches as much as I please, we'll see how the weights change. I have no idea how to measure my weight when I use a smith machine, so I just count the weight I add. Do you count the weight of the bar? Since it slides, is it negligible? What about friction? Blah, too much to concern myself with, so I just ignore it.

Weather in Iowa has been great as well. Cool in the 60s over night and during the morning, then 80s usually in the day so I can sit by the pool and play ball with the 3 pups. Today it's getting up to 97, though, but it is still much more enjoyable then NC weather. Maybe because I actually have something to do outside to enjoy it.. who knows. It's great though.

Motivation continues:
Successful people put their heart and soul into everything they do, no matter how small that task is. Take advantage of your youth, your health, your drive, and the time you have to become the best. You may think you are busy, but even if you have a full time job, a family to provide for or come home to, school to study and prepare for, etc, you are not so busy that you can't put your health and YOUR GOALS in the front line. Don't be frustrated because you don't get the results you want or because other people are getting things you want if you aren't putting EVERYTHING you have towards your goal EVERY second of EVERY day. You may have a commitment 8 hours a day, need 8 hours of sleep, and then think you don't have enough time left in the day to study, eat, workout, etc. But if it's important to you, you will make time. And you have 8 hours left! Work your hardest at school and at work so that when your commitment there is done, you don't have to do more work at home. Take advantage of the time you have and stop wasting it on facebook and pintrest and reading my blog whatever else you do online (keep reading my blog!) Your success fuels your ambition. It gives you extra energy. It makes you excited to wake up in the morning to achieve more things. The disciplines that were so difficult in the beginning become second nature. Earn all you possibly can and do the best that you can do and that is enough.

Are you doing your best? Are you going to be successful in your life? This year? This week? Today? Go out there and do the best you can. Don't settle for less.

Enjoy your Wednesday, folks.

81 Days: Frustration Boils Over

I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated with myself and it's a hard pill to swallow. Sure I could point fingers and place blame elsewhere, My friends had a wedding and it wasn't buffet style so I didn't have an option what to eat, my dad wants to go out to eat to spend time with me, my friends want to go out and socialize because we haven't seen each other in about a year. It's not my fault my nutrition hasn't been spot on, I'm on vacation, it's not my house, I can't control what I put in my mouth. Wait.. what? It's 100% my fault. And that is difficult to admit. Now don't think I've gone balls to the walls with my diet. I haven't drank, I haven't been eating crap all day. I just haven't been PERFECT. And I know, you should strive for progress, not perfection.. but when I have such a specific goal and body I am training for, and when I have a specific date I need to get there by, progress isn't good enough. In fact, this isn't progress, I was being perfect, this is a step backwards. My meals will be perfect, there will just be some THING every day that is throwing the perfection off. Like yesterday, I ate too many almonds and my fats were too high. The day before, I had a cinnamon roll because my dad bought them as a nice surprise and I felt guilty not eating one (and let's be honest, I wanted it and it was a moment of weakness). But then Sunday and Monday morning, I FELT LIKE CRAP. My stomach hurt, I was gassy, and just felt lazy and guilty and it was awful. And it just made me crave more! If you are eating something that truly satisfies you, you shouldn't crave MORE FOOD after you eat it. You should feel content. I've been weak and need to bring my goals to the front of my mind. So the rest of this week, my posts will be purely motivational-encouraging-and all about achieving dreams, because that's what I'm setting out to do.

Your mind is a big factor in achieving your goals. It's typically not that people - including me right now - lack motivation. Motivation is wanting to do something, talking about it, seeking help, writing down your goals and plans. Your mind encourages motivation. What most people need, what I've been needing this week, is follow-through. You have a goal, you have something you want to do. You tell yourself you are going to the gym at 5:30 am, you tell yourself you are going eat perfectly today... and then you don't. Your mind gets in the way. It tells you, I'm too tired, I won't get a good workout this early anyway, I'll go later. This cookie isn't going to throw the whole day off. If I don't hit my numbers, I'll just do it tomorrow. No. Don't give in. Don't lose the battle to yourself. I'm sure you've all seen those motivational pictures on facebook that say Your biggest enemy is yourself. Well, it's 100% true. If someone else tells you you can't do something, it motivates you to do it. People are competitive by nature and want to prove nay-sayers wrong. But when that nay-sayer is yourself? It's hard not to give in and believe yourself. But don't give in. Get to the gym before your mind knows what you are doing. Start cooking before your mind can tell you you'd rather have Chipotle. Don't think about it as giving something up, about the things you can't do, the things you can't eat. Think instead about the things this lifestyle gives you and the joy the success brings. When your mind changes, so will your body.

