Boobies...

Today is the day that I am going to ask all the girls out there to check your boobies!

Check for lumps, check for anything that doesn't feel normal, diarise to check yourself regularly and if you notice something unusual go and get it checked by your doctor.

Today is also a very special day as it is Bright Pink Lipstick Day. A day devised to help raise awareness of my best friend's amazing charity Pink Hope. Rock your Pink Lipstick today and spread and share the social media love by:

• Posting your photos to the Pink Hope facebook page
• Tweeting a photo or message of support and hashtagging #puckerup and #brightpinklipstickday
• Joining the fun on pinterest or instagram

This is my beautiful friend Krystal ::

Possibly one of the most selfless women I know. Not only is she a wife, mother to three small kids, including my gorgeous godson Jye, Krystal is also the founder and CEO of Pink Hope.

Pink Hope is Australia’s first community designed to inspire women to be proactive and vigilant with their breast and ovarian health, while providing a safe haven for high risk women to connect.

Pink Hope is a registered charity, established and founded by Krystal in 2009 whilst recovering from her preventative double mastectomy. Having experienced the isolation and lack of information for high risk families Krystal created Pink Hope for women like her, with the goal of providing unique and tangible resources.

At the end of 2012, Pink Hope's main funder will no longer be in a position to donate to the charity so Krystal is desperately seeking corporate sponsors as well as donations to help keep the charity alive and kicking.

To donate please visit the Pink Hope donation page.

Simon and I rocked our pink lippy this morning. Rock yours and help Pink Hope rock on into 2013!

5 days out...

And I am waiting to stop feeling so good. I have energy, I feel strong, I feel positive. I need to go with feeling like this and and stop waiting for disaster to hit. I am enjoying this final week and I am loving seeing the changes in my body with every passing day.

Today was my day off from work and for the first time in a long time I felt relaxed. I trained this morning; shoulders and arms followed by sprints on the cross trainer.

I had a sports massage at Wellbeing Sports Massage in Mona Vale . It was heaven and something I highly recommend to everyone even if you aren't training for something. I come out feeling so relaxed and like I have just rewarded myself for my hard work. If you are in a health fund it is definitely worth checking what you can claim back. My massage cost me $20, best $20 I have spent all month!

I have two more work-outs before my competition; cardio tomorrow morning and then legs, chest and back with Chris on Thursday. And then it is the homeward stretch.

I had my last posing practice session today. I am going to try to fit in another after work on Saturday if I am feeling up to it but I think I may need that time to just relax and get organised ready for Sunday. If I'm not up to it on Saturday I feel happy that I will get on stage and not make a complete twat of myself. This girl can turn on a dime on her stripper shoes!

I am at the end of day five of seven of Ketosis* and I am amazed at how well I am doing. I am missing my veggies but not enough that I have wanted to cave in to temptations. I have not missed the starchy carbohydrates at all which is something I am really surprised at. The one thing I am missing is that content feeling of having a full tummy. You know that feeling after a really good meal when you sit back, rub your tummy and think "God! That was good".

So today my meals looked like this ::

Meal 1 :: 7.30am   :: 80g of leg ham with one whole & two egg whites omelette & tsp of coconut butter
Meal 2 :: 10.15am :: 120g of chicken breast with half an avocado and almonds
Meal 3 :: 12.45pm :: 120g of lean beef mince with peanuts
Meal 4 :: 3.00pm   :: 90g of grilled lean bacon with two poached eggs
Meal 5 :: 5.30pm   :: 120g of chicken breast with almond butter
Meal 6 :: 7.45pm   :: 120g of lamb with almonds
Meal 7 :: 10.00pm :: 80g of shaved chicken one whole & two egg whites omelette & tsp of coconut butter

I am an eating machine and I think the fact that I eat about every two and a half hours is what has kept me so focused. You finish one meal and by the time you have done a few bits at work, had a herbal tea (the teas  have really helped me stop constantly thinking about food in between meals) you are ready to eat again!

I'm off to pack my meals for work tomorrow, get an early night and a good night's sleep ready to rock the incline power walk in the morning.

* When eating carbohydrates your body will run on the glucose being supplied by such foods. During Ketosis your body has no carbohydrate to run on and therefore switches to burning fats for fuel. Basically put the body starts breaking down your own body fat to fuel the body's normal, every day functions.

Jaime's WOD...

The table's were turned for me on Saturday! I was not being trained; I was the trainer! And I loved it!

I am currently studying my Certificate IV in Fitness and as part of my course one of my assessments is to train a friend for four weeks. I not only have to train someone, I have to client screen, take measurements, set goals, the whole personal training experience from go to whoa! Well not whoa as I love this so much I hope to one day turn my passion in to my profession.

Meet my awesome best friend Jaime...

Jaime has very kindly, and bravely, offered to be my "client". I trained her after work on Saturday and I wanted to share her work-out with you. Jaime gave 100% and I am super proud of her recent commitment to her fitness and weigh-loss goals.

Lat pull down :: 15 reps

Box jumps :: 30 seconds
60 second rest between sets :: 3 sets

 

Chest press :: 15 reps

Plyometric lunges :: 30 seconds

60 second rest between sets :: 3 sets
 

Seated row :: 15 reps

Leg press :: 15 reps

60 second rest between sets :: 3 sets

Flat bench barbell bench press :: 15 reps

Single leg step ups :: 15 reps each leg

60 second rest between sets :: 3 sets
 

Swiss ball plank :: 20 seconds

Open arm supine plank on the foam roller :: 40 seconds

60 second rest between sets :: 4 sets
 

And if giving 100% to this massive one hour work out wasn't enough, I ran in to Jaime heading to Body Attack on Sunday morning. Jaime...you rock! I am one proud girlfriend! x

9 days out...

My competition is just nine days away. For those of you that don't know, I am entering in to the Fitness Model category at the INBA NSW State titles on Sunday 30th September at Castlehill. There are three rounds; sportswear, bikini and dress.

Everything is organised; my bikini, shoes, dress, tan, make-up. I have been practicing my posing and I feel a lot more confident doing it. I am also excited!

My skinfolds were taken yesterday and I am sitting at 8.2% body fat with lean muscle mass of 50kg. I am on track and I am feeling happy with how I look.

I feel good today! Yesterday was my re-feed day so I think that is why I feel so good and why I have some energy. I had just finished four days of no starchy* carbohydrates and I was feeling it. I felt tired; like all the energy I had was used up at the gym and I was left with nothing else for the rest of the day. I did feel grouchy and a bit on edge and I am sure Simon will tell you I snapped a bit (he has been amazing and just sucks it up).

Every meal yesterday, all seven of them, had a portion of carbohydrates so I was a happy girl. Chris even told me in the morning to have a big serving with lunch and dinner and a banana with afternoon tea. So I did and I enjoyed every mouthful!

plain brown rice never tasted so good!

Today I have said goodbye to carbohydrates for the next seven days. Even goodbye to my yummy veggies. From today until next Thursday I am officially carb-free. My meals will be meat and good fats. I am nervous at how I am going to feel, how I am going to cope and how the people I work and live with cope with me! I do feel positive though. I feel positive that the hardest part is also the shortest and the last 12 weeks now come down to this final challenge.

My training has also changed. I am alternating now between weights one day and low intensity cardio the next. The treadmill is my new best friend which has been a bit of a shock to the system after 12 weeks of very little cardio.

morning cardio with Koshi!

I am finally starting to allow myself to think that I am good enough to take part in this competition. I have put my heart and soul in to this massive goal I set myself and for the past four weeks have thought of and done nothing else than training, planning my meals, eating and taking my supplements. Every instruction Chris has given me I have followed to a T. I have asked lots and lots of questions and researched a lot of why I am doing things. I have learnt a huge amount and this was one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to do this competition. To learn and also to see what I can achieve with my body.

I can walk away from my competition next week knowing I have given this challenge 100% and to me this is my greatest achievement!

* Starchy/complex carbs: legumes, potato, grains

The happy shopper...

I love to shop! What girl doesn't!? But my big secret about shopping is that I love doing food shopping. Lucky really considering how much I am eating at the moment. I used to do one big shop a week when I was a three meal a day girl. Then when I first when I first went on Body for Life I would plan about three days ahead as I found that planning a full week of six meals a day was too much and I was wasting food.

As the number of my meals I eat a day increases so do my trips to the supermarket. This, of course, means I am spending quite a lot on groceries every week. I am sure I am not alone in realising that over the last six months groceries have gotten more expensive, particularly fruit and veggies. Shockingly expensive; $10 per kilo for zucchini and egg-plant. And I paid $10 a kilo for tomatoes the other day.

Fruit and veggies are a big part of my diet and have been for many years and the quality of produce at Woolworths and Coles can be pretty awful sometimes. I'm all for supporting independant fruit and veg shops but they seem to be even more expensive than the big supermarkets.

Ok, rant over but I did want to quickly share a few places on the Beaches that I try to get to to do my fruit and veggie shopping.

The first is Narrabeen Fruit Market on Pittwater Road, right next to The Sands.

Narrabeen is really good for pre-packed veggies and fresh herbs. They are pretty much half the price than the same produce at the supermarkets. They also do discount tubs of fruit which are great if you are in to making smoothies and fruit salads.

The Growers Market in Freshwater Village is another great place for discount pre-packed veggies. I have found that the pre-packed things from Hardord Growers do need to be cooked within 24 hours as they pack up and discount the things that have not sold the day or two before hand but apart from that it is fine and super, super cheap ($1 for a cauliflower). They also do quite reasonable un-cooked meats. Chicken tenderloin is about $11 compared to $16 at the supermarket and the rate I go through chicken I'm not complaining.

My Mum will love this post! She taught be everything I know about being "thrifty" (as she likes to call it; my sisters and I call it stingy!)

WOD

I was looking back through my blog last night and realised that I talk a lot about my eating plan and some of the yummy, healthy meals I eat but I haven't talked much about my training. For me training  is a huge part of my life and obviously a massive component to the preperation I am doing for my first competition. I thought I would start blogging some of my work outs. A WOD is acronym for Work Out of the Day and is a Crossfit term.

