Tawnya Gee

You Know You're a FIgure Competitor When...

2010-06-13T15:23:00.000-04:00

I came upon this on facebook this morning and thought I would share!

1. For a few days each year your toilet seat is brown and this time it ins't the husbands fault.
2. You can honestly say you have spent more on a bathing suit than your wedding dress.
3. Five inch clear hooker heels are your footwear of choice in your own home (and not just in the bedroom).
4. Someone asks about the man in your life and you tell that Gym is fine!
5. You have two sections in your wardrobe. Contest-season and Off-season. And they aren't mix and match.
6. Your top three priorities on any given day:
A. Workout.
B. Eat Clean.
C. Check the fitness forum board.
Not necessarily in that order.
7. You can name any pro figure competitor by seeing her butt alone.
8. When someone wants to take your picture, you immediately spread your lats, tighten every muscle in your body, point your fingers and SMILE!
9. You take more pills daily than your 80 year old grandmother.
10. Your idea of dressing up is taking your hair out of the pony tail its been in for a week.
11. If you have had someone close to you, hide food from you in your own house.
12. An easy day is lifting and only 1 cardio session.
13. Instead of carrying a Gucci pursue you accessorize with a Coleman cooler.
14. Waking up so sore you can barely move puts a smile on your face.
15. You cant do any work because you are to busy counting down the seconds until your next meal.
16. The faint smell of Pro Tan gets your heart pumping faster than your man's cologne.
17. You leave a little trail of Splenda packets, tupperware, and empty water bottles everywhere you go.
18. Your hubby makes you pee in the guest bathroom because every meal includes asparagus.
19. You consider Beano an essential part of your supplement regimen.
20. Your jaws are sore because you can't stop chewing sugar free gum!
21. You spend at least 5 minutes grilling your server at a restaurant, and another five minutes re-writing the menu until you've got a meal that meets your diet's specifications, and then you devour it in less than 60 seconds flat!!
22. You consider a day when you only have to make ONE trip to the gym a luxury!
23. You think about having relaxed hands and sticking your butt out while standing in line at the grocery store.
24. You consider condiments and diet coke taboo!!!
25. And your neighbors start gossiping that you've had lipo cause there is no way a girl could get that fit in 12 weeks!

We are off to Laval!!!

2010-04-02T06:11:00.000-04:00

The nails are done, the hair is done and I have 2 coats of spray tan on...I am just finishing my breakfast , packing up the car & we are hitting the road to Laval! It is a 7 hour drive so we are hoping to be there by 2:30/3 at the latest with stops.

It is now just myself and 3 kids making the trek ( Taryn. Tyler and Taryn's friend Ellena). They are none to thrilled that I will be rooming with them now and I'm pretty sure poor Taryn had nightmares about the prospect of tanning my ass again but what can ya do?

Reigistration is today from 1-5 at our hotel and there is an mandatory athletes meeting 6. After that I am hoping to chill and get a GREAT nights sleep as I sure didn't last night. Hopefully I don't have repeat of the Ottawa show and toss and turn the entire night!

Pre-judging is at 9 am tomorrow, followed by the night show at 6:30. I will try to post updates through my twitter and facebook!

Sunday we are heading into Montreal to do some sight seeing. I have never been before I would like to have some time to relax and explore after the show so we have booked a room downtown for Sunday night. I am realy looking forward to getting away and spending some time with the kids :)

So that is all...hopefully I will have some good news to report back on Tuesday :)

Hope you all have a HAPPY EASTER!!

1 busy week to go!!

2010-03-28T07:45:00.000-04:00

Well this is what I am dealing with at 1 week out.

I am quite pleased with how my upper body has come along but still a little concerned with the rear view :S Hopefully that will show some improvement when my water intake is dropped. In the meantime I will just keep lunging, cardioing and to quote one of my team mates...'praying to the glute gods'. Funny enough it seems to have worked for her. She looked incredible at posing yesterday.

This suit is new for this show and I just have to say I LOVE it.

It was made by Karen at KHP Designs and she did a fabulous job.

This week is full of prep...tan, nails , hair, etc...in addituon to my regular training. Should a busy fun filled week...can't wait! I am looking forward to getting away for the weekend with friends and family.

Team O'Brien

has a great group of girls going and regardless of the outcome I am sure it will be loads of fun.

Today I am meeting of with my best friend Beth who is visiting from England. She is back home finalizing wedding plans. She invited me to go wine and food tasting with her in Niagara-on-the-Lake but obviously that's not doable at one week out so...

We are going to go for a power walk, have some black coffee and take a visit to the local Lululemon. Starbucks and some Lulu-therapy is the next best thing right?

Mirrors, Tears and Movin' On!

2010-03-17T09:32:00.000-04:00

I am alive!

Just got myself in a bit of a rut again...but seem to be pulling out of it. I started to blog in the midst of it last week but didn't have time to finish...here's how it went;

I planned on posting progress pics this past weekend at which time I was 4 weeks out. I was starting to feel pretty good... I picked up my black suit on Friday and didn't think it looked too bad :)

I went to leg camp on Saturday morning and many of the other girls commented on how my legs had come down and that they could see I was leaning out! All was going well until it came time for posing. I started with my shorts over my suit but when Mindi said I either needed to pull them up or take them off I thought..."Ah heck, I've only got 4 weeks left, lets take them off and see the real picture"...that was my BIGGEST mistake! Seeing my butt and back of my legs in those mirrors and that lighting really did me in. It sure doesn't look like that in my mirrors at home..wtf?!?

That was beginning of the road to rutville :S

After camp, posing and 2 hours of cardio I was wiped...physically and mentally. I got home around 3 and immediately put on my pj's and hit the couch (the whole time wondering why the hell I am doing this!)

Sunday was my first 'non rest day' as 2 hours of cardio need to be done now. I know longer have that little break in the week to look forard to...the work just goes on and on...I had a tough time with that as I was already struggling.

Monday I found out that the hotwire had changed thier minds and were no longer going to let me refund & rebook for the hotel that I booked for the wrong weekend...there goes $200 down the drain!

By Tuesday I didn't even want to get out of bed...just the thought of another 200 lunges, 2 hours cardio and the dreaded leg workout was too much to even think about :S I talked myself into at least getting outside and going for a good ol' power walk in the sunshine...that was interesting. The motivational music I had downloaded had me in tears on my walk...wtf?!? I was a mess!

I have herad of other girls going through these emotions but this was my first experience with it...not fun!

The good news is that the susnshine brought me outside for many more power walks, I am starting to see some changes, and I seem to be back on track :)

Here are a few pics I took while walking.

Don't worry Mindi...I stopped my watch while I took these ;)

The beautiful Spencer Smith park during the day.

And a night shot.

During last nights walk (above) I even threw in some run/sprint intervals and quite enjoyed it!

Hopefully that will shake things up a bit... time is running out!

I am off for some cardio now...shocking I know :)

Then I am picking up my pink suit. I will try to post pics!

This and That

2010-02-24T09:44:00.002-05:00

Thought I would take a wee break from the cardio and give a quick update of what I have been up to the last week.

This is the second week of the crazy cardio and lunge sessions and I am surprisingly not hating it. It is a LOT of cardio and the planning can be tricky but it sure isn't difficult. With the right company or magazine it can fly by! On that note I would like to thank my dear friend Jared for the 2 hours he put in on the treadmill yesterday :) I told him he is going to be 'show ready' whether he wants to or not!

Feels like things are starting to move as well, so that makes it worth while. My abs are making a comeback & there are the beginnings of some lines on my legs :) Woot! It is working! I was hoping to do progess pics this past weekend but no one was around to take them for me.

My teenage kids have gone off and got lives of their own :( Taryn went snowboarding for the first time on Saturday and LOVED it. She came home asking for her own snowboard :S Sounds pricey to me. Tyler spent the day working with my dad and brother in the family business. He wasn't to keen on the idea when I woke him Saturday morning but ended up enjoying it and making Grandpa very proud. He said my Dad kept telling everyone..."this is the 5th generation working for the family business":)

I went to see Shutter Island with Jared on Saturday night. It was actually quite a good movie, I expected it to be really scary but it wasn't. Since my divorce I have mostly stuck to chick flicks (mostly because I can I think). The last couple times I have went to the movies I strayed from the usual and was glad I did. On Valentine's weekend we attempted to see Valentine's Day and it was sold out. Since we were already there we saw Crazy Heart which was awesome. On Sunday I finally got to see Valentine's Day with Adena and enjoyed it very much.

I am off to the gym now for 1.5 - 2 hours of cardio. Later I will do the other 1- 1.5 hours and my 200 lunges at the studio.

I work until 8 and then will be rushing home to watch the hockey game.

Go Canada!!!!

PS...I seem to have lost my spell check option! Not sure where it went but in the meantime please excuse the spelling and typos :)

Cardio, Cardio , Cardio!

2010-02-17T08:56:00.000-05:00

I got my new program on Sunday and there were 2 big changes...

