July 28th Progress Pictures

I do have progress pictures from this week even though I'm not sharing suit pictures yet. I didn't have the same outfit I've had on for the last several weeks, but its close enough...

Meltdown City

After trying on my suit, I went into complete meltdown. The meltdown lasted about two days; tears, self-doubt, misery, shock, etc. Every negative emotion imaginable...I experienced it.

The suit is gorgeous. Its perfect in every single way. The fabric is rich, the jewels are perfectly placed, its cut exactly to fit my body. So what's wrong? Its TINY. I don't mean, it doesn't fit, I mean that its TINY, like barely there; non-existent. It might as well be dental floss.

I think the reality is hitting me like a ton of bricks. I'm going to be walking on stage in front of hundreds of people and asking a panel of judges to look at my body (my body that has been through the ringer with pregnancy, weight gain and weight loss) and basically exposing myself, my journey and my hard work to all. When the reality hit, I lost my confidence. It took me about 48 hours to decide that I need to go through with this and work my butt off (literally) for the next 2 weeks to give it my absolute best on competition day. Just the thought of it still makes my stomach turn. I just can't believe I'm really going through with this. Its just all so real; so sudden; so "no turning back now".

Marty says, "no one's holding a gun to your head. If you decide you can't do this, its ok" HA! I would never forgive myself. I'm not a quitter. I'm scared shitless, but I'm not a quitter! He knew that about me, he's just trying to ease my worries.

I had my workouts with Blythe on Wednesday and Thursday. I kicked my own ass on Friday, doing HIIT today on my own, and I'll push through the next two weeks with purpose. I have to remember that this is my FIRST show. I've only really been working out hard for a year and I've only been training for the competition since February 2010. That's not a lot of time for a newbie.

I've lost almost 50lbs now; I feel incredible; I'm in the smallest size clothing I've been in since High School; my life feels amazing; my kids are seeing a healthy life style... the pros go on and on! I'm already a winner!

So here I go... I'm sure I'll have a couple more meltdowns in the next 14 days. I've just got to keep my eyes on the goal and recognize that the journey has really been the reward!

(BTW I've decided I'm not posting pictures of the suit until after competition...I feel that's anti-climatic) LOL!

My suit has arrived!!!

My suit is here!!! I'll post pictures soon! It is gorgeous! Thank you, Berns from Passionfruit Designs!

Posing Class Success!

On Sunday I attended a Posing Class with Blythe and three other competitors at Athens Health Club. I was sooooo nervous! The other three women are preparing for the Charm City Classic, an OCB competition in October. I was impressed that they attended a posing class 3 months before their competition. I was also surprised that we were all so tall! It gave me hope that I wasn't going to look like such a giant at the competition (being that I have been a good 4-5 inches taller than anyone I've met previously!) Seeing that there are other taller girls competing was like taking in a big breath of fresh air.


We practiced our line up, four quarter turn mandatory poses and then did our stage walk (T-walk) I was happy I brought my music because I was able to practice and make note that my song's beat is a little fast so I need to make sure that I really slow my walk down and not speed through my routine.

During the class, I realized just how subjective this sport really is; all four of us had very very different bodies. One lady had incredible abs; unlike any I've ever seen in person. One woman's legs were solid rocks and just looked amazing; the other had shoulders with beautiful caps. I might be on the smaller side when it comes to muscle mass, but I'm definitely proportioned nicely and I think that will be my strong suit.

We all fumbled along and made lots of mistakes, but we also made lots of improvements in that short amount of time. I definitely feel more confident in my transtions, my grace, my stage presence and my posing. :)

19 days to go!!!

Things are coming together...quickly!

I'm am:

• Registered
• Tickets are Pre-ordered
• Pro-tan arrived yesterday
• music is picked out an on CD
• confirmation received that suit will be here Aug. 1st
• posing class confirmed for this Sunday

Its really coming together. I'm so anxious, excited, nervous, scared, thrilled...the list of emotions goes on and on.

I've spent the last year setting goals, reaching them, setting new goals and just working hard on my health and fitness. Now in the last three weeks before competition I feel like everything is happening so fast! I don't know if I'll ever feel ready!

July 21st Progress Pictures

I'm just a little over three weeks out until competition day. My weight has been hovering over a certain point for the last two weeks so let's hope that this next week I'm able to break the plateau and lose that last bit! Overall, I feel pretty good... I feel like if this is the best I can get for now, I'm perfectly happy with that. I'm trying not to stress and just recognize how far I've come along! Its almost time!!!

Competition Location Set!

I'm getting so nervous! I can't believe this is all happening! I'm a little over 3 weeks out until the big day and I'm about to die from nerves.

