Misery Loves Company

Another day, another .2 lbs. of fat off my body :) So far everything is going very well. I am sticking to the diet with ease at this point. It will get worse later; you can only eat so much chicken and broccoli before you want to stop eating all together. Anyway, for now-no problem. I have been 5 days with the current diet. Since I started contest prep so late in the game (9 weeks instead of 12 or 16) I pulled all but my breakfast carbs right off the bat. Today I have an "office" day planned, so I hope to take a bit of time, pull out my actual contest diet and see where I'm supposed to be food-wise at this point in the process. Now that I have jump-started my fat burning, I feel a little more confident about adding in some more carbs if it is expected.

I am down 3.8lbs since starting on Friday. I'm sure that is part water, part fat, but seeing the progress is a motivator. I feel confident I am not loosing too much muscle yet. For one, I can see exactly where the fat is coming off of my body. I can see my mid-section flattening out already and my shoulder muscles are starting to become a bit more apparent. This is how I will loose fat, with it coming off my legs last. I seem to carry the most fat on my thighs-which I find very annoying. I wish it was more evenly distributed. So...the progress is good at this point and I am happy with how I look in the morning. This is the time of day competitors evaluate themselves; you are the most dehydrated and your stomach empty. The morning review is an excellent way to track progress.

The workouts are going fine. I did a ridiculous leg routine on Sunday, which has left me sore even into this morning. Monday is the day I don't do weights-I only take one day off each week and that always seems to be the most difficult day to make it to the gym. Yesterday was a back routine. It was good, but I feel I am going to have ramp that up. I was just not satisfied when I was done-frankly I don't think I worked hard enough or lifted heavy enough. I will pull out my workout routines this morning too and take a look at them. I think my leg and arms regimen are good, but I am open to something else on other body parts.

Cardio is going well. For right now I am only doing once per a day and I am running on the treadmill. I can do this as long as I am seeing progress-once my fat burning slows I will move to two a day. You don't want to move this immediately if you can avoid it, just because you will get a bigger boost if the techniques can be added in later. It's all just a trick for your body. No one's body likes to get to 7% body fat. I will use any trick I can :)

I'm glad so far my attitude and emotion seem to be holding steady. Competitors tend to get a little cranky, but I am holding my own right now. Keep checking in though-that's sure to change and then the fun will really begin!