Contest Shots and Solid Results

So the score cards came out and I most definitely placed 6th. That's really cool! I had some 5's in there too which gave me hope that some of the judges realized I had the potential to be in the Top 5. :) I pretty much ate my face off the past week down at my boyfriend's family's house and gained several pounds...like, 6 or 7. Haha. But that's okay. I'm at a normal weight now--135-136 pounds and I'm back at around 1750 cal for the next 12 days. I leave for Vancouver, Canada with my Dads that day and I know that I won't be able to keep a solid diet while on vacation. I'm hoping to get back down to around 132/133 pounds and stay there, so I'm (OH MY GOSH) going to do a bit of cardio this week. I've attached some professional shots from the show. Enjoy!

Results Post #1

Let's get the point: I got first call-outs! But I placed 6th out of 12. The Top 5 had competed before, and they all had more muscle than I did coming in. I also had a natural chest/no padding. Whatever! They still had WAY better bodies than mine...so much more hard work. I can only aspire to put in that much time and effort. They called out the first 5 and then asked me to join the line up for the first round of comparisons. I was just amazed that I got to be out there in first call outs with those amazingly shredded ladies. I'm really really proud of the progress I made and the fact that I got top half my very first show ever! I brought the best package I could have possibly brought and though those last couple days with no water, minimal food choices, and no sodium were pretty much KILLING me, I was so overjoyed that I did as well as I did (all I wanted was to not place last!). I will update more once I get my professional shots / score sheets. Enjoy this for now.

3 days out

Depletion starts tomorrow. I am the leanest I have ever been in my whole life. I feel amazing. Been getting in great training lately, and have felt so so so so so blessed by the company I have gotten to enjoy that training with. Y'all will see pictures from the show and I'll explain ;) Currently at normal-negative 100 intake of calories with a reduced carb load. Tomorrow, low carbs, low sodium, low fiber aka no Quest Bars. I have to shave my whole body--joy! Just gonna get work over with tonight and clean, and prep all day tomorrow. Friday is gonna be killer--little to no water and tanning, and check-in, and early bed time. Luckily I'll have some help that night and Saturday morning waking up at 4 am to start eating every 2 hours or so. Wish me luck guys. Please shoot me some e-mails or texts or instagram messages with well-wishes because I'm nervous and I'm gonna need them. THANK YOU!

5 days out PEAK WEEK

Black and White suit picture because the color will be a surpriseeeee. 5 Days Away. I'm pretty bloated in these pictures because of increased water intake. But I know that the final two days water intake will be cut down and carb loading will begin, which is exciting. Coach completely revamped my entire Peak Week diet and saved me from crashing and burning in a broscience hell :) He made things easier on me and I'm hoping and praying that my carb intake works out and I look really dry on stage. I have everything set to go. I just need to get my nails done Thursday and pretty much shave my whole body that night to get ready for the tan on Friday. Meh.

The amazing experiences I've had in this past week could not have come at a better time. It's been full of yoga, clean food, gym sessions, adventures in San Francisco--everything I've needed to distract me from the anxiety of my mind that feels the need to control. Of course I'm freaking out--I get to eat real food in 5 days!--but moreso than that I've been so so blessed by the support that has been poured out from all around me (by a wonderful man, in particular, as well!) I am so happy with this life that I live, and I finally feel so whole. It's really refreshing that this boost of confidence and peace is coming right when I need it most. I know God has me in His arms, and I know I'm gonna rock that stage because I've set myself up for success. Posing comes no problem. Heel-walking is no problem. Joy and Happiness exude from my face no problem. I'm not worried, I'm not "sick of dieting," I'm not "over it," I'm just ready to GO.

Again, to touch on my peak week diet. We're moreso going to regulate sodium intake and cut carbs in a few days. Right now I'm smooth sailing. The MORNING OF competition I will have to wake up every two hours to take in some high carb meals so that I can pretty much swell my muscles. I will update again on either Wednesday or Thursday to let you all know how I'm doing. Follow me on instagram @ohilyssa for more!