1. My cardio has been upped fron 45 min twice a day to 60 min twice a day.
My morning cardio is 60 min of walking at an 8% incline at a speed between 3.4 - 3.7.
My evening/afternoon cardio is 60 min on the spin bike with little resistance keeping the cadence around 100 rpm.

2. My leg workouts have been removed and replaced with another 60 min of cardio.
Normally I do an hour of legs with Mindi on Tuesdays and an hour long leg conditioning camp with the team on Saturdays. Both of these were replaced with 60 min of cardio.

So...that means my weekly cardio total is now 13 hours. It is light, easy cardio so I can't complain about that but it sure is boring! I don't think there are enough tabloid magazines published weekly to get me through it :)

I also still get to keep my 200 (each leg) lunges a day...lucky me!

Yesterday was the first time for the 3 hrs cardio and I chose to break it into two 90 min sessions.

I went to Body Waves in the morning and did 70 minutes on the treadmill followed by 20 minutes on the bike. They don't have spin bikes available for use outside the class so I put it on manual and rode around 100 rpm at level 2 - 4. After that I did 100 walking lunges.

Between clients in the late afternoon I rode the spin bike for 90 minutes and at the end of my day I did another 100 lunges.

Today is back , 2 hrs cardio & 200 lunges.

Shrink legs, shrink!!!

Lunges & Edamame - 7 weeks out

2010-02-14T09:46:00.000-05:00

I had an interesting week as far as training and diet goes.

After Saturdays class I was prescribed 200 lunges a day on each leg in addition to the 2 leg workouts I do each week! I choose to do 100 after each cardio session. I get enough funny looks doing 100 at the small gym near my house I can't imagine what would happen if I did twice as many :) One man asked me why I didn't just pick up some weights and do less!

We tried to go as 'fake sugar free' as possible to see if we could trick my body. The scale doesn't seem to be moving like it should and Mindi wondered if perhaps it's still treating the atificial sweeteners as sugar. I also seem to be super sensitive to sugar. Normally I will have crystal light in my morning shake, in my water throughout the day (if I find I am having trouble getting it down), in my homemade salad dressing (mustard, apple cider vinegar & splenda) . Sometimes I would even add some to my egg whites.

I have also been treating my self to a diet pop at night in order to ward off the munchies. I love the diet crush rainbow pack...it comes with 6 cream soda, 6 root beer, 6 grape and 6 orange. So yummy! I have now got Adena (She said I need a Goal) hooked on it. Not sure if that is a good thing or not.

I still struggle with the whole artificial sweetener thing. It is the only way for us dieters to have a 'treat' but then there are so many reports on how detrimental it is. Any thoughts? I have read that because your body doesn't know how to process it that it treats it as a toxin and stores it as fat contributing to cellulite. Eventually I would like to give it up all together but I am not sure if that is possible :S

Another addiction I have developed is to edamame.

It seemed to be a tasty, low cal treat. I even made sure it was 'Dennis approved'. I was using it a lunch as part of my umlimited veg, my afternoon snack in place of my snow peas and sometimes in the evening if I felt like a snack. So sometimes that would add up to 3 or 4 pods a day!

The shocker came when I read the nutrition info a little more carefully...

If you notice it gives the nutrition info for each serving which is I mistakenly assumed is how they portioned them. But boy was I wrong...they actually put 3 servings in each portion! Tricky buggers!

When I thought I was consuming 93 calories, it was in fact 279!

When I thought I was consuming 5 g fat & sugar it was 15!

And on those days where I had 3 or 4 pods it added up to 837-1116 calories.

45 - 60 grams of sugar and fat!

Remember I am the girl whose body is uber sensitive to sugar! Not good!

Needless to say they have left my house not to return again until off season. Who would have though a silly little bean could become such a problem!

I truly think this was more of the problem then the sweetener and am confident I will bein seeing more results with it out of my life.

We will find out next week when I post my 6 weeks pics :)

Those Darn Legs!

2010-02-09T08:37:00.000-05:00

Yup in my short off season, they went and got big again :(

Sugar is definitely not my friend and too much of it doesn't take long to show up on my hips and thighs.

Maybe one of these times I will learn my lesson?!?

Anywho...here is what I am dealing with at 8 weeks from the Natural Canadians-------->>>>>>

I attended my first posing class of the season on Saturday and took these photos after. As you can see I am still hiding under my shorts...not quite ready to expose the booty yet :S

The feedback I got was that the upper body is where it should be but the legs need to be smaller. No big surprise as that seems to be what I am dealing with every time. The good news is that I still have 8 weeks to get them there.

I am currently doing cardio twice a day for 45 minutes, legs with

Mindi on Tuesdays and a leg conditioning camp with the team on Saturdays. Dennis said he was going to talk to Mindi about what else we could do...I have a sneaky suspision that hundreds of lunges are in my near future :S

Diet is perfect other then the addiction to edemame I have developed. Trying to cut back on it though as I worry about the estrogen from the soy.

I will post pics again at the 6 week mark and hopefully the legs will be looking a little leaner. I will probably be in the bikini bottoms at that point as well as I don't see myself getting away with those shorts much longer :)

Hope everyone has a great day and kick butt workout! I know I will...it's 'legs with Mindi' day...pray for me!

8 Weeks Out & Feeling Good :)

2010-02-04T06:44:00.000-05:00

Almost 8 weeks out now and I think things are starting to come together! The scale finally budged (yipeeeee!!) and I am noticing small changes every day.

NOW I am getting excited!

Workouts are going well and my diet is spot on. I am at the point where I just eat what I am told and don't really think about it otherwise.

I will attend my first posing class on Saturday so then I will know where I really stand. If I lose half my food and get my cardio doubled next week I know that I am not on track...lol.

I will post progress pics on Saturday and then every 2 weeks until showtime.

Countdown is on!!

Sunny Monday!!

2010-02-01T12:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday Y'all!!

How nice is it to see the sun again??

I'm just back from the gym where I had an awesome SHOULDER workout and cardio session!! Cardio was 35 minutes at a 15% incline followed by a 1 mile run. The best news is my legs didn't itch at all :)

Now I am eating a 1/2 c egg whites with 1 baked green apple...yum! Next up is 1 cup of raw brocolli (yuck). All I can say is thank god for mustard.

After that I am heading upstairs to wash that grey right out of my hair.This is one of the way I save money while training. I do my own hair colour and let my nails grow off until it is comp time and then let the pros take over. I figure my hair is rarely seen as I tend to wear my hat most days due to the double cardios and there is no point trying to have pretty nails when I'm rarly outside the gym!

I have a pretty easy day today. I am meeting a potential client at 3 pm who is interested in attending my boot camps.Then I will do my 2nd cardio session which I think I will do on the spin bike. After that I have 2 more clients and I'm homeward bound.

I like my easy Modays.

What does everyone else's day look like??

I'm Back!

2010-01-31T08:59:00.000-05:00

Yes I am still alive...I was just in a bit of a January rut!

I am a solid 3 weeks into comp training /dieting and feeling good. I am not seeing any changes on the scale yet but I am noticing small changes and overall just feel better. I ALWAYS do when I eat clean...now why can't I remember that during the off season when I am indulging in all those 'dirty' foods and feeling gross and miserable?!?

My next show is in Laval, Quebec on April 3rd and it is the CBBF Natural Canadians. I qualified for this show when I place 3rd (out of 3 :S) at the Natural Ontario's in September. If you recall, that was the show that I went into unfocused and behind schedule. For that reason I real like I need to show that I belong there & not that I advanced because there was a low turnout for the show!

I am feeling confident that I will be able to present my best physique yet as I have been doing double cardio's since 13.5 weeks and am already following a pretty low carb diet. Other then a green apple, grapefruit and a tablespoon of pineapple, it's all raw green veg & protein! The goal is to bring me in ahead of schedule and hold it from there. I much prefer this method to stressing out at the end.

Sorry for being such a bad blogger but now that January is over hopefully the blues can go with it! More regular posts (and maybe even some progress pics) to come!!

Christmas in January?!?

2009-12-14T10:31:00.000-05:00

I have just been plugging along trying to eat as clean as possible through the holidays. Some days are better then others and I am actually looking forward to the 14 week mark (Dec, 26!) when I have no choice other then to eat clean. I want to take the best package possible to the Natural Canadians and can't be messing around!

Christmas actually hasn't been too hectic or stressful as I have postponed it until January!

Anyone working in the fitness industry knows that things come to a grinding halt in December. Many believe they are far too 'busy' to make it in for their workouts or can't justify the cost when they have gifts to buy. I have found this difficult in the past while working at a club but am feeling it more now that I am self employed. For that reason the kids and I decided to delay Christmas until January when the rush hits!

Luckily they are old enough to understand and realize they get enough gifts from others that it won't feel like Santa didn't come. Although I felt a little guilty at first I am now kind of excited about it. I will be able to buy them more now, won't have to worry about fighting the crowds and will most likely get better deals! We are even going to keep the tree up and stuff the stockings again!

Tyler has asked for a netbook so I am hoping to take advantage of the boxing day sale at Best Buy. Taryn wanted Uggs but she is rethinking that. I asked my parents and brother not to buy me anything as I can't afford to reciprocate. I would rather just enjoy the day with them, thats's what it's all about anyway right?

