(Slightly Less Than) 5 Weeks Out

This weekend I traveled to visit the law school I'll attend this fall for a "Preview Day". I am proud of myself, because I kept up my clean eating on the trip! I bought this massive cooler and packed a TON of food. I used my new fancy food scale to measure everything out into tupperware -- ground beef, salmon, chicken, protein powder, etc. It was a carefully calculated operation, and it was successful! I didn't eat any of the free (unhealthy) food offered to me. I ate my own food, and only purchased one meal (a salad from California Pizza Kitchen). I think this was a great success! I proved to myself that it IS possible to prepare to a high degree for traveling.

I also managed a workout in the (tiny) hotel gym. I ran intervals for 40 minutes on an empty stomach before the law school event.

I have been a lot better about being strict with the contest prep diet. I know myself better now: if croissants or Oreos are sitting out in the open at my house, I WILL break into them late at night when I'm tired and my motivation is down. So, I hide them from myself. Also, I have been good about cooking massive amounts of food ahead of time, so I never run out of sources of lean protein or veggies. And I am seeing results! My stomach is the most difficult area for me to change, but it's leaner and tighter!

I have also been doing massive amounts of cardio. Last week, Julie had me do 6 sessions of 40 minutes at high intensity. This week, it'll be 6 sessions of 60 minutes each. Weeks 3 & 4 will be 7 sessions of 20 minutes each, doing intervals. I have been weight training as well, with a focus on legs/glutes, but still working out every body part at least once weekly.

With less than 5 weeks until the competition, I am a little nervous, admittedly. This is my first show, so I don't entirely know what I'm doing. But, I do think of myself as an intelligent, hard-working person, so I know I won't totally screw this up. I purchased another set of Jessica Simpson Hairdo extensions yesterday because it seems like most of the top bikini pros wear extensions to their competitions. The look of having full, big hair seems popular. My next big challenge is posing. I'm going to start housesitting this week in a big, beautiful home -- and I will have privacy! -- so I am going to film myself practicing posing, then send the video to Julie for analysis. I have performed on stage before as a dancer, so I know a little bit about stage presence. But these bikini pros really have a lot of attitude, confidence, and swagger that I will need to work on developing. I've been watching YouTube videos of girls like Nicole Nagrani and Jaime Baird posing, and it helps me get an idea of what I'm supposed to do.

Gotta get back to work -- 'til next time.