Public Poll

I need opinions from anyone out there that wants to share.

I had my belly button pierced when I was 17. I didn't take it out until I was 25 or so. It was in there for so long that my skin got used to it and never fully healed when I took it out. Now I'm left with a little scar above my belly button:

So I have no idea what I will look like when I'm all tan. But I keep seeing all these figure competitors with their bellies pierced. And now I'm wondering if I should go back and re-pierce it just so I don't have this stupid scar.

Thoughts???

I asked this one friend of mine at work who is an aspiring body builder (He has never competed but DAMN he should because his body is fine)... he said "Misha, when you have a six pack no one is going to give two shits about that scar" and I'm thinking he is probably right. But I don't know how noticeable it is to everyone else out there when you look at my progress photos??? Seems like I would see a scar on these fitness models in the magazines (although they probably air brush it out!)

Andy thinks I should. So one vote yes, and one vote no.

We All Screw Up, OK?

I just have to remind everyone that we all screw up from time to time. Even, us competitors.

My friend Luwannah is a Bikini competitor. Here are just a few examples of how she has screwed up on her pre-contest diet for the Texas State Naturals contest, which is less than 2 months away...
1. She went to Jamaica for 5 days and didn't work out at all. Also drank beer.
2. She drank a REAL dr. pepper the other day
3. She skipped the gym this week a couple times because she went to a concert and was just feeling lazy

Here are some ways that I have screwed up lately:
1. Instead of only one cheat day last week, I went ahead and drank alcohol 2 days in a row.
2. I skipped my crossfit class for one whole week this month.
3. I didn't go to the gym on Monday.
4. I ate a reeses peanut butter cup last night

Guess, what? We are all human. If you are on a diet and having a hard time, know that we are all messing up sometimes. Just try to get back on it as soon as possible to minimize any real damage you could do. Don't EVER say, oh well I already blew it so let me just jump off this cliff and start over later....NO NO NO, that is a HORRIBLE mentality to have and will get you NO WHERE!!!

Also, recognize that it is ok as long as you accept that it was your decision and you can always make better ones going forward...don't try and let other people sabotage you and even worse, don't try to blame other people for your decisions. It is only us and us alone at the end of the day that can make the major changes we need to make.

Most people out there are what I like to call "crap pushers"...you just have to figure out how to steer clear of the crap.

I Can NOT Wait to Share this One With Amy....

Amy Peters is my nutritionist as everyone is well aware by now (hopefully you haven't been living under a rock and just now figuring this out?)

Anyway, she told me she is going to put all her recipes in a book. Well, I think I have found my contribution. I can't wait to share this one with her. Hopefully she gives me a little cred in her published cook book!!!

Misha's Mock Caramel Frappuccino
Ingredients:
Ice
Coffee
1/4 cup skim milk or soy milk
1 tbsp sugar free caramel ice cream topping
1/2 scoop Cappuccino flavored protein powder (I like Nectar brand)
2 tbsp redi whip lite topping

Instructions:
Fill blender with brewed coffee, ice, milk, caramel topping and protein powder. Blend until thick. Pour into glass. Top with redi whip and a squirt of caramel topping. Drink up!

Nutritional Info:
Calories: 120
Fat: 0.2 grams
Protein: 13.9 grams
Carbs: 16.4 grams

Now, here is the best part. This drink has less calories than a Starbuck's light version of the same drink - in a TALL glass (equivalent to the small), and my version fills the biggest plastic cup I own. Now THAT is an amazing dessert drink or snack drink.

I'm a genius. Knew I had a chemical engineering degree for something.

I Have Been a Bad Girl about Posting...

Sorry if anyone is regularly checking this and I have not been posting anything useful. I actually have quite a few updates and so this may get a little boring...