I'm getting ready to pre-order tickets! Let me know if you would like for me to reserve yours. You can also purchase tickets at the door...

Go to www.theOCB.com and look up Presidential Cup in Washington, DC for more information.

The Finals start at 5:00 pm

Support leads to Success!

I had the best time this weekend with 4 of my closest girlfriends. We spend two days at my beach house; no kids, no husbands. It was really a wonderful weekend spent by the pool, chit chatting and catching up with each other.

I will admit that this was an especially hard weekend to be socializing as I'm one who associates food with social gatherings. My girlfriends noshed on desserts, candies, pasta, bread, etc. and it was difficult for me to resist. I held steady and didn't break temptation; when it was just too difficult to bear I would allow myself a small bite, but overall I stuck to the plan without fail. I did have a couple emotional breakdowns, but I think I did very well relatively speaking.

The topic of diet and exercise came up on numerous occasions and I could feel that my girlfriends were starting to feel motivated about their own weight loss, health and fitness goals. Together, we started an online forum where the five of us could check in and discuss food, exercise, and meal planning while giving each other support and encouragement.

We're on day 2 of the online forum and its really taking off! We're checking in, asking each other questions, giving advice and helping to keep each other accountable. I know that with the support from one another, we will all reach our goals successfully!

Emotional Roller Coaster

I'm a pretty emotional person on a normal day, but this carb cycling is kicking my butt! I go from happy-go-lucky to tears in 5 seconds flat. High carb days are hard for me because I'm cramming 150g of carbs down my throat before 4pm. Medium carb days are my easy days; I don't have to think about it so much, I'm not stuffing myself, and I'm usually feeling pretty good. Low carb days are hard. Its not even about being hungry. Its more just feeling tired and irritable. Low carb day #2 is HELL. I feel cranky, jumpy, weepy and easily distracted. It doesn't feel good at all.

I'll admit that I can usually snap myself out of it, take some deep breaths, spend some time alone; whatever it takes to get myself back in check. However, some days are really hard. Working full time, raising two small children, running a business, managing people, answering questions, etc...its piles up and even on my GREAT days it can be a lot. So when all that hits on a really low carb day I just pray that I don't say or do anything that will create damage.

On Tuesday, I was EXHAUSTED. I ended up taking a day off from training. (Falling asleep while standing up against a classroom wall was the indicator that my body was drained). Wednesday I worked out hard, but I had high carbs and I felt good; I slept hard. Today, back to low carbs and I'm feeling sluggish and quite irritable. Its low carbs for the weekend too...Lord help me! Thankfully, I'm having some quiet time at the beach. I have some girlfriends coming to hang out; no husbands and no kids...this should be relaxing! I just hope my mood stays calm and that I'm able to keep myself in good spirits. I should be able to! Girls, I'm asking for forgiveness ahead of time ;o)

I'm getting a little sick from the emotional roller coaster, but I keep telling myself that this is a small window of time in my life and I can get through this! I haven't worked this hard, this long, to crumble in the last month! I'm hanging on for dear life and I'm thankful for all my friends and family for tolerating me during this journey!

July 14 Progress Pictures

With just a little over 4 weeks to go, I'm seeing some major changes! I feel very lean, especially in my legs and arms. My waist is shrinking and I think once I get rid of that little bit of fat left on my tummy, my abs will start to really show! WAHOO!!


So here are my pictures from today; my hair is always a mess because I just finished an intense workout with Blythe (the woman works me to death!):

SIA-CLAP YOUR HANDS lyrics on screen.

I'm pretty sure this is the song I'm going to do my stage walk to!

Life Changes

While on this journey of health and fitness, I have found that all that I'm learning and taking in is not exclusive to my physical look. I'm growing and changing in so many ways. I'm reflecting on my life, evaluating my relationships, cleaning, purging, and reorganizing.

I wish I could say that its been easy, but it hasn't. I'm looking at toxic relationships and situations and cutting them out. Life is too short for drama and turmoil. I look around me and I'm thankful, truly thankful, for the people in my life who are supportive, encouraging, loving and honest. I think if we really look at our lives, we will learn that there really are few people that can be all those things to you. Family is by far the most important thing we have; we need to work hard to invest in those people who love and support you; no matter what.

Blythe and John have spent a lot of time talking to me about how much of this journey is a mental game and they are right! Because I'm learning to organize my time, balance my life and stay strong both physically and emotionally, it is only natural that this will affect all aspects of my life. They tell me that at this point in my life I will be the most organized I will ever be. They are right.

I want to feel good. Just like cleaning out my diet from crap foods, I'm cleaning out my life from crap situations and relationships. