Trish's 2011 comp prep, week 14- Note to self: you don't suck!

Starting weight- 113 lbs, Current weight- 106.7 again...


This week I was really anxious about my weigh-in. I wasn’t worried about the actual weight number on the scale but the body fat and water weight info. It was one of those mornings where I woke up bloated and had a stomach ache to go along with it. On Saturday (after my terrible weigh-in Friday) my hubby changed my diet. This was actually the first change we’ve made a change in my 13 weeks of dieting! Mike always says “If it’s working, don’t change it!” So for my first diet change of the season, he increased my carbs by about 15%, kept my calories the same, and just adjusted my ratios. He also took out my high carb day (which I must say that I was not happy about) but my cardio remained unchanged.

Although my weight stayed the same this week, I did see some downward movement in my body fat. At least that tells me my body is responding favorably to the adjustments he made. I get so nervous about making changes close to contest (only 3 weeks left!) but that’s where the whole trust factor comes in. You’ve got to trust your trainer 100%!!! In this case my trainer also happens to be my husband, but the trust does need to be there even if you’re not actually married to them…

I find that right about this time on my competition dieting I tend to start the self-sabotaging. I starting thinking things like “Am I ready? How will I compare to the other girls? Should I be doing more cardio? Why won’t that little bit of fat under my butt go away?” You know, stuff like that. I imagine that pretty much everyone does it regardless of how good of shape they’re in. I’m an optimistic person in general, but I do tend to criticize myself- especially when it comes to my body/outward appearance. I’ve struggled with weight my entire adult life and I know how easy it is for my body to get off track if I let it. But I’m learning that while I can’t control many things in life, I can control what I choose to eat, how intensely I spin on the bike, and how I treat my loved ones while I’m in this dieting phase.

I was talking to a friend at the gym yesterday (she’s also competing this year) and she was telling me about how she’s been trying to date & diet at the same time. That just has disaster written all over it! It’s hard enough for a competitor to have much of a social life let alone trying to go on “a date” with someone. Bringing your own food to Mikuni’s would really suck…but it’s the lifestyle we choose when we get into this sport. The idea of belonging on that stage outweighs all the buffets, candy, Girl Scout cookies, and yes even alcohol one can handle. What may seem crazy to the “average” person is the norm for us…but it’s all for the love of the sport!

Trish's 2011 comp prep, week 13- Dear body, I'm listening...

Starting weight: 113 lbs, Current weight: 106.7 lbs

My weigh-in was awful. I’m convinced that the body fat machine is wrong….it has to be! I haven’t strayed from my competition diet at all, my workouts are as intense as ever, and my cardio is on point. So, I know that it’s got to be either that freaking machine is wrong or my body is asking for something different. I’m hoping what it needs is more food…

It’s funny because I woke up feeling yucky. I don’t know if you’ve ever just kind of woken up and felt different? When you train like I do, you become very in-tune with what your body’s doing and how it’s functioning. I can feel if I’m holding water, I can see if I’m looking a little stringy, and sometimes I will wake up feeling like I’m going to have a “bad body day”. I always make sure to weigh myself at the same time and day every week. It’s always before I eat or drink anything- I want it as close to the true numbers as possible. I know, I know, the number on the scale game is a bunch a crap, but it’s a necessary evil in this sport. It keeps me on track and focused knowing that I have to get on that scale every week- I think it’s become more mental than anything. The problem is that the weigh-ins can sometime make for a really bad day, but this week I was able to pretty much just brush it off. After I took my progress picture, I actually felt a lot better (I also take a picture every week on my weigh-in day).

But these past two weeks have been challenging for me. I’ve been fighting this cold which has now turned into an allergy thing. I have to do “open mouth” cardio because I can’t breathe through my nose and that makes for some tough sessions. I’m in the home stretch for my leaning out phase and the weeks seem to be picking up speed. The closer the contest gets, the faster time flies by! These next four weeks my focus needs to shift over to conditioning and posing. I’ve got to hard up my muscles and get those poses imbedded in my brain so they’re second nature. Like my client, Linda, said this morning, “There’s always room for improvement. Whether it’s physical or mental, there’s always something we need to work on.”

Trish's 2011 comp prep, week 12- Does anyone have a tissue?

Beginning weight: 113 lbs,  Current weight: 107.4 lbs (WTF?)


Yep, you looked at that weight correctly…I’ve given up on thinking I’m going on stage at 100 lbs. In fact, I’ve gotten to where I really don’t even care how much I’ll weigh at contest. The only thing I do care about is that my body fat went down and I’m getting leaner! That's a huge step for me as a bodybuilder- not caring about how much I weigh. In fact, I'm only getting on the scale once a week because I want to make sure my body fat is going down and that I'm not losing any of my hard-earned muscle. Other than that, I don't really care about "the number" anymore. Honestly, that's like a monumental breakthrough! I've always focused too much on my weight (as most women do) instead of relying on my eyes to tell me how I'm doing on my diet.

