Figure Prep: eight weeks in

Okay, last month I was feeling pretty good. I wasn’t experiencing huge cravings for anything in particular.

Well, my friends that has changed. I’m telling you, as soon as you know you can’t have certain foods, all you think about are those foods. This is where most figure competitors slip up. Your goal is so close, but so far away. You think to yourself, “One little cheat here and there can’t possibly erase all the hard work I have put in. Can it?”

The little voices in your head are saying one thing, but your heart says another. Perseverance, dedication, discipline and regimen are what it takes to get through the last month of competition prep. Here is my most embarrassing moment.

I was in Sobeys, and there were fresh cookies coming out of the oven. I could smell them as soon as I walked into the store. I migrated towards this delicious heavenly scent that was so far into my nose I think it may have been like a drug. The smell was giving me a high! So I proceeded to stare at all of the baked goods that I can’t eat right now, and that I wouldn’t eat if I wasn’t on a prep anyway! I talked to myself during this little hypnotic state. “Hello banana bread, boy do you look gooood.”

I snapped out of it when I was approached by a woman I see all the time at the gym. She said “Deanna step away from the cookies, girl!”

I was a little rattled, as I didn’t want her to think I was having a weak moment. It was funny, though. I must have looked like a crack addict.

I also have been asking the guys at work if I can smell their food! Jean-François had some homemade muffins in his lunch and he let me smell them! Deanne brought in some trail mix bars with nuts, raisins and peanut butter, so I took a nice long sniff of that! There was banana bread one day in the back, just staring at me… so I let loose and indulged my senses with a nice long sniff!

Did I cheat? No. Did I have even one taste? No. I know that nothing tastes as good as “fit” feels. And I’m not going to go there. I know one taste will lead me down a destructive path. Food is always going to be there. I know every two to three hours there is another meal waiting for me!

My coach has put nuts into my diet as added fat. I get 20 grams twice a day. This means about 12 almonds, or seven walnuts. I have decided to be very careful when eating nuts, because I have issues only eating 12 freaking nuts! I have been sprinkling them on my salads, and mixing them with my oatmeal. I have been roasting asparagus, squash, and sweet potatoes with whole garlic cloves. I also make “buffalo” chicken breasts with hot sauce and dip them in salsa!

My cardio has increased to five days a week now. I’m doing four 45-minute sessions and one HITT session for 30 minutes. I love to sweat — it’s my therapy. My weight training sessions are kicking ass! I have been able to up my bench press to 135 lbs, and I am squatting about 155 lbs. This is big for me. I love my glutes right now. I can’t stop flexing them.

I have to say, I have a nice bum. I just need to get my tummy to tighten, and my shoulders to pop a bit more. I hope there’s a man out there that will appreciate a nice firm bum and not focus on boobs so much. Boobs sort of disappear the leaner you get. However, they do get perky, and you can wear cute little tank tops without a bra!

I hope you stick around for next month: the big finale which will include a lot of wine!