Here are some pics of Christmas past. 3 years ago instead of gifts the kids and I went

to NYC and if you ask me that was the best idea ever. Memories last a lifetime, gifts do not.

This photo was taken at the Disney Store on 5th Ave :)

Here we are at FAO Schwarz!

And skating at Rockefeller Center!

Athlete of the Month...Woot!

2009-12-02T11:37:00.001-05:00

This month I am featured on my trainer Mindi O'Brien's blog!

Check it out here...

Mindi’s website

Off Season Struggles

2009-11-29T11:52:00.000-05:00

I made it through last week on track, Monday until Friday afternoon that is. It all fell apart when I decided to bake the kids some banana bread and banana cake on the day that I was allowed to have a cheat. I ate WAY more cake then was necessary and even took it out of the freezer and ate more that was not quite frozen yet. The problem was the kids took off to their dads for the weekend and refused to take it with them :S Thats when I thought putting it in the freezer would be a good solution...NOT! It may takes even better partially frozen...not good! After that debacle I had plans to meet a girlfriend for drink and apps. My plan was just to have a few nibbles but again probably had more then necessary.

I wrote that first paragraph at the beginning of the week and ran out of time so saved it as a draft. Just reading over it now I am sad to sat that it hasn't got much better :( It seems like every day is a struggle right now and I know that I am at the point where if I don't smarten up I am going to pay the price.

I got dressed to go out to dinner last night and my jeans that I bought pre comp were so tight it was uncomfortable :( They are my first pair of Sevens and the only jeans that fit me right now, or used to anyway. Well, there is also the pair I stole from my daughter but they are uncomfortable now too! So...I got undressed & cancelled my dinner plans. I wasn't hungry and didn't want to put myself in another situation where I may overeat. I know how wrong this was. Off season is short and I should be able to enjoy it by socializing with so many friends that I 'ignore' when training..

Right now I am sitting at the weight I consider reasonable for off season & those jeans are tight but I can still get them on and if I wear them long enough they do seem to loosen up. If I can lose a few pounds or even stay right where I am I should be okay. That is why I NEED to get a handle on this now...it has only been 3 weeks since my last show and I still have 4 to go before I start dieting again.

Sooo here we go again....today is a new day and a new week. I WILL eat clean until Friday. Then if I so choose to have my clean Friday cheat I will enjoy it guilt free!

I think I am going to try those jeans on every day to keep me on track. Good plan?

One Year as a Team O'Brien Girl

2009-11-20T09:49:00.000-05:00

It was exactly one year ago today that I decided to go ahead and pursue one of my life goals to compete in figure.

I had just returned from Amsterdam where I ran my 4th marathon and decided to contact Team O'Brien. Marathons were good for goal setting and travelling but it was time for a change. Time to tackle a new goal!

I was at a wedding in September when I heard that Mindi had a studio in Burlington and was quite excited about the possible opportunity to work with thee Mindi O. I met with Mindi and Dennis on November 20, 2008 and haven't looked back since.

These took these photos...

Pretty scary!!!

But after 4- 5 months of following Dennis' nutrition and Mindi's training programs I stepped on stage like this...

I left that first show with 2 trophies and the opportunity to move on to level 2.

The 2nd show was planned for September so I had a bit of an off season. There were some bumps in the road and I wasn't focused on my training but lessons were learned and I came back even more determined to succeed at the level 2 show in Ottawa in November.

Again I left with 2 wins!

And qualified to move onto level 3 ...Provincials!!!

I can't thank Mindi and Dennis enough for helping me to reach one of my life goals. I always said I wanted to do 'one show' ...and here I am 1 year and 4 wins later :)

They are an amazing team of fitness professionals! So amazing in fact that I have since gave up my job at a fitness club and have joined them in working at their studio :)

It's funny how much can change in a year... I walked into that studio for the first time one year ago and now I have my own key!

Thanks again guys....looking forward to another year!!

Post Comp Week

2009-11-19T10:27:00.000-05:00

Last week I was living in post comp hell...the little guy to the right best describes how I felt! With a week to 'relax' from dieting and no workouts to do I felt totally off again. I am hoping with every show I do this will get better. The plan was to have cheats Saturday after the show and Sunday. I can even say that I didn't go too crazy on these days. I arrived home late Sunday night and had an early client Monday morning. Therefore there was no time to prepare anything. Groceries had not been bought, food had not been cooked, etc...then when I went into work and Dennis told me not to worry about dieting this week and to relax. I knew I was in trouble. This girl obvi hasn't learned how to eat relaxed yet! If anyone has any tips I would love to hear them!

After a few clients I went to Costco with the intention to stock up on chicken. I left with chicken and a box of fresh cookies, the 'chocolate lovers pack' even :S One of my most fav treats is the white chocolate macadamia nut cookie and there was a whole row of them!

The rest of the week kinda went like that, start every day with good intentions and plenty of prepped food but blow it somewhere along the way. I would think, well this is my only week to relax so I better eat it now. Soooo wrong....I know. The whole week I felt tired, sluggish, grumpy and almost fluish . I was puffy and bloated and couldn't even enjoy my victories.

The good news is that week came to an end and come Monday morning I was right back on track.This is an improvement from show #1 where it lasted about 8 weeks! It helped to have a yummy new off season to follow...I am ENJOYING my clean food again :)

It also help to know that come Friday and Saturday night I am allowed 'clean cheats'. Mindi was quite clear that those cheats will not be dessert of any kind. I know this is better for me as I have learned that once I indulge my sweet tooth I can't seem to stop. Once I get the sugar out of my system it is pretty easy for me to stay on track. If am going to cheat, or want to, at that point it is normally fats like nuts or nut butters. During the prep for my first comp I had to take the walnuts right out of my diet because I couldn't have them in the house!

Workouts have been going well this week. I am doing a 5 day split w 45 minutes of cardio on each of those days. Saturday I will go to 'Leg Camp' for an extra blast.

My next show is April 3 which is only 19 weeks away. We are thinking that I need about 14 weeks of prep so that means my off season comes to an end December 26...looks like my last clean cheat may be Christmas day! Pretty good timing I must say.

The Night Show

2009-11-18T12:06:00.000-05:00

After the pre-judging wrapped up my daughter, her friend Angie, my brother and myself headed back to the hotel. I forgot to mention in the previous post that my awesome little brother made the 6 hour trek to Ottawa by himself after work Friday so he could be there to support me! Sorry Ryan! I can't thank him enough and I am thinking it is about time I got my butt to some of his motocross races dontcha think? We may have also made a lil pit stop at the liquor store to get a few bevies to celebrate after the show ;)

I munched on some more dry oatmeal (yum?) and got in about a 90 minute cat nap. I awoke groggy and in the need of Starbucks! The girls had just returned from a mini tour of downtown Ottawa and I sent them out for a grande americano (black of course). I didn't realize until the next day but the hotel Starbucks had closed and they went in search of another one that stayed open longer. They apparently told the barista that I needed it REALLY bad! LOL...I found this out the next day when we hit up the same Starbucks :) Gotta love em!

I sipped on my americano as I touched up my tan and the girls tried to fix my hair ( damn extensions! My hair needs to grow FAST) I wish I would have realized how important hair is in competing when I chopped it all off about a year ago! Then it was back to the venue...the crew dropped me off and then headed off to Pizza Pizza...what? At least they didn't do it before they dropped me off I suppose!

So backstage I go where Mindi touched up my makeup, glazed me & bit my bum again ;)

A quick pump up and the masters short class hit the stage. They brought the 10 of us out, had us do our quarter turns and then sent us backstage. They then called out the 3rd place winner...not me. The 2nd place winner...not me. At this point you never know whether this is good or bad...then the first place winner...ME! Yeah! We got photos taken with these HUGE trophies and were awarded medals. Then we went backstage and handed the trophies back so they could be used in the photos for the next class :) My daughter was quite disappointed that the trophy was not coming home with us... although I think we may have had trouble fitting it in the car with us 3 girls anyway! I don't have any personal photos of this because my daughter decided to make a video which I will upload when I figure out how!

Then came the masters tall class. While they were doing their thing I switched my numbers and got ready to hit the stage with the level 2's. Again they brought all height classes out together...the 9 of us did our quarter turns and were sent backstage. Then they called out the 3rd place winner..not me. The 2nd place winner...ME! Sooooo happy! We did some photos and the 3rd place winner and myself were sent off while the overall winner was awarded some prizes and had more photos taken.

Then it was backstage again where all us girls shared our goodies. I have to say I really love this sport and am impressed by how nice everyone is to each other. There were hugs all around and everyone congratulated each other on a job well done. Even though we are competing against one another on the stage you would never know it by the interactions backstage and in the dressing room. We all know how much dedication it takes to get there and there is a mutual respect.

