White Juan's Distant Cousin

So apparently New England has been in a "State of Emergency" for the past 24+ hours due to the "fiercest blizzard since the winter of '78". Or so I hear anyway. Any of you readers who were with me back in Hali in the winter of '04 know this thing folks are calling "Nemo" is nothing more than a pussy storm...White Juan's Distant Cousin if you will. Isn't Nemo some cute little Disney character fish? Enough said.

Due to the American media's ridiculously overblown coverage of this storm, pretty much every business in the area shut down, including my beloved World's Gym! In the past, World's has stayed open during pretty much every storm I can recall but not this time. I worked from home yesterday since even though there wasn't a ton of snow accumulation at the time, I knew by the end of the day it would at least be above my Z4's barely-there clearance so it was best to stay home and avoid getting stuck in a nasty traffic jam in SoPo at 5:00 pm. Seeing as I am a badly addicted Facebook feed-checker even during work hours, I noticed around 10:00 am that World's had posted that they would be closing at noon. Now, maybe it's just me but wouldn't it make more sense to close at say 1:00 or so so that folks could get in their workout during their lunch breaks? Anyway, in a frantic tizzy I convinced someone to give me a ride at 11:00 so at least I could get in a quickie weight sesh but then I realized moments later that some dumb ass coworker has scheduled a conference call at 11:00. Now, knowing that there was a good chance it would get cancelled (all other calls that morning had) I sent out an e-mail to all parties asking if everyone was planning on going or if I should reschedule ahead of time. Of course no one responded so I had no choice but to turn down my offer of a gym ride. Fast forward to 11:10 and guess what? The meeting was cancelled! Can you sense my frustration? Although I did get in the usual dog walks and a short weight-free maXtreme workout, basically my Friday was a total chump day.

All of you loyal readers know that Saturdays are my absolute favorite workout days however I awoke this morning unsure of what the day would bring activity-wise. Peaking out my bedroom window I could see my car was not buried so that was a good start. I ventured downstairs to make breakfast and let Mugsy out but when I opened the door and felt resistance on the other side I knew it was not a good sign. Good thing I had taken my shovel out the night before! The wind was howling and for some reason had decided to blow all of the snow up against my front entrance. Yay. Poor Mugsy didn't want to take one step forward but I knew I had to clear a path so he could do his business so onward we pushed. Luckily it was light, fluffy snow that cleaned up easily but Mugsy was not a fan...

"Mommy please, I'd rather hold it all day than be subjected to this white hell."

After a hearty breakfast I decided to make the most of my day and checked several to-do's off of my procrastination list. I did my laundry, ran the dishwasher, washed my sheets, vacuumed, dusted (which hadn't been done in waaaaaaaaay too long!), and last but definitely not least I finished up the final essay section of my ISSA CFT exam and hit submit! I absolutely hate exams, even open book ones, as I always get massive mind block, over-think everything, and assume every question is a trick question. Seriously, I don't want to even think about the number of times in school when I would go into a midterm or final exam with excellent grades and come out barely passing. However, I just prayed for the best as there was nothing I could at that point. A message came up notifying me that it would take them 3 business days to get the results back to me so I took a deep breath and pushed it to the back of my mind. In the meantime, World's posted that they would be opening at 1:00 today and a fellow competitor who thankfully understands the "TNDO" attitude offered to pick me up on his way in. Sigh of relief! As I was waiting for him to show up, I checked my Gmail account and...

I passed! I passed! I passed! One more thing on my 2013 goal list checked off! I guess those 3 days are the maximum amount of time it takes them to get back to you. Further down the e-mail it went into more detail about each section and said I got a 91%! I'll never know what the 9% I got wrong was but I'll chalk it up to trick questions ;)

I was so happy when I finally got to the gym again. Home sweet home. I began today's workout with 30 mins of running intervals and then did a back & bi's weight sesh. I am already feeling it in my biceps and between the shoveling I did this morning and the back exercises I'd be surprised if I didn't have a sore back tomorrow. Feel like I'm back in the game! Prior to hitting up the gym the plow trucks had finally come through my neighborhood. I was able to free-up my car pretty easily so I plan to get up bright and early and hit up World's again for a legs and core sesh. Last time I did this particular legs workout I was hobbling for days so I can't wait to get after it! Now I'm sitting on my usual spot on the coach having just eaten a delicious and perfectly proportioned steak dinner :)

6 oz steak tips, 1 cup asparagus sauteed w/EVOO & garlic, 1/4 cup sweet potato

I think I'm starting to get used to the latest nutrition cut. Today was the first day ever that I came in at precisely the amount of servings in all food groups. Usually I at least go overboard on the veggies but I don't feel too guilty about that! I think I'll go make a nice hot cup of Tazo Calm tea, turn on the TV, and veg-out for the rest of the night. I hope all of you survived this "record storm" and at least got in some good shoveling today. Happy Gymming! 

