Two posts in one ;)

Sunday 30^th September.

Firstly thank you guys for your ongoing support and uplifting comments, much appreciated!!

Well posing on Friday night was good, I am so thankful my mate found out about these classes and that we have been able to go. Not only is the opportunity to learn a lot from them, but it’s also great to meet others who are competing on the same day as well.

I had a wedding to go to today, it was lovely, fairy tale stuff, my girlfriend always has wanted a fairytale wedding. The ceremony was held in a beautiful chapel, the bride arrived in an old fashioned horse and carriage and the cake was a castle set on cliffs made from white chocolate; and no I didn’t taste any hehe.

Well my weight is dropping and I can see improvements, let’s hope these improvements continue during the next 2 weeks. I have become accustomed to the diet my mate and I are on and my energy levels have improved remarkably since feeling like sh**t the first week then getting sick, thank goodness for that, I hope this continues so it assists in my training, I dare say I will be doing cardio right up to the comp.

Also been thinking about plans for after the comp, so in the process of still researching, but have some goals and plans going into action, all good.

Thursday 27^th September.

Not a great deal to report, plodding on bronchitis clearing up I am still very congested, noticed doing abs on a decline last night… I coughed a lot. It has really made my training suffer, but I’ve been managing, Jacob didn’t appear to get chicken pox, well not yet anyway, he is still not 100% either, but he is back to being his wonderful self. I had to cancel some of my work this week, a bummer, but we were just too ill and even if I was ok, couldn’t get Jacob looked after. Was nice to stay home with him and I managed to complete all the assignments I had for tech and emailed them instead of handing them in.

So last night our tech class was cancelled, didn’t hear me complain and that was the last one for the first half of the semester so as long as I pass everything, that’s another 4 subjects down. 4 more start in one week’s time.

3 weeks 1 day!!

Well I had better update my blog, haven’t really had the time or the inclination lately.

It is three weeks until the ACT INBA comp, and as expected things are getting challenging.

One main challenge for me is that my body appears to have stopped responding to the dieting. UMM…. Initially we thought I was holding fluid, well I was a bit, so cut out all salt, not a great deal of changes occurred though unfortunately.

So at my posing lesson with a local bodybuilder a week ago, he told me and a mate we were carrying to much fat, and ‘kindly’ suggested we follow a diet he had strong faith would work, along with a very challenging leg program, circuit style that may I add takes almost 2 hours to get through ummmm. I must be slow *lol* Well he suggested we do it three times a week, and yes we have, god forbid!! Must say it is great to have a partner in crime!!

Anyway last night at posing, don’t think he was all that happy with the progress, can’t say I am either and I voiced my concerns about the diet and weather our bodies may think we have gone into starvation mode, he said as long as your hungry, no your body is not thinking it is starving and yes we are eating regularly. Does anyone know about this???

Funny though came home and this morning a drop in scale weight and I’m sure my legs look a little leaner. Will see what Sam thinks. Have no lats at present, they would definitely be glycogen depleted, lets hope the gains I have made in my shoulders and lats, even if small, are not being metabolised away!!!!

Sometimes I little bit or some knowledge can be kind of dangerous, I am reasonably new to preparing for a comp and some of what I am doing goes against what I have read about from reputable recourses, however I do not have the practical experience to really have an educated opinion, and the guy suggesting what we do has a lot of experience, plus I really appreciate the extra time he has given both my mate and I.

I tell you it sure is a learning curve, and one I choose. However to continue on this path (which I probably will because I’m stubborn and don’t like giving up, and parts of me love the personal challenge, and I want to see just how much I can accomplish) I am going to do a lot more research into nutrition and what suits me and my body in the future.

I can say that in all honesty this comp prep I have stuck to my diet over 90% of the time and trained very hard, maybe for too long who know?? Ow well I am charging forward and as Sam says I may have been dieting too long. All food for thought, owww dear please excuse the pun lol .

Actually I kind of feel better emotionally than earlier in the week, I felt shit house, physically and emotionally earlier this week. Body must be adjusting to the diet, however I have dreadful bronchitis, (haven’t had it since I was a kid) which I am now taking antibiotics for, I generally do not take antibiotics at all, however I can not afford for it to linger. I am being careful to get enough rest.

Teaching is interesting, especially when I forgot mid sentence what I was telling the kids the other day, not a good look! LOL well you certainly have to have a sense of humour in life don’t you, fortunately I have one and I find it easy to laugh at myself.

So long drawn out read, hope all have a great weekend, its glorious weather here in ACT, gotta love Spring!!!!! Well I do anyways. ;)

This is Jacob and my very beloved gran



And here we see Jacob depicting a little of how I am feeling right now:) nothing a good nights sleep won't cure though!!

My second eldest son was 17 yesterday :)

Well I am quite tired, been flat out working, tech and training, find of hit me this week, have been making sure I get to bed at a reasonable time thou, makes all the difference and don’t intent to fall in a heap this time, Actually not sure if I mentioned ages ago, however the tooth I was trying to save that caused me heaps of hassle during and after my last comp prep was pulled out. Hindsight is a great thing isn’t it, I agonised about having it pulled and you could say wasted some $’s trying to save it, and I haven’t looked back since having it out… apparently it was constantly abscessing.

Well like I said this week I have felt a dramatic decline in energy and strength. I have been pleased with my strength gains over the duration of the current program I have been doing; however I don’t expect to make any more strength progress over the next few weeks. All is good though, my upper body is looking leaner all the time, now I need my lower body to get the hint and let go of what it is holding onto, not stressing out about it, well not yet anyway. ;)

I am tired tonight had a big week teaching with some challenging kids and just recently got home from tech, had dinner and am about to eat again and go to bed. I have been having the biggest craving for brussel sprouts, don’t know why, something in them I need, I love them but realise not everyone does!! But not complaining at least it’s not cheese cake cravings *lol* ( I love cheese cake as well)) dream on girl!!! and at least Sam said I could replace another veg for them, thank goodness ;)

Well all is going along as it should, looking forward to the weekend, so I can hopefully get some assignments out of the way, I certainly have learnt not to procrastinate over training, however I am still learning not to procrastinate over assignments ect…. Life is but one big learning journey…. gee think I need my bed I’m getting philosophical, have a great weekend all