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Thought I would start a different journal, and post my journey back into cutting (after a long time of bulking - like many years of it!).

 

I will say that I peaked at 180 lbs this winter (and yes I weighed myself after a day of eating, and a nice large dinner meal - the opposite of what you do when you weigh yourself during the dieting phase).

 

I officially started my diet the 1st of March. My comp show that I want to do is the NPC Natural Michigan BB show that is July 14

(http://www.michigannpcnews.com/2012_npc_schedule),

but I also am looking at the Michigan Championships as a National Qualifier for the Team Universe for this year (as the Team Universe competition is July 6 for this year).

 

I do not know if I can work my cutting magic by May 12, though I could also shoot for the first show that I ever done in my BB life was the Grand Rapids open (came in second in the lightweight division at a mere 112lbs! wrong dieting style in my first attempt at getting cut) the week after the Michigan Championships as it is also a National Qualifier. I shall see where my body is at that point in time in May.

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Today was a good day, even though a wrench was thrown into the day by not having my own car to drive around today. My helpful partner picked me up and we went to our massage therapist and had our neck/shoulder areas worked on. This is our 2nd Monday (weightlifting day off) of getting our necks worked on: seems to be helping us out alot.

 

We also went to the gym afterwards and I did 30 minutes of Elliptical HIIT, on level 3, and did the 5K display in 26.25 minutes (best so far). Did you know that when this particular elliptical gets over 17 MPH, that it puts on its own brakes? I now try to get it to the 16.9 MPH and stay there for the 30 second interval (sometimes longer if the song beats stay way up there to keep my momentum going). Sweating by the second fast interval and I finally got the heart rate monitor (that works on and off, but seems to work well after my palms are all sweaty) up to 170! Otherwise it stays around 140.

 

Weight this morning: 170.6

 

Not happy about this still. My calendar has me at 168 for the past week, and 166 for the end of this week. So I am in hyper diet mode to help stimulate the losing of bodyfat. All I know is that I am looking forward to tomorrow (45 degree weather with partly cloudy skies), but more to the 55 degree warm weather on Wednesday! Trail running here I come back to it again!

 

Diet has just become more restrictive due to no weight loss, though I will be making a vegan cheesecake tomorrow for eating on my cheat meal (will need to boost calories in a day or two to keep from going into low metabolism mode). Shall plan to do a nice 5 mile trail run right before I devour 1/3 of it (and let the gluten bloat begin!). This is so I am in fat burning mode when I eat my high calorie cheat meal.

 

Green tea and yerba mate tea seem to be giving me energy for my cardio and curbing my appetitie, so far they seem to be nice thermogenics for me.

 

Supplements right now are: Resveratrol, Carnitine, Pro Stack by World ABS, Vega Performance Protein Powder,and Vega's Pre-Workout and their Post workout Accelerator Recovery supplements. I also take New Chapter's Blood Builder for my iron supplementation as I was diagnosed as anemic just before winter (and it takes a good 6 months of supplementation for a normal person to get back to normal range levels - which reminds me that I have to go and get my monthly blood test for iron done and make sure it is going up still).

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Weighed in this morning at 167.6! So my 2 days of cardio and intense dieting paid off! Now the goal of 166 for this week sounds do-able!

 

Yeah, when I said I peaked at 180, I really was around 176 most of the time. Plus I started my diet last month, but not officially - like not responsible if I lost the 2lbs a week or anything. But now I have to be held accountable to my time schedule of weight lost, and have to stick to it. I have a predicted comp weight of 134lb for July - so heavyweight here I come I guess (at 5'4" that seems ridiculous to me. Though if my weight turns out to be under 125 for middleweight, that seems more realistic at my height to me). I just haven't seen the comp me in such a long time, and yet I am lifting more weight than ever - so I figure I have to have more muscle mass on me this time due to the weights I am lifting, and the slow weight loss. I am anxious to see what happens! Heavyweight or Middleweight - it won't matter (especially if it was like last year with only 2 to 3 girls participating in the Women's Open BB comp - they lump you all in together).

 

Plan is Delts for today's weight training, and a trail run hopefully - if the weather permits it - and it has to be sometime around noon for that to happen. Otherwise I might just have to try my friend's INSANITY dvd that he has and he seems to love it (and with his fit body looking as it does - not a BBer, but still very nice with the 8+ pack going on - gotta love the intercostals when someone has them showing too!).