Now was the long awaited time for celebration and for that we (Myself, Ryan, Taryn, Angie. my fellow competitor Erica, her brother and Mom) chose the Lonestar Grill...after a LOOOONNNGG wait we finally got a table and were served nachos and salsa. Erica and decided to share a plate of nachos and a share plate which consisted of taquitos, quesdilla spinach dip and flat bread. Yum!! I may have also washed it down with a mango margarita :)

With a full belly I headed back to the hotel to have a very overdue shower and return to my normal colour! I then threw on my jammies and my brother joined us for a cocktail. After 1.5 I was sound asleep! Not quite the party girl I used to be!

I am off to work now but will post soon on 'Post Comp Week'.

Arrival and Pre-Judging

2009-11-11T16:16:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the delay in blogging but my daughter had all the pics on her camera and we were having trouble connecting!

The weekend began like this... I awoke VERY early Friday morning anxious and ready to start my day but had to wait around for my hair appointment at 9:30 :( The girls and I finished packing, (discovered my son had ate all 24 of my green grapes!), loaded up the car and were on the road to Burlington by 8 am. We dropped the car off at at Canadian Tire for an oil change and hiked it across the parking lot to the Burlington Mall where I was getting my hair done.

Here I am waiting with extensions in hand. I believe this is about the time that my darling daughter informed me that my 2 spray tans had resulted in me looking like an 'Oompa Loompa' (sp?)..and.judging from this photo I would say she is right...oh my!

Here is Sam working his magic. After the first show I told him that I don't want it too curly as it results in a huge mess for me to deal with in the morning but he seems to have trouble leaving it straight...aarrgh.

Anyhow here is the finished product. The girls took some photos so we would know how to fix it after a nights sleep. I was assuming at that point that I would actually sleep!

Now we are off to pick up the car and hit the road...

We hit the road about 12:15 which should have put us in Ottawa shortly after 5 pm. This would work out well because registration was from 5-8 pm followed by an athletes meeting at 8:30 pm. We were making great time and should have arrived about 4:30 or earlier until we missed the cut off to Ottawa! As we were approaching the 416 that said 'to Ottawa' I asked my daughter/navigator (who was talking on the phone) if I should take it....she snapped back "NO! We take the 417!" in her lovely teenage voice and I listened :S

After about 45 minutes without seeing anymore Ottawa signs and plenty of Cornwall signs I decided something was wrong and fired up my blackberry GPS which promptly told us to get off the highway and make our way to the 417. We listened and followed plenty of VERY slow drivers through backroads on our way to the 417. I make have sworn a few times at this point ;)

We arrived in Ottawa around 6:30 and made our way to registration. We then found our hotel, had a bite to eat, threw on some tan and headed back for the meeting. Once again...we were lost and made it to the meeting a few minutes late...

The parking lot was full and this was the only spot I could find! Obviously the principal wasn't going to be there on a Friday night but the girls found this funny enough to be photo worthy.

Back to the hotel to apply another coat of tan and hit the hay. I needed to recruit my daughter and her friend to help get the spots I couldn't reach :S Poor girls!!.Taryn informed me that for all this trauma I had the choice of years of therapy or a REALLY nice present from Ottawa. She insisted that I would be getting off easy with the present as years of therapy would be much pricier :) Can't blame the girl really...can't say I would have been eager to rub brown goop all over my naked Moms butt and back at the age of 16!

After the tan tried I practiced my poses...

We watched a bit of tv and I took 2 'sleep- ease' to make sure I got a good nights sleep. Didn't work...at 2 am I took another one...didn't work...at 4 am I decided I may as well get up eat & apply some more tan. I brewed some coffee, ate my cold steak and sweet potato, got my tan on and waited to call a cab.

While I waited I reviewed the program...

And tried to get my abs to come out...

About 6:30 am I made my way down to the lobby, found a cab and was off to see Mindi at her hotel where she did my makeup.

Mindi and Dennis were a tremendous help and support this weekend and definitely went above and beyond what should be expected from a coaching team. While Mindi worked on my make up Dennis found and made me some oatmeal (very dry according to Mindi's orders;)) I threw my suit on and we were off to the venue.

A quick make up touch up, glaze, posing run through, pump and we hit the stage. I had 2 numbers to keep track of for each of the classes I was in...first up was Masters Short in which there were 10 girls. I couldn't figure out where I stood according to call outs. I was actually was feeling a bit discouraged as I didn't make first call outs as far as I could tell. Apparently I was in a shadow and got overlooked at first..this always seems to happen to me. Then they go..oh crap...look at her...haha. I need to try to avoid this in the future as it messes with my head!

Then came level 2. This was strange because they brought all height classes out together. They thought that because there were only 9 of us that it would be more competitive that way and would avoid bringing several small classes out. I get the concept but it left us even more confused by the call outs. The poor judges were judging overall as well as the individual height classes for advancement to the provincials.

Pre- judging wrapped up and Erica and I had a seat in the audience and watched Mindi's question and answer session, and prodded Dennis with questions about how he thought we did. He was just as confused as we were and he is a judge!

I this point I realized my body was finally ready for sleep and headed back to the hotel for a catnap.

Ottawa Bound!

2009-11-06T06:10:00.000-05:00

I awoke at 5 am this morning STARVING and ready to get at my carton of egg whites! I would have loved to sleep longer as I didn't get to bed until after midnight and have a long drive ahead of me but my body was just not cooperating. Oh well, hopefully I can crash early tonight at the hotel!

I have all my food packed up, just have to finish packing my clothes and should be ready to go. Finding 'normal' as in' non workout clothes' was rather tricky as everything I tried on practically fell off of me. My skinny jeans don't look so skinny anymore...haha. I guess it has been a while since I've had the opportunity to wear something other then workout gear...between training myself and others it seems there is little opportunity to get 'dressed up' in jeans :) Don't get me wrong..I have NO problem spending my life in lululemon I just often find that when it is time to wear something else either it no longer fits or my daughter has decided that it now belongs to her and I have to go on a hunt!

I went for a couple of spray tans yesterday to spare my daughter a few coats of the Jan Tana as I am sure she will not be thrilled to be painting her Mom :S I also got my brows , nails and toes done...thanks Kara!! This morning I have a hair appointment where Sam will touch up my colour and put in my hair extensions...while he is doing this I am hoping my car will be getting its oil changed as I ran out of time to do that yesterday. Once all of that is done we are OTTAWA bound! It should take about 5 hours if all goes well. Travelling with me will be my 16 year old daughter Taryn and her friend Angie. Taryn is quite camera happy as most 16 yr olds are these days so I just have LOTS of pics to post of our journey.

I am feeling good and ready for this show. Need a little more practice on my lat spread as I seem to be having trouble opening up my back but other then that should be good to go! Pre- Judging is at 9 and the night show is at 6 pm which is kind of nice. I am not sure how to post blog updates from my phone but will try to do so through twitter and facebook.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T14:21:00.000-04:00

This pic made me laugh....although there are no worries of me drinking and flying anywhere tonight as I am one week out from Ottawa & Eastern Ontario Physique Championships!!!

I am feeling good and ready to rock the stage :) A little different from the show 6 weeks back right? It's amazing what a little focus and determination can do for the mind and body!

So..like I said I will not be doing any drinking or celebrating tonight but my 16 year old is throwing a Halloween Party and I fear there may be some mischief going on there :S I am quite worried actually...what do dozens of teenagers do at a party if not drink? And if they do, what do I do about it??? I am so not ready for these teenage years!!!! Help!!!

2009-10-11T08:39:00.000-04:00

I am back after another rather LONG hiatus...sorry! Things got a little crazy around here and while I always make time to read your blogs actually blogging myself seems too daunting :S

I did the NATURAL ONTARIO'S on September 19 and had a disappointing finish. I came 3rd in my height class (out of 3) and 7th of 9 in the Masters class. This was only my 2nd show and in my first show I came first so it was quite an awakening.

Here is a photo from the Naturals's...you can see that my abs didn't come in as they did in April and my legs are still WAY too big, I won't even provide you with a rear view but that was definitely an issue as well!
Looking back now I can see where I went wrong...I started dieting at 12 weeks and then had surgery at 11 weeks that took me longer to recover from then expected and didn't get my training and diet back on track until the 9 week mark. For the April show I started dieting at 16 weeks so already I was 7 weeks behind! From that point on that I had the attititude that I 'might' do the show. I knew I was behind and rather then use that as motivation to haul ass I just kept using it as an excuse to bail.

When I would ask Mindi if she thought I would be ready she would say "That is up to you. You have to work hard and focus." She even went as far as to say "Stop texting between sets!"...this part actually made me laugh because she doesn't work out at my club so that meant somebody had ratted on me! Too funny!

At the time I never quite understood what she meant and was rather frustrated and discouraged...I WAS doing the work, I WAS following the diet... I WAS putting in the time. But thats's just it..I was putting in the time but not the effort. My heart wasn't in it, I wasn't focused and my workouts and body suffered.

Although that placing was hard to take I am still glad I did the show. I think it was a lesson I had to learn and I will NOT that that happen again. My head is in the game I am focused and ready for November 7...Ottawa here I come!

Go Mindi!!!!!!