If you believe enough in the process and end result, success will come to you. You just have to see it through. Jump in head first and start swimming. Be dedicated. Work hard. And you will be good at what you are going for. Take it as far as your imagination holds. Dedicate every breath to that goal. Be the absolute best, and don't settle for any reason.

Now, I'm off to the gym for my second workout of the week. Bis, Tris, and Core .. and I will be sore tomorrow.

82 Days: Time for a Break

I am an awful blogger. It has been a week since my last post.. I'm sorry, I guess I've been busy :)

Last week was great, it was my last week of clinicals and I got to say goodbye to my Greensboro gym! I also started new workouts last week, with the same split as before, and I was sore. I started the week with Back and Rear Delts and got to try out some pull ups, which I've been DYING to do since they were taken out of my workouts for the last 3 weeks, and was stoked to be able to do 8 unassisted in a row! Life is good :)

Friday I left Greensboro at 3:40 am (ET) and got to Sioux City at 10:40 pm (CST). For those of you who still don't know how you passed 2nd grade math, thats a 20 hour drive, 1300 miles. And I only stopped 3 times to use the bathroom and to get gas! Awesome. I also decided in this car trip that I love driving and road trips - but I love them more when I don't have someone else with me. If I ever have to go on this long of a trip with someone who needs to go to the bathroom or "rest" more then every 350/400 miles.. only one of us will be arriving at the destination. This will be a very important quality in any future husband. Better start training your bladders now fellas. I did, though, almost die for an exploding bladder. I was driving through Missouri (greatest part of the drive..) and had already had a gallon of water and needed to go BADLY. I pulled off at an exit that said it had a gas station.. just to find out it was 5 miles down the road. So I pulled a U-ey and got back on the interstate for attempt two. I really considered pulling over on the interstate and running in between the trees to let it flow. I had TP in the car so it wasn't really a difficult decision.. I just REALLY don't like wasting time stopping just to go to the bathroom and not get gas as well. Efficiency is what it's all about. Anyway, I luckily found a place an hour after starting to think I was going to die, and luckily survived to tell you all about it. I also had packed all my food for the trip - salads, hard boiled eggs, oatmeal, chicken, veggies - so despite my near death, road rage in Saint Louis, and my car now smelling reeking, it was a great trip.

Saturday was my friends wedding, and it was great. I made it the whole reception without drinking, although I did eat the dinner which probably had a little bit extra carbs then I needed, but was healthy. I had a great time and got to catch up with a lot of people I hadn't seen in so many years. I also realized that basically 90% of my high school friends are married, engaged, or have children. I'll get there when I'm 30. Maybe.

Well folks, I am going to spend the rest of my vacation relaxing by the pool, playing with my dogs, and working out. And by staying out of the car as much as possible. Hope you have a great week!

89 Days: What a Lunk!

What a wonderful weekend. I simply love 3-day weekends. It should be a new standard. I'd gladly work 10-hour days Monday through Thursday to get Fridays off. Can we just agree on this and make it official already?!

Monday started off, regardless of me being ready or not. And let me be honest, I was not. I stayed up last night watching True Blood because it's the greatest show on earth. This season has been a bit excessive in my opinion, but I still can't stop watching. So I got to bed a bit after 11pm, and my alarm went off too soon. I woke up, grabbed my oatmeal, and got into bed and ate it with the lights on, laying down, and my eyes closed. And then I fell back asleep for another half an hour. I had plenty of time to get ready for work still, but man was I tired. This morning at work was back-to-back craziness with patients and I had 5 evals before 1pm. Holy Moly.

