Do not adjust your computer......I DID post progress pics finally!

I don't have too much time for a post now, but didn't want to put these off any longer! Here we are......8 weeks out!

I'll try to get back later to post a bit more on these. Bye!

I'm kinda stealing this idea here, but hey I think it looks fun so I thought I'd try it out too! If you check out the side bar you can see a little box where you can ask me questions:-) You can ask anonymously if you want or not. I will answer them to the best of my ability and as truthfully as I can.......as long as they're tasteful questions. If your question doesn't get answered, it's prolly coz it didn't deserve a response! All that being said.....ask away!

8 Weeks Out!

I keep saying that I'm going to stay on top of posting to this blog, and I always get so easily side tracked. I do lurk around blogger-land and keep up with what everyone's up to, just take too long doing it. I agree with Abby, that it has been a little quiet though (which also motivated me to post something!).

So, I'm 8 weeks out at this point. Have way mark! THANK GOD!!! I'm really starting to have a hard time with my prep this time. I don't know why my cravings are so intense:-( I think it's maybe because usually I prep for 12 weeks and at this point I only have 4 more to go which is easier for my brain to take than 8! I haven't really got that creative with my recipes yet. I think I should start, I need to mix things up a bit. I'm not loving my protein powder right now and that is usually a saving grace for me. I've tried to nuke it a couple times but that was a big FAIL! I've also tried cooking it up like pancakes, but the texture was just too weird and bland to repeat. Oh, and I just started adding fish to my diet.......yum my favorite (not so much). I picked up some tilapia because it's the only one I can take the taste of. I know some people are all about the philosophy of you don't have to eat what you don't like on your diet, but I just don't want to take a chance. If I am ready early I can cut it out. If I was gagging on it I wouldn't be eating it, I just don't care for it is all. If anyone knows some really good (make it not taste like fish good) recipes feel free to share'em!

I have started stoning my suit a little while back. I pretty much did one side of the top and then put it away and haven't touched it since. Maybe I'll pull it out after I'm done with this post??? I went to the bead store to get more of one of the stone types I needed (I had the wrong size for one and needed more of the other). Do you know they wouldn't exchange the stones I had (size issue) even though I was going to be purchasing more? I thought that was strange. They said since I didn't have my receipt and they didn't see it in their system that the purchase must have been too old (I did buy them quite a while back). I didn't think it would be a problem though since it was just exchange......and they're stones not clothing that goes out of style or season? Oh well it's not like they're the only bead place.

Okay, I just re-read that part and realized that I spent more time on that than I should have. It bugged me, but not THAT bad.

I don't think I have too much going on this week other than the usual everyday stuff. I'm helping a friend out with her hair extensions tomorrow. We're cutting, gluing, and sewing the clips in them. She has a show in a few weeks, then on to Jr. Nat's as well. I have used extensions before for going out but not for a show. I think they look great on the right people. I just wonder if all that hair would be too hot, especially on stage with those lights. I have seen some people who went overboard with them and it looked terrible! As of now, I don't think I will use mine but who knows. I change my mind 50 times in one day. Anything is possible!

Happy Monday!!!

xoxo

Wow, I haven't been here in a while! I log on to check the other blogs I follow, then I just get lazy:( boo! I found out I was off by a week with my prep. I am 10 weeks out from Jr. Nats, not 11 like I was thinking. I don't know how I mixed that up, I not that low on carbs:D So, it has been 6 weeks of dieting and my weight hasn't gone down as much as I would like it to. We did add a little more cardio in and dropped my calories a bit. Hopefully that will do the trick! I'm not making any promises anymore on the progress pics. Who knows if/when that will happen. I'll still keep telling myself I'll do it though. I did start putting extra stones on my suit. I need to get some more though because I'm running low. I'm thinking I might check eBay for them. I hear the prices are better. I saw someone on divaexchange.com selling their suit (which is the EXACT same one I have) for $50 bucks more than they paid for it! They say they've never worn it, but come on! I think that's terrible. But, I see that it's not sold yet so maybe other people realize that this person is trying to squeeze out some extra buckage.

I've been trying different recipes to spice up the dieting and some are not working out so good. I wish I hadn't wasted my ON blueberry sample. Funny thing is, the more I nuked it, the more liquidy (is that a word) it got...

This, however, did turn out good. It's just an protein, oatmeal pancake with pb on it but it was yummy!

I don't really know what I'm calling this dish yet, but it's cooked coleslaw with chicken (or turkey), brown rice, and garlic olive oil! This one is really good!! I think I should lay off the coleslaw a bit though, too much makes me bloated = not fun.

Okay, enough food I'm hungry now! It's Sunday morning and I have been up since about 5:30am! I just couldn't sleep anymore. I think it's time to finally eat breakfast. I didn't want to start my meals too early and be starving later today. I'm still fighting a sinus thing, maybe that's why sleeping wasn't going so well. I think I'm going to go to the doctor tomorrow and see what drugs they can give me:-)

XOXO!

Breakfast of Champions!

