Follow up post

It has been a couple weeks since I wrote the last post into my journal. Time management has definitely been tough to keep but I will get there.

Right now work is crazy busy for me with audit and tax season, but luckily our first deadline is in a few weeks so the pressure will ease up there a little bit. Working roughly 50 hours a week makes for long days sometimes but got to make the money and pay the bills somehow, right?

Add the long work days to the training schedule, 6 days in the gym. Sometimes going back after work to get an extra quick cardio session in can be tough and times where I wish I would have done it all at once, but then again time management. Would I rather get up at 3 am everyday to make sure I got my gym time in, or split up the time in the gym and do a quick 30 minute session as a stress reliever after a long day at work? I choose the later. Most nights that might mean I don't get home until 7 or 8 and that takes away time from the family, but I make a point to make up for that on my rest day. That rest day is meant for family time because if they are going to support me in this journey then I need to be there for them as well. I can't leave them in dust just because I am trying to prove something to myself.

Nutrition hasn't been difficult, luckily my current nutrition is all planned out for me so all I have to do is cook it and eat it. That is the one thing I do take care of on my rest day is making sure that my meals are planned for the week. It is pretty simple since I am really only eating a few different varieties of food right now so prep doesn't take me quite as long. In all honestly the measuring and weighing everything takes the longest and dividing everything up into ziploc bags. But that is the only way I can guarantee I am fueling my body right now with everything it needs. If I don't fuel my body properly then I am not going to see change and I am going to get run down extremely fast.

Last week was tough adjusting to the schedule of training, work, and mom/wife duties but I managed to push them and rested up as much as I could Saturday/Sunday. This second week has been a lot better now that I have adjusted to the routine. Most of my days I wake up determined and with my game face on ready to hit that gym hard and make sure I get that time in. I have already witnessed the change since I made this commitment a year ago, but now the true changes are really going to happen.

Competitions are a sport and they are tough but right now I also think they can be fun. The excitement of seeing the change in the body. The excitement of what all of the hard work and end result is. The excitement of knowing that in roughly 12 weeks I will be standing on a stage in front of however many people and being judged for my physique. Regardless I am an athlete and I am competing in a sport with numerous other amazing athletes.

Since sticking to my nutrition I have gone from 164 (only a little weight gain from the holidays thankfully) to 160, but my body is changing as well and my posing is slowly getting better.

I am so very thankful for the help and knowledge I am receiving from fellow competitors right now as well. Posing is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be so I have to practice as much as I can. Every time I'm in the mirror I will try and do a pose or get a muscle to pop. It is a workout in itself to get the muscles and twisting the way you want it to go. It also shows my weak points in my body structure (spinal issues) as I have issues with twisting one way better than the other. 

I have a lot of work still to continue doing over the next 12 weeks but I have what it takes.