Day 46: Yummy Yummy Cravings

So I've started to have cravings. But the good thing is, I'm cheap (shocker) and my kitchen is not stocked with baked goods and candy galore, so I'm not having a problem. I've actually started making a list of things I can't wait to eat. Austin was so kind to help me make the list. Here it goes, in no particular order:

1. Beer and Wings. And celery. Let's make it somewhat healthy. And I want to stuff myself until I fall asleep. Perfect.

2. DiGiorno Supreme Pizza. Not just any DiGiorno pizza. I want the box that comes with chocolate chip cookies and breadsticks. The crust is amazing.

3. Stouffer's Lasagne.. party sized. I don't even really like lasagne, but I'm just wanting it. And I will eat one layer at a time scraping off all the sauce and cheese, eating it, and then eat the noodle clean. Don't judge me. I also eat all of the chocolate off my butterfingers before eating those. And it tastes good that way.

4. Ice cream made out of only bananas.. and then with peanut butter and chocolate chips. Thank you Austin for introducing this to me.

5. Puppy chow. Not crappy puppy chow either. Double peanut butter, half chocolate. Just like Anne taught me.

6. Cheese and crackers and salami. And I just want triscuits, nothing fancy (thanks for the idea Taylor)

7. Ice Cream. I want chocolate chip cookie dough, double strawberry, bunny tracks, cookies 'n creme, vanilla with a scoop of peanut butter and bananas. All at the same time. Yum.

8. Angel Food Cake. It's a staple in my life.. well around my birthday.

9. Cookies - ginger snaps, chocolate chip with barely any chocolate chips, crazy ones with candy that you can find on pintrest. What a weird site. Yup, I said it.

10. Mexican food and margaritas. Chips and Salsa. I want Salty Iguana's Enchiladas del Mar with the white sauce and I want to eat it while looking at Bill's face during Hawk Talk.

11. Caramel brownies like my mom makes. Mmm.

12. Smores Bars .. CJ and I made these last February. So. Freaking. Good.

13. Peanut Butter, Banana, Marshmallow Sandwich. Don't knock it til you try it. I created this in McCollum (my freshman dorm.. duh) and its the shit. Step 1. Toast your bread. Step 2. Tear apart some marshmallows, spread them on 1 slice and microwave 30s. Make sure you watch it because they will get huge. Step 3. Spread PB on the other slice. Step 4. Cut up a banana and put it on the PB. Step 5. Smoosh it together. Step 6. Grab a napkin, wet wipe, or just take off your shirt and take a shower post sandwich because its messy but SO GOOD. Step 7. Close your eyes and eat and take all the flavor in. You're welcome

14. French Toast. Plain, stuffed with strawberries, topped with syrup, peanut butter, cinnamon, fruit, whatever. Yum. I will learn how to make this one day..

I think this sums it up pretty well. 46 Days until I can start baking. And Halloween candy will be on sale so I shall have a candy bowl as well. Life is good. Until then, I'm off to the gym! Heavy lifting and lots of chicken are in my near future!

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!!

Bugs Don't Stand No Chance!

I am a master bug killer. Not just any bugs, I mean like flying bugs. At my sister's wedding in Napa, I killed 20 some flys hanging around the house on my first swat (I know you remember this Mare). At dinner tonight, I impressed Ceej by killing some little fruit fly or something with my finger. I rock. Maybe I should be an exterminator. It's always good to have backups...

First two days of July were a definite success with my resolutions! Well, I suppose today isn't over. I still have 26g carbs and 10g protein to get in, but for the most part, success :) Ceej and I made some stir fry for dinner tonight.. DELICIOUS. I had ground turkey with jalepeno, and she had mushy tofu. Then we sauted some carrots, green pepper, broccoli, zucchini, and squash in a tablespoon of Ginger Soy Sauce. A HUMONGOUS plate full was only 15.38g carbs, 2.55g fat and 43.89g protein. How awesome is that? And I have leftover veggies for at least 1 more meal and enough meat to last me .. well at the rate I eat meat .. 2 days max. But still. Awesome. I went to the gym today, too, and did 30 minutes of walking at an incline (14.0) at 3.0-3.2 mph. HR was around 148, and by looking at how sweaty my shirt is you would've thought I did jumping jacks for an hour in a sauna wearing a sweatsuit.  Preferably a neon green and hot pink sweatsuit.. but that part is up for debate.

Tomorrow is day 1 of the new split. I have back and delts, lifting heavy weight and low(er) reps. A few new exercises but for the most part they are familiar.. just in a different order or position. Gotta keep the body on its A-Game. :)

Well, that's that. Have a great night, I gotta get to bed if I want to go 3 for 3!

Told to Cheat, and Cheat I Did

I think I'm going to explode, from either end or just in general, who knows. CJ's birthday dinner was the PERFECT opportunity to indulge, and I definitely did just that. Wow. So we went to Natty Greens in Greensboro for dinner and I had the Southside with chips.. which was basically a Philly Cheesesteak. I was SO close to getting a grilled chicken sandwich again, but made myself get something different. I am pathetic :)

We then went down the street to Cheesecakes by Alex and between the 8 of us ordered 6 pieces of cheesecake.. Apple Pie, Peanut Butter Cup, Mint Chocolate Chip, Banana Fosters, Chocolate Swirl, and Kahlua Espresso. I am pretty sure I ate one by myself. Yikes.

