It’s been quite the rough road for me this past month. But with all the stress, sadness, negativity, and de-motivation, came moments of hope, renewal, reflection and restarting.
After lamenting and complaining and having a big pity party for myself, I emailed my coach to ask for some advice. What I needed was a short-term goal to get me through these next 3 months before my prep begins in mid-July. It’s been suggested to me to maybe do a photo shoot, just for fun. I have heard many women do that if they don’t want to do a competition. Unfortunately it’s just as costly to do a photo shoot as it is to do a competition so it’s not exactly a money-saver. BUT, it follows the same premise as a competition: Tanning, makeup, hair, prep, purchase of clothes to wear to the shoot and most importantly, the fee for the actual photographer/session.
So since $$$ is a factor and I still would like to do the comp in October, I have just refocused and took some advice from one of my three bosses (yes I have three jobs ha!) and decided each month or every 2 weeks or whatever, I will pick a certain part of my body to actually work on. I’m still going to focus on all muscle groups for my workouts each week but spending a little more time on the problem area(s) will be the goal.
Plus I’m going to take progress pics every weeks instead of every 3 weeks. It’s just another way to stay motivated and accountable.
I love this plan already (Thanks Mark for the idea!)
If I am focused on one thing, it’s so much easier to accomplish it, right? The same rule applies to anything in life I suppose. Multi-tasking is the enemy. 🙂
Short term goals are good, but I was still feeling de-motivated and lazy and even irritated that I decided to train for the show. I kept using the excuse “It’s not until October, let me just eat this crap right now, who cares!” everytime I thought about cheating. I was taking all my emotions and putting them towards food. I found any junk food in the house/cupboards and proceeded to devour them like never before. Almost as if I would never eat again. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your attitude towards carbs) the most unhealthiest food we have in our house is Ritz crackers and Jelly.
That didn’t stop me from eating an entire SLEEVE of Ritz crackers and an entire JAR (okay it was the small ones but still) of jelly, by the way. Several nights in a row… The guilt was minimal (I had more of an “I could care less” attitude), but the feeling in my stomach afterwards told me that was a BIT too much sugar.
So I needed some inspiration, some motivation, something a little more tangible than just some words on a Facebook page or a quote from a book. I really needed to get back into the spirit of things.
Ironically, the Spring version of the competition took place this past weekend. And one of my friends’ daughters was competing in the bikini division. I never met her, didn’t know her at all. But I was SO excited for her! Here was a small connection that I could latch on to. Although I really wanted to attend the show itself to cheer on this complete stranger, I couldn’t attend. But, speaking to my friend afterwards was great because his daughter placed 7th in her first ever competition! Talk about motivating!!! This chick is a MOTHER and looked amazing on stage. I gave her dad my email address so I hope to have her discuss her experience on the blog soon.
A few days ago, the pictures from the competition came out online. Here are the links:
Just looking at the pics of the Figure competitors was inspiring to me. It shows how far I have to go, but it also shows me that it’s attainable. Kind of like looking into a crystal ball…a picture of what “could be.”
Lastly, being on Twitter does have it’s perks. I was able to get in contact with a woman named Callista, who is ALSO training for the same fall competition! She just started a blog Run Lift Like a LandShark as well as an FB Page.
I couldn’t help but notice our similarities (except for that whole kid/husband/attorney thing) so I’m really excited to follow along in her journey too.
Just goes to show when you think you’re hitting rock bottom and you’re ready to give up, there are people and things all around you to get you back on track.
So here’s to a week(end) to getting back to YOUR goals. Whatever they may be!
-Michelle
Random Tweet of the Day courtesy of myself: “Umm I put make-up on for the @Indians game tonight in the #SocialSuite so it HAS to stop raining. I didn’t clog my pores for nothin!” –
The game got rained out by the way; so yes, I DID clog my pores for nothing but $25 wasted on parking and an hour of sitting in a suite watching the jumbotron air two random MLB games. Not fun.
The Joyful Celibate 