Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to you out there dressing up and eating lots of goodness!! Please do me a favor...Eat some for me too! I have not even looked or been tempted by the chocolate, which ya know I'm serious if I don't even take a glance at it! It has been a looong day but there is something about having Monday over with that makes the rest of the week a piece of cake...Mmmmm Cake! Just kidding, no cake for this girl unless it is carrot cake and only AFTER I do 45 minutes of cardio after a no carb day. As I sit here and drink a cup of tea, I am in pure amazement that tomorrow is November already and man o man is the time flying by! It seems like just the other day I was starting my first diet and had yet to admit I was going to compete in a figure show, hard to believe that was almost an entire year ago! The things I have learned over the past year about health, nutrition, training, and more importantly myself, I would never ever replace. I have developed some very important relationships that are irreplaceable and have witnessed men and women, all on different journeys, achieve great things! The way life unfolds and maps out is truly a blessing in disguise, for if I were where I thought I would be at this point in my life, things would be very very different. Let me tell you something, I wouldn't change a thing! In a month, I will be going through finals and then home for a whole month! While I am home during this time, there are quite a few of you I MUST see. Batman, Robin, and BC (not sure if you even still read this) but I miss you and think about yall a lot. I will be in the LA Fitness to see you soon, so prepare yourself now! Lovebug, you owe me a coffee date...no wait, a delicious cheat meal! I am excited to have a break from school, to spend some time with my friends and family and yes, eat some chocolate!

Ciao for now,     J

Love Yourself...

Self criticism is by far, I think, the biggest obstacle to overcome no matter how strong you may appear to the outside world. I know it is something I am extremely guilty of, almost daily, and isn't it a common saying, "we are our own worst critics"? Well I have to admit that being my own worst mean girl is hindering and counterproductive! There have been countless times I think to myself after a workout, Did I push myself hard enough? Did I do everything I should have or could have? And if I allow myself to say no, I beat myself up for it and it ruins the next workout. Then there is school. Did I study enough? Did I do everything possible to get the outcome I wanted? If I answer no, then I dwell on that error for hours and let me tell you, that is way too long to spend on something minuscule like that. Have you ever wondered how life would look if you showed some self compassion and love for yourself? I have and more recently I have discovered that my thought transfer into how I feel physically. If I get up in the morning and dread my first cardio, chances are it will suck, which ruins my day. However, if I get up thankful for another day and quit the trash talking about myself, I have a killer workout and an even better day. As it turns out, caring about yourself is one of the best possible motivators for doing what's healthy for you rather than what's harmful to you. If I could give a gift to everyone around me, it would be just that. I would show them that by loving themselves and truly believing they are great, they can accomplish amazing things.

This past weekend, I was with the Save Fitness and Construction Zone competitors in Wenatchee. I was able to help some inspiring individuals and watch them rip it up on stage. I was sitting, admiring all the beautiful physiques when I started comparing myself to those around me. Now, I am still three weeks out, while these individuals are tapered and manipulated just right for the stage. We are in two very different phases of competing and I had to remind myself that soon enough I will be on that level, but until then, I have to be thankful for where I am and thankful for a solid 3 weeks left of training to get tight and right for the stage. This isn't an easy task but I will tell you one thing, it is definitely fuel for my fire and sparks that deep burning desire to get on stage better than before. Now is the time to love myself more than ever, to not only be a good example for others but to be successful in a few weeks.

Ciao for now,      J

MMMmm Almond Butter!

I have come to the conclusion that... when the highlight of your day is the two tablespoons of almond butter with your last meal, that one, you have been dieting for too long and two, you need to get some new hobbies! Lol I lOOOOOOVVVVVEEE my almond butter at the end of the day and I find myself savoring every drop! The past couple days have been tough but heck this week is flying by! We are already to Wednesday and in just a couple more, the weekend will be here. Oh how I love the weekend! I went to the doctor on Monday (after calling every doctors office in the county!) and much to my surprise...It is ("best educated guess") a sports hernia. So that means my lifting has to change and cardio might have to change in order to push through the next 3 weeks until I can take a little time off. It will be lots of icing (no not the kind I love to spoon off my carrot cake), heat, Advil, and rest (well fake rest) because I told the doc I couldn't rest yet and he said, "Well you better bear through it then." So bearing through it I am, well that and this cold weather! This morning on the way to the gym, it was 22 degrees out and I thought I had frost bite on my fingers because I could not feel them so picture this.... I was running on the treadmill in a thermal, a zip-up and my mittens. Pretty sure if an Eskimo can run when its cold, I can too even if I look like a dork doing so.

School is going well and I am still able to manage the 3 workouts a day, food prep, homework, teaching, and everything in between minus a lot of social time with the other students but that will change soon. I have a test tomorrow in Biostatistics and all I can say is.. Hallelujah it is not a low carb day and I have a modified cheat meal tonight because otherwise we might have a brain malfunction and I cant really explain to my professor that I am just depleted and actually very intelligent when I am loaded up on carbs. He would just look at me and probably think I was worse off for trying to explain myself. Soo here is to it being halfway through my first quarter of grad school, 45 minutes of cardio, and lots of frosting (if you know how I like my carrot cake)! Happy Wednesday!

Ciao for now,   J

Time Flies When You Are Having... Fun?