2009-09-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

My trainer, the amazing 'Mindi O' is competing in her 6th FITNESS OLYMPIA today! Good Luck girl!! We are all thinking about you today!

The Day has Come!!!

2009-09-19T04:59:00.000-04:00

It is finally here...the OPA Ontario Natural Championships have arrived!! Tan is almost complete, hair extensions are in & I will be out the door for make up right shortly. Woke up hungry and eager to get at my steak, potato & avocado breakie!!

Will post more later, hopefully with good news and lots of pics!!

A 40th Anniversary & a Weigh in

2009-09-06T08:26:00.000-04:00

These are my lovely parents at their 40th anniversary party. I think I am about as photogenic as my Dad unfortunately! We always end up with this goofy smile on our faces that does not look natural at all! He's being silly there but the real one is not far off!

And here is the yummy cake that I did not even get to sample.I had the wonderful job of dishing it out and kept finding myself about to lick the icing off my fingers....then I would catch myself and be like...."Whoa! I can't do that!" I did free a nice big corner piece for later though ;)

On another note I asked for the trim to be mauve...does that look mauve to you ??? That was the great debate...to me it looks like white on white which I found odd my some thought there may be a slight hint of mauve in there.

All in all it was a lovely evening with about 50 of there closest family and friends. Heck, anyone who can be married to the same person for 40 years deserves a party don't they?? I didn't even make 10...I can't even begin to imagine 40!

Back to me :)...

I weighed yesterday and this is where I am sitting at 2 weeks out;

Weight - 126.2 (down 2.8)

Fat % - 16.9 (up 1.3)

Fat Mass - 21.4 (up 1.2)

FFM - 104.8 (down 4)

Looks like weight is down in muscle and fat is up a little bit. I am not going to be too concerned with that as I am appearing leaner and those scales can be off at times.

Correct?? I'm not getting fatter & losing my muscle right??!!??

14 days!

2009-09-05T08:41:00.000-04:00

I am just about to head to the club for some posing practice with one of my team mates. As soon as my tilapia is finished cooking that is!

I seem to be at the stage in my training where every waking minute is consumed by prep. Last night I had to head to a new gym to get my last cardio session in because my gym was closed by the time I was ready to do it. My parents are having a 40th Anniversary party today and I had to be over there getting things ready...my Mom pretends to support me but secretly is not a fan and thinks my priorities could be better. This she chooses to share with my children when I am not around. Gotta love mothers don't ya? Anywho...I just knew I would not be popular if I tried to book it to get to my gym before it closed.

So I finished my 2nd hour on the stepmill shortly after 10 pm and then had to hit a 24 hr grocery store because I realized I was out of tilapia and asparagus. Got home around 11pm, had a shower, went to bed and got up to do it all again.

Today is the actual party so I have to get my posing, cardio, lunges done and then get helping. Still not sure how I am going to get my 2nd cardio in when the party starts at 3 pm :S May have to squeeze it in tomorrow...is that a bad idea on rest day??

I am going to weigh today so I will post stats tomorrow and give a party update as well! Hope everyone has a fantastic long weekend!!

200 Lunges...What?!?

2009-09-04T06:07:00.000-04:00

Had another posing practice last night. Seems many of us are a little behind as Mindi kept asking "Are you doing your cardio? All of it? Do more!". Luckily I wasn't one of those people but I did get assigned 200 walking lunges a day in addition to my already 2 hours on the stepmill...oy! My own fault really, I asked about my cardio before I left and was told everything was coming along nicely but to add the lunges to bring in the leg/glute area some more.

Ah well, it's only 2 weeks right?

Apparently I am not getting out of this show so I guess I better start getting organized. Need hair, nail, tan, makeup appointments :S Going to be a busy and expensive couple weeks! Stay tuned...

3 Weeks, A Gala & a Weigh in

2009-08-30T08:27:00.000-04:00

Well...here I am 3 weeks out from this show and finally (hopefully) have my head in the game. This prep has been a rocky road for me...all along the way I had it in my head that I may just skip this one.

I had surgery at 11 weeks which left me unable to do cardio or legs until week 9, then at 7 weeks Mindi told me I was behind and needed to step it up which really sent me for a loop. I know this was to meant to motivate and get me focused but for some reason it had the opposite effect on me... it made me want to skip this show all together. This reminds me that people are motivated in different ways and this is something I need to keep in mind when training my own clients. That same week I was given a 'verbal written' at work for not hitting my sales goal for the first time in 4 years. Apparently that was meant to motivate me too!! But once again...wrong tactic...it left me looking at other employment options!

Even with all these doubts I kept plugging along as they continued to increase my cardio & take away my carbs in hopes of getting this body on track. Then came week 4 which included our annual AWARDS GALA. Its always a good time and since I figured it would probably be my last one I may as well enjoy it. By enjoy it I mean drink :O I struggled with whether or not to write about this because I know Mindi reads my blog sometimes but decided that if I can't be honest on here then what is the point?? This is the story of my journey...the highs and lows!! So I drank, boy did I drink!!! My theory was that I probably wasn't going to do the show anyway and I would take my chances and deal if the consequences later.

This photo makes me laugh because it all started out so well...I sat there eating my salad with tilapia and avocado while the others munched out on a spread of Jack Astors appetizers!!

So my plan was to stick with my food but have a few drinks with calorie free mix...along with a few shots of clear tequila ( this is advice from Jillian Micheal's and skinny girl Bethenny Frankel btw...I did my research ;)) The night sort of went like that although there may have been a beer or 2 thrown in there that were bought for me :O.

Yup, there is some of the beer evidence! This is me with my awesome team of co-workers who I am going to miss very much...I will just have to continue to work out at the club I guess!

It was a fun filled night and when I awoke at 7:30 am I was starving...I made my way to the other girls room and proceeded to wake them all up so I could get my egg white, spinach, lean beef combo out of their fridge...I ate that and then went back to sleep until 9:30 am. This is when I woke up to the sound of the mini bar calling me :O I gave in to some nuts and chocolate and went back to this sleep ( at this point I was figuring I was kinda screwed anyway so I may as well throw it all in)...then the girls called to let me know they were ready to head out to our annual morning after breakfast at Richtree and I thought wth? Why stop now?? So off I went...

Here I am with the ladies putting down some french toast...unfortunately ( or fortunately?) it didn't stay down long...shortly after this photo was taken I was on my way to the bathroom :S

The rest of the day was spent shopping on Bloor and Queen streets ( mostly at Lulu) and then haeded home . This is when I finally felt ablt to eat again and thought I was as well finish off this impromtu "cheat day" with my children!

So there is my true confession...Mindi if you are reading...sorry!

I went to work on Tuesday and weighed in exactly the same as before the weekend.On Saturday I did the body comp scale these are the results I got:

Weight - 129 (down 1.9)

BF % - 15.6 (down 3.7)

Fat Mass - 20.2 (down 5)

FFM -108.8 ( up 3)

Everyone has been commenting this week on how much my body is changing all of a sudden (especially in the last week...WHAT??!!??) And Mindi has informed me that I am ABSOLUTELY doing this show..so there its is...the good, the bad and the ugly.

I will keep you posted and try not to go MIA when I am off my game from now on. We are are stuggling with the same issues and there is no point trying to hide it right?

Hot!!!

2009-08-18T13:05:00.000-04:00

This is where I want to be right now...

Lying on the beach in Port Dover. We have been trying to get there all summer and it seems every time we plan to go it rains :(

My daughter had an orthodontist appointment this morning so I drug her to work with me at 6am (She got up at 4 am!!!) so I could get a few clients in before heading off to her appointment. We then planned to spend the afternoon at this beach but once again Mother Nature had other ideas. So...we substituted with Walmart to get some school supplies! Now we are home, the skies are clear, it is hotter then heck, and she is sleeping. Oh well...I still have weights and cardio #2 to do so I will head to the gym shortly.

Things seem to be going a little better with the prep. Still not sure if I am 'on track' but I am def making gains. I weighed yesterday and these were my stats;

Weight - 129.8 (down 1)

Fat % - 17.1 (down 1.3)

Fat Mass - 22.2 (down 1.8)

FFM - 107.6 (up .8)

I will keep plugging along for now but if I don't feel that I am ready in the next couple weeks I will pull out and focus on the next show in October. Until then...thanks for all the encouragement!

6 weeks and Frustrated

2009-08-09T08:29:00.000-04:00

So here I am 6 weeks out and still behind schedule!!! Aaaahhhh!!! This pic above is exactly how I have been feeling for the last 24 hours, except add a few tears. Wah! This is not typical behaviour of me to whine and feel sorry for myself like this and I don't like it one bit. I was actually considering throwing it all in yesterday and going home to sit on my couch with a tub of ice cream. It's a darn good thing I had people waiting for me at the stairs after posing practice because who knows what could have happened otherwise :S

Here's my current stats:

The old ones are from 11 weeks before my surgery. I have been afraid to get back on until now!

Weight: 130.8 (down 3)

Fat % - 18.4 (down 2 %)

Fat Mass - 24 (down 3.2)

FFM - 106.8 (up .2)

From what I can find for the last show I was weighing in at; 119.4, 13.9% bf (16.6 fat mass).