7 days out

So I am not doing an update today because I want to see how the first day of peak week goes. I will update tomorrow. Wish me luck!

1.5 weeks out

Height: 5'10". Current Weight: 128.4 lbs. We are 1.5 weeks out from NPC Bikini-San Jose Fit Expo. 13.5 solid weeks into cutting.

Today's Topic: The Final Countdown
So now we are 10 days out. This means I can officially count DAYS until I compete. I'm sitting here, drinking my coffee, and reflecting about the incredible experience this has been. I have learned and grown so much, spiritually and physically. I've learned that I CAN push the boundaries of fitness and I CAN be that girl with the rockin' body I never thought I would have. I'm not going to say I have been able to let go of enviousness (girls like Jessica Arevalo are the bane of my existence--in a good way haha!) but I have been able to learn to love my body and truly see the value of good nutrition and a lifestyle focused on fitness. Positivity breeds positivity. I'm hoping that so much good comes out of this...even if that means competing 6 months down the road because I have so much to work on to bring a better package. I'm hoping that you all, my regular readers, have gotten a positive glimpse into the world I live and I truly hope I've inspired at least one person to go get after their fitness dreams.

Today I'm eating a 2 quest bars (I know I know), oatmeal, coffee, a banana, PB2...a greek yogurt! SAY WHATTTTT...4 oz ground turkey and egg whites...4 oz chicken breast 1/2 cup broccoli...1/2 cup cottage cheese...4 oz chicken breast 1/2 cup broccoli, 6 oz sweet potato...and then 2 mini protein cheesecakes. I have 127 calories left over to use how I please. I benched / did upper body training this morning at 7:30 followed by 22 minutes of a brisk walk on the incline treadmill. Coach said that instead of decreasing my calories, I can do small amounts of REAL cardio every day this week. I know I say all the time that I do minimal to NO cardio...but I'm trying to keep my calories high enough to function throughout the day, so I'd rather do some traditional bunnyrabbit training to help me with that. I'm hoping to walk across stage at around 126-127 lbs.

Tomorrow I'm going into the city to practice yoga with a friend at Urban Flow. It's been a hot minute since I got to flow at that studio so I'm super excited to get back to it. Woke up this morning and did some sun salutations before benching to get the blood moving. The bench workout was AWESOME and I think my stability is getting so much better. Would LOVE to bench 135 some day...had a dream I did the other night and then woke up and was so sad :( Meh. Gotta get that 275 deadlift first...I'll be crazy happy the day that happens (well over 2 times body weight). Speaking of powerlifting movements: I think the next phase of this blog (after the results updates of course) will be a bulking update / strength update. I'm most likely going to stop taking pictures of my scantily clad booty and upload videos of lifting days. Of course, I will still show some progress pictures but because I will be in a bulking phase, it won't be nearly the amount of pictures I've taken during the cut. How many of you would be down to still follow my strength gains? PLEASE don't be afraid to comment on my posts either! I'd love to hear feedback from you all.

I don't really have much to write other than that...keeping my head down. Super excited...though not so much for Saturday when I start cutting carbs. EEP.

2 weeks out

Height: 5'10". Current Weight: 128.4 lbs. We are 2 weeks out from NPC Bikini-San Jose Fit Expo. 13 solid weeks into cutting.