And then we came back to my house and I had made CJ my mom's chocolate roll cake and filled it with mint chocolate chip ice cream. It was delicious. And now I feel like a mammoth. Whatever.. I was told to cheat and I listened :)

I hope you can read these bumper stickers we saw, because they are pretty great..

This week has been so exhausting. I am basically doing evals completely by myself, and planning and executing everyone's training programs. I had a lady collapse on me while she was on the BOSU, but I caught her, and we got her to a chair, luckily the gym was pretty empty so there were people around to help. Then I had a couple 5:30am gym sessions.. not typically a big deal, but when I get to bed at 11, wake up at 4:30, and have to work until 6.. I'm pretty exhausted. I don't know how you real-lifers do it!

I missed my workout yesterday because I slept in until 5:45, so today I went to the gym before I left Greensboro and did legs. I got to lift lower reps and heavier today, which was AWESOME! I love heavy leg days. Walked out of the gym a little wobbly and it was great :)

Leg Press
Squats
Seated HS Curl
Leg Extensions
Lunge Jumps holding a Med Ball overhead

Then, I went back to Chapel Hill and the good 'ol SRC to work Chest and Core! That workout was great too. Low reps, heavy weight. PR'd on everything and felt good. My shoulder pain has gone down to more of a pinching in the muscle along my scapula.. so it's not as bad. I was heavy enough that I was concerned with the stability of my right shoulder, and my left arm was shaking I thought it would give out too. Perfect :)

DB Press
Incline DB Press
Incline Flyes
Dips
Superset Decline Abs and Russian Twists
Roman Chairs

Well, tomorrow is my last workout to bulk. It's also my 33rd day of training. I'll try on my suit tomorrow, and take my progress pictures to send on to Meredith. Hopefully I'm in okay condition to commit to the competition in November, but after that cheat meal... who really knows :)

Half and Whole.. It's Birthday Week People!

This is going to be a great week, I can just feel it! Yesterday, there was no workout and I got an early day off work! It was such a great day, until 8:30 rolled around and I found out I was having a Bachelorette watching party (thanks Jess and CJ). That show might be the most pathetic and ridiculous thing I've ever seen.

This is also the week of birthdays. Sunday was my home girl Melissa's half birthday, and one of my very sweet and favorite "sister's" birthday, Janell. Those two are two of my very closest and favorite people I met in Kansas. Yesterday was Jesus's half birthday, and to finish of the halves, today is Nutmeg's 1/2 birthday! That's my sister's dog. Isn't he adorable?

 

He did that himself.. Talented snuggler

Wednesday is Jack's birthday (my Kansas neighbor friend who moved to Greensboro), Thursday is CJ's birthday, and Friday is Meredith's birthday. Holy crap people. That's a lot of births. However, this week conveniently falls on my last week of bulking! Which also means I get another cheat meal! I think I'm going to actually have a cheat meal and not just a grilled chicken sandwich WITH the bun. Rebel, I know. But this busy week also means hello 5am gym crowd! Yay. I'm okay with this actually, I love working out in the am, I just don't like having to work after it. But whatever, I need to get back to my bed by 8:30 up by 4:30 routine. There have been too many 5am nights in my last three weeks, and it is seriously screwing me up. I was up until 11:15 last night playing Minesweeper. Really, Susie?

Workout today was great. Mere dropped my reps to 4-6 for some exercises so I can really lift as much as possible. It felt awesome, but I was a little disappointed that it fell on a week where my shoulder is aching me. The pullups I really wanted to get unassisted this week, but I had to do them with 2 plates off (less than 8# which is still awesome) because the pulling up irritated my shoulder. If I could take a week off I think it would be good, I really think it's just a little anterior impingement because the rotator cuff tendons are inflammed. It feels better each day, and now it's really just bringing it down from forward flexion or abduction that bothers me. I also have some crepitus on both shoulders (abrasive test for you PTs) which indicates an abrasion of the torn tendon margins against the coracoacromial arch. But since I have it in both shoulders, and my left isn't painful at all anymore, I'm not as concerned with that. 30 year old Susie is going to hate 24 year old me. I promise to take time off and get healed come November. Anyway:

Back and Core:
Pullups
Bentover BB Rows on the smith machine
Lat Pull downs - narrow grip
Single Arm DB Rows
V Sits
Stability Ball Crunchs + Med Ball OH

Great workout, but glad to be done. 30 days into Meredith's program and I'm feeling great. I think I have picked a competition, with her help of course, and it's in Greensboro November 3. 18 weeks from this Saturday. Wow. There is also a competition Aug 25th by the same guy in Greensboro that I'll be going to just to check it out, if anyone wants to come.

Nutrition today was also spot on. I planned out every meal this AM before eating my second meal of the day and that works so much better for me. I don't cheat, I don't consider subbing things, and I get everything in that I need. If I take it meal by meal, I tend to want to splurge on some extra fat or proteins here and there and then at the end of the day I need like 50g carbs, 0.2g fat, and a random amount of proteins that makes it so difficult to meet. This is much better for me. Organization and planning pays off people!

Well, gym time tomorrow is 5:30 am so that I can hang out with Jack for his birthday tomorrow. Can't wait but it'll be a busy day for me! Hope you all are having a great week, we're almost half way through, keep plowin through!

Oh and I wanted to give a S/O to my sister Anne for kicking ass at her leg workout yesterday! She worked them harder then anyone I know and now can't sit on the toilet or walk down stairs. Couldn't be more proud :)

Estoy de vuelta en Chapel Hill!

