The First Set of Hurdles

Training to compete in a Figure Competition is like running the hurdles, sometimes you might hit the hurdle and fall down, but its what you do after you fall that decides what happens next.  Get back up and finish or quit and give up because you are too far behind??

So as this week starts I am encountering different struggles.  This past weekend we hosted a Christmas Party for our family and friends.  Since we did it potluck style you can only imaging how many desserts we had.  I overindulged all weekend and I have struggled to get back on track.  This tells me that having cheat days makes it hard for me to get back on track when left overs are sitting in front of me.

Even though the first week was hard to get to the gym, this week I am sore and struggling with the lack of sleep. I think last night was the maybe the second night I got more than 7 hours of sleep.  I feel exhausted this week physically and even a little mentally although I am still focused and passionate about my choice.  My exhaustion could be from a variety of factors including working out twice a day or maybe not eating the right foods or even not getting enough sleep for multiple days or a combination of all these things.

MY PROPOSED SOLUTIONS


With these challenges the second week, I have to look at how to I best set myself up for the next week and salvage this one as much as possible (since I have been having a few cookies and sweets here and there...hard to admit but important to be honest and accountable for my actions).  So I have decided to do the following things:

• Put all the cookies and sweets in Kirk's shop so they are not in the house.  I know he will eat them but he will be mad if I just throw them out since he is a sweetaholic.  After they are gone, he won't have as easy access to them.  
• Drink lots of water, more than I planned to help flush my system
• Continue to workout this week with some minor increases (including yoga).  
• Next week - clean out the kitchen - remove all food that I choose not to eat while I am training and whatever Kirk wants to keep, it will be put in the shop fridge.  This will make it harder for me to be tempted and if I am in there eating it one Kirk will see me or two I will be sneaking around when no one is looking and at that point I have a problem.  I also might donate some non-perishable food that has to be cooked because I will not be eating it for several months at least.  Limiting access is important.
• Write a meal plan that is simple and I can stick with everyday, because as of December 26, 2011 I plan on tightening up my nutrition and then planning for January.
• Stock up on foods that I can have including lots of veggies
• Post my meal plan and workout routine - to help keep me focused and share with you what I am eating and how I am working out.
• Post pictures again in one month to see the changes. - This is important for accountability.

SUMMARY

Struggles are hard but should not be seen as a derailing of my overall plan.  What it means is that right now I am not doing everything I need to and even if I was, there will still be struggles.  Working towards a goal has challenges and without those struggles and speed bumps, you cannot truly appreciate your success and what you have earned.  Part of growing is experiencing challenges and dealing with things that are hard and difficult.  Some days putting your head in the sand or even sleeping in seems like a viable option but how can I achieve my goal if I don't experience growth pains???? How do I truly know what I am capable of if I don't face the challenges and overcome them???  Part of my journey is to face my personal challenges and beat them up and down, but leave them behind me, so I can reach my personal potential.  The only person I harm but letting my struggles and challenges overcome me, is me.  So even though this week is hard and I am so exhausted, I worked out twice everyday this week and I am gonna get up tomorrow and do it again.  Achieving my goals and reaching my personal best my focus and my passion.  

I choose to get back up and finish the race.  I choose to use my hurdles as a means to grow stronger and fight harder for my goals.  

Two of my favorite quotes 

~  Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. ~ Horace

~  If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves. ~ Thomas Edison

Its time for me to astound myself and use talents I didn't know I had!!

   

First Week Review

One week down, sixteen more to go.  16 weeks seems like such a short and long time all at once.  This week has been full of successes and challenges.  I feel great after my first week completed.  Here is my review:

Challenges:

First, I have struggled with getting more than five hours of sleep most nights.  Which I know is something that I will remedy as I can't maintain my road to being healthy and fit without enough sleep at least 7 hours.  Second was my eating/nutrition.  Most of the week I did well however once Friday came my schedule was different and this was difficult for me to to adjust to, I ate horribly and then continued my free day all weekend.  This is something I will figure out this month because it is important for me to have a structured schedule for food outside of my work week.  This has been one of my constant struggles undoing what I have done during the week in one weekend.

Successes:

My main success this week was completing all my workouts.  I didn't always make it to the gym at the time I wanted but I made it!!!  This is quite an accomplishment for me.  My workouts felt great and I wasn't really sore.  During my massage tonight, my massage therapist told me she can definitely tell that my muscles are getting more toned and balanced.  This week's massage was so much less painful than my one three weeks ago, so I am definitely doing something right.  Also, this past week I haven't really experienced any patellar knee pain.  Another thing I was able to do this week was take my starting measurements and before pictures.  I can't get over how much my body has changed since our trip to Hawaii.  I feel very proud of myself for reshaping my body.  Additionally, I also emailed the contact people about entering the competition.  They emailed me back advising that the information will be posted soon on www.jaycutler.com.  I will be checking the website periodically to get registered.