Thursday mornings I train with my trainer Chris. Today's WOD was a killer leg and back session. And then he threw in some bur-pees and ab work! Thanks Chris, you killed me!

Legs...

4 sets :: 4 exercises :: 60 second rest between sets

Single leg squats :: 10 reps each leg

Weighted single leg step up :: 8 reps each leg

Pistol split squats/lunges :: 8 reps each leg

Seated leg press :: 25 reps

Back...

Mechanical drop sets :: 4 sets :: 60 second rest between sets

Assisted pull up machine

Wide grip :: 8 reps

Neutral grip :: 6 reps

Reverse grip :: 4 reps

Burpees...
(I love a good burpee!)

6 sets :: 30 seconds on :: 30 seconds rest

Abdominals...

4 split sets :: 20 weighted crunches :: 40 weighted abdominal twists :: 60 second rest between sets

I used to train after work. I trained from 5.30 to 6.30pm for years .Even though I loved the gym I don't know how many times I talked myself out of my work out after a crappy day in the office. I was not a morning person and used to set my alarm with the intention of training in the morning but the snooze button would get me every time.

For the last four months I have been training in the morning. I struggled for a few weeks but my body clock changed and I am now a morning person and I absolutely love getting up early. I feel like I have the most energy in the morning, I am well rested and not tired and stressed after a day at work.

I give 110% when I train in the mornings and another great benefit of getting your work out done at the start of the day is you can go straight home from work and enjoy your evenings. Even more awesome as the days get longer and the weather gets warmer.

Set your alarm, give 6am a try and see how you feel!

Feeling good...

After feeling so bad, I feel good and I am back to feeling positive. For me, being sick not only sucks because I feel sick but it sucks because I become a bit negative and down on myself. That negative person has gone and the positive girl is back and more hungry to achieve than ever.

The last week for me has been awesome. Awesome and busy as you can probably tell by my lack of blog post. Last week started with three amazing days at Perisher. The conditions were perfect and three days of just Simon and me were just what we needed. The last few weeks have been a bit stressful for both of us; Simon with work and me with still trying to find a happy balance with work, life and competition prep.

I am a snowboarding and have been for the last three years. This was my fourth snow trip and I said I was going to give Olympic a try. Olympic is a black run right at the top of the mountain. It is steep and scary and although my runs were not graceful, one was actually on my tummy Bridget Jones style, I can say I rode Olympic!

My other goal was to follow my eating plan while I was down there. I had my last "cheat meal" before my competition while I was at the snow. I actually had two; we ate out both nights at the new Mexican restaurant Cocina Grill & Cantina in Jindabyne as it was so good! But every other meal was packed and ready for my days on the mountain.

mountain meals :: packed & ready to go

Yes, it was hard. I wanted a pie. I wanted hot chips. And more than anything I wanted a hot chocolate with marshmallows! I sucked it up and ate clean and it felt good when I was driving home knowing know that I had not taken two steps back from my goal!

pie or salad?

The Thursday before going to the snow my blood tests came back from my doctor. My zinc levels were low and so were my blood sugar levels. My doctor was concerned that my liver was not looking too good. At his request, I went back to see him with my big bag of supplements. I had been taking zinc but I had been taking it at night with my super green supplements. He said the super greens had probably been stopping the zinc absorbing into my body. My blood sugar levels, he suspects, are being caused by my diet and low body fat. Chris, that same week, had added an extra meal to my diet and an extra cheat meal and I had gained weight since having my blood taken so for the time being I am happy that I am somewhat addressing this issue.

After looking at my supplements, he said that my pre and intra work-out supplements were packed with caffeine and on top of my coffee and green teas it is too much and doing damage. The work-out supplements are gone, apart from 10grams of amino acids pre-work out so we will see how I fight the next lots of germs that Keely and Taj bring home from school!

From getting sick, I have learnt a few things over the last few weeks. I have learnt that you should never just put getting sick down to one of those things, particularly when you keep getting sick. If you keep getting sick, your immune system is probably not in that greater shape and this just doesn't happen for no reason. There is something not right with your body and you should not wait around hoping for it to fix itself! Go to the doctor, that is what they are there for.

Another thing I have learnt is that supplements are great but the only person that is truly qualified to tell you what you should be taking and when is your doctor. Yes, the people working in the supplement shops know their stuff and they know their products and I am no way saying do not take their advice but just be mindful that what works for one person may not work for someone else and if something doesn't feel right or you don't feel right then go to the doctor.

My last two skinfold tests have been good and Chris says I am on track for September 30th. I have put on 1.5kg and lost 1.5% in body fat so the weight I have put on is muscle. I am just under four weeks out from my competition and I feel really good. I am finally feeling excited about the comp but I am expecting the nerves to kick in soon.

A few things have been ticked off my list of things to do; stripper shoes, tanning appointments and organising for my beautiful friend Elise to be my side kick on the day. I am going to look at bikinis on Friday and Chris has told me we are going to practice some walking and posing which I know will really push me out of my comfort zone!

If I can snowboard down Olympic I can pose in heels right?