I'm an idiot. Today, I got to go back to the SRC and OH MY GOD I don't think I could've been happier to be back. BUT I lifted the same amount as last week (well.. I increased overall.. but didn't pick up a heavier DB then I did last week if that makes sense.. ) and definitely over did it. I think I seriously screwed up my right shoulder. Not that I'm going to let it stop me from lifting just as hard.. but  I'm just stupid. Same thing I did to my left a couple years ago.. strained it.. didn't back off.. and ended up having subluxation issues. All the ligaments on the left are loose so that shoulder is fairly unstable--although I've done a good job this last year strengthening the muscles to make it more stable--and now I'm doing the same thing to the right. Gotta be careful. It hurts to hold anything in my right arm, I had to have all my weights handed to me in the starting position (above my head usually) so that I could do the lifts. But the actual lifts gave me no trouble at all.. so who knows. Maybe we'll have a couple cancellations on Monday and I can have my CI take a look.

My workout was good though.
Flat DB Press
Incline DB Press
Incline Flyes
Dips
and some ab exercises

The abs were challenging but every week I get better at them and have to take fewer pauses to curse.

And guess what else is stupid? I've gained 2# this week that I've been gone. And I know I haven't been eating more, but it's probably because I'm not eating as much but also not working out as intensely. Don't worry, (I know you all are) I'll be back on track by next weekend. Progress pictures need to be taken and I need to make a decision about when I'm competing. Fingers crossed for November.. but I'm not going to do it if I can't be ready. Gotta stay focused.

This evening after getting back, I had a nice video chat with my sisters, and practiced my spanish. We've decided to make a spanish cooking video. Once it happens.. I'll be sure to post it for y'alls viewing pleasure :)

Well, I'm going to do a little icing and then hit the hay. So happy to be back home, just wish Bliz was here with me! Oh well. 8 weeks and I get to be back with my biffer (yep, Ceej, I'm using that now!) Adios mis amigos! Tener una buena noche!

Back to Being Positive

This week has been chaotic. Why? I have no idea really. It's not like I'm actually busy. Yes, I am doing more then usual, but I think really it's just that my schedule has been thrown off. And it just takes me some time to adjust. Things are going really well here, though. I like the clinic I'm at.. except for the polos. I mean most of them are wearing polos too, so it's not that bad. But I had to wear a polo with black pants. I felt like I was going to work at McDonalds. That might have been the worst. I don't know if I will wear my new, comfy, nicely fitting, black pants again. Just because McDonald's ruined them for me. Or at least not with a polo. Who knows though. Tomorrow I only have 4 hours of work and then I'm going to a Pilate's studio with my CI (Clinical Instructor.. a PT who teaches me basically) to lead some lady through some exercises. Who knows. It's not a part of my clinical, I'm just doing it.

My workouts yesterday and today have been pretty good. It's been difficult adjusting weights, but that's just something you deal with when switching gyms in general. Whether my weight is going up or down this first week, I'm not really concerned. The main point is to just lift as heavy as possible, with good form, and work my muscles to exhaustion by the last rep. As long as I do that, I don't care shouldn't care about how heavy the weights are. Good theory. My damn ego still gets in the way though. Whatever. Today was legs. We did both the lunges and squats on the smith machine today, and I was actually pleased with that. Lunges were much easier. Not in my quads/glutes, but I could focus on where to push and on my form more, then just wanting to quit. Typically I dread lunges just because they take SO LONG! Not that this was any faster, but it was different, and I could lift more because I didn't have to clean and press that barbell over my head, it was just already there! Magic :) But I definitely pushed more with my front heel and even kept my back foot off the ground for both the eccentric and concentric motions, and only put it down for a little balance. It was divine. So here was the day:

Squats on Smith Machine ss Squat Jumps - 3 sets
Seated HS Curls (They don't have the prone machine.. which (surprise, surprise) annoyed me) - 4 sets and a drop
Leg Press - 4 sets
Lunges on Smith Machine - 3 sets
Leg Extension - 3 sets

The leg press also was different. The one I like to do has you pushing more at an incline of 45 degrees or so, and the one at my new gym is more of a horizontal push. It felt like I didn't have as much room to get full extension and full flexion before the weights would drop down. But I eventually got the hang of it and increased weight each set, even though reps increased as well. It definitely wasn't as awesome of a feeling as pressing over 400.. but I did it and worked hard and I was basically limping out of the gym my legs were so shaky.

We are headed back to CH tomorrow after CJ is done working, so we will get to do 2 workouts this week at the SRC and Rams. Praise the Lord! I am also going to try out some new recipes this weekend,  some different protein breads, and a Carob Chip Banana bread of Little B's, and a few others. I'll post the recipes that I make if they turn out to be delightful. It's also my bff from Kansas, Jack's, bday Wednesday and CJ's bday Thursday of next week, so I will be making some desserts for them (clean.. shh don't tell) and going out to celebrate while being 100% on my diet. This week I ate all of the stuff I needed to eat, but a few days had some serious cravings and would eat a tootsie roll (yes only one) after the gym. So my goal for this weekend is to be 100% and to prep all of my food again for the week, no cheating, no extras, nothing, this weekend. A few days of being good takes away all the urges of being bad. Seriously. So that's that. I think I'm going to post my meals this weekend - no lying, no leaving anything out - so you all can hold me accountable. So if you found my last nutrition post boring, check back on Monday :)

Well, I'm going to bed. Last night I stayed up until 11:30 playing minesweeper on my phone.. and I was exhausted and "rushed"... meaning I only had 2 hours between waking up and getting to work to sit around and eat as opposed to 3. I'm weird, I like my morning chill time. Whatever, you all have weirder quirks.