Holy Cow! Where does the time go? It is already the end of October and less than 4 weeks out from the next show. I have no idea how time can go soo fast yet I remember when I was little, time seemed to stand still. What a busy busy month this has been already and that's just the start of it. The next 4 weeks are going to whiz by and soon enough I will be stressing out about Christmas shopping! Over the past week, I have been dealing with some weird pain and so far the best guess is a sports hernia but I will not know for sure until tomorrow when I go to the doc here in the Burg. I am crossing my fingers, toes and eyes that it is nothing serious and I'm hoping all my worries will be layed to rest after tomorrow... Am I still training? Yes, you bet your bottom dollar I am! I had a check in with Pete yesterday and got my butt kicked in a back workout. I am still feeling really strong for being a month out, I was doing single arm rows with the
65 pounders! This is because there is no 60's and Pete just rolled his eyes at me when I said there was no way I was moving those suckers and he just said, "Get after it smalls, Nicole Wilkins would." Yep repped those baby's out for sets of 12! Today I felt a little better than yesterday but this weird pain is sucking the life out of me, mentally and physically. I got a 5-mile run in for a whoppin 700 calories today and actually felt really good but my second round of cardio was not so successful and I ended up jogging for two steps before the pain almost knocked me to my knees. Stupid stupid stupid. Needless to say, I am sitting here writing this as I have a heating pad on my lower back and an ice pack on my groin all the while eating my tilapia...Oh now this is what a figure competitor looks like! ;) Food is prepped and packed for tomorrow, training clothes are washed and ready for the week, I am trying to heal up and get in bed at a decent time to hit a.m. cardio.... Yet the homework is still in the works of being done. My attention span for Biostatistics and Advanced Physiology can only last soo long. Here is to another day in the books and one less until the next show!

Ciao for now,       J

Push Just a Little Harder

I heard a song with the line, "When push comes to shove, you'll find what you are made of" and that is exactly what I am finding out. I push myself and push myself a little further but sometimes I get knocked down, or more recently, blown over in the huge gusts of wind over here. I knew this was not going to be easy, shoot I expected to fall flat on my face, but when the day is over and it is all said and done, I am still moving forward. Tough times may seem to last a lot longer than expected but you know what, tough people last longer! I managed to get through another crazy day and got all my workouts in and even spent some time with the other grad students after open lab. It is nice to know that they have some of the same fears as me going through this program and I am not alone but what has taken me by surprise is their interest in competing. A couple of them have started to ask a lot of questions about what I do for diet, training, what a show is like, how I manage to get everything done, and it has been a relief and pleasure to share with them my journey. I find comfort in the fact that I can talk to them openly about my lifestyle and my passion for competing and they don't judge me one way or the other. They have said though, that when I am done with my next show, we are going to go celebrate. Last night we stopped by a local brewery where a classmate works and this is just a small seating area with no food served, just beer. Sitting there, I ordered up a home brewed glass of cold water while the others enjoyed a beer (or two). It was pretty dang funny because since they are not a restaurant, you can bring in your own food or even have pizza delivered to the place. So one of the girls had made a cake and did not want it at her house anymore so picture a bunch of us grad students sitting around and I am watching everyone enjoy cold beer and cake (it was funfetti cake with rainbow chip frosting too). I would not have it any other way. I was happy as a clam enjoying their company and knowing I am only 5-ish weeks away from the stage. It is go time and there is no, I mean NO, time for error in dieting or training. However, after the show....is a different story! Enjoy Wednesday and happy training!

Ciao for now,       J

Snapshot from USA

Here is a photo from USA's and I am still anxiously awaiting for more!

Trying to Stay Afloat

Wow so these past few weeks have been a blur. School is in full swing, I have already taken 2 exams in my Graduate career and all I can say is, I may need a life jacket! I am just trying to stay afloat with everything that is on my plate. I will give you my Monday and then you can see that this schedule I am keeping is crazy. Cardio at 6 am, race home get showered and fed and out the door to study for an exam at 8:30 then class 11 to 12pm, race home and let Stella out and run any errands I can manage in 40 minutes, teach weight training 1-2pm, TA for a class 2-3pm, hit the gym for cardio number two 3-3:45, back home to eat and back to school 5-6pm to teach abs/glutes class, and rush to dissection lab 6-8pm. Then back home, food packed, homework somewhat done (usually I mess around on facebook because my brain is toast by this point) then off to bed to do it all over again. It really has been an adjustment getting into the routine of school, GA responsibilities, training, dieting, and everything in between. There have only been a couple days when I wanted to stop and give up, try an easier route however, on most days, I keep saying to myself, "You got this. Keep going, keep pushing forward." As long as I keep myself focused and my time management skills are in play, I can keep things under control, for the most part. Its definitely been an adjustment moving back the the East side and going back to school. I feel soooo old amongst all the excited 18/19 year olds who want to party it up like its 1999. Haha the rec center has a decent weight room and one Stepmill, so I claim that sucker every morning! One of the hardest things I have discovered is being able to find someone to spot me. I asked a guy a few days back and he looked at me with a weird look before saying, "You lift more than I do" and he walked away. Awesome. Well looks like it is time to step up the game and do what I can.

Ciao for now,     J

PS... I will try to update this more :)