These are my latest food groups; pickles, peppers and protein. It is really becoming quite a problem because I have had to resort to shopping at several different grocery stores so that the staff don't start to get suspicious by my pickle and pepper consumption/purchases. You may be wondering what kinds of pickles, peppers and protein do I eat... well I don't discriminate again any types they are all welcome in my diet currently (but only if the pickles don't have added sugar). Yesterday evening I polished off a bottle of 'Bread and Butter" pickles. These are kinda between a sweet and dill pickle. They are slightly sweet but still tangy, I buy the kind without added sugar, because sugar is the devil (at least in my world now, how could I have thought sugar was an angel for all of these years?!?!?) I used to be brainwashed by sugar, now I snub it and turn my nose at it as I see it... mostly so that I don't look to long and start gobbling it up. (Paul if you are reading this you are probably need to lift your jaw up off of the ground... but currently its true - no gummies aloud in this diet).

Protein is also consuming my world, I mostly eat chicken, white fish and some red meat (another shocker here for all of my friends). I also supplement with what I call "the good stuff", "god's juice", "heaven in a shaker", "scrumdidlyumptious liquid in a bottle", or "stuff that can't possibly be good for you"... AKA protein shakes. TJ staged an intervention earlier today because he was concerned I was spending our life savings on protein powders and would next be headed for our retirement accounts to 'get my fix'. I currently own several flavors of protein, they are in no particular order; Chocolate Milkshake, Cake Batter, Vanilla Ice Cream, Carmel Latte, Cookies and Cream, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Banana Cream Pie, Strawberry Banana and Roadside Lemonade. (you may be wondering about that last flavor... well its just a sample size, don't get too excited). Ok, ok, ok... now please wipe the slobber from your keyboard - these protein powders are mine, all mine (as she laughs creepily...). In all seriousness, I owe my sanity to these protein powders. I look forward to everyone I get. Sometimes I get a little spunky and mix flavors (Chocolate Ice Cream + Cake Batter = Brownie Batter)- whoa... watch out- I think I have earned a new Culinary degree in mixing and cooking with protein powder. As you can see this stuff gets my heart racing a bit... protein powder has become my new comfort food - and I will hide it around the house and drink it in the closet if anyone tries to take it away from me. Tip your shakers to that!

These were taken two weeks apart... I was a bit embarrassed to post them but decided I needed to be humble and should be proud of the hard work I put in. I think someone may have replaced my body with Mrs. Piggy in the first photo - I'd really like to know who did that, if you are out there turn yourself in! I look forward to only making these photos look better along the way (I guess that is the point eh?) The first photo does deserve a disclaimer: this is what your body will look like after two months of holiday bingeing and an injury - don't let it happen to you!

This one's for Em... "OUTLAW THOSE PIGGIES!"

Well today marks exactly 12 weeks until the competition. So my mental outlook has all of the sudden changed from "I still have __ weeks" to "I only have 12 weeks". For some people 12 weeks may seem long, I mean it is 3 whole months. However, in my mind this is a relatively short period of time to turn your body into an extremely lean balanced machine. My first couple of weeks has really paid off- I took progress pictures yesterday and wow! What a difference a couple of weeks of clean eating and diligent workouts can do. I was pleased with the progress but still feel the sense of urgency for the upcoming 12 weeks... it really is just around the corner. Next week I will be transitioning my lifting from 4 sets of 8 reps to 3 sets of 10 reps- this will continue to progress like this... 3 sets x 12 reps, 3 sets x 15 reps, 3 sets x 20 reps, 4 sets x 25 reps. So as you can see things will be changing quite quickly over the next few months. Really I have started to think of the next 12 weeks as little chunks of 2 o 3 weeks- no problem, this is totally doable.

Changing subjects, I have asked Em if she wanted to run her first full marathon this year. She has agreed to run Portland with me and my friend Paul. I am excited to bring her into my 'running' world after being in her 'fitness/figure' world. It will be a fun summer! For those of you reading this who may not know, I am still trying to train for the Coeur D Alene marathon which falls one month after the show. It has been hard to train for both, especially with the diet but I am still shooting for it. If all else fails I will just run the half. Well, I am off to bootcamp now - I am sure I will have something funny to write after this morning's workout... and I will post my pics later today hopefully (if not today-tomorrow!)