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked

To say I'm starving would be the understatement of the year. I knew this whole prepping thing was going to require some extra willpower but no one can prepare you for the feeling of still being hungry after a meal, having both the monetary and physical means to get more food, but knowing that you must refrain or else you'll go over your predetermined allotment of starch/protein/fruit/veggie/fat for the day and risk throwing all your hard work down the drain. Some would say, "What's an extra 1/2 cup? It's not going to make a difference 8 weeks from now." But that's where I have to keep reminding myself that for every additional serving I allow myself, another competitor is getting that much farther ahead than me. I know this sounds absolutely crazy but this is what prepping does to you. You become obsessed. It takes over your mind to the point where everything else in your life fades far far far away into the background and you can only think of one thing. FOOD. I know I'm not alone, everyone else prepping for the same show has been talking about having the same feelings lately and the veteran competitors says it's absolutely normal. Supposedly when you make an additional cut in your diet, after a few days of mental torture your body adjusts to the new level of nutrients and you feel fine again. My diet was cut just a few days ago so that explains the sudden food psychosis. Must put my mind on other things! My biggest issue right now seems to be the drop in fruit and starch servings. I'm down to 3/4 cup of fruit and 1 cup of starch per day. PER DAY! Just a few short months ago I'd eat that much in one meal! I have no idea when the next cut will be but hopefully I have at least a few weeks before that happens. I swear I'm going to turn into a chicken breast by the end of this. Protein is the only thing that hasn't been cut yet and the only reason my grocery bill hasn't gone down any LOL!

Despite the appetite issues and the return to the mundane desk life on Monday which caused me to start the week in a bit of a depressing workout slump, I feel more energized than ever today! Last night I got a phone call around 8:30 from an unknown number. I typically won't answer my phone if I don't know who's calling (or even if I do for that matter haha) but I'd been getting unknown calls all day that weren't leaving me any messages. I picked up my cell and snapped "hello" in an irritated tone since I had just hung up on a telemarketer whom I had asked as nicely as possible to take me off their freaking call list. Well, let's just say the rest of the call was me kissing some major ass. It was one of the casting crew members for my favourite television show saying that I'd been picked to audition! I was nearly pissing my pants when I registered what was happening. I mean, I've applied to this show at least two other times and for some reason they decided my latest application was, and I quote; "just what they are looking for"?! Excited doesn't even begin to describe my feeling when I hung up the phone. Apparently, unless I want to fly out to LA to interview (which obviously I don't unless they are paying!), I have to wait for their casting crew to make it to the Northeast which will likely be a few months from now for the particular season they want me to audition for. This is going to be hard seeing as I of course have ZERO patience but I guess this is just one more thing that I need to keep my mind off of for now...and one more reason to get in fanfuckingtastical shape!

Ahhh 2013 is really shaping up to be an exciting year! I think I'm definitely going to do the 2nd OCB show on April 20th now since I've found a couple others who are doing it and it really would be a shame to not take full advantage of all the work I've put in over these past few months...and money spent prepping! April should be an interesting month to say the least. I finally decided on a posing suit and ordered it today. I splurged and went all out with full diamond connectors and crystals all over. You'd be surprised what an overwhelming task it is to pick a suit. There are literally hundreds of companies, styles, prices, colors, fabrics, connectors, etc. to choose from. I think I made the right choice though and can't wait to see the final results!

Tonight I put all my new-found energy to good use and murdered my legs. I never do cardio on legs day but since I was beyond motivated today and had an atypical 3rd coffee plus a 1/2 scoop of Super Pump in me, I started off with running intervals for 30 mins and followed those up with 65 mins of BB squats, squat jumps, pendulum lunges, cable adductors & abductors, and MB alternating squats over a bosu ball. What a great workout! Of course, it's nearly 9:00 pm now and I'm nowhere near my usual exhaustion at this hour so it'll be an interesting night's sleep tonight LOL. I already can't wait to get after it tomorrow. It's the start of week #2 of my February workouts and I've loved every day of this month's routines. I noticed I'm supposed to have an off day each week this month but I just can't do it. I guess it makes sense seeing as my body probably needs the added rest with the cut-back in calories but I seriously think off days are for chumps. I know when my body needs rest and on those days I typically do a light cardio & core routine but I still get in there. Ain't no rest for the wicked, right?