Catch ya on the flip side! And thanks to my AMAZING sisters for all of the support and motivation and encouragement you gave me this weekend. I love you all more then anything!

Prettier with a Dumbbell for a Face?

I woke up at 4:30am to study for my final, made it about an hour, and then decided to listen to some motivational music to pump me up until my test. Hey, everyone has their own method of preparing, mine just doesn't include the test material. It's okay, I still am doing well. Anyways, here are some great quotes I pulled from the "songs". Let these be your inspiration for the weekend as you focus on your goals and finishing the week off on a strong note:

• If you do it right the first time, you don't have to go back and do it a second time.
• Don't try to quit, you're already in pain, you might as well get a reward for it.
• You have to WANT to be successful and you have to be willing to SACRIFICE things: partying, certain foods, sleep, something, anything. (okay, I paraphrased this one a bit.. but the concept is from the song)
• You want more then you have now? Prove it. Go out there and get it.

My workout today was, well, if you consider almost dropping weights on your face great, it was great. Chest and core today. I increased weight for everything but they flys, and on each set of the flat presses I would be doing great and then I'd laugh, and swear loud enough for the whole gym to hear (it was quiet in there, give me a break) or my shoulder would give out, and I would drop a 50# dumbbell on my chest, nearly on my face a few times. But I was still pumped that I got most of my reps at that weight. I know everyone has to start somewhere, and I know 6 months ago I was doing 20# probably, but I just love lifting next to a guy who's doing the same exercise and 10# less then me. Getting beastly.. and that's the goal :) I'm finally realizing how helpful it is to have a workout partner. I'm able to increase weight a lot faster because without Ceej, I wouldn't be able to get the weight into the starting position half the time, and I'd be stuck back on 35s still. Thanks homie.

Workout:
Flat DB Press - 4 sets with a negative
Incline DB Press - 4 sets with a negative
Incline DB Flyes - 4 sets
Bodyweight Dips - 3 sets
Decline crunches ss Russian Twists - 3 sets
Roman Chairs - 4 sets

The abs still suck, but they are getting easier every week. I'm getting some pretty good definition in my abs, which I love. Thanks, parents, for the good genes, I am a fan of my symmetrical tendinous intersections--so far anyway. Did you know that a 6-pack, 8-pack, 10-pack, whatever-pack you can get just has to do with how the tendons split it up? Everyone has the same rectus abdominus (which is the muscle that goes vertically down your stomach) but you have horizontal tendons that split up the muscle to give it the 6-pack or whatever you get look. So, if you have 6 pack, you can't get an 8-pack, you don't have enough tendons. If they are uneven, that's just how you were made, deal with it. Everyone's abs look slightly different and there is nothing you can do about it. Proof (page 137 first column if you doubt me)

I downloaded some new workout music today. That way I don't have to listen to the "shag" music of the SRC as CJ refers to it. Weird Southerns. If you want workout music, this guy is phenom. He mixes popular songs, and older songs, and it just never stops. Plus you can download all his tracks fo' free. Check out his facebook if you want. He's my bff. Well, if we met he would be.

I got a letter from my bff yesterday (not DJ Rolemodel, too many bffs I guess! Can't help that I'm awesome) and it completely made my day. He went to KU with me and was such a big part of my life there. Now he is at boot camp in Oklahoma training for the special forces. I love his letters, they remind me why he's my best friend and make me so proud of him. They are planning on stationing him at Ft. Bragg once he's done with his training in OK which would just be the greatest thing ever. Fingers crossed!

Well, y'all, the weekend has begun. The big move is on Sunday and I have plenty of food prep and packing to get myself ready. I know I'm coming back to CH this first weekend, so I'm thinking of making all my food on Sunday and bringing it. I'll keep you up-to-date. I also am planning on my cheat meal tomorrow and still have NO IDEA what I'm eating, but you better believe it will be delicious. Hard to beat my typical chicken-broccoli-egg regimen though, so it's going to be a tough decision :)

Wednesday's Weakness

I just want tomorrow morning to be over with! Let me explain. I have been doing SO great resisting cravings and not even being tempted with snacks, treats for people's birthdays, etc. There is a classmate's birthday this Saturday, but because class ends Friday, and we are taking our test that day, I am making a treat to bring tomorrow. So I made this new cookie/brownie/bar/whatever you want to call it. Caramel-toffee-peanut butter-brownie (I used this recipe and changed a few things to make it a bit healthier and better imo) is what it is. I made it, and CJ was here and graciously offered to lick the batter and rinse the bowl IMMEDIATELY so I wouldn't have to deal with the temptation. Phew. Well now she is gone and the bars are just sitting on my counter. I can't eat one anyway, because then there wouldn't be enough for tomorrow, but they are just sitting there, staring at me, and seriously making me want to eat some sort of sweets. I just need them out of my house. I am not wasting my cheat meal on a damn cookie/bar/concoction. I refuse.