Overall I count this first week as a success given that I am creating a new routine.  This second week I am going to repeat my first week with a few additions - I plan on attending one yoga class and hiking this weekend twice.  I think it will be much easier this coming weekend that it was this weekend since we had a Christmas Party.  I am also going to keep tightening up my nutrition.

I know that I will experience challenges and struggles and I welcome the opportunity to conquer whatever comes up.  I plan on maintaining some balance between pushing myself and paying attention to what my body tells me so I don't suffer an injury while I am training for the Figure Competition in April.

In talking to many of my friends about starting this blog and choosing to compete, the common theme that I have heard  is that I have a lot of courage and dedication to do this.  It is interesting since today I had some Chinese food and with that a fortune cookie.  I want to leave you with what my fortune read:

Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of fear

Starting Line

Part of starting on a fitness journey includes looking at your current situation.  For me that includes taking pictures of myself (front, back and sides) as well as documenting my weight and taking my measurements.  Since I believe this, here is my starting point:

Weight: 185.8

Chest:  39.5 inches

R/L Arm: 13.5 inches

Waist: 32.5 inches

Hips: 41 inches

R/L Leg: 26.5 inches

R/L Calf: 15.5 inches

I plan on updating my progress half way through my journey to April 7, 2012.

One thing that I noticed when looking at the pictures from today and my picture from Hawaii, I have made a lot of changes in my physique, which is awesome.  My stomach looks tighter and damn I need a tan :o)

5/1/11 - 200+

12/15/11 185.8

Deciding to Compete

Many of you know that I have been working on my health and fitness for several years.  Growing up I was always thin and athletic.  However things changed for me when I met someone who lets say was toxic to and for me. I gained a ton of weight over 50 pounds and my self-confidence decreased the longer I stayed in that relationship.  Once I was able to end that relationship and regain control of my life, I started to get healthy inside and out. After lots of hard work I had lost about 35 pounds and kept it off for several years.  

When I met my current boyfriend (who by the way is an amazing man, I love him so much), I was in graduate school completing two masters degrees.  As many of you know that your schedule changes when you start a new relationship (well at least mine did), so unfortunately even though things in my life were great, I started to gain the weight I lost back because I didn't commit the time to the gym and healthy eating that I previously was.  This was disappointing but not something I focused on right away.  However for the past three years I have been focusing on my health and fitness and have lost again 26 pounds.  Currently, I am only 9 pounds away from where I was when I met my boyfriend, Kirk.  

My journey has been filled with struggles. I lose weight, gain some back and then stabilize, lose weight, gain it back and then stabilize, repeat.  I am glad to say this past year I have lost and kept off 18-20 pounds and it feels great!!   For the past several years I have been talking about wanting to compete with some of my friends.  I have read Oxygen Magazine for several years and have been desiring to have a fitness model body, however I haven't pushed myself to actually do it until now.

So why now????  Well I have this awesome friend who I look up to and see as a role model for her dedication to fitness.  She recently competed in a competition and I told her I wanted to do it.  So when she found out about an upcoming competition, she sent me the information.  Here I am presented with the perfect opportunity to walk to my talk, put my words into actions, and finally do what I have been saying is a goal of mine.  In fact, every year I write a list of goals for the year and for several years one of my goals had been to compete in a figure competition.    

Another reason to compete is that I am a trainer at my gym and studying to become a Certified Mind Body Fitness Coach.  Conquering one of my fitness goals is important to me for that reason.  Plus it will help me be a more effective trainer once I move further on my own personal journey.  I will be able to help others succeed at their journey.

Finally, one of my other main reasons for choosing right now as the time to do it is to finally shed all the unwanted toxins from my previous relationship meaning the excess weight and weak self image.  Although my self image has improved greatly since that relationship ended.  For me shedding those extra pounds that I gain from it will be like finally getting back to who I was before I was in that damaging and toxic relationship.  Not just mentally but physically too, which is important to me since who I was all through my childhood and most of high school was tied to being fit and healthy.  

For me competing is about getting back to the healthy and fit me.  The me who feels sexy all the time, proud of myself, confident in my ability and successful.  Especially the me who is the doer not the talker.  The coulda, woulda, shoulda time is over. Now it is time to "JUST DO IT!!!"

So for all these reasons I have decided to compete in a figure competition in April 2012, right before I turn 36.  This is about proving to myself that I can do whatever I put my mind to and being successful in order to be able to help more people in the future meet their own health and fitness goals.     

I can definitely use your support through out my journey so please continue to follow my blog.  My hope is that it may also inspire some of you to achieve goals that you have wanted to but just not dedicated the time to. Thank you again and I look forward to sharing my experience with you.   

The above picture is from Hawaii, May 1, 2011 - Here I weighed about 200 pounds.