Eat Dirty Train Clean?

Today I'm back on plan after a week of struggling to stay on track at an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. Let me tell you, Jamaican's do not understand the concept of clean eating! Day #1 was a complete diet bomb as I hadn't yet figured out how to navigate the menu options and was left feeling beyond guilty after each meal turned out to be either fried or covered in enough oils and sauces to tie my stomach in knots. By day #2 I had learned to specify that items be sauce-free but even then my meats were largely fatty or brushed with some mysterious oils prior to "grilling" (I don't think my grilled dishes were actually grilled). Luckily, I could keep breakfasts clean by either ordering eggs or whipping up some protein oatmeal that Customs luckily did not confiscate out of my luggage and lunches were hit or miss depending on which restaurant we ate at and the daily salad bar buffet options. Ugh, I cringe when I hear the word buffet, but luckily my willpower stayed strong all week! Oddly enough, vegetables were hard to come by and the salad bars were stocked with mostly dirty salad options like cheeses, bacon, croutons, and creamy dressings. As a result, I decided my best option for keeping satiated without eating dirty was to load-up on the abundance of delicious tropical fruit. While this means that I was waaaayyyy over my fruit allowance each day, at least I was able to keep it clean.  Being an all-inclusive the drinks were flowing non-stop. However, even the alluring "dirty banana" cocktail didn't get me to bite hahaha. I had told myself I was allowed one drink during the week so I decided to have a glass of wine while having Italian fare one evening. However, it ended up being so foul tasting that I didn't even finish it! I'm quite certain I was the only non-drinker at the resort but honestly, and I know this is really cocky-sounding (but true!), the figures on display were enough to make you not want to eat or drink for the rest of your life!  Today is day #2 of being back on my 100% clean eating routine (surprisingly I had two fantastic airport meals yesterday - a Caribbean shrimp salad for lunch and blackened seared Ahi with steamed veggies for dinner) and I feel so much better!

Now that I've got all of my complaining out, I have to say that the resort gym was the best hotel gym I've ever seen. While my workouts weren't quite as intense as they usually are, and I was missing a few of my fav items like the bosu ball, I was able to follow my CSF workouts for the most part with minimal modifications. The trick to making sure I got in my full workout each day without afternoon procrastination setting-in was to hit up the gym when it opened at 6:00 am and be done with my workout by the time everyone else was just getting up and meeting for breakfast.

Enjoying my alone time in the gym at 6:00 am

I typically hate working out that early as my body is simply not warmed-up and awake yet but a half-asleep workout is a lot better than no workout! One great thing about getting in there that early was that people didn't start to arrive until about 6:45-7:00 so I always had the equipment to myself for at least the first 45 mins. The rest of my travel companions (aside from my Step Mother who I have to give credit to because she did join me each morning) were a bunch of talkers, all loving to talk about their "workouts" yet the whole vacation I only ever saw one of them in there...once! Oh well, I do realize that it was a vacation and most Americans seem to think of working out as more of a chore than a treat but if I were guzzling 5+ cocktails each day, each anywhere between 300-800 calories by my estimate, you can be damn sure I'd be sweating oceans on the treadmill each day!

All in all though, it was a very nice week away from reality. The temperature was roughly 85 F each day with periodic clouds to keep from it getting too sweltering and I have a seriously awesome bronze going on right now (complete with a nasty peeling forehead though). One of my favourite things was the coconut man who rolled his cart down the resort strip each day, opening up freshly picked coconuts for you to drink from. Can you say delicious?! I'm not sure if coconut water is allowed on my current plan or not but it was so fantastic and totally worth it if it was a cheat! The first thing I did after breakfast this morning was go to the grocery store and load-up on clean food for the week which put my mind at-ease. I can't believe I'm only 8 weeks out! There will be absolutely NO cheating for the next 8 weeks, not even so much as a chocolate chip! I can't wait to hit up World's in an hour or so and get after the first of the February CSF workouts. Today is chest and triceps and I'm going to start with a nice 30-min StairMaster sesh. While I'm already missing the warmth, sunshine, and care-free living of the Caribbean, I am very happy to be home with my puppy and back to my usual routine. I am such a creature of habit! I hope all of you Gym Rats kept up with your workouts and diets over the week. As always, whether you're at home or on-the-road, NO EXCUSES! Happy Gymming :)