After nearly five months of doing next to nothing when it comes to cardio, I am slowly incorporating this routine again back into my life and it feels amazing! As I was prepping for my show, I was focusing on building muscle as quickly as I could (not that there ever is a quick way!) being that I was pretty small, and I was also one of those people you love to hate – had no problem staying lean as long as I watched my diet and just lifted heavy.  No cardio needed. After my show last month I have still been eating pretty on point, but there have been a few days with family lately as well as some super stressful days at work where I had to resort to other foods, and it now shows on my body. Results: A few pounds up and some fat has crept on! NOOOO! Of course that is not acceptable in my book, so I’m now back to strict Fighter Diet with no little “extras” here and there, and I’m also cutting some of the foods I used to be able to eat pre-contest. My deletions will be as follows:

1.  Removing my beloved 1/2 banana I used to love with my morning oatmeal.

2. Cutting 1/2 cup of oatmeal from breakfast – so now 1/2 cup instead of 1 cup in the morning.

3. Down from 6-4 oz of protein at night (chicken/fish, etc.)

4. Removing my 1-2 tbsp of nuts that I usually have in my non fat Greek yogurt or non fat cottage cheese.

This won’t be forever, but until I’m down about 5-6 lbs. I know some of this is water weight – I weighed myself this morning and am down 2 lbs already from last week, so hopefully will normalize in a week or so. However, I KNOW that I’ve gained some fat, I can both see and feel it and I hate it! I used to be able to eat about 2500 calories, but will now stay around 1800-2000 at the most. I am not allowing myself a re-feed day for at least a month, maybe longer, we’ll see how I feel and what progress I make.

I will do 45 minutes of cardio 6 days a week going forward until the end of the year to see how it will affect my body along with my restricted diet. Not the most ideal time of year for me as in my line of work there is nothing but parties and fatty food, but luckily I have absolutely NO desire to eat any of it. If the urge comes over me by some chance, I will just strip down to my undies and take a look at myself in the mirror, lol!!

Speaking of, I just got back from a 45 min run around the neighborhood and I feel great!  Of course I’m not as in good of a cardiovascular shape as I was back in April when I ran my half marathon but I will keep at it and get back to my regular shape. I have never been able to split my work outs into two during the day due to time restraints, also because I have to drive 1/2 hour + each way to the gym. My goal now is to do my cardio outside in the afternoon (I do weights in the morning). I love to run anyway so will incorporate some sprints, jumps, rope jumping, etc.  A while back I bought the P90X “Insanity” DVD series, which focuses on cardio exercises, so thought I would check those out for some inspiration and new routines. I am excited for my little “trial and error” period – I haven’t had to lose weight for a while so this is certainly different! And believe me, once I’m down to my ‘normal’ weight again I’m not ever going back up – we all live and learn, I had to get it out of my system I suppose and experience it myself.  One thing I have learned is that those small “50 calories” here and there DO add up, and they DO make a difference when you want to stay ripped and shredded to the core!!

I will post some progress pictures starting this weekend, so stay tuned!

Happy training everyone!