I don't know what is going on with my body but last night I was bloated like a beach ball. Seriously, what the heck did I eat?!?! Here is what I have narrowed it down to;

-the Tic Tac's (see previous post for details)
-coffee (according to my 'blood type' coffee isn't great for me)
-hormonal cycles (yes... that's code)

I went in to the gym last night to lift and do a bit of cardio. Leg day- ugh! I was wearing long workout pants and a nike dry fit tee. I noticed that my legs were actually lookin pretty good- but all of the sudden I had a beer gut (picture college freshman still wearing her 'senior high jeans'). Ok, ok, ok... I can deal with this I told myself, "you just gotta contract the abs and keep everything in". No such luck.. I entered the squat rack and with every squat it came bulging out- my stomach! I mean its not even summer and I hanging out in the weight room with a inflatable water ring?!?!?! What the heck?? WHY is this happening to me? It was not encouraging, in fact it actually really sucked. Thats about all I have to say about that... I left my self esteem there in the squat rack, maybe I will be able to go back next week and get it, if not I might be bringing a cumberbun with me.

Side note: Broccoli does not promote fresh breath... welcome to the world of lots of gum.

Ok, so we have a little problem on our hands... I ate an entire box of tic tac's today. They were a real problem today. I bought them early in the day thinking they were sugar free- but found out that they are not! For some reason even though I knew this ahead of time I still proceeded to gobble them up. The problem is they were "Cherry Passion" flavored, had they been mint flavored I would've never gotten myself in this predicament.

I calculated out what I ate (approx. 60 tic tac's x 1.9 calories = 114 total calories, and somewhere around 10-20g of sugar). This means that I must add an additional 1.1 miles approx to my workout to negate the effects of my tic tac splurge today. Here is the real issue... I had two little voices speaking to me through all of this, a devil and an angel. The devil kept saying, "doooo it. Seriously! You can afford to eat those sugar calories, I mean whats a little sugar gonna do? Help perk you up, make you feel better and give you energy!" AND the angel kept saying... "Nicole, put down the tic tac box. It's ok if you only have one or two, they aren't going anywhere. Plus, you don't need all of those calories - better yet give them away to someone who can really appreciate them and who isn't training for a FIGURE COMPETITION IN APRIL!!!!!" This behavior can lead to a real problem, perhaps I will end up in a 12 step sugar addication program if this doesn't get under control.

I spent my saturday night cooking chicken breast, fish, broccoli, asparagus, sweet potatoes and brown rice. Yep... she's a wild one folks - staying up late into the night cooking the staples of my diet so that I have meals provided for the next 1-2 weeks. I finally crashed into bed around 2am, when most people are just getting home from the bars, I was putting my feet up after stinking up the kitchen horribly (as I mentioned before... these foods do not really smell great). Then today at work I had to heat up my meal which consisted of Orange Roughy, broccoli and a bit of brown rice. People were walking around the office saying "pew! What is that smell?!?!" Ha ha... it was my food! If I have to eat it the least they can do is smell it! And by the way co-workers... get used to it... you get 13 more weeks of my stinkbomb meals!

This morning I had an epic shoulder workout with Em... she sent me to the corner to cry like a baby and suck my thumb. Who would've guessed that 2lb dumbbell circles could make you whine like a baby pig?!?! Em and I have really done well in the last couple of weeks - I am so glad to have my 'fitness friend' to train with. TJ laughs at us, he says I am like a 12 year old middle schooler... most of my sentences start with... "Em and I were cracking up about...", "Em said...", Em and I are gonna...", "Em and I did...", "Em and I were talking about...", "Em told me..."... anyway, you get the picture. The moral of the story is that having a friend to go through this with is key - it is the ONE thing that I believe is keeping me sane! So... here's a cheers to having a great 'fitness friend'... (as I tip my protein shaker).

Last night TJ and I went out for dinner to a sushi restaurant, this was to be a 'cheat meal' for me. I ordered a cup of miso soup, seaweed salad and the "blackjack roll" (which consisted of albacore and spicy tuna, then topped with more albacore). When it arrived it was served in a very untraditional way for sushi - it was decorated and topped to look very extravagant and it was floating in about 3mm of a mysterious yellow colored sauce. Of course, this sauce caused me to spiral into a state of hysteria. I didn't know if this was an oil based sauce or something less harmful. I refused to touch it until the server could verify the makeup of this sauce (preferably by calories, carb and sugar count). She informed me it was Ponzu sauce (a type of citrus soy sauce). Whew! Thank goodness! I wasn't sure it I was going to be able to eat it otherwise! TJ ordered the "heart attack roll", sounds healthy, huh?!?! He also ordered some Pad Thai. The "heart attack roll arrived", it was deep fried peppers that were stuffed with gobs of cream cheese and spicy tuna all topped with a spicy mayo sauce... my reaction when it arrived was a gasp for air. OMG! How could he eat that?!?! My nutrition calculator almost overheated as I mentally calculated what he was consuming. Then onto the Pad Thai... well I think I was in a state of delerium because he started to resemble a snake swallowing a whole mouse as he ate the Pad Thai. I had to look away, I couldn't watch it! I explained to him that I am so sensitive, even to the sight of carbs that to watch someone consume a large amount obviously disturbs me in a great way.

