First photos!

All over and done with and i am exhausted both mentally and physically.

The day was awesome, started early getting my hair done and then driving to Melbourne, but we arrived with plenty of time to spare which was good. I was very nervous as was to be expected, but everyone backstage was really helpful and encouraging. I had issues with my bikini though, the one i had made ended up not fitting well and no one backstage was happy with the way the top sat, they all agreed it did nothing for my body. Luckily for me, one of the helpers happened to bring her costumes with her (don't ask me why) and she insisted that i try her green one. It looked way too small but i tried anyway and everyone seemed to thing it was a better fit on the top than my purple one. Although the bottoms were slightly too small it was the overall consensus that this one was better, so after all the dramas of having a bikini made, i ended up wearing someone elses!(so i am in the green bikini in the pics!)

On stage was nerve racking but actually great fun, i shook like a leaf, but apparently this wasn't obvious, i tried to smile and look confident and enjoy myself and that worked. I felt good! My routine went down really well, the daggy bits that i found hard to do the crowd loved which was awesome, i again relaxed and had fun!

Overall i placed 6th out of my division and apparently 4,5 & 6th were very close and could have gone anyway, with a better fitting bikini, maybe i would have placed higher. I did take home most inspirational female though which made the journey all worth while.

Speaking to one of the judges after i said that i really didn't care where in the line up i came as long as i didn't look out of place and he said i definitely didn't look out of place!!!

We stopped at pancake parlour on the way home which was when i got my first look at the photos Mike had taken, i cried!!!!! I could not believe that was how i looked! Like i said, it has been a very emotional day and seeing my photos just brought home to me how far i have come.

I was quite blown away with the support that i had, I had a table full of supporters which was great as bodybuilding can be quite a lonely sport. It was great to have so many friends come and watch and cheer me one, I have even inspired a couple of them to think about competing as well. It would be so great to enter the next comp with some fellow competitors that i know! If each one of us could inspire someone else to pick up heavy weights and train hard, we could rid the gym of girly weights,long cardio sessions and high rep/low weight routines!!

I can rest easily on holiday next week and then will be coming back full force ready to build muscle, investigate bikinis and get ready to kick some butt in October. Watch stage... I am coming back!!

I will post some of the professional photos next week once i receive them, so please remember to pop back in and check them out. T

Thank you to everyone who has been following this journey, it has been wonderful and is the start of a great sporting career (well, i can dream!!!)

Dream Hard and Aim High

Wendy

1 more sleep

the final day of preparation is here!!!

Picked up the bikini last night and am really happy with it, i just need to make sure that i am well and truly tucked into the top so there is nothing poking out when i lift my arms up!!!

The house is oddly quiet today as i dropped the dog off to his holiday home last night as well. Today is organising comp day and packing for holidays, it seemed like a good idea at the time to go on holiday the day after, but i don't know if i really need the extra running around and packing today!!

The tan has come up quite well, i don't recognise myself in the mirror, way too brown/orange. it looks like i have pasted my head on someone else's body!!! i am sure by the time i have the hair done and blended the make up a little better it will all look good!

Am actually quite excited now, there is nothing else that i can do exercise wise to make a difference to tomorrow,so i am just relaxing knowing that i have done the best i can this time around. I do need to do a full body workout and some posing practise this afternoon, but that is about it.

I cheated on the distilled water, i found a brand of mineral water that has no sodium or any other added stuff, so have used that instead, i just couldn't bring myself to drink something that i would put in a car battery!

Today is the dehydration day which so far i have coped with okay( it is 1130am!!) i think it is all in the mind that i would find today really hard, at least there are not so many trips to the bathroom!!

One more coat of tan tonight if we can scrape enough out of the bottle and then that is it!

This time tomorrow i will just be about ready to get on stage and then it is all over red rover. Until the next one!!

I plan to post tomorrow when i come home to share in the delights of my first comp!!

Until tomorrow

W

wednesday

only 2 days of preperation left.

tonight i am orange! i have had my spray tan and started with contest colour which Mike (hubby) painted on with a roller for me. Not the worlds must glamourous job or best feeling being rolled with freezing paint, but hey, welcome to the world of bodybuilding. i do get to shower tomorrow and i hope some of the stain will come off ready for the next application and then we go through the whole process again atleast 2 more times.

Today was my first 8L water day, another coming up tomorrow, only with distilled water instead (do you think that will taste different?) Food has been spot on, yet i feel bloated and crap (must be the water!!)

sleep is broken, the last few nights i have woken and not been able to sleep, never had this problem before so it must be nerves!!

Am about to hit some posing practise, i figured if i put on last years DVD and keep up with the competitors i should be able to do okay!

Must put the kids to bed first and then hit the stage!!

W

5 days and counting

Can you beleive it is only 5 days now until I hit the stage!!

Am i nervous???? well, naturally yes! I am worried i will look out of place, that i won't be able to walk in my heels, that i will forget my routine, that I will forget to suck my tummy in really tight!!! so many fears!

I think ultimately it comes down to the fact that in my head i am still an "insecure fat chick" and have not come to terms with my new body yet. I think this experience on stage will be a chapter of my life closing and a new book being opened, finaly i will be able to put my insecurities behind me and work on being who i now am, a more confident person, happy within her own body.

Once i get this weekend over with, it will be rest time for us, with a well deserved break for the whole family, it will be time for us to reconnect with each other and share food together. All of us have made sacrifices for this competition, my family have had to put up with alot of tiredness/grumpyness/low carbness (is that a word???)and i am truely thakfull for all their support and encouragement.