Ok, so on some of the other blogs I follow there have been some posts on the food they're currently eating so I decided to do one myself;-) I picked breakfast because, well, it was just convenient for me. I have been having an egg white protein shake lately instead of cooked eggs just for something different. Egg Whites Int'l has pretty good egg whites (for cooking too if you want). They're heat pasteurized so you can safely eat them raw. They don't taste like raw eggs (not that I eat raw eggs), it really doesn't have a taste. They stay good for up to 4 months so we invested in two 1gallon jugs. I mix 1/2 cup egg whites with 1/2 scoop Optimum Nutrition protein powder and shake it up! I cut my fats out of this meal, but I would usually put a tablespoon of pb in my oatmeal. It's so yummy! Today I just had oats with cinnamon and stevia. If you look closely you can kind of see the stevia packet leaning on the egg whites container. My body does not like Splenda so I use stevia for all of my artificial sweetening needs. That's 1/2 grapefruit sitting up front. As you can also see, I like my Tupperware. It's convenient, portable, and light. It's so much easier weighing my food in a Tupperware container than a regular bowl or plate and it doesn't get scorching hot in the microwave. Ziploc bags are another fave, but I ate breakfast at home so there was no need to break'em out. I do keep my supplements in a Ziploc bag (not shown in the pic). Pill cases just aren't big enough to carry all my pills in. Anywho, rounding out my breakfast this morning was espresso. I usually brew up some Starbucks, but I need to clean out my coffee pot. Not the pot, but the insides of the machine. It's all yucky in there and I ain't using it until the gunk is gone! Espresso is a nice change though. Talk about perking up in the morning! So that was my breakfast today. I'm not too creative with my food yet, as I get closer to the contest and I'm starving is when my interesting dishes show up!

I'm off to the dentist! I actually like going, my dentist is pretty cool. I'm shooting for his commercial tomorrow afternoon! They didn't really give me any instructions/directions for it. Just to not wear white or red. So I'm gonna hit them up at the office when I get there to see what they want me to talk about! hehe! I'll have to find out when it's going to be aired. Or maybe I can post it here so you can all check it out!

Happy Monday!!

Ok, so it's been a week since I've posted and I still haven't put up any progress pics yet. We did get a new camera, I've just been slacking on getting around to taking the pics. I'll trying shooting for today.....maybe;-) I feel like I've gotten leaner, at least leaner than before, but my weight hasn't gone down a whole lot. I'm down roughly still one pound. I am almost done with the second week of dieting. I guess I was just hoping to be down a few pounds by now. You know how it is, usually the first couple weeks you drop a little faster (water weight....whatever). My carbs have been higher so that probably explains some of it.

I think it's funny when people say I can have a "little" cheat. Isn't a cheat a cheat? I even had a competitor tell me that before! I don't think I need to tell you how they placed? I haven't really been tempted to cheat. Right now I'm getting enough food and I'm not really too hungry. When we start taking away my food and I'm starving is probably when I think about food the most. But even then I don't really think about cheating. You put too much time, effort, and work into the whole process cheating isn't even a thought. I guess not everybody looks at it that way. Good thing most of us do! :-)

I got up earlier than I normally do today so I'm pretty happy that I can get some extra things done today! Hopefully I don't crash mid-day for a nap! Nothing a red bull can't fix (sugar free of course)! I still have to go to gym to lift, I HAVE to get my nails done. A couple broke and they're catching on everything in the house! I'll probably leave the house with enough fuzzy's on them to spool my own thread! Have to pick up some more chicken (yum chicken!) and grapefruit, and cook said chicken. Maybe I'll actually take those progress pics and post'em (don't get too excited). And I really want to try to start putting the extra stones on my suit. I'm sure I'll do some other odds and ends too, but I don't want to strain myself, hehe!

Have a great day!

Me~

I think I am finally recovered from the weekend! We left a little later than we planned (big surprise). But we still got down the expo with plenty of time to check things out. It was so frickin' busy on Saturday! You could barely walk down an isle! It took us about ten minutes to move 4 feet! I couldn't take it so we didn't stay a long time. I did make it for the Siouxcountry.com group photo this year:D Last year I missed both the Sat. pics. I got to meet some really great people, and I think they're going to post it up on the weekly banner. So you'll have to stop by the site and check it out (www.siouxcountry.com)! Saturday night we went to Jason Dhir's party. Every year just gets better! It was crazy! I really like people watching at party's like that. There is a huge array of people who come, and the dress code is pretty much anything goes. Sunday we went back to the expo to buy some product. It was much better on Sunday! There were a lot of pro's at the booth's and better deals on things. I think next year (if I'm not competing in it), we'll just go down Saturday night go to dinner, then out and just go to the expo on Sunday. It's a year away, so I'm not worried about it yet.

I want to say thanks for taking some great pics to Bill Scanlon (Bodybuilding & Fitness Services), Cal Isselhardt (CSI Photo http://www.myspace.com/csiphoto), and Jeff at Nightwing Photo (www.nightwingphoto.com). They all got some great shots of this whole past weekend, and it was really nice talking with all of them!

I'm bummed that I didn't run into any of my MI peeps that were also headed down.......but I see you people all the time so it's okay! XOXO! I know they had a great time too!

Bye!