I feel like trying to eat out is like navigating a landmine, you have to dodge all of the buried carb and sugar traps and no server, cook or restaurant owner can be trusted. Even though I made relatively good choices last night I woke up this morning feeling bloated from the sodium in the soy sauce - are you kidding me?!?!? Three weeks ago I would have just been getting started on my sodium intake for one meal with a tsp of soy sauce - what a different world I am living in now.

Well, as you can read by my post title I may not have the highest self esteem currently. Actually the tub of goo feeling was something that I was feeling yesterday but am not necessarily feeling any more. There is this phenomenon that Em and I have been discussing and it has to do with your fat feeling more "liquidy" before you shed/lose it. Anyone out there know this feeling? I am actually gonna do a little research and find out all of the physiological changes that are occurring to cause this feeling. It is a very odd thing though. I had a minor anxiety attack yesterday wondering if I was gonna be able to really be in competition shape by the show date - you kinda freak out a bit when you realize you are on stage in a bikini that resembles more of a sparkly loin cloth. Anyone who knows me knows that I am only a little bit type A (ok, A+...) but I just want to do well - for me it is generally always about giving it 110%. I have been seeing GREAT results over the last 2 1/2 weeks so I just have to trust the journey and put in the hard work.

On a side note, my shoes arrived today. Woohoo! The DIVA is back and she is here to stay for the next 3 1/2 months! My dogs were intrigued by my clear stripper shoes, they sniffed the heck out of them right when I pulled them outta the box! Lets just say that choosing the right shoes was more complicated than I thought, there were all kinds to choose from and some were CRAZY! Strippers have to have a degree in "Clear Shoeology" to navigate the webpages and make decisions. The shoes are ordered from a site that also supplies stripper shoes, because honestly - who else buys clear platform heels?

I have to start my posing practices soon- I have no idea what I am doing yet and I don't want to look like a white girl trying to do the robot on stage. Rumor has it you can get pretty sore from doing the posing practices... ok, like that's is a surprise - what don't I get sore from right now?!?!? I am a chronic exerciser and my life revolves around protein, the occasional piece of Ezekiel bread tastes like a Krispy Kreme donut already (no, I am not exaggerating here). Anyway, thats about it. Right now I am trying to muster up the energy to get some good cardio in...

What wheels of steel you might ask? Wondering if I am referring to my legs (haha! not yet, those resemble Whoppers still :) (thats for you Em :) I am referring to weights... The odd thing I have been experiencing is that I am starting to 'crave' lifting weights. Even though I am tired and have been residually sore for that last 2 weeks straight I look forward to lifting. There is something that is really empowering about strength training. It kinda cracks me up when I am in the free weight room and I am surrounded by a bunch of chimps who go back and forth between bench and bicep curls (yes, I see these chimps doing this just about everytime they come in, at this point I am not sure they know how to do any other exercises). They resemble bloated potatoes with toothpick legs, it actually amuzes me and sometimes I wonder, "how do they not fall over?" they are so imbalanced like weeble wobbles. Then on the other side of the gym you have the 'cardio bunnies' (as Em and I call them). They are bouncing up and down on their ellipticals and stair steppers - come on girls... increase the resistance and you won't be bouncing- how about a little HIIT in heezy?!?! I love being one of the only women who comes into the gym to do some hardcore lifting - I think the boys don't know whether they should be scared or attracted. Either way they are intrigued... but they better not mess with me when I workin with the wheels of steel.

For all of my family and friends who continue to read my blog all I have to say is take the time to Google the effects of Orange Roughy on bowel movements - its more than just the occasional diarrhea it actually offers a very exciting adventure and perplexing outcomes... my case wasn't nearly as bad as some of what you might come across when you read up on this but none the less has been an interesting experience, anyone reading this may feel intrigued enough to sit down to a plate of Orange Roughy this evening... just watch your back, this delicious fish will take over your body.