Despite this little temptation, todays nutrition has been SPOT ON! I am so excited, and it was so easy, and honestly I enjoyed every one of my meals. My morning snack is a little bland, so I may have to see if I can spare a few grams of different macros here and there to add salsa/cheese/something, but all in all, they are good. This is what I had today:

Breakfast:
4 egg whites, 1 egg, mixed with cilantro, onion, tomato, mushroom and mozzarella, and a slice of ezekial garlic toast
Mid-morning Snack:
4 oz chicken, broccoli, 3/4 c brown basmati rice (see, a little boring)
Lunch:
Chicken wrap with spinach, cilantro, onion, tomato, and cottage cheese. Which is AH-MA-ZING!
Post Workout Smoothie:
Protein powder, plain greek yogurt, strawberry/banana/blueberry/mango/raspberry (some combination), flax seed, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk
Dinner:
Chicken with mozzarella, sweet potato, broccoli
Evening Snack:
Chicken, Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal, String Cheese

My dinner and evening snack changes regularly, but the other 4 meals are pretty set in stone. And I like it that way. It makes life simple and I know what to expect, and I'm always satisfied. Always. Except when I have to bake.

Workout today was interesting. I increased weight on EVERYTHING, yet for some reason I wasn't happy with it. And on the tricep dips, holy moly I thought my rib was going to pop right off my sternum. I did my first set of 12 with 105# on my lap. That was too easy, so next set of 10 I decided to throw a 25# plate on top of the stack and do 130#. Well I did 9 alright, went down for the 10th and couldn't get up. IT. HURT. Oh God I think I was bitching loud enough for the whole gym to hear. Lie, but you get the idea. Pissed me off. And that was towards the end of the workout, I was pissed off before. I don't know why because I did awesome, but it just didn't feel successful. I guess we all have those days where you are just too hard on yourself and nothing is going to be good enough. But here's the workout

Standing BB Press - 4 sets
Arnold Press - 4 sets and a drop set
Front Raise - 3 sets
Lateral Raise - 3 sets
Dips - 4 sets
Triceps Cable superset - 3 sets each
30 Pushups

Even though I increased weight on everything, and my chest was broken in half, I was so stoked about my pushups. I easily can do 30 in a row. The last 2 weeks I've been doing 15 with a narrow set base (hands right under my shoulders) and 15 with a wider set base (so that when I'm done, my hands are under my elbows) Today, I got 20 and 10. My goal for next week is to do all 30 with a narrow base. Doable. Or at least it will be!

Well, I'm exhausted, and I still have 6 slides of powerpoints to get through (I know, that really isn't that much, but I have to do it before bed. Stickin' to my schedule). I got to video chat with Bliz tonight (and my fam, obviously.. she's not that techy yet!) so that's why I'm up WAY past my bed time. Grandma might be cranky tomorrow if I don't wrap this up! Orientation for my new job at the Carolina Club tomorrow, so who knows when I'll finish studying for this final, but I think I'm good to go anyway. I'll just wing it :)

The week is half way over, y'all. If you've been slacking so far, put it behind you and kick it up a gear to finish the week off strong. Make it to the weekend while accomplishing your goals. Night!

Tank Top Tuesdays

Well, I have officially purchased my competition suit! Once I get it, I'll post a picture of it for you all to see. How exciting :) Thanks, CJ, for helping me with my measurements, you are the greatest!

I had one of the greatest workouts today! Back and Core. It's crazy to me that I am just starting my third week, it seems like I've been doing this for so long already. But today we got to drop reps on a few of the exercises/sets, and my weight went up SO MUCH! Okay, not like 30# or anything, but it did go up quite a bit. On the bent over rows, I had been doing all 4 sets at 80#, reps varied from 8-12, and today I did my last set at 100#. Very pleased with that. I also decreased weight on the assisted pull-ups. I can't really explain how much because the machine weights are pretty complicated. The list each weight in pounds and kilograms, okay I can understand that, but then they have a knob so you can vary the weight if you are in between two plates. Great. But the knob just is in increments of 1. 1, 2, and 3. One what? I don't know. All I know is that I dropped the weight, meaning each set I was pulling up more of my own body weight. Love that feeling. I can only do 5 or so pull ups on my own, so I do the assisted so that I can target my lats for more reps.

Workout today was:
Pull Ups - 4 sets
Bent Over Barbell Rows - 4 sets
Narrow Grip Lat Pulldowns - 4 sets
Single Arm Dumbbell Rows - 3 sets
V Sits on a bench - 4 sets
Stability Ball Crunches with an added medicine ball held overhead - 4 sets

The abs are getting much (okay, not that much) easier. Really with the V sits, it's my right quad that limits me, because it is knotting up during the third set. The first week, I was incredibly sore all week from this ab workout, and last week I was sore, but not too bad, so I up-ed the weight on the stability ball crunches and really focused on keeping my legs straight on the V sits. All in all, a great workout!

Well, I have some studying and eating to do. Keep at your goals, people. Even if you have a slight deviation, don't lose sight. Persistance is far more important than perfection. Until tomorrow!

Week's end - Recap

Did you think I was missing? It's been a grip since I've blogged, life has been busy! Thursday night, after my leg workout, I got a massage, and it was PHENOMENAL. It was a birthday present from my wonderful sister, and since I used it almost 6 months later, it's like celebrating my birthday all over again! My masseuse is the best. Since I went to massage school, I have a table, so she comes to my house and gives me a massage at night, so I can just lay there afterwards and go straight to bed. Definitely the way to go, people, much more relaxing then having to get dressed, get in your car, and drive home.

Yesterday and today I've had two really good workouts. Well today was rough getting less than 5 hours of sleep. You could tell I was dragging, which was frustrating, and I just wanted to get to the end of the workout. But I've continually been increasing weight which is awesome. Even today at good 'ol Ram's head I increased, so I was pretty pleased with that. I worked last night though and didn't get home until 3:30am this morning. And then I woke up on my own at 6:23am. I almost got up before realizing I hadn't even been asleep for 3 hours, so I let myself "sleep in". Luckily CJ woke me up at 8:30 so I could get my day started. We got our workout in, I returned that ridiculous Victoria Secret's swimsuit, and finished my take home final for school all before noon. Very productive morning.