Truth be told, I wasn’t even expecting to lose anything this week since I’ve got this freaking head cold. Seriously though, training and dieting are hard enough when you’re feeling good but when you’re under the weather it becomes a true testament to how bad you want something. In the past, I would have curled up with some ice cream to make my sore throat feel better, some greasy french fries to make my stomach feel better, or fast food of any kind just so I didn’t have to cook. Now I'm so much different. First of all, I very rarely get sick and even when I do get “sick” it’s never really that bad. I usually just the head cold type stuff, like what I have now. You know where you blow your nose for 5 minutes at time and repeat every 30 minutes or so? Normally I can just take some Nyquil at night and some cold medicine during the day and it’s all good. Those days of feeling sorry for myself & making excuses are finally behind me! Now, I eat even if I’m not hungry and force myself to cook whether I feel like it or not. It’s all part of the program and the life of a competitor.

I've always heard that it's the tough times that make you stronger and I've become a firm believer in that. In fact my husband has a great little saying, "If everything was easy, there'd be nothing worth earning." I've had my fair share of weight loss issues and I feel like I am finally coming to terms with my "self". I've accepted that I'm not a "skinny girl" and never will be. In fact, I don't want to be! I actually get insulted when people tell me how skinny I'm getting. I often think to myself "If they could only see what's under this jacket & pants!!!" Well, now they can...May 7th, 2011 baby!

Trish's 2011 comp prep, week 11- I need a tan!

Beginning weight: 113 lbs, Current weight: 106 lbs


Every time I take a photo for these blogs I say something to the effect of “Man, I need a tan!” I think its amazing how different muscles (and fat for that matter) look when you have some color. My husband always says that "tanned fat looks better than pale fat!" I remember the good ole days where I’d lay out at the pool for hours on end to get that gorgeous golden brown color. I just lay there, read my fitness magazines, and cook myself, but those days are no longer. Ironically enough, I stopped going tanning when I started to compete in bodybuilding 4 years ago. I always look forward to the super dark stage color because that’s when I really can see all the cuts and know that the hard work has paid off. It’s always fun to plan a trip to Wal-Mart or somewhere public right after I get my color put on, the night before a contest. The looks I get from people are priceless! I’m sure one day I’ll end up on “The people of Wal-Mart” website...

This is the best stage of the competition dieting I think. It’s the time when I really start to see what “the finished product” is going to look like. I actually think I’ll end up heavier this year than last which is okay considering that I’m leaner now than I was at my competitions last year. In fact, my hubby and I think that I could be in better shape now than I was in 2009…but it’s too hard for me to tell without the color on.

It has actually been a rather uneventful week for me. I’m sleeping a lot better, now that my husband’s not snoring, and I don’t feel like a raving lunatic anymore. In fact, now I’m feeling pretty good. I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and now it’s time to start my posing conditioning. It’s crazy because I’ll arrange for all my clients/competitors to get plenty of posing conditioning and I help them with their individual poses, but when it comes to my own conditioning I tend to procrastinate. Thankfully, the NPC doesn’t tend to leave us up on stage very long (not nearly as long as the natural divisions), but I still have to make sure to hit those poses flawlessly! So posing practice starts for me this week- no excuses.

This is also about the time I start making all of my arrangements and checking that I have all of my necessary competition supplies- at least the stuff I may have to order online.

Here’s the checklist that I’ve started:

Suit alterations- I have a local gal I use just in case…
Affiliation card- for NPC, IFPA (NANBF), etc.- depending on the organization. It’s better than doing it the morning of the show and being stressed about it.
Hotel- for the show if it’s out of town
Heels- clean them up make sure they’re in good shape
Tanning- arrange for the night before the show (this year I’m doing my own)
Waxing- the week of the show
Hair appointment- the week of the show
Dream tan- the morning of the show (it fixes smudges & gives my tan some shimmer on stage)
Bikini Bite- no wedgies on this chick!

Just talking about this stuff gets me so excited…I have the competition bug for sure!

Trish's 2011 comp prep, week 10- Say hello to my little friends!

This has been an interesting competition prep season for me. Last season I lost so much weight during my prep (about 25 lbs) that I got really used to seeing the scale move every week. It was an expectation because of how much I needed to lose. But this season, since I didn't gain as much weight off season, I haven't really seen see the scale move at all! It's a real mind trip to look in the mirror & see new veins and muscles popping out but then I step on the scale and....nothing. Thankfully, the scale at our gym does measure the weight of your body fat, water, and muscle, so I can see some sort of progress (losing tiny bits of fat or water). But for those of you who don't have that nifty machine I definitely feel for ya. It really can be frustrating to work so hard and not see that dreaded number go down.