I just finished up my first full week of training since I was sick the week prior. It was a long and tiring week, some mornings I would rather have army crawled out of bed instead of walked but I realized that would actually expend more energy so I quickly bagged that idea. Instead I resemble a shuffling robot first thing in the morning. This week I have been lifting heavy (4 sets of 8 reps for each exercise). I strength trained 6 days this week and did cardio 6 times this week... no wonder I am tired! One thing I realized is that if you allow fatigue to be your excuse it will turn into FATigue, so although you have to give your body what it needs (rest, adequate nutrition, etc) you HAVE to keep pushing through. Yesterday was a crazy workout day, Em and I endured most of it together, thankfully- it is soooo nice to have someone who completely understands everything you are experiencing! I tallied the time up and technically I worked out for over 3 hours (between bootcamp, over an hour of interval cardio and walking the dogs for an hour) - who does that?!?!? I guess me... but today is an active rest day... I wonder if breathing while sleeping counts as "active rest"? Ha, ha!

Yes, you did read that right. I am having a love affair with protein powder. It's still pretty early in our relationship but it's like we can't get enough of each other. I think about protein powder in between meals and dream about all the flavors I can have and how delicious they will taste. You know how things are when you first start a relationship, so whimsical and exciting and then things begin to settle in and you start to get annoyed and tired of one another, well I am sure that is how this relationship with protein powder will progress but for now I am enjoying the excitement (protein powder has been treating my body right). It's pretty pathetic that I am feeling this way... but at this point I am spending more time with protein powder than I am with TJ!

Allow me to tell you a little story... I recently moved to a place I refer to as "protein land". This is one of those places where you think "that would be a fun place to visit" but once you do you find out it's not somewhere you necessarily want to settle down and raise a family. The odd thing though is that people who live in protein land seem to have a very close connection and understanding of one another, they can relate to each other and how it feels to spend a Sunday afternoon cooking in bulk for the entire week, scrambling to quickly clean up the kitchen before the whole house smells like eggs, chicken breast, broccoli, asparagus and fish. Protein land isn't necessarily somewhere that smells great (kinda like those towns you drive through that have a 'paper mill').

Here is one interesting thing I have learned in protein land... there is great tension between here and the neighboring city "carbville" and even more tension between a suburb of carbville called "sugartown". There are often dirty looks between those that live in protein land as they grow increasingly angry while grocery shopping as they watch loaves of bread and an abundance of refined carbohydrates flinging into the grocery baskets of those who live in the next county over "refined foods county" (the majority of those that live in this county reside in carbville and sugartown, although some live in the town named "frozen foodland").

I know my stay here in protein land is temporary (I only signed a 4 month lease) but while living here I have noticed that my life and eating in particular became much more simple, but very methodical and controlled. Some of those that live in protein land are near mathematicians! They can rhyme off all kinds of numbers regarding nutritional value and calculate the most complex caloric expenditures between food consumption and energy expenditure. I find myself starting this little neurotic journey, joining the ranks of these protein calculating, muscle pumping, hydrating, carb-restricting, veggie overloading, cardio capturing, perfect posing residents of protein land. Those of you reading this may choose to venture into protein land one day too and you'll understand everything I just wrote...

Woke up this morning first thing for a bootcamp workout. Today between each exercise we had to do a set of 10 full
Burpees (these were the REAL Burpees, where you have to touch your chest to the ground and explode up into a jump). There were 6 sets of exercises and I got through two rounds... which means I did 120 Burpees this morning. These are a great little exercise but they can get sooo tiring! Following bootcamp Em and I took a Zumba class - I was looking pretty disgusting through that whole class having come from bootcamp right before. I was looking around at all the smiling, energetic faces and thinking to myself "Ya, I bet none of you just did bootcamp or 120 Burpees... stop smiling!"

Lets just say that my shower afterwards felt like dessert - yes it felt sooo good it was like I was eating dessert...

All I have to say for today is... I was in Starbucks this afternoon and what was in the shiny little case?!?!? Ohhhh just a little Red Velvet Cupcake topped with a surplus of cream cheese frosting - only my favorite freakin' type of cake!!!! I kept thinking to myself will they still have those in four months? How can I take it home and preserve it for four months? I wonder what that tastes like? (Oh ya, like I've never had one... haha!) All I gotta say is those masterminds at Starbucks better knock that "perfect showcasing of my favorite pastries" off!