1. I have a friend, (who will remain anonymous because I don't know that she wants me sharing her business with the world), who pleasantly surprised me the last couple weeks with asking me for help. She wanted some advice about her diet. I had her tell me about it and what she is doing and tried to see if I could figure out why it's not working. I had quite a few suggestions. Long story short...she told me this week that I should try to figure out how to hand out nutritional info on the side. I'm not a nutritionist people! But I sure was complimented by that! My response was "let me win a trophy and then we will see if I have enough credibility"....a special "thanks" to this friend of mine for making me feel useful and actually believing that I could help other people too.

2. I've been trying to crack the code on my scale. If any of you ever buy a scale that has a body fat indicator...look out!!!! This is not an accurate measurement. However, I am trying to figure out what kind of standard deviation we are talking about here! I mean, when I started out, it tended to read low. About 3% off. That was obvious even from my pics. (If you look back at older pics you will see where I thought I was like 21% and I'm so obviously NOT). Now, I took my body fat measurements last week and was 18% on Wednesday. Today and yesterday my scale has spit out a whopping 16.5%!!!! So, if we all believe that I lost say 0.5% body fat from last week, then the scale is only reading about 1% off. Interesting. I think this is the engineer in me trying to figure out why this may be. But I think since I'm getting so much smaller there is less room for error??? Just a random thought.

3. I can not remember now.... but I believe I told everyone that Amy said I may only need 12 weeks for pre-contest. Well those dreams are starting to slip away because I can tell I'm not really shedding weight like crazy. But, I am READY. The next month is going to get crazy, I mean CRAZY. And I say "BRING IT ON FOOLS". I'm so pumped up to go pre-contest I can hardly take it!!!!!!

4. I have to say thank you again to everyone out there that has been so kind and supportive. I used to feel like people were trying to bring me down, and now the pendulum has swung the opposite direction. I believe this is because I am proving to everyone that I really can do this. But now it is truly amazing how many people have come forward excited for me. For example, today I was in training. We had to introduce ourselves like always. But this time, they specifically wanted us to say what our "thing" was on the side...so of course I just said "hey, I'm in training for my first body building competition". It was really cool to be able to just say it out loud and not have everyone freak out. But what was totally cool is how many people in the class came up to me later as I was eating my snacks and just said how impressed they were. One guy confessed he competed in the NPC in 30 shows in his younger days. Another told me that I would probably do so well being so short. And another asked what I was going to eat for dinner. How wonderful to see other people get excited. THANK YOU everyone for being my continued motivation and support! I feel very lucky for all of you!!!!

That's all my random thoughts. I have some more substantial posts on the way. Thanks for listening to my randomness in this crazy world of figure competing.

Latest Pics

Progress Pics!!! Not that much different looking than last time. But I am getting really happy with my body now. I finally have the curves in my arms that I have been wanting and my waist is getting little and my back is getting toned out. My abs will come when I'm pre-contest, not so worried about that. My real area to work on is probably my legs now!!!

125 pounds and 18% on the dot body fat. I'm down 0.7% from last measurements....we'll see in another two weeks where everything falls out but for now I'm pretty happy.

I knew this would happen, but it is still shocking....

I thought my stomach was getting fatter. It just seems so bloated. Well, and it may be...but I realized today, it's not getting bigger....it's just that my boobs are disappearing.

Maybe this is too much information. But a year ago...I was a 32G. That's right a G.

So when I got down to my D cups, I was pretty glad to be out the ginormous bras.

And then they went to a C. And I had to go purchase some new bras because I haven't been a C since high school. Don't worry, I just went to target because I didn't know if the C cup would be short lived.

Which it was.

Today, I am officially a 36 B. I can wear a 34 C, but honestly the 36 B fits a little better.

Now, I really don't know the last time I EVER was a B cup. Because I know for a fact that I had a C cup bra in 8th grade. Why else did I have so many boyfriends?

And the saddest part of all of this, is that my boobs are mainly just a lot of skin. You can see the chest muscles behind all the fat that is just left over skin from losing that weight so fast.