I've talked about how pictures can do a world of good in tracking your progress but taking the time to pose & look at yourself in the mirror is another good way to see progression. I haven't even had the time to take my own pictures these last 2 weeks, but you bet I have time to pose in the mirror! It was during one of those moments that I flexed my bicep & saw a bundle of new veins in my shoulder that I didn't have last year! Seeing my new “little friends” made me really excited (I even had to show my husband) and motivated me to push through this week’s workouts and diet with a vengeance! It may seem trivial to anyone else, but to a dieting competitor it’s like an instant high. Knowing that your hard work is paying off works wonders for your mental state and your motivation.

I know that I must be getting as lean, or am leaner, than I was at contest last year. I tried on a pair of jeans that I never was able to wear because they were too tight and they fit! I noticed that I’m also more vascular throughout the day, not just during my workouts. Now, since my weight’s not really changing, but my body is, I can only hope that I’m preserving muscle and only losing fat (which has been my intention all along). Now, if I can just get that last bit off of my thighs and butt I’ll be stage ready!

Trish's 2011 comp prep, week 9- "Does my neck look fat?"

Starting weight: 113, current weight: 106.7


I can't believe that I'm on week 9 of my competition diet already. It's been flying by and I'm glad for that. I think that going into the 3rd month totally reveals how hard you've worked in the previous months. At this point, you're either really glad that you started early because you're going to cruise into contest shredded or, you're freaking out because you've got to squeeze yourself into a teeny bikini in no time at all....As for me, I'm going to glide into contest ready to win!

This week I actually had 6 different people tell me that I look like I've lost a lot of weight. Earlier this week, a guy at the gym said "No offense, but you didn't look like this a couple months ago!" and a lady at the gym tonight said "You must compete because you're the only one that looks like that here- except for the guys". I wasn't sure how to take that one...

But, almost every person that's made a comment also said that my neck and face look thinner...so were they fat before? I think it's funny, because my weight has only changed about 6 lbs since I started by diet 9 weeks ago- and 4 of those pounds were from the first week of water loss! The comments people make are pretty flattering for the most part and this is about the time I get people coming up to me left and right (at the gym especially) asking me questions about my diet, workouts, and supplements. It like I should carry a list, containing my diet and supplements, around with me to hand out to people! Usually, I wear my headphones to prevent the questions during my workout. But, many times that doesn't work because they'll either just stand in front of me or even tap me on the shoulder to get my attention...really? Is it that serious?

It's funny because about 95% of the time, people who come up and talk to me always think that there's some Magic pill they can take to fix their weight loss issues and boy are they bummed to learn that it's only hard work and discipline that produce my results! Anyways, for those of you who are also dieting I feel your pain, hunger, tiredness, and ultimately your excitement!

It's about this time that I start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I have 7 weeks until my May 7th contest and I'm getting that familiar jittery excitement to get back up on stage! There really is no feeling that's been able to compare to the satisfaction I get from showing off my hard work and dedication to fitness. That's what I keep in mind when I'm losing my motivation or am just plain tired. I never want to be one of those competitors that just show up to a contest (like they had nothing better that night to do so they decided to compete at the local bodybuilding show). I want to be the competitor that people see backstage and makes them wish they'd worked a lot harder in their contest prep!

Trish's 2011 comp prep, week 8- "Back off cookies!"

Sitting here at my “day job” I’m wishing I could just take a nap. A short nap would work- maybe 15-20 minutes? Maybe if I shut my office doors, put the phone on Do Not Disturb, & turn out the lights they’ll forget I’m here? I can’t believe how bad I’ve been sleeping the last 2 nights. My poor husband is having allergies or sinus problems and can’t breathe at night, so his snoring has been awful. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night to go sleep on the couch. I wake up exhausted, feeling like I haven’t sleep at all- and that makes for a worn out wife, step-mom, and dieting competitor!


Getting enough sleep & recovery during competition prep can be tough, even without a snoring husband or wife, but it really is crucial to my success. I find that when I’m tired, I’m not only grouchy, I’m starving! Right now I’m craving pretty much any sugary thing that will give me the quick fix or sugar rush, but that’s when my common sense training competitor side has to come out & tell me “NO!” There’s no way in hell I’m letting a couple of sleepless nights ruin my 8 weeks of completely clean dieting! I know that if I take a bite of something sweet, I’ll eat the whole thing, and then push back my contest ready date. I’ve worked too hard to let myself down like that. Plus the fact that I’d probably have a terrible stomach ache and be on the toilet all night- to make for a 3rd sleepless night…

Needless to say, I’m going to bed early tonight! Maybe I’ll invest in some ear plugs or some Tylenol PM, but either way I’m determined to keep myself on track and reach my goals. I’m not going to work this hard for nothing!