March 19, 2011

New Suits!!

So, my new suits [From Suits By Amy came!  Yay!  Hunter green crushed velvet for bodybuilding and midnight blue velvet with bling for figure.  The figure suit is C-U-T-E!  It has a double strap at the neck and is split on the left hip.  Can't wait to get waxed so I can get the full effect!

Diet changed yesterday.  For the next week, my low days are 1150-1250 calories with 83 grams of carbs (107g protein & 43g fat stays the same).  I had a hard time eliminating the right things to get the carbs down and only managed to get them to 89.9.  I texted Nicole to see if that is okay or if she can see where else I might eliminate.  My high day is 1800 calories  with 246 grams of carbs.  Starting March 26, it goes to low days of 1000 calories with 46g of carbs and high days of 1600 calories with 196g carbs.  That week is going to be tough, but at least I'm on spring break so I won't have to engage my brain too much.  After that we go to a straight 1700-2000 calories and 221g carbs, then the week of show we carb load.  Whoo!

[Kerry and I discussed the option of changing the amount of carbohydrates she will be intaking. When doing her program, I took a few things into consideration. For one, the more you workout the more protein you need.  The ADA, DOC, and ACSM reccomend 1.2-1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. This calculation guides us to keep her protein at 107g. Dietary fat can slow digestion and make you feel full longer, so we are trying to keep her fat grams the same as her calories slowly drop. The United States Department of Agriculture suggests that you should get about 30% of your calories from fat. We have her fat content slightly higher than this. If her very low carbohydrate amount effects her energy level or makes her feel more tired, we can exchange some of her fat grams for carbohydrates. Kerry and I will be monitoring her energy level very closely!

Another consideration is going to be signs of overtraining. As people continue to train hard and eat small amounts of food, if they are overdoing it their body will give them some specific signs. One of these is actually failure to lose any more fat! Some people would see this effect and then work out more and eat even less. BAD IDEA! We know better and will do the opposite. If Kerry becomes moody, irritable or depressed; she could be overtraining! If she has an increased amount of aches and pains that persist because of too much of a workload, perhaps accompanied by muscle spasms and cramping due to electrolyte changes: overtraining!  If she becomes tired much earlier in her workouts, if her cardio becomes a huge labor, and if she begins to feel sick: overtraining! Kerry is taking some good supplements to help her recover from her workouts and we have been gradually making changes to her program so we hope to stave off these awful symptoms. If need be, we will actually add calories to her diet. These last few weeks before show we really have to be sensitive to the changes in her body and respond accordingly. -Nicole]

Posing Practice @ 5 Weeks Out

Posing practice is going very well.  My bodybuilding lat spread has come together, and Nicole is fine tuning everything.  I have some new ideas for my routine, and will start putting all of them together and practicing it this week.  My homework from Nicole is to practice my figure posing and walk in my shoes and to find a nice “relaxed” pose for when first entering the stage.  I think I have that sorted, but need to try it with the shoes.  4 weeks to go–getting excited!!

Posing Practice - Rear Double Bicep

I realized that I hadn’t blogged since last week, so thought I had better do an update.  Last weekend was tough.  I was supposed to start my new diet plan on Saturday.  The fact that I had my vet school interview at the University of Florida made that somewhat difficult.  Darla and I drove to Gainesville on Friday–we left at 7:00am and arrived there around 10:30pm–so that day was wasted.  Diet was fine Friday, since it was my prior meal plan.  I did take a lot of my food with me: my bananas, greek yogurt, PB&J sandwiches on Ezekiel bread and sweet potato slices.  I lost one of my sandwiches to the melted ice in the ice chest–total bummer.  Saturday was more difficult because my interview and campus tour took quite a while and I ended up over-hungry.  I admit I ate too much for dinner, and it gave me an upset stomach so it serves me right.  Sunday was better and pretty close to plan, but I forgot to tell Tim to thaw chicken and had to use soy chicken.  Oh well.  My workouts were totally messed up.  Friday was lost to driving, as was Sunday.  Saturday all I got was cardio because the hotel fitness center was crap.  After getting home, I felt crappy for a couple of days–probably because of being off plan and out of whack.  I finally got back in the gym yesterday, and it made me feel a ton better.

Nicole kicked my ass today with the “dirty dozen“.  It’s 12 exercises, set up in 4 circuits of 3 exercises that you go through 2x each.  The goal is to get through it as fast as you can.  I did it in 13 minutes and 35 seconds, which I believe is the fastest female time so far.  Nicole teasingly said next time we would do it with the “boy weights”.  I have a feeling she wasn’t teasing.  After my stomach settled down a bit, I did my 45 minutes of cardio.  Diet has been perfect for the last few days, so hopefully I am back to my normal, dedicated self and will really start seeing some fat loss.    Oh, and I’m trying a new supplement–tonalin CLA, which is a free fatty acid (conjugated linoleic acid) and is supposed to help you lose fat and maintain lean mass by assisting the body in using fat for energy.  I hope it works!!

We recently changed Kerry’s diet. She is now doing three days of a lower calorie amount and one day of a higher calorie amount. We also added another day of cardio, but the duration has stayed the same. We will change her program again when we are four weeks out, depending on what her measurements are looking like. Also, I put together a clip of Kerry taken in the first 8 weeks of her program. This is the first clip I have ever made, so I hope it turns out ok. I plan on putting together a bigger one next time, but wanted to just give this a little try. Enjoy!

February 28, 2011