I've finally picked out a competition suit and am in the process of sizing and ordering that, I'm very excited to get it. Thank you all for your input :) I'm grateful for these next two days of rest. I have a lot I need to do to get ready for the move to Greensboro. I'm planning on coming back most weekends, but I need to be really good about planning so that I make sure I have all of my gym gear, supplements, food scale, blender, etc, that I'm not sure will be there for me. We are going to look at 2 gyms on Monday after we get there, and once that is lined up I'll be good to go. Once I finalize my packing list, I'll let you know what all I am bringing to give you an idea of how much prep I have to do. Thursday I spent about 3 hours reworking my food schedule so that my macros would be more evenly spread throughout the day, and this weekend Meredith will be giving me changes to that, so I'll get to do it all over! Luckily, planning and organizing makes me very happy.

Okay, I need to be a little soft for a minute:

Thank you all for your support and motivation and encouragement. For asking questions and not being (at least outwardly) judgmental of my goal and my adventure getting there. I had a hard time this weekend, because I know there are some people close to me that don't support this and don't think I should do it and have their concerns and they were brought up in conversation. I guess I always knew they didn't support it, which was why I didn't tell them I was doing it, but hearing them question it was really hard for me. And I really appreciate all of you who are reading this and interested in either what I'm doing or how it's going. And I appreciate the comments, texts, and questions you all give me, because it let's me know that I'm not in this alone, because I don't think I could do it if I was. So thank you.

Well, I got to keep going on this productive streak I have. Shopping in Mebane tomorrow, so I have a lot to get done this afternoon. And I'm working tonight at Bada if any of you want to come hang out! Have a great weekend!

Thong, thong, thong, thong thong

Ten o'clock and just finishing dinner? Not okay. Today has just seemed so long! Workout today was Legs Legs Legs. I love it. But I also haven't lifted legs in almost 5 weeks, maybe even 6, because of hurting my ankle, and so today was rough. I had to drop weight on almost every exercise, and that is NOT something I'm okay with, ever. Yes I know, it's been over a month, my weight is going to go down. And yes, I know, that I was doing reps up to 20 today, as opposed to sets of 6-10, so logically I'm not going to be able to do 4 sets of leg presses at 400# still. But even though logic supports my weight decrease, I was frustrated. Regardless, Ceej and I got through it. And if I can't sit down to pee tomorrow, all the better. I just won't drink any water. Haha, yeah right. I go 20 minutes without water and my body basically says, What the f, Susie!


Workout:
Squats
Prone HS Curls
Leg Press
Lunges
Leg Extension

Yup. Felt great. My legs were pushed to the max. Reps are high on this workout since, well lets be honest, my legs are pretty big. I need to get proportional. Tonight at work (yup, this girl got a job! And a job interview for Tuesday!) I had 4 comments/questions about having nice "thick" thighs. What sport do you play? Are you a gymnast? You have great legs. Yes, thank you. These compliments always seem to come when I work at a bar. Must be the booze getting to them. I have always worked at bars, and honestly I do not mind the regulars. But it was so weird being there today smelling fried food and beer, and knowing I wouldn't be eating/drinking there for the next 6 months. Not that I was interested or craved it, but it was just weird. It's weird to tell a complete stranger, My sport? Well, I basically want to be a bodybuilder. hah maybe I'll try that out on my next shift. See what I get in response.

Completely random, but funny gym story. So the SRC is crawling with creeps. I have had way to many guys come up to me and try to ask for pointers, offer advice, ask for my number before they even ask for my name.. that's definitely not getting you anywhere fast, buddy. But anyway there was this one guy who chatted me up one day after my workout, ran up to catch me before I left. Weird but okay. So he wanted to be workout partners. Let me clear this up once and for all. I do not work out with people. I do not want a workout partner. I do not want someone telling me what to do, and I do not want someone critiquing what I do. I research the things I do, I seek help when I need it, your unsolicited help is exactly that, unsolicited. If I do have someone working out with me, that's fine. I love helping people learn about fitness and give people a start in the gym and increase their confidence. But if you are going to do my workouts, then do them. Don't question everything I do, don't tell me we shouldn't be doing a certain exercise. If you don't want to do them, then don't work out with me! Simple as that. (Okay back on track, Sus) So, because I have a hard time lying, I gave him my number (that gets me in to trouble.. I had a 45-50 year old stalker last year. Not even kidding. I couldn't go home for a week, or go outside by myself for a month. I should learn to say no, never took DARE though, and I think they are related). So the next time I saw him at the gym, he was with 2 girls, thicky-thick girls. (Nothing wrong with that) And he was teaching them exercises and what not, rearranged all the benches, and gets on the back extension bench and HE IS WEARING A THONG. Not kidding. Cool if you want to do that (I guess. I think it's weird, but go ahead) but don't let it stick out! And then he starts making out with one of the girls and grabbing her ass, in front of the mirror. SERIOUSLY?! Gross. THEN once she walks away, he comes up to me and says, Sorry I haven't texted you yet - lalala (I forgot what else). Okay, that was pre-injury. I just saw him yesterday with CJ. After my workout, again, he came up to catch me before I could leave. Hey! Sorry I haven't texted you. Kelsey? Katie? What's your name?  Susie. Oh right, well you're looking good! Uh.. ya you too. Thanks! I've lost like 10 pounds but I need to start putting in some more fun crazy cardio that you were doing that one time. Oh. I don't do cardio anymore. I'm trying to bulk up a bit. Oh, I can help you out with that! I started my consulting back up! No. That's okay I know what I'm doing. Well, let me see if I still have your number.. Ya, I'll text you my name. See ya later. (I walk away)

Why do people think I'm interested? Boys are clueless. I'm going to need to switch gyms pretty soon, it's getting ridiculous. Well people, enjoy the start to your weekend. Tomorrow is Chest and Core. Gotta get those mirror-muscles lookin' good! Adios!