The plan will be to get back into training when we get home and build on the base i now have. I need more muscle, so the diet will be changing so i can train and eat to build instead of reduce!! it will be interesting being able to train with food in my system again, i should be able to hit some all time personnal bests once i have some good energy back in the system.

So, what is left for this week. Today is day 2 of carb depleting, only green veggies with my protein for me at the moment. Water is on about 4L so that is very do-able (actually i am struggling to stop at 4, but it ups to 6L tomorrow!!) Wednesday and Thursday are water loading days, thursday and friday i get to reintroduce sweet potato into the day (yeah!!!!!) so plenty of things happening this week to get me looking the best i can possibly be on saturday!!

Oh yeah, i forgot, bikini still isn't quite right, i pick it up on thursday, hopefully by the it will be perfect!!!!

Less than 2 weeks now

Arghhhh, the middle of a heat wave, how am i supposed to train when it is 40 degrees outside and the air condition at the gym is broken???

Photo was taken about a week ago, the first time that i have tried on the bikini in all its glory, it still has a few adjustments to be made (nip and tuck here and there) we had a play around with hair and make up aswell, but in my opinion i just look like a drag queen, so more work needs to be done there, i just don't do "up and glamourous" i am plain and simple!!!

Less than 2 weeks now, it is getting quite exciting, I have to plan around waxing, hair and tanning now. Next week i will start "painting" on the tan so am going to be pretty odd looking for a couple of days.

Diet is getting hard and boring now, am pretty sick of chicken and egg whites and am looking forward to getting my teeth into something bad!!! Next comp i do definately won't be the week after Easter, it is too hard as every where you look there are chocolates and hot cross buns!!!

We have a weeks holiday coming up after the comp,which will be nice to spend doing nothing, refocusing on the family and enjoying food. I am anxious as to what is going to happen after the comp, will i just binge on everything, will i be sensible, how much weight/fat will i put on? am i prepared for the changes my body will go through after? It is almost as bad a working towards the comp!!! I figure i take the week off, eat whatever and then get back into normal training when i get home. I know for a fact that i don't want to go back to where i was 12 weeks ago, i need to maintain this lean body and build on the muscle, the question is how?

Well, kids to say good night to and a walk to do if it has cooled down enough (almost cooler outside than it is inside so it might be quite pleasant out there!!)

Will blog again next week with an update on the last week of preperations.

By the way, our computer died last week and i have lost everyones email addresses so if there are any family and friends out there who haven't emailed in the past week, can you please send me a quick line so i can update the address book again. Thanks

24 days to go

Day off from weights today which is nice, need to get in a walk after lunch though as i am working this evening.

I had a tan done today ready for my bikini fitting and posing practise on friday, so it wil be interesting to see if it actually makes a difference to how i look in front of big mirrors and bright lights!!

Not much else to report at the moment, have to go and whip up something tasty for lunch (let me think, oh yep, i have got it, how about chicken and veggies or chicken and salad!!!!!)

Catch up after the bikini experience on Friday

26 days to go

Actually managed to drag myself out of bed a little earlier today and did 10mins interval training on the bike, i figure if i can fit in atleast 10mins before breakfast it can only help, and surely i won't miss 10mins of sleep!!!

My body is actually quite sore at the moment, the legs have been hammered by 2 spinning sessions and a leg workout and the hammies are struggling to recover. My upper back is feeling yesturdays workout (sore in a good way!!!) so i chose to skip weights today (shoulders were scheduled)and walk instead. Weights can be done tomorrow, I have the day off,so should be able to do shoulders in the morning and legs in the evening (atleast that is the plan)

I have been thinking today how much my mindset has changed the past year. It has been a long hard journey to get to where i am today, but the hardest part has been changing the way i think. One example is the thought of maintenance. About 3years ago, i signed up with an online trainer to try and complete 12 weeks body overhaul (yes tried, i only made it to about week 6) I remember querying what would happen at the end of the 12 weeks, what would i be eating and how would i be exercising to "maintain" the new body!
Today I have a lifestyle, my diet will not change too much once the competition is over, it will not be as strict but it will be designed to improve my body, to help me get stronger at the gym, build more muscle and to be better than i am now in my next competition. There is no maintenance, only progression. If i do not progress i will be regressing and that is certainly not a place i want to go to!

So progression is what i am aiming for, therefore, taking note of what i have said, tomorrows interval training will be 15mins!!!!

28 days to go

Well, the final count down is here, it feels like i have been at this for alot longer than 8 weeks, but the homeward straight is here and this is where the final exciting changes all happen (so i am told!!)

it is my intention for the next 4 weeks to up the cardio side of things, mix it up with some long sessions and some shorter interval sessions and see what happens!

I estimate that i will consume over the next 28 days:

280 egg whites
14kg chicken breasts
14x 450gm cans of tuna
112L water

luckily i live near a chicken farm, so oversized eggs are sold off cheaply!!!

I have approximately:
24 weight workouts
280mins of ab crunches
840 bicep curls
atleast 840mins of walking.

And of course there is the posing practise, routine practise, tanning practise and standing infromt of the mirror smiling practise. Somewhere in amngst all that are the temptations such as Easter (will be saving my eggs for the week after easter, then the only eggs on my menu will be the chocolate type!)

For now, I have a drink to make and some relaxation time to enjoy!!