So I guess this is what I need to strive for or better.

8 lbs of fat loss in 6 weeks???

From the looks of my new diet & cardio program it's a definite possibility.

Will keep you posted!

Finally a Nice Weekend :)

2009-08-02T18:30:00.000-04:00

What a relief it has been to have a few nice days without any rain. And on a weekend too! My weekend didn't start out the greatest as Friday was the last day of July and being behind in my goals left me at work quite late at night prospecting. I didn't manage to get what I needed to done (or even close) but it's my first time that I haven't hit since I started working there 3.5 years ago and all my hard work month end seems to have set me up for a pretty solid August.

I was on my way home after 10 pm when I realized I was out of egg whites which I needed for 2 of my meals on Saturday. Everything was closed ( I live in the boonies) except Shoppers and I was lucky enough to find them there. The clerk said they just started carrying them! I get home, wash my face, put my pj's on & hop into bed only to remember that I am out of crystal light that I need for my morning shake...uuggh. It now only consists of a whole avocado & a scoop of protein so I'm pretty certain that I won't be able to drink it alone. Up I get & back to Shoppers I go...I swear the lady thought I was nuts!

Saturday I wake up bright and early & begin to prepare my shake and while cutting the avocado I slice right into my hand. It was quite deep and bleeding a lot so I figure I better call my Dad to let him know in case I need stitches & a ride to the hospital. While talking to him I decide that the bleeding has slowed and I should be okay but I will call if anything changes. I wrap it all up & go on with my morning...prepping my shake (which I had to throw out after all that because my blender sucks and decided the avocado wasn't ripe enough to blend), and eating my oatmeal. Sitting at the computer reading blogs is precisely what I was doing when my parents came busting through my front door. Apparently they had been trying to call my house (battery dead) and my cell ( ringer off) and when I didn't answer assumed I had passed out. They made a mad dash from a town over to check on me at 7 am on a Saturday morning only to find me eating oatmeal & drinking a coffee! Gotta love the rents, no matter how old we get they still worry about us :)

The rest of the day consisted of clients, posing practice and errands. At practice Mindi informed me that I am behind schedule and we need to step it up :S This we decided will be done by two a days on the stepmill. I knew this would come sooner or later and I also know that's what works for me but damn I hate that thing! I asked if I could do 'real' stairs as an alternative and she said yes :) I actually find them harder but it is so nice to be outside. So that's what I did today...a half hours of plyos at the club with a gf followed by 7 rounds (2030)of stairs. Next week we're going to do plyos outside as well.

So that's the update...diet is dead on, workouts are being stepped up and I am feeling good :)

7 weeks to go!!

8 Weeks Already???

2009-07-26T08:11:00.000-04:00

Wow! This prep is flying by and I am just now feeling like I am on track and have my head in the right place :S I started out great at the 12 weeks mark but then I had surgery and it all fell apart. I had varicose vein ligation surgery and from what I understood was supposed to be quite simple. I had actually planned to be back into work at 7 am the next morning and resume my regular workouts on Monday (the surgery was Thursday!). I was sadly mistaken as I was unable to move from my couch until Monday morning at which point and went into work but only lasted 1/2 a day. I worked 1/2 days Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and finally a full day on Friday. I struggled through my upper body workouts but had to skip the cardio and legs. This was unfortunate because the was the week I was to start my cardio twice a day :S Spending the weekend on the couch was also not very good for the diet because I went from not eating at all for a couple of days (anesthetic) to eating whatever was convenient because I was unable to stand long enough to prepare my proper diet food.

Anywho...the good news is that when I went in for my follow up this past Monday the kind doctor removed the tensor bandage (which was wrapped tightly from my hip to my toes)...the dressings, and the stitches and sent me on my way :) :) :) It was like as soon as that dang tensor came off and removed some of the pressure I felt 100% better. I went right back to work and hopped on the bike for a 45 minute cardio session! As soon as I did that my mood improved and I was back in the game. It's really quite funny how much exercise effects our lives. That week without being able to do my proper workouts and my diet not on track I was miserable!

This past week has been good, I got in all of my cardio and weight workouts and stuck to the diet 100%. I know this is how EVERY week has to be from here on in and I am ready!

11 Weeks and Crazy Scales

2009-07-05T06:52:00.000-04:00

So here I am 11 weeks out and excited to hop on the scale and see what progress I have made during this week of clean eating. By clean eating I mean no crap because although I did stick to my diet foods I am guilty of having extra portions. I know I need to get a handle on this but in my head it was a LOT better then what I have been up to and I still have 11 weeks. The biggest problem was that I was forced to buy Vanilla yogurt instead of plain which I have learned is not an option as I enjoy the sweetness too much. A couple of days I would go back for seconds (maybe even 3rds :S) of the yogurt, cottage cheese, berry combo. Keep in mind that my diet says a 1/4 c. of each so it's easy to see how these calories could have added up.

Anywho...all in all I felt it was a pretty good week so when I hopped on that scale I was SHOCKED to see the following;

Weight - 133.8 (down .8)

Fat % - 20.4 (up 2.7)

Fat Mass - 27.2 (up 3.4)

FFM - 106.6 (down 4.2)

Could this be true??? I know I couldn't possibly have lost 4.2 lbs of muscle and gained 2.7 lbs of fat in a week but now the problem is I don't know which reading is more accurate...arrrggh! Maybe I really did do more damage then what the previous reading showed! I am going to try my best not to hop on it every day this week and just hold out until Saturday when it's time to weigh again. Boy that thing can sure mess with your head!

Workouts were great last week :) I am glad I decided to take the previous week off as I came back fresh and have been dealing with some wicked doms ( especially in the legs!). I am going to start my week today which would normally be my rest day because I am having surgery on Thursday and unsure what I will be capable of after that. They say you can resume 'normal' activities right away but not clear on what defines normal. Standing all day slinging dumbbell's & weight plates followed by a 45 minute stair climb and intense leg workout? I think not.

Today is shoulders and triceps followed by 45 minutes on the bike although I am thinking if saving the bike for later in the week. I may need something easier after the surgery. After that I am training a good friend and then hitting the driving range with her.

I love Sundays!!

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T17:05:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed my first ever sober "Black Top Hop" last night and it wasn't so bad. The 'Hop" is thee event of the year in Caledonia and is attended by thousands. It is always the day before Canada Day and a huge drunkfest. I knew this year would be a whole new experience sans the alcohol but I went anyway because I told myself that I would not sacrifice my summer because of my diet. And...I think this is the first Canada Day in several years that I have not spent on my couch...I actually worked today! I was still a little tired because I didn't get home until 12:30 and had to get up at 6:30 am but at least the day wasn't a write off. That is one thing I learned over the last couple months when I did choose to drink. For a couple of hours of fun you pay for it for at least 3 days. The following day would be a total waste and then my workouts would suffer all week. So not worth it!

12 Weeks Out at Last

2009-06-29T07:14:00.000-04:00

Saturday marked the 12 week out point and the start of my diet. The funny thing was it couldn't come soon enough and I have been relieved to have to be on plan again. It's a strange feeling, even though I was telling myself on stay on up until this point for some reason something else was telling me to go for it because I wouldn't see that food again for another 5 months. This first 'off season' has definitley been a struggle for me and I can only hope that the next time will be easier.

I braved the scale on Saturday ( even after a steak and wine dinner Friday night - thanks Adena!) and this is what I am dealing with:

Weight - 134.6
Fat % - 17.7
Fat Mass - 23.8
FFM - 110.8

On April 9 , about 3 weeks pre-contest I was:

Weight - 127
Fat % - 15.8
Fat Mass - 20
FFM - 107

So it looks like I am dealing with 3.8 lbs of fat gain which isn't really as bad as I thought so long as the body comp scale is correct. It sure feels and looks like more then that to me but who really knows!

I decided to take last week off of training bercause I was feeling run down (likely because of all the crappy food!) and because I knew it would be hard core from her on in so today it begins!! I will be doing Shoulders, Triceps and Cardio ( 45 minutes on the bike - steady state) Not fun that I have to start this on 3 hours sleep but that seems to be how Mondays are - aarrrggh! Why is it that when we need sleep the most are body refuses? Anywho...onward ans upward...I will post soon with how things are coming along!

The Week thus Far...

2009-06-03T08:56:00.000-04:00

I decided not to weigh on Monday because I had my last "cheat day" on Sunday and didn't feel it would give a very accurate reading. So....today is the day! When I go into work I will hop on that body comp scale and face the cold hard truth...eek!

I have been a lot better with the eating the last couple of days but am still struggling a bit as I know I don't have to be 'spot on' until the 14 week mark. Yesterday for example, I went to a gf's place between clients to shower and have my lunch...when I got there it was after my cardio and time for my meal (which I had with me btw) when I noticed breakfast pitas and pb on her counter :O I LOVE those things and haven't had them in about 6 months, so i proceeded to sacrifice my asparagus and chicken for pitas and pb followed by handful of cashews that were also out on her counter! These are things that I know I can't do during comp prep and am praying to have my focus back soon!

