Yep, that’s right. I’m counting the days, not weeks now, till I return to the bodybuilding stage again. This is the part of the contest prep that really starts to become a challenge – both physically and mentally. I know I’ve said it before, but I really can’t believe I’m doing this again after all these years…!

Today I thought I’d talk a bit about how my preparation is affecting me emotionally. I’ve said here before on the site that in the past I’ve developed an unhealthy relationship with food while preparing for previous shows. And let me tell you, it’s again been really hard to keep my mind straight and my thoughts rational when it comes to food. When you diet for a show and start eating clean, you start to feel guilty if you have ONE potato chip, or ONE morsel of a cookie. And man if you eat a lot, even too much broccoli, you start feeling like you’ve done something wrong or blown your diet. I know it’s crazy, but it’s true. And I also know I’m not the only one who’s ever felt this way.

The key is that I’m aware of this tendency and so far I’ve been pretty good mentally. I’ve snuck a little treat here and there and I’ve been okay with it. The anxiety that I’ve felt in earlier years isn’t as present. In essence I feel like I’ve made peace with my food in a way and see it differently now. For one, I’m NOT eating just steamed chicken and broccoli in preparation for this show. I’ve been much more creative with my food choices and it’s made the entire process less torturous. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not using heavy creams, ketchup or a lot of condiments, but I’ve found lemon, egg wash and almond meal, along with spices to be essential to great tasting Paleo friendly foods. And I know that I’m eating healthy foods that are improving my life, not just a means to a lower body fat level.

I’ve become literally addicted to my post workout shake (I’m using GNC AMP 60 as you know). Seriously it’s like a dessert for me and I feel rewarded for busting my butt in the gym when I have it. I’ve even started throwing some raw cashews in along with a FEW frozen strawberries (maybe 5 or 6). Add the ice and voilà, I’ve got an awesome smoothie that I sometimes need a spoon to eat!

My training has also been amazing. Yes I’m still using resistance bands but it’s been about two months now and I’m curious to see where my free weight strength is. It’ll be really interesting to see how I perform in the gym after the show when I start using some dumbbells and barbells again. I have a feeling I’ll be even stronger than before! Only time will tell. One thing I did change just yesterday is that instead of performing long, slow LISS cardio, I went out and did some HIIT training (High Intensity Interval Training). For a little over 30 minutes I ran 100 – meter sprints with about 20 seconds rest in between. I was getting bored with the bike and treadmill and I have a feeling my body was too. So I think I’ll do that once or twice per day this week and see how I look next weekend. I’ll let you all know.

I took a few pictures for you to see what I’m looking like these days! It’s hard to see in the photos, but I’m much leaner than last week and certainly more so then any of you have seen me. As usual my body is still holding fat around my waist and continuing to lose in other places. This is par for the course with me and it won’t be till the last week that I really get my abs super lean…but they will! I have to start to tan a bit and over the next weeks the changes will be even bigger. Overall I’m really happy with how it’s all coming together and even I’m wondering how this will all turn out in 21 days!

Time will tell…

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