 

Now, for that vegan cheesecake! Have to get it done early this morning so it can chill all day in the frig (at least 8 hours the cookbook says - I think I waited 6 hours last time!). Then again, I plan to have it after I do my long trail run in the 55 degree weather predicted for tomorrow. But, oh wait, I have a Kettlebell class tomorrow. . . . plus a good strong Leg workout. . . I think I will need some more green tea to get thru all this cardio that I have on my plate! I feel like Synny now with her 1 hour of yoga, 1 hour of Boot camp, and 1 hour of weightlifting! How do you do it all girl?

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between you , sludge, sunny and meech--Big motivations! Thank you. No competitions for me, ever again ( its just me--I admire and respect those that do)...but cutting alongside you all (part of the Job Search and wanting to be leanest and meanest to get the job of my hearts desire). I know so many people that alternate between Insanity and P90X- have yet to do--please share what you think after. and enjoy the cheesecake. I just threw away my "follow your heart" cream cheese as it was too tempting to have in the fridge. Just curious- what does an average food day look like for you?

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An average food day? Mmmmm, let me see . . .

 

Nowadays, it is a raw vegan shake in the morning: 1 banana, 1/2 bag of frozen mango, 1/4 cup of frozen wild blueberries, water, and 1 scoop of Vega Performance Protein Powder (VP for short), with a big Voss water bottle of Vanilla Spice Energizer tea from Yogi teas. Water comes from the water jug (1 gallon filled full in the morning).

 

Then some cardio.

 

Then 5 oz of wildwood firm tofu, cut up and cooked in a nonskillet pan (usually only get one side to crisp up - that way it isn't all mushy and rubbery) with half bag of frozen veggies grilled in it afterwards (Mediterranean Mix seems to be my choice lately, before that it was the California blend). And another Voss water bottle of Yogi Kombucha green tea.

 

Note here: was also having about 5 oz of brown rice with the tofu and veggies, but I have cut them out just for the past 2 days to keep my carbs way down. Tomorrow I will probably do the same as it is cheesecake cheat day, but the day after I will add it back in for a couple of days, and then off again. Keep my body guessing - brown rice or no?

 

Then I will have an apple and VP about 1/2 hour before weightlifting, and take the Vega Pre-workout with Yerba Mate tea in the Voss water bottle along with me to the gym, and begin drinking it thruout most of my workout (1 hour). Then I have the Vega recovery accelerator with another VP and water from my water jug at the end of the weightlifting session (seems to be 2 hour sessions lately - and I am dying for it! It took only 10 minutes after downing the VP/Vega recovery accelerator to feel the energy flowing thru my body again! Going to the edge again. I remember how that felt. It is not so good when you are out trail running though, and I still have a long way to go to get back home -cell phone time! hopefully somebody is awake or at least home/nearby to come and get me!).

 

Then I have 6 oz of my homemade seiten (no carbs in it this time, because I can now make it with just vital wheat gluten, garlic granules, onion granules, red pepper flakes, and Kal nutritional yeast flakes, with veggie broth as the liquid) and again some veggies (sometimes it is the frozen veggies, but tonight it was all fresh - pineapple, sweet red pepper, onions, and garlic/balsamic vinegar/glutenfree soy sauce/pineapple juice for a sweet and sour sauce over everything).

 

Then a VP an hour before bedtime.

 

Now I will judge how I am feeling and if I am a little low, I will eat some fruit or veggies (sugar snap peas lately). Popcorn is my last 'fill my tummy with fluff to make it feel at least full' food, but it does not do too much for taste. And when in doubt, I brew some green tea and sip it till the cravings go away.

 

And yes, the water jug has to be empty by the night time: used mostly for my green tea in my Voss water bottle.

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Today I had to wait till noon for the weather to get to 40 degrees - and it was windy . I still took off trail jogging for my usual 2 miles. It took me 30 minutes to do it today with the wind and not feeling the energy like I did the last time I was out on the trail. It was sunny, but the clouds would come in and cast a dark shadow on the trail once in awhile. Still, it felt wonderful to be outside and not having the face frozen.

Today's workout was Delts. My partner wanted to work with Dumbbells today, so we did the DB Shoulder Press, DB Side Laterals, Bent-Over DB Rear Delt flyes, DB Front raises, and I played around with the resistance band (blue) and some of the machines. I was not as energetic as I was last time (the drop in calories is effecting my weights this time, plus the cardio in the morning is stealing some of my mojo for weightlifting as my partner tells me). My neck still feels wonderful though, which surprises me as doing Delts usually makes me feel all the knots in my neck, or it makes all the knots in my neck . I'm liking the mini neck massage that my partner and I got on the past two Mondays. Yeah baby!

Too tired to try the Insanity dvd tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Though tomorrow is my first official Kettlebell class (the last one was just a tutorial from the teacher/personal trainer and I was sweating buckets) and Leg day. I wonder if I will be alive tomorrow night? If not that will be OK, as I will have cheesecake after Kettlebells and before Leg workout - I will die with a cheesey smile on my face.

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You either increase cardio (or type of cardio) or you decrease carbs. Last time I took out all the fruits (at least bananas, and of course smoothies) except for a few frozen ones here and there (nutritional value and sometimes you just need to get some glucose up to the brain) about a month or so before the comp. Veggies then become the main staple - like a huge salad with lemon juice.

 

My cardio will just naturally increase due to warmer weather and me being outside alot - though when we were young it was called playing outside. Being able to just hit any trail around here and jog for hours is my adult playing outside now.

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Totally jealous of the trail runs...that was my passion for years, and I truly, physically can no longer run ( a 28 year old habit--Gone..poof) Thanks for the food day -I know you wrote your seitan recipe somewhere else...would you mind re posting. again, Thank you.

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LOL I just found your new journal and read your comment how I do it.... Well yoga is always in the mornings except Sunday. So I have 7 hrs to come off my relax mode and build up my reserves for boot camp and weights. I am also ADHD so give me 15 min after my workout I am ready for round 2. Sundays are sometimes it is a rest day sometimes it is a weights day. I have been getting my Sunday cardio in doing trail hiking and then hitting the gym for weights and yoga. I wish I could bottle up my energy level for you

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LOL I just found your new journal and read your comment how I do it. I wish I could bottle up my energy level for you

Thanks, I will take that wish and stick it inside of me today as it is off weights,and onto cardio! I get so tired doing cardio!

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What a day yesterday was!

 

It was so beautiful at 50 degrees + and the trail was calling to me, but I went to the gym to do the Kettlebell class instead as we already signed up for it. My poor partner hurt herself trying to keep up with everyone else. I did not keep up with everyone else and was not afraid to just sit in Child pose when I couldn't take much more of it (50 swings, 100 sit-ups, etc. - too much for a muscle-bound BBer to take on the first time). She said she didn't want to look stupid during the class, so I guess that meant I looked stupid ("NO! NO! that is not what I meant" for me she said). I didn't look stupid, but she would?

 

I wonder when I am going to get thru to her, that looks/pride are for certain situations. Not your first time in an exercise class. The girl next to me was down in Child pose half the time - at least more than me, and I was jealous of her ability to just look at everybody else killing themselves!

 

So to say that Leg Day was not a great workout with my partner would be an understatement. She complained the whole time about her neck being hurt again (just after our nice neck/shoulder massages on Monday) and I couldn't understand why she kept complaining. It was Leg day, not Upper body day, and her legs and mine were just fine to work those muscles. I am very hard on myself and put up with alot of pain. If I am not using that hurt/sore bodypart directly in the gym that day for the workout, then I would go ahead and work that bodypart out - and not complain about the one part that is sore. OK, maybe I might notice the twinge at first and make a comment, but it wouldn't stop me from pushing the other bodypart - though I have an image of the sore bodypart talking to the working out bodypart saying that this is going to be you tomorrow! . Maybe it is a gift that I have developed over the years of weightlifting. She just started back in from a long break (more than 5 years) so maybe she is overtraining. Especially when she was down right pissed off at the end of the workout session because she is always being sore all the time and not feeling great at least once: classical sign of overtraining. I told her maybe we should (actually her) take the weekend off (of course I will be in the gym). She was smart in saying that she should wait till Friday and see how she feels about it then after having a day off to recover.

 

I also had the great idea to have my cheat meal as meal#1 yesterday, in order to be able to use the calories up thru out the day. Worked! I was still so hungry at night! Spot of green tea at night makes the cravings go away. I do a little hip hop dancing to get rid of the caffeine energy, and off to bed I go. Woke up with a flat tummy (always nice) and went up to 168.2 (with no BM yet in sight). That is OK. That is what it read yesterday when I first woke up, then I had my BM and went down to 167.8. It is already Thursday, and I am working on losing that 2 lbs for this week. Too cold for a trail run today (so sad). I guess it can be spinning for an hour or the elliptical for 45 minutes today, or BOTH! My butt cheeks are the only things sore today from the Kettlebell class. In fact, my butt feels really hard right there - like it!