As far as the workouts go the last couple days have been pretty good even though I have been fighting a stupid cold.

Monday June 1

Weights: Shoulders and Triceps
Cardio :45 minutes on the stepmill. I usually do the manual program and start at 75 spm and work my way up to 100/110 depending on the day but I decided to try the interval program instead. I set the 'easy' part at 80 spm and the 'work' at 90 spm. I enjoyed it and burned about 450 calories ( I rarely hit that with the manual program, it was normally around 420) so I was really happy with that :)

Tuesday June 2

Weights:Back and Abs
Cardio :45 minutes on stepmill. Interval program at 85 easy and 95 work for the first 35 minutes. 90/100 for next 5 and finished at 95/105. Burned about 460.

Will try to post with the weigh-in tonight. All depends if my teenagers will let me near the computer!

Tomorrow it Begins Again!

2009-05-31T09:12:00.000-04:00

After a little over a month and WAY too many treats I have had enough and am ready to get back at it. I am going to use this blog to keep myself accountable by posting meals, workouts, weekly weigh-ins and body comps. It's way too easy to fall off and oh so hard to get back on again. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I had that first bite of a butter tart after my show!

My next show is the Ontario Naturals on September 19 followed by London and Western
Ontario Championships (Level 2) on November 21. That gives me almost 16 weeks of prep for the first show and then another 8 until the Level 2 event. As long as the body cooperates after all this cheating and I can stay focused I should be able to make some pretty impressive gains by then.

I will post tomorrow with my weigh in results...I'm SCARED!!!!

The Aftermath

2009-05-25T07:44:00.000-04:00

This is what I found when I got in my car to head home...just a few stragglers left to be picked up :)

Party Time!

2009-05-23T13:45:00.001-04:00

I would like to wish my daughter Taryn a Happy 16th Birthday! We are going to celebrate by having a 21 hour long party with 60 children! That's right, it starts today at 4 pm today and ends tomorrow at 1 pm!! Thankfully Grandma & Grandpa have a pool, hot tub and a nice big yard to hold all the tents. Wish me luck, I should be in for an interesting 24 hrs...I will post tomorrow with the outcome :)

Post Comp Week!!

2009-05-03T18:52:00.000-04:00

I think I have made it through the post comp madness but oh what a ride it was! This is something that I was not warned about and wow did it take me by surprise! After 5 months of planning every detail of my life (grocery shopping, meal prep, workouts, work schedule, social outings, family time, etc..) around this one particular event it came and went in a matter of hours leaving me totally lost. All of a sudden I didn't know what to eat, didn't have a workout plan & had all this extra time on my hands! Not a good scene at all! Having been warned about the dreaded 'rebound' I had my treats on Saturday evening and Sunday and had planned to get back on track on Monday.I found a diet from a few weeks back and decided to go with that because I was afraid to add carbs back in too quickly. Everyday started out well but somewhere along the way a temptation would pop up & I would think to myself...'I could have that if I wanted to. After all I'm not dieting anymore' and I would cave! One day it was Valentine's chocolates in the freezer, another it was pizza & creamsicles...gross! It was like in that one day I lost all my willpower, without that goal to strive for all my efforts seemed pointless. I know this is ridiculous and that if I were to start eating like that again I would blow up and undo everything I spent 5 months working so hard for. All the sacrifices I made and all the hours in the gym and on the stepmill would be for nothing. Well, not NOTHING as I did walk away with 2 trophies :)...but you know what I mean. In 6 weeks I will start prepping for a show in September and I would hate to think that I would have to start completely fresh again.

So what do other figure girls do? How do we find the balance in the off season? The balance somwhere beteween 100% clean eating & eat everything in sight because we can...I have 6 weeks before I'm back to 100% and other then a trip to Vegas next week I think I have a plan. Here it is...I will follow my 'off season' diet (which I have as off Friday) with a cheat meal on the weekend. I only earn that cheat if I have ate clean all week & got all my workouts in. Sound like a plan? I will keep you posted!

2009-04-30T08:30:00.000-04:00

Overall...we are the First place winners of each category. The girl on the far right beat me in the Masters class and also took the Overall.

2nd place - Masters (over 35). This was a big class...13 people I believe.

My best buddy Jared & I

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Team O'Brien Girls minus Lucy ( Lucy competed in Body Building). This is Nancy who placed 2nd in the short class and our wonderful trainer Mindi O'Brien!

Mindi O and I!

Me with my 1st place trophy :) Woooohooooo!!!!!

First Place - Medium Height Class!

Getting all pretty for the night show! Thanks Kara!

Dresing room shot.

The Glam Squad :)

My Lil bro and I :)

2 piece round, Masters division.

2 piece round. Masters division.

Holding the 'model' pose at the back of the stage while the others do thier thing.

Some shots from the BIG DAY!

2009-04-30T08:20:00.001-04:00

A shot from the dressing room. Not nervous at all - ya right!

Kara and I.
Kara is one half of the GLAM SQUAD and responsible for hair and make-up!

Guest Post from Adena...

2009-04-29T22:02:00.000-04:00

Guest post by the road crew. Tawnya started out as my trainer in Jan '08 but I'm now happy to call her a friend. Some might even call me more than a friend based on experiences (the tanner, the tanner) these last few months but more on that later.

Sometime in Oct or Nov '08 she announced that she might try out for a figure competition. Actually she didn't 'announce it', more like tossed it out casually during discussions, 'yeah I was thinking about trying a figure competition this year'. You see Tawnya's not the 'announcing type', she's too modest for that. Tawnya has been a marathon runner for years but I think the thought of cold morning runs, especially the really long ones on her own wasn't that appealing this year so why not try something different. She doesn't do anything half way, nope, not Tawnya. So she chatted about it casually in circles and got down to the business of getting herself a trainer, and a nutritionist and started the journey. We exited 2007 with a fabulous steak dinner and a couple of bottles of wine proclaiming 'no more drinking or bad food or fun!'. Little did we know we'd end up spending Friday nights in roasting veggie and cooking marathons, BUT we did have some laughs, quite alot actually. I'm not only a road crew member, remember I'm a client so I decided I'd give up the booze as well and get to some serious working out and dieting myself, but that is a story for my own blog.

Things started out well, with lots of workouts, I think they call that a 5 day splits and lots and lots and lots of cardio. At the beginning time passed without much notice, weekly pictures and countdowns. She somehow made it to the 8 week (halfway) mark without cheating on the diet and never missed a workout despite working full time, being a mom to two amazing kids and being a great friend. This girl had NO time. I remember specifically the texts and MSNs as her new workouts and diet would arrive "Oh my gosh you won't won't believe this!!" I had barely gotten over the fact that she had to eat asparagus everyday, 12 spears no less, no more when they took it down to 10 and somewhere around the same time the stepmill was becoming her best friend. Oops did I say best friend? Yeah, not so much but it was appearing more and more in her workouts. I REALLY enjoyed hearing all about her plyo sessions with Mindi O'Brien, the 300's.. "She made you do 50 burpees!?!?!??!" and I'd laugh and laugh as Tawnya waddled away from me. Yup waddled cause her legs were done.

Of course those sessions were funny til I started seeing some things showing up in MY program. Quick excerpt from my blog Feb 12, 2009 titled "My trainer is a mean B*&^" "Now even though she is KILLING me with these workouts each time I stop to breath during a set she adds one more rep. I can't even tell you how many fucking pop squats I ended up doing." Yeah so who had the last laugh? Tawnya of course!

As we got closer the countdown became more exciting, 4 weeks to go, 3 weeks to go, 2 weeks to go. By now she was up to 2 45 minute session on the stepmill and what seemed like 2 hour workout sessions, actually I think alot of them WERE 2 hour sessions. Tawnya held up though, there was only that one infamous 'walnut' incident' but I won't give any details here, she already confessed to that one. The changes in her body were amazing and I even saw a glimmer of excitement as she saw the progress herself. She started posing practice and from the beginning she posed like a champ (move your arm, move the hand, stand up straight, belly in, push your quads together, squeeze that butt oy!) and she only got better as the time to the show closed in. My favourite were the pictures of her in her hooker heels and baseball cap, nice look T! By the last week it was a frenzy of getting ready, groceries and cooking and nails and waxing (oh the waxing) and arranging makeup and hair, the glam squad ROCKED by the way!