Put Your Ego Aside

Someone is reading my blog from Netscape. Seriously? That OS is from like 1990. Are you also using a cell phone the size of Zack Morris'?  For those of you deprived individuals who don't know what I'm talking about, check out this youtube clip of his cell. Awesome. I really shouldn't make fun of my readers,   if your feelings are hurt, well, I'm sorry. But update your computer (we all know you don't have a "smart" phone. It's okay. Those are still "new").

Yesterday was a busy day. After class Ceej and I went to pee in our cups. It was great. We got to see where we will be working, talk to some PTs in the inpatient clinic, and basically have a wonderful time. Then workout time. Yesterday was shoulders and triceps, oh boy, shoulders are my favorite. Sarcastic. Which is clearly why they are too small.

BB Press
Arnold Press
Front Raise
Lateral Raise
Dips
OH Extension ss Triceps Pulldown
30 Pushups

You know you worked hard when you have trouble lifting your arms up to shampoo your hair. Might still be a little dirty but at least I made the effort to shower. Win. So I want to talk about pushups for a minute. If you can do them with good form, GREAT. But chances are you can't. I'd say about 90% of the people (guys) I see in the gym pump out 50 pushups, and maybe the first one looks good. First, keep your head up, looking about a foot or 2 in front of your hands. You want to keep your spine in alignment. This head position keeps the core lengthened and shoulders back, so your chest is in its strongest position to perform the exercise. Don't extend your head and look up, don't tuck your chin - yes you will feel like you are going all the way down, but you aren't so you are cheating. Don't be a cheater. Unless it's on a spelling test and you might not pass 3rd grade. Second, if your hips are sinking faster than your chest, you need to strengthen your lower back. Keep your whole back in alignment. And don't be afraid to do FEWER pushups or to drop to your knees.  Or work on negatives -- keeping GOOD form and going down slowly until you hit the ground. Then get up and repeat it. You have to train your body to recruit all the necessary muscles and use the correct form. Your body is INCREDIBLY smart and will find the easiest way and most efficient way to get from point A to point B. If you let it. You need to focus on doing things to work the proper muscles, otherwise you won't see any muscle gain. If you are embarrassed to drop to your knees or do negatives, do them at home. But really, you should be more concerned with the fact that you are hurting your body, doing them incorrectly, and you look like an idiot acting like you know everything about working out when your form sucks. That goes for all lifting in general. If your form is going down hill, drop the weight, decrease reps, whatever. But all those reps you do with poor form are only helping the Dr. you have to see and the PT he will refer you to. So actually, keep it up. Job security for me. (Kidding, I'd rather you not get hurt, but if you do, in 2 years come see me.)

Last night, I also went to boxing practice with my friend Kenneth. It was great. The technique in boxing needs to be so spot on, but it was seriously awesome to learn something knew. However, I'm not supposed to be doing cardio right now, or increasing my HR too much, and just working on technique had my HR up to 150. Then we did some conditioning, so I'm going to have to talk to them about not conditioning. I'm sure they'll love that. Eh, whatever.

Leg day today, can't wait, it's my favorite day. Seriously. Lift heavy, squat low. If I can't walk tomorrow, even better. Time to focus. Be productive today and make a plan for the weekend. If you plan your cheat meals, beers, then plan your workout for the next morning. This way you won't ruin your whole weekend and you won't have to start over next week!

Sparkling like a Princess

Man, summer school really has caused my blog stats to sky rocket :)

So I have started to look for competition suits. At first when I was looking at them, I almost VIMM (Vommed in my mouth. It's going to start catching on, I can feel it) at all the glitter and gems. And at the price. It's like the less it covers the more you pay. Perfect. But the more I look at them, they sparkle grows on me. It's like I get to be a princess for a day. A barely-clad, painted brown, walking in clear stripper heels princess. Pretty, right? That's why they need the sparkles. Or that's my theory. Anyway, it's been suggested that I wear a shade of blue because of my skin/hair color, which is nice since I like blue. But I've found a couple I'm thinking about and you all should feel free to vote.

1. http://www.saleyla.com/dark-blue-glittery-velvet-twopiece-figure-competition-suit-p-54.html?cPath=1_2
This might be my least favorite because of the different shades of blue-black, BUT I do like the design and clasp in the center. And the strings get cut off once it has been fitted.
2. http://www.etsy.com/listing/81522634/turquoise-blue-velvet-two-piece-figure
This might be my favorite, but it might be the color too. They are all starting to look the same.
3. http://www.etsy.com/listing/86312388/teal-glittery-velvet-two-piece-figure
I didn't notice until now, but also looks a lot like 1 and 5. Just with glitter. Yay glitter :)
4. http://www.etsy.com/listing/68453666/eggplant-velvet-two-piece-figure
Okay I take it back, this might be my favorite. I love the purple (or eggplant.. whatever) And I like the pink gems added to it.
5. http://www.etsy.com/listing/50312411/coral-pink-velvet-two-piece-figure
Similar design to the first, not a fan of the center clasp.