 

PS - I took a 2 mile trail walk after working Legs (I couldn't resisted the trail calling to me! and I had not worked my Legs too hard that day) and before dinner. It was great to see all the kids and parents out on their bikes, couples walking their dogs, and the guys out on their bikes that they had rearranged into weird recombinant positions! So cool! Alas, today it is grey and cold and windy again. . . sigh.

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Today was an hour of spinning to my favorite K-pop songs that I made a CD for the boombox in the spinning room. I laugh when I see people going by the spinning room and trying to figure out what language the lyrics to the songs are: though K-pop seems to be half English and half Korean lately.

 

I shall blame a friend of mine that introduced me to Boys Over Flowers (Korean version) Drama, that started me off on this path to Asian dramas and music.

 

New fav:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAbokV76tkU

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Snow on the ground again. Geesh! winter sure is trying to hold on here in Michigan! I am slowly waking up and drinking my Energizer tea to help me get going. I just read about Synny's peanut butter and that gave me a warm feeling all over. Maybe something with peanut butter for my next cheat meal? and chocolate!!!

 

My legs hurt this morning - so much spinning yesterday and the lame Leg workout the day before have taken there toll. Maybe I will just cruise with an Elliptical workout this morning for my cardio pick me up. Back and Triceps are later on, and I won't need my Legs for that workout (just to stand and use the weights though I guess ^.^).

 

Afraid to step on the scale. I don't have JungleInTheFrunk's problem of the scale moving back and forth. When I step on it, it will be what it will be. And I'm afraid higher. No BM this morning (come on tea! work that BM magic!), so it will be high today per usual. I can't use the mirror yet because I am still at that 'fat' looking stage - though that does inspire me to keep pushing forward with the exercise and the diet (no cruising yet! it is fight! fight! - little pep talk here!). I think I might be getting Synny's energy!!!!! Thanks!!!! or maybe the tea is kicking in already! I will take it ALL!!!!

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I'm now thinking of a peanut butter crust and chocolate cheesecake for my cheat meal next week! Yes! Yes! Yes! A chocolatey cheesecake mousse sounds so good right now.

 

I am trying to eat my chili for Meal #5 right now, and I only got half of it down. I do not want to eat the rest. Interesting. My hands are still a little shaky though (tough Back and not so much on the Tricep workout tonight - my partner was back in good spirits today, but used light weights so as not to aggravate her injuries). Perhaps the calories are not kicking in yet. Chili with seiten is pretty dense to digest.

 

I opted to do the HIIT on the Elliptical this morning for my cardio (lvl 4 now - my legs were talking alittle back to me as I did an hour of Spinning yesterday).

 

Have a new supplement that came by Royal (UK) Mail today. It is World ABS's BTT Pro, which is Bulargian Tribulus Terrestris. Not going to start it today - tomorrow on an empty stomach. I shall go off their Pro Stack to try this and get a baseline reaction to it (still way early in my diet to see how this stuff works on my body). Another herb to try out - always game for herbs and natural plants.

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Leg day today. I couldn't do the 11 plates on each side of the Leg Press today. That 5 mile trail jog yesterday cut into my weights today. Oh well. It was so nice outside yesterday that I was just itching to put on my Vibram shoes and off I went for an hour + for a nice 5 mile loop. I took my time doing the leg curls and leg extensions after the Leg Press, and my legs felt really swollen that I did not do the Sumo Squats. I knew intuitively that my Legs had had enough thrashing, so I stopped. The quads right above the knee are still feeling swollen/full, so I guess a trail walk would not be good tonight. I shall have to baby them tonight at least.

 

Diet is going well. The scale will tell you otherwise, but my tummy is getting so flat lately that I will go with that as progress. Cheat night is tomorrow morning for me - though I am tempted to do it right now being that my legs are screaming at me to feed them. . . . but I will be a good girl and wait till tomorrow morning to load up on calories, and then burn it off by doing Back and Triceps tomorrow afternoon.

 

Laid out in the sun yesterday and got a good dose of Vitamin D. Felt wonderful to feel so warm all over.

 

Last night was something I want to take a note of. I woke up at 2 AM, went back to sleep within half an hour, but then woke up at 4 AM starving. Went downstairs to the kitchen and took a small shot glass and mixed up some BCAAs and slammed it down. Was able to go back to bed after 20 minutes (did not have the grumbling tummy anymore and could concentrate on going back to sleep). The scale did not move downwards in the morning when I weighed myself. Holding water from the aminos? I shall go with that to appease my dieting persona (my alter ego will probably start appearing soon as usual from the dieting - PMS alter ego has nothing on the cutting alter ego! jk).

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