So there are a few things I’m now going to soon eliminate: My beloved rice cakes after my work out (I can still have them if I train in the morning except the last 2 weeks), reduce my recent Crystal Light addiction (those things still have calories and lately, my stomach has been upset by them), and also I would like to reduce my gum chewing. All those things add puffiness around my tummy, and I need to also start tanning on a regular basis so I can begin seeing what I will actually look like on show day.  I have been holding steady at around 1800 calories per day (I count everything, including my supplements- Gaspari Superpump 250 and SizeOn, fish oil and CLA) which is fine.  I will also start cutting down on my vegetables next weekend, when I have two weeks left – they also do contain calories, believe it or not (!) and I want to start to prime my body for the last week when I pretty much have to eat bland foods and less of it.

My workouts are going great – Dana has really come up with a fabulous, challenging routine for me, I wish I knew how to train like this months ago!! My body is responding well and I’m adding size even with the lower amount of calories I’m taking in. The cardio six times a week probably won’t help, but I’m leaning out and that is key before the show.   I have been doing weights in the morning and cardio in the evening, which is working better for me mentally. Probably the ideal thing is to do cardio in the am and weights later, but I always have prioritized my weights, and I feel better having gotten that out of the way.  I also found that doing cardio before breakfast, at this stage in my body building experience, is NOT optimal for me – simply because I’m scared of losing ANY muscle mass, I need all the muscle I have right now!  I luckily don’t have a problem leaning out if I’m doing any cardio at all, so it’s a non issue at this stage (but will most likely change as I develop and get stronger/ more advanced).

Today is leg day – that is, HAM AND GLUTE day, the latter which I consider the weak point of my body. I was born with a FLAT AS A PANCAKE bottom and quite an oval shape (not round), so it has been super challenging getting it to look the way I want it to look. There is also that annoying little layer of fat below my butt cheek and where the thigh/ham starts, a sign I can still lose some body fat for sure! But these are all knit picking items, of course they all count towards building a great body!  I will post my ham and glute routine in a separate post.

Hope everyone out there is training hard – and fighting to be fit!!