Thoughts? Feel free to share them haha.

Today was Day One of my training. Not to different then what I've been doing, just different splits. Today was Back and Core and CJ joined me! She did great.. might have been the only person with an ear-to-ear grin on her face the whole time, but otherwise she fit right in :) We did

Assisted Pull Ups
Bent Over BB Rows
Narrow Grip Lat Pulldowns
Single Arm DB Row
V Sits on a bench
Stability Ball crunches

It was a really great workout. I focused on the rest time, keeping it to 90 sec between sets, and focused on making sure that last rep was the last one I could do. I increased my DB rows to 55#. Pretty awesome. I love back workouts and I can't wait for it to start filling out!

So, Saturday, I was talking to this guy who was telling me that when he starts working out, he goes Balls to the wall (that saying is old.. let's quit saying it. No ones balls are actually going towards a wall. At least I hope not) and then he is so sore the next day, he quits. I think this is true for a lot of people who were athletes at one point, or at least fit. They think that even though they haven't worked out in 1, 5, 10 years, they should just be able to pick up where they left off. No. Not the case. You should still lift heavy, and work hard, but work your way up. And YOU WILL BE SORE! I'm sore every day. If I'm not, I didn't work hard enough and I increase weight in every single exercise for the next week. Your body will continually adjust and get stronger, so what you are doing on Day 1 will be too easy on Day 30. You need to continually increase your weight or reps, or rearrange your workout, so that your body has to continue to grow and work hard. Otherwise that hour you spent in the gym could've been put to better use cleaning out your house/garage/yard whatever. Don't waste your time by lifting light weights.

His second excuse was that he always had to start something on a Monday. (Okay, weird but fine) And if he was doing well and say, Thursday, missed a workout or ate crappy, he would continue to skip workouts and eat crappy until the next Monday. Okay what the hell. Where did that logic come from? When you make a mistake in life, do you continue to make mistakes the rest of the week until the next Monday rolls around and you can try again? Or do you learn from your mistake and nut up and work harder the rest of the week? If you didn't agree with the second option, you should probably fired from your job, get kicked out of school, and just be a bum for the rest of your life. Because that's the path you are headed down. That and becoming obese. When you make a mistake, accept it as that, just a mistake! Acknowledge it, and move on. If you have one bad meal, forgive yourself, and make the rest of the day right. Eat healthy the rest of the day, and that one meal won't do damage on your body. If you continue to eat poorly, you've probably consumed an extra 600-700 calories. One pound of fat is 3500 calories. So let's call it 700 extra calories, make the math simple. 5 days of this bad behavior is another pound you aren't going to lose. If you go out 2 nights a week - drink a lot, eat late night, and eat poorly - that's about 21# of extra fat you just gained in a year. That 1 hour workout you're doing is now pointless. You say, I just worked my ass off in the gym for 1 hour! Congratulations, what are you doing with the other 23 hours? If you aren't eating right and you aren't getting enough sleep, your gym time isn't doing what you would hope it is doing. I'm not saying don't do it. But I think the more important thing to focus on is nutrition.

His logic is flawed. But the sad thing is I know he's not alone in that thinking.

Well I'm off to start my cooking for the night. Going to experiment with sweet potatoes.. I don't know why, they might be the one healthy thing I just don't like. Oh well, maybe I'll figure something amazing out :)

Tomorrow, I get to go pee in a cup (drug test) and then I'll be hitting Shoulders and Triceps. Get ready for Wednesday. If you didn't start the week off on the right foot, make changes NOW and better prepare yourself for tomorrow! Later people!

Wedding Bells Are Broken

What a day.

So last night I saw a few of my girlfriends, and they are great, I love them. But it's also weird. Of my grade school circle of girlfriends (5 of us) 1 is married, 2 are engaged and getting married before the end of the year, and 1 just went to look at rings with her boyfriend and they are moving to Omaha this summer. And then there is me. You know you're the odd man out when you come home and my DAD (if you knew my dad.. you would know how little he knows/recognizes/remembers about my friends .. he has 5 daughters .. I get it) says Man all of your original friends are getting married.. and you don't even have a boyfriend! Yes, thanks for the reminder, dad.

But tonight was great. I got to see 3 of my really great guy friends from high school for a bit. They are awesome and doing so well, which makes me incredibly happy, especially if you knew the kids I hung out with in high school. Great people... not exactly the best decision makers. Anyway, no wives, no babies, no girl friends. Make me feel right at home. We might be the only 4 left, but whatever, I'm cool with it.

My day was great though, lunch with my dad, dinner at an Irish pub with my parents, and froyo. I love my parents. My mom is pushing for me to get an xray tomorrow morning before I leave.. I missed the doctor's call though, so, who knows. 

Exciting news!! I got an email back last night from a trainer in the Durham area who has competed, herself, in figure competitions over the last 9 years. And she is willing to coach/help me out with this whole adventure! I'm so thankful, she's awesome. See for yourself (http://meredithfalcon.blogspot.com/) I'm obsessed with her blog.. read it everyday. Anyway, I'm really stoked about this and just have to take some bikini pictures for her and then we can get the ball rolling. Now, I have to find my photographer (Ceej, ya down?) 

Alright, people. Tomorrow's a travel day--back to Kansas--so who knows if I'll have time to blog but be awesome and do something with your lives. Take steps to making yourself better, healthier, fitter, smarter, more talented, whatever.. just do it (thank you Nike). Ciao