I'm sure you all will be surprised/impressed by this. CARING/EMOTIONAL MOMENT #1 But one of my patients this morning has been coming in with sciatica, and she's a 70 something year old hispanic lady - which is awesome because we speak spanglish to each other and that makes me truly happy - but anyway I wanted to work with her on going from sitting to standing, and I asked her to do it with no hands at all. She rocked and rocked and tried about 3 times, couldn't do it. Okay, put your hands on your knees and try. Nope, couldn't do it. Alright use the mat then, we are going for 15. Easy, up she goes. After about 5 she keeps telling me I'm going to do this at home I'm going to practice (which makes me thrilled to hear, she is wonderful) and then she says, okay I'm going to try again. She puts her hands out to the side, takes a deep breath, rocks, and up she goes. Easy. And quick. She had the biggest grin on her face as she did FIFTEEN MORE! Even after I told her to stop, nope she kept doing it. She was so happy and so proud of herself and it made me so incredibly proud and happy for her. We then went on the treadmill and she kept wanting to bump up the speed and was in no pain (which she was when we started, and hadn't walked how she wanted to in months) but I had to cut her off. Cardio Junky :) Kidding. But then she started doing sit to stands again on her own and was so happy she gave me the biggest hug after our session. I loved it. CARING/EMOTIONAL MOMENT #2 My second eval of the morning was a 60-70 or so year old man with diabetes. He lost circulation in his left leg, had his knee replaced, achilles surgery, and was told he either had to go on dialysis or have his leg amputated. He chose the later. Not what I was seeing him for. He also had rotator cuff surgery. He also had gout. He also had cancer. He also has osteoporosis. But that's not what he was there for. He was seeing me for a knee scope, but because of this, and a couple falls recently, he was in a wheel chair and was having difficulty straightening and bending his knee and needed strengthening. Not a problem. But he broke down on me. THREE TIMES. Crying, telling me how depressed he was. And what did I do? Patted that guy on the back, gave him a pep talk, and told him things were going to work out and la la (I'm not giving out all my secrets) and he, too, gave me a hug after leaving. Man! It was a feel good day!

And then I went to the gym and dropped a 45# weight on my thumb. It hurts. And then I was using the smith machine, went to use my legs and do a "power lift" to get the weight over my head, forgot to unlatch that bad boy and slammed it into the notch above it, jamming my wrists. Painful again. And on top of that, the infamous "Lunk Alarm" went off. Now me and Ceej have been waiting EIGHT WEEKS for this bad boy to go off, but not on me! It's Planet Fitness's alarm for "people who grunt, drop weight, or judge." Yes, the sign says that. And it is a blue flashing light and a loud siren like an ambulance. And I set it off. CJ wasn't even there to witness.. I had no one to laugh with. What a miserable time. :) Golly. What a day.

Well, I'm off to eat dinner and hit the bed early. Haven't prepped my charts for tomorrow so I'll be there at 6:15 again. Yay for only 3 more days of work!!

91 Days: Farmer's Market and Spider Face

What a wonderful weekend it has been, and it's only Saturday morning! No work Fridays are really my new favorite thing. I got back to Chapel Hill Thursday night, woke up Friday and deep cleaned -- and I mean deep! -- my apartment. Washed the walls, baseboards, windows, blinds, vacuumed and dusted every corner, washed the floors, the toilet, the tub.. gosh I felt so GREAT by noon! I also went to the Teet and they had packs of fresh chicken Buy 2 Get 3 Free! That's $1.99/# people. A steal for chicken there. So I loaded up. Another positive note for yesterday, I was back down to normal weight when I stepped on the scale first thing of the day. A relief to say the least.

This morning I went to Carrboro's farmer's market for the first time ever--but not before stepping out of my door into a spider web and having a spider run across my face. That was fun... I was impressed with the farmer's market, though. It was nicely organized and was easy to navigate - which is comforting to someone who must see everything. I got some peanut almond butter (obsessed with any and all peanut butters)--made of peanuts, almonds (obviously), wildflower honey and sea salt--jalepenos, and arugula. Lunch today is going to be an orgasm in my mouth possibly. I'm drooling already, can't wait!