Today's Topic: Trust and Support, How I Went From Lazy and Chubby to Fit Inspiration?
For as much hate as I got early on in this prep / weight loss journey, now I'm receiving such an overwhelming amount of love. All of you are wonderful--I don't go a day without a text from SOMEONE telling me that I'm looking awesome or am inspiring them, etc. I'm just so aghast that this is all happening. Why me? Why am I so blessed to live this life? I am so incredibly humbled by your kind words and support. I am so proud to announce that I will be joining the Serious Nutrition Solutions team in a minor role as a social media rep--something I never could have dreamed of doing. Not sure of all the details currently, but I am so overjoyed that a company saw my potential and my love for their products and offered me a solution to my social media itch! This blog has become rather successful, and with the support I have received elsewhere on the web (including Reddit and Instagram), I really hope that this is just the start of a "side job". My dream is to teach English, but with my newfound passion for fitness and lifting, and my desire to get NASM-certified, I think it's very possible that I could pursue something bigger (once I build a LOT more muscle over the next year). I think a great goal to have would be, in about 2 years time, get a pro card for the IFBB...and I think I could obtain that goal if I stick to the plan and keep pursuing excellent training and nutrition. But it's UNBELIEVABLE to me that just 8.5 months ago I was sitting on my couch eating ice cream bars and Pringles...and now I'm here. I don't mean that AT ALL in a vain way...I just wish I had started so much sooner. I LOVE fitness, and I hope I inspire some of you to love it too.

Today marks Hell Week #1. 100% on point diet. No semi-cheating (aka a lick extra of cottage cheese or hand measuring my oats to about half a cup). We are going STRICT--weighing everything down to the gram and making every macronutrient count. Tonight will be my very last "ice cream"--a Skinny Cow-- until exactly 2 weeks from now. That means no Arctic Zeros either (that extra 150 calories could be expended on chicken and steak and brown rice--clean foods that are non-processed/non-engineered). I will let myself have a Quest bar a day (today is my last day with 2 Quest Bars) because those calories could be spent elsewhere. I need to start controlling my sodium and carb intake now so that Peak Week isn't SO dramatic (no sauces, no sodium, little to no carbs for 3 days, etc). Coach is still reading, still experimenting, and I'm still trusting. And that's what this is all about--TRUST. I need to trust in myself, trust in my coach, trust in the feedback I'm getting from teammates and loved ones. This is now a mental game. I've done everything I could possibly do to get as lean as I've gotten. All we have left is a nice hypertrophy week followed by drying out. I will be MISERABLE next Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (June 24, 25, & 26) because it'll be the hardest diet I've ever been on. But internally I know I've done the spiritual work to help send me through to the final stage.

I have jumped the hurdles of fear and doubt, I got rid of my major bloating (mainly by going off birth control and not eating 4 Quest Bars a day), and I've incorporated tiny bits of real cardio into my plan. I'm so so so glad I trusted Zach when he said "you do NOT need to do cardio every day, twice a day...or even every day...or even, meh Eff it, don't do cardio unless it's yoga." I had read SO much going into this prep, and I'd watched girls on instagram and so on and so forth. All of them seemed to be doing TONS of cardio (you won't find me at a cardio machine but MAYBE once a week). All of them seemed to be eating chicken and tilapia and broccoli and asparagus. And yeah, I eat 3/4 of those things...but I ATE REAL FOOD, DAMNIT. I ate what fit in my macros. That meant lots of egg whites, oats, almonds, avocado, salads, filet mignons, greek yogurt, Chipotle sides of steak and chicken, carrots, brown rice, quinoa...and my diet changed EVERY day. I thought that the key to success was prepping 6 meals of chicken and broccoli. Nope. No way in hell I was going to limit myself to a cookie cutter diet or not let myself have some frozen yogurt if I wanted it. Of course, my diet is actually what I will stick with forever--when I'm done prep I will just eat MORE of what I've already been eating--but it's been fun to experiment and change things up to fulfill my macros for that day. I've learned SO much about my body so that next time I compete, once I know what I need to improve, I can really dial in. It's a game, and while I was obsessed with filling out MyFitnessPal, I never obsessed about eating the same things and I can guarantee NO ONE has heard me complain about "dieting" or "how hard it is"... because it HASN'T been hard... it's been delicious and fun the whole way through. The only thing making it hard now is the fact that I am SO. CLOSE. TO. CHEESECAKE. AHHHHH! :P