54 Days To Go

Another week of working, training, eating, meal prepping on the books.  Overall it has been a good week.  One of the most important variables in this prep is keeping a neutral emotional equilibrium.  Because stress can trigger a response in the body that results in weight gain, staggered improvement and just overall reduction in performance.  This is just not in the gym, but in life as well.  My life the last weeks have been pretty structured.  With when and how I prep my food, train, eat, sleep, etc...  And while I am the Type A personality that thrives in structure, it is not always my most dominant.  The one thing about structure is that when things happen that throw it off, for me, it triggers a stress response.  When I was sick last weekend, unable to train and do things how I "normally" do it according to the "plan", I realized that at the end of the day these are the things I need to do: work, train, eat, meal prep, pose, sleep, repeat.  So this week, that's exactly what I did.  I started the week getting up earlier and getting to work earlier.  By mid-week it was a bit later because Tuesday's I train legs.  I got off work later than I "planned"; therefore, I trained later than "planned".  And guess what, I still needed to cook chicken for the next day.  Well Wednesday night, I didn't feel like cooking chicken and I knew if I ate and got to bed I would be up at 6-6:30am automatically the next morning.  So what did I do, I took my tired behind to bed and cooked my chicken in the morning.  The chicken had to be cooked that was clear.  But I didn't have to kill myself trying to do it the night before.  Now true, going into this week I made sure I have chicken through at least Wednesday so I don't have to do the same.  But the point is that being a little flexible never hurt anyone.  What's most important is to keep your priorities in check.  For the next 54 days, my priorities - work, train, eat, meal prep, pose, sleep, repeat.

This is something most people don't understand.  They think my life is so boring and "can't see how I do it."  But the fact is that when you want something - once you want something - making it happen is easy.  You will inevitably do what it takes to get it.  I found something that I want.  Nothing in my power is getting in the way of me getting it.

Nonetheless, I do appreciate the increased support that I am getting from those same people.  Because although they themselves wouldn't do it, at least they cheer me on. :)


Diet
My diet is pretty much unchanged.  I eat chicken for each meal of the day and broccoli is still a staple.  I am eating more salad (which means only romaine lettuce) and I have dual love affair with red bell peppers (Rot Paprika) and rice cakes (Reiswaffeln).  I don't really drink the protein shakes regularly.  Since I workout late again, I usually eat my last meal soon after I got home and showered and just don't need it.  My overall calorie intake is reduced.  I'm eating between 1800-1900 calories a day.  But I don't feel hungry and still feel good.  The amazing this is that I am starting to see more cuts and form and that's exciting and makes eating chicken 5x a day more than worth it.  One thing I can say is that my skin is looking better than ever and some of the issues I was having are clearing up.  And with the amount of chicken I ingest my hair is growing like a wild fire.  It's like I'm taking pre-natal vitamins (knock on wood).  Don't know what I am going to do with the hair yet.  We'll see once it starts touching my neck again.


Training
Training this week was good.  It's no secret - I love to train.  Each workout was a good one this week and I am still feeling pretty strong.  You always hear people say that you start to lose strength after awhile due to the caloric deficit and not having more power.  I am fighting like hell to keep what I've worked for. Some exercises I can tell are getting a bit harder, but I am still knocking out the weights.  In the "off-season" I had longer rests in between sets because the goal was not to necessarily sweat like a pig, but to get stronger.  It took me a minute to transition into this "burn more calories" phase but I am finally getting the hang of it and into a rhythm.


Weight
Since I was a bit sick last weekend, my body reacted on Monday with a slight weight gain, but I was able to keep the focus and pull it in and do what I needed to do to bring it down again. This morning I weighed in at 74.8kg/164.9lbs.  Competition weight goal is 64-67kg.  Got to kick this in gear.


So here are my progress pics from this week.  For all of those who actually read this - thank you.  Your love and support is greatly appreciated!  xoxoxo

                           

Until next week... 1 week closer, 2 lbs lighter.