Whoooo-wheeeee! Wow, today was a hardcore workout day... felt good. Allow me to paint you a small picture. It started out with the alarm going off at 5am, this was to allow me to get all of my stuff together for work, etc. before meeting Emily at her studio at 6:30am (for those of you who are never up at that time, yes, it IS still dark). Today was a plyo's workout. Em and I are alternating putting the workouts together, this week was mine so I guess I have no one to blame but myself. At some point I will post the workout, but let's just say that it leaves you feeling like your legs drank a bottle of tequila themselves. As if that wasn't enough for me today, I found myself driving back to the Y this evening for a cardio session. This consisted of a 50 minute running workout with speed and hill intervals. I guess the best way to sum this feeling up would be to say I now feel like someone tied my legs in a pretzel, left them that way for an hour and then untied them and sent me on my way. You get the picture, it was a good workout day - which I have to admit felt pretty good ;)

Ok, now for the title. You are probably wondering, "what the heck is she talking about?" Well this is kinda funny, at least to me anyway. This morning after the plyo's workout Em brought her competition shoes so I could try them on for size, style and to just get a feel for them (they are ordered online so sizing can be tricky). I kept telling Em, "I'm good with heels, I wear them all the time at work". I'm not sure she believed me... so I gracefully slipped my foot into one shoe and then the other (haha! ya right! this was AFTER the plyo's workout). Anyway, got them on my feet and all of the sudden I was a different person! I proceeded to do a runway walk for Em and 'strut what I was workin with'. I kinda felt like a Disney character who is transformed when a shoe or article of clothing is placed on them. Well, that's exactly what happened... I was transformed into the 'diva on the runway'. I always knew I was one... hehehe!

Well... you might be able to tell by the title of this entry that I am frustrated! I am still fighting a bit of a cold... decided that maybe I need to take a complete day off today from working out. Plus, Em and I are meeting first thing in the morning for a workout so it probably isn't best to do a workout late this evening and one first thing in the morning with a cold. The diet hasn't been going too bad - mostly just having trouble eating enough throughout the day. I am so busy during my work hours and travel between facilities so frequently that sometimes I just forget to eat or don't bring food with me. Usually when this happened I would just grab a snack from the coffee place inside the Y but those snack aren't exactly "figure friendly". Even without a workout today I ate well, so I don't have to feel too guilty I guess???? Gonna hit the sack in a few minutes... hoping one more good night of sleep will do the trick...

Well, Emily and I met first thing this morning for our first workout. We did legs at the studio, it was actually nice to be able to workout together in a "focused setting". It was great to workout with Emily.
I am still fighting a cold, seemed to be better this morning during the workout - I hardly coughed and didn't have too bad of a runny nose. Shortly after our workout though I started feeling bad, I left work just after lunchtime and headed home for a nap. I have the remnants of a cough and still seem to be running a slight fever. I was planning on heading back to the gym after my nap to do cardio, but as much as this kills me I am not going to complete my cardio today. I am concerned that my chest congestion and fever will only get worse with cardio. I feel like I am getting better (or at least at a breaking point) and just don't want to regress! I am hoping that by getting a great nights' sleep and drinking a ton of fluids I will feel better. Tomorrow I will be up early (5am, yikes!) to complete another strength workout and may also do my cardio then depending on how I feel (fingers crossed that I am feeling better tomorrow!).
Update on the food portion: So far the diet is going great! I haven't been hungry or had too many aggressive cravings so that is good. The one thing I definitely noticed is how much junk I really did eat! I see stuff everywhere that I would usually just have shoved in my mouth and I have to remind myself that I can't eat those chocolate covered ritz crackers (oohhhh but they looked so good, and I haven't tried them yet!). Hopefully tomorrow will bring a post that says, "Woohoo! I'm not sick anymore!"...

Well... here it is, my second post. It's a Sunday evening and I am realizing I need to do some cooking for the week (so I don't eat crap!). I have been battling a cold, woke up this morning with chest congestion and a major cough... been trying to take it easy so that I am 100% tomorrow. Emily and I will be meeting first thing for a legs workout, we will be alternating who gets to design the workout (hehehehe... this should be fun!). My legs are actually still a bit sore from bootcamp and skiing on friday and sat, so they may feel like noodles after tomorrows workout - oddly I am looking forward to the punishment. Tonight I am going to be taking my "baseline" photos. I may post them at some point, but will probably just keep them to myself for a while. No one needs to share in that disgust! haha! My main priority right now is to have a plan. We mapped out our workouts and diet on sat after bootcamp, so I am good there. I am also trying to focus on eating at the right times, and getting enough sleep! All of my friends have been so supportive, I feel blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people. Until next time.... and, uh ya, I am planning on posting some photos soon!