This time next week I will be reunited with Blizzard! It has been so long I can't wait to give that pretty girl the biggest hug in the world! I need to go shopping for her for a treat or new toy. I feel so bad having to abandon her all summer :( Although, I'm pretty sure she's had a blast swimming around at home with the big dogs. I already have so many play dates and adventures planned for us!

Speaking of going to Iowa, this week is going to be quite the adjustment for my workouts and meals. To make it work, I'm taking Friday off from the gym (since I'll be sitting in a car 16-22 hours) and working out this week Monday-Thursday, and Saturday, and then I'll get back on track the next week on Tuesday as usual. I'm planning my food as well for the trip. Everything has to be made and packed in serving size containers so that I know what to eat when, and has to be able to make a long trip in a cooler without going bad. I'm thinking turkey burgers and hard boiled eggs for my protein, almonds, lots and lots of veggies, sweet potato muffins (a new recipe I've been wanting to try out), etc. Once I make all the food and have it planned out, I'll share it with ya'll. It's going to be one crazy week, but I'm so excited to finish up with "work" and get back home to my family and friends.

Today's plans: make an mp3 CD with ~500 bluegrass songs for my road trip, plan my road trip food so I can cook tomorrow, do my online evaluation of my clinical, and buy books for school since it's the tax free weekend. Exciting day. And hopefully have time to spend laying in a field somewhere and just relaxing, as long as it stays this cool, beautiful weather. Have a happy day friends. Life is good!

94: August Resolution

I just spit eggs out onto my plate.. way too hot. They look the same as the one's on my plate, pre-chewed. I don't know if that's good or not, whatever. It's been an extremely busy-but good-week so far. Yes, I realize it's only Wednesday. I give my inservice tomorrow at "work" and am still not sure if I'm working Friday or not. No way I'm bringing it up, though, until Thursday at 4 so that hopefully I won't have to come in because it'll be too late :) I'm awful. Oh well, I want a 3 day weekend! This weekend is going to be extremely busy for me. Why? What do you have to do?, you ask? Well, I have to clean my apartment and respond to emails and pack for 1 week of work, 1 week of home, and 22 hours worth of food to eat while I drive. I also understand this can all be accomplished in a morning, but having a list that I can't start working at yet, drives me nuts. So I'm going to be uptight until Friday or Saturday when I can get to work.

Let's talk nutrition. I've hit my numbers- more or less.. I haven't been over and have been within 3 of everything-everyday since Sunday when they dropped. Sunday evening I was tired, cranky, and hungry. Monday I was pretty exhausted as well, and since I didn't have to work out it was hard for me to spread my meals out how I would if I had went to the gym, so again I was a little tired and hungry. Yesterday went well through the day, but then I woke up at 1am starving. Attitude and energy was much better though, although I did notice my workout wasn't AS great. I still PR'd in 3 or 4 lifts, and didn't drop, but I just felt slow, and it felt harder then I think it should've. So I'm hoping the progress of energy levels and decreased hunger keeps progressing and that today is better.

The great thing about today: It's AUGUST! This year is flying by, but it's going so well so I'm okay with that. My August resolution is to stretch more. More specifically, I intend to start doing Yoga 3x a week, or do 3 hours of total stretching throughout the week. That's it. My body is so tight and sore all the time and I really need to work on my flexibility and just stretching my muscles out so that I'm able to lift more and move more easily. So there you have it. July resolutions went well overall, but I could still work on getting more sleep. The other was to plan out my meals the day before - and let me tell you, it has made my life and these nutrition adjustments SO EASY! You don't have to think about food when you are hungry. You don't have to deal with cooking before any meal (99% of the time). You just get to eat when it's time and stop letting it consume everything else. i loved it and I will continue this at least through the competition.

I'm off to the gym. Only 94 days to be better then everyone else on that stage!