I had agreed to help her apply the tanning stuff she needed cause apparently you need to be black for the competition, I was thinking more along the lines of sun tan application, you know, the back, the arms, touching up places she couldn't see but the Thursday before the show she texted me while I was in a work meeting no less and told me I'd be 'painting all of her',

my response 'what?',
Tawnya, 'yeah ALL of me'
me 'what'
Tawnya 'yeah'
me 'I'm going to need some drinks first, and I really think you should buy me dinner or something'

People, have you seen these competition suits? Even then I had no idea what I was in for. At any rate she came over, we cooked, she stripped, I put on latex gloves and we got down to the business of applying the Jan Tana. I tell ya, there's nothing like seeing your good friend BUCK nekkid in your kitchen next to a pot of boiling asparagus. It didn't take long for the jokes to fly and the laughing was epic but we got it done. I wasn't very good at it that first time but boy the the 5th application at 6am on Saturday morning I was applying it like a German estitician, all clinical, lifting boobs and butt cheeks, standing back making her move around to check the eveness in the light. I still think she owes me dinner. ;-)

Then on show day we were up and out, I only got us slightly lost near the end, sadly it was me driving around trying to figure out where we were with only 15 minutes until they closed registration!! THANK GOD we made it on time!! Tawnya registered while I met up with the Glam Squad and met her in the change room. The change room was a sea of naked buff women getting ready who were for the most part really nice. Kara, one half of the glam squad was being watched very carefully by everyone cause as she progressed through hair and makeup Tawnya just kept looking better and better. Ever the relaxed girl though she was cool as a cucumber through the whole thing. We raced to the bleachers at show time for the morning pre-judging and our girl came out to hoots and hollers from us and I have to say we can make alot of noise. She looked fantastic! It was clear she had the best figure and her walk and posing were the MOST polished of all the women. She kept getting called back up first and moved to the middle area which I had heard was 'really good', with us screaming all the while, COME ON TAWNYA, GO 52, SHOW EM THAT BACK, WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU GO TAWNYA! She rocked the two piece round, AND the one piece round. In the masters round she didn't get called back up first, WTF people, but they did end up calling her up front yet again. We just KNEW it was going to be a good night.

After pre-judging we went to sit along the river and relax for a while, until the rain came. We barely made it back inside the school before the rain and huge hail came down in buckets. Had she been caught in the rain the impact on the tan would have been epic, thank god for timing and thank god for Michelle! (Michelle is the other half of the glam squad).

Evening arrived and Tawnya's friends and fans started flowing into the gymnasium to line the bleachers and the up front seats. They hadn't seen her yet but me and the glam squad, we knew.. haha Her son and parents were in the audience somewhere as well, it was a packed show!! We sat through bodybuilding and fitness cheering on alot of the competitors that we liked but then I saw her backstage, waiting her turn. Jesus christ she didn't even look nervous! She claimed she was but she didn't show it. She came out for her round, I heard her son said "HOLY SHIT" in front of grandma even! She did the best turns and the best posing and took first place!! The screaming and crying as we watched her get her trophy and pose for her winner photo, she looked amazing! She took 2nd in the masters round, none of us could figure that one out but who cares really, first and second, in your first show is an amazing accomplishment!!

It was an amazing day, we were all so very proud of her and she was even proud of herself. Way to go Girl, I don't know anyone that worked harder for that win or deserved it more!
Love the Road Crew

The Big Day!

2009-04-29T07:14:00.000-04:00

The big day finally arrived after months of grueling workouts and truckloads of asparagus and this is how it went....1st place medium (height class)and 2nd place Masters (over 35)!!!!!

Back Shot - 2 Weeks Out

2009-04-12T19:46:00.001-04:00

Progress Pics - 2 Weeks Out!!

2009-04-12T19:44:00.001-04:00

2 Weeks

2009-04-12T07:25:00.000-04:00

I sit here with my coffee thankful to have finally gotten a decent nights sleep (thank you nytol). I'm not sure what the cause is but from what I am hearing it is quite common to have disrupted sleep as you get closer to the competition. Anyone in my life knows that I don't do tired well...some people I know can get through their day on little sleep and be pleasant and look perky. Not I...I am a bear (my children can vouch for that), white as a sheet & get these enormous bags under my eyes. Not a good look at all! Another problem is that normally when I am sleep deprived I tend to make poor food choices.Being as focused as I am at this time I will NEVER eat something that is not on my diet, however...I have been known to have a problem with the nuts that are part of my diet. So...what do I do Friday night when I can't sleep?? Well...I get my butt out of bed, come downstairs and while I surf the net manage to eat what was left in the walnut container!!!!!I am scared to think about how many I consumed but I would bet that it was more then a cup. Aaaarrrgghhh! That is 710 calories and 68 grams of fat and that's only if I only consumed a cup!!! I am so mad at myself and even tempted to do the stepmill today (my rest day) in order to get an extra calorie burn.

Other then that incident the only other thing that is causing me a little anxiety is posing. I feel like a have a pretty good handle on the quarter turns but def need work on my walk and model turns.Somehow I need to be able to walk (in 5 inch heels), keep my gut sucked in, smile, breath and show 'attitude' all at once :S I am going to see Mindi on Tuesday for some extra practice so hopefully this will help to put my mind at ease.

I should be getting a new diet this week and am excited to see what it entails...last week I lost my oatmeal and pb to asparagus & egg whites which actually wasn't as bad as I expected. I expect some big cut backs this week but that's okay, as long as I still away from the nuts I should be fine. Only 2 weeks to go...I CAN DO THIS! I WILL rock that stage :)

2009-04-11T22:32:00.001-04:00

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Make your own Countdown Clocks

Asparagus and Stepmills...

2009-04-08T06:19:00.001-04:00

These are 2 things that have become a big part of my life over the last several months.

Since beginning my 'diet' back in November I have ate 10,then 8 spears of asparagus EVERY day for dinner! Thats about 1000 spears! Actually, as I type this at 6:22 am I am cooking more asparagus. So after anxiously awaiting my my diet revisions on Sunday I was shocked to discover that not only do I continue to eat it for dinner but now....I get to have it for breakfast too! That's right, I say goodbye to my 1/4 cup of oatmeal & 1/4 tbsp of natural peanut butter which I have come to enjoy immensely and hello to asparagus and egg whites...yum yum! What is it about asparagus anyway? I know that it is a diuretic and supposed to release toxins but does anyone know why else it would be so important to eat in such quantities? Just wondering...

Now for the stepmill. I have spent more time with that damn thing over the last few months then I have with my children! Thats's right, about 8.5 hours a week I step , step, step away on that lovely machine. As my trainer puts it "its a love/hate realationship" you develop with it because truth be told I feel it has been a big part of the butt shrinking process. And butt shrinking has been a major focus in this journey! I have to say that over the last week or so it has been more of a 'love' relationship thanks to 'cute hockey boy' who happens to be stepping at the same time as me most evenings :) He has decided to take it upon himself to make me work harder because he wants me to do well. This involves challenging me to step faster & even stays on his stepper for an extra 30 minutes sometimes to make sure I accomplish this! When we're done he wipes my machine down for me and lets me know when he'll be back on there again just in case I want another push :) I will keep you posted on this one but right now if it makes stepping easier and 'almost' something to look forward to I will take it!

Less then 3 weeks until...

2009-04-06T07:28:00.001-04:00

2009-04-05T19:59:00.001-04:00

Random Things about Me...

2009-04-04T06:05:00.000-04:00

1. There is a 'w' in my name because my Dad was afraid I would get called Tanya. Although it makes sense the spelling seems to cause a lot of confusion.

2. My middle name is Lee which is especially funny since I married someone with the last name Gee.

3. Although my life turned out to be a lot different then I would have thought I have absolutely no regrets & am probably happier then ever.

4. I have ran a marathon every year for the past 4 years.

5. I LOVE to travel & have been to Europe every year for the past 3 years.

6. I value my friendships and regret not keeping some up over the years. If there is one thing I have learned it is that all relationships take effort & compromise, being friendships or otherwise.

7. I have one younger brother who I have gotten to know a lot better over the past couple of years since we have both been single.

8. I love my job! I can make my own hours and have the best clients and co-workers ever!

9. I don't make New Years resolutions but set one education goal and one fitness goal each year. This year I will compete in a Figure competition and get Can- Fit- Pro certified in Pre and Post-Natal Fitness.

10. I have ate 10 asparagus spears for dinner every day since Jan. 1!

11. My favourite food is white chocolate macadamia nut cookies ( preferably from Subway) and since dieting have had many dreams about them. I awake very relieved to discover I didn't mess up my diet!

12. I have recently discovered that brussel sprouts actually aren't that bad after all. Thanks Adena ;)

13. I spend most of my time in Lululemon clothing...putting on jeans is now considered 'dressing up' to me!

14. I have a weird thing about doing cardio in 15 minute intervals. Ask any of my running friends...if we run over 30 we are going to 45 and so on...

15. My greatest fear is losing a child.

16. I love the beach and am most content when there with the children.

17. I am a terrible deicsion maker. I blame it on the fact that I am a Libra and need to weigh the pro's & cons of everything. I am always afraid of making the wrong one. This applies to everything from buying a pair of shoes to ending a marriage!

18. I love banana flavoured anything...pudding, milkshakes, popsicles, etc...

19.I have mother issues but am trying very hard to understand her and pray that Taryn and I have a better relationship.

20. I think my son is one of the funniest people I know!

21. I sit very close to the steering wheel when I drive and like to have the heat blasting!

22. My best friend is a boy that is 12 years younger then me! Strange but it works ;)

23. I suffer from 'mother guilt' and wonder every day if I am making the right choices.

24. I have a tonne of curly hair & can only manage it with the help of a flat iron. You should see it in the morning