Not sure what I'm going to do about this after the contest is all said and done. I don't really care if I never have big boobs again. But the saggy skin pretty much looks like I have had kids that ruined my boobs...and for someone that's never had a baby, well that is pretty sad. So surgery is definitely something I am thinking about at this point.

Anyway, like I said, maybe TMI, but I just am in shock that I have normal size boobs now.

Well, maybe I'm not on a Plateau after all...

I thought I was on a plateau because I hadn't lost any weight in the last month. In fact, some days it looks like I am gaining some!!!

Well, I should have known you should never take the scale as your figure bible.

Amy Peters saw my latest round of photos and LOVED them! She was so impressed with the progress I have made! Couldn't believe it!

Usually after talking to Amy, I get a little discouraged, and just feel like I'm not working as hard as I could be. This time, I feel like it is finally coming together.

I have 2% body fat to lose by the end of June. Think I can do it???? Well, I am really really hoping and praying that my body responds well and that I shed enough fat in the next couple of months. I've been cutting carbs out of my evening meals and I have been sticking as close as possible to 175 grams of protein a day. And I started a fat burner which maybe is why I look so much better this month??? Anyhow, I've been doing a lot of work this last month. I'm going to keep it up as best as I can and hope for the best.

I can not wait for pre-contest to start. It absolutely kills me to have a cheat meal. I am ready to just be serious and not even have the temptation of junk. Last weekend I just ate a couple pieces of pizza, drank a few beers, and had a couple bites of chocolate cake...I still feel like maybe I had too many calories. I'm telling you this contest is starting to play with my sanity!

Of course, many of my friends believe I'm already insane to be doing all of this to myself anyway...so maybe I am officially crazy now.
:)

Striving for...

Jamie Eason's look...

New Progress Photos! These ones are the best yet...

Updated photos...18% body fat.

Sorry about the bad hair. It was one of those days where I was rushing from the gym to work and it came out pretty messed up. Otherwise, I think the photos are some of the best yet (and yes, the bottom of the bathing suit does not fit!)

I'm losing the Fat!

I know I just posted that I needed to kick it up a notch. That is because I feel like I have been keeping the same damn weight for a month... well, as I fore-warned we can not always just look at the weight on the scale.

I had Jonathan take my body fat yesterday again. At Amy's request. And, the results are in....while I am still at 123.8 pounds....I am 18.7% body fat. Last time he took it, I was 20.0%. I was all bummed because my scale tends to read much lower. And I was thinking how the heck am I going to get off 4% body fat in only 2 months (goal is 16% at 16 weeks out!). Now, I am feeling much more confident! Very glad that I have 2 months to get the last 2% off.

I will take more progress pics today and send them with the body fat measurements to Amy. Will post new photos soon.

Plateaus Suck

My body has hit a plateau. I have gone one whole month now and haven't lost any weight. Not that weight is the only thing that matters, but my scale overall hasn't really changed. So, it is time to take it to a new level. I'm going to do a couple things to hopefully kick it up:

1. Cardio needs to get more aggressive - going to shake it up a bit. I upped the stepmill today to a level 11. And I would have ran more but my abs are killing me so I had a major stitch in my side. But, tomorrow is Crossfit which always kicks my ass. And then on Tuesday and Thursday I should be able to put in some really hard 35 minute cardio sessions.

2. Diet is going to get cleaner - I eat clean but I do have some recipes that currently call for processed ingredients. The problem is there can be hidden sugars in some of these foods and it doesn't completely fuel your body like a 100% "clean" diet. I'm pretty sure you would have to be a moron in the grocery store to not realize that I'm body building...I only had ground turkey, chicken breast, 3 dozen eggs, vegetables, and protein bars in my cart yesterday. :)

3. Cheating is going to be kept to a minimal - meaning no alcohol and just a couple extra hundred calories on cheat day rather than just not really worry what I'm eating.

Hopefully this will help. With only 1 month before I go pre-contest, I really need to gain as much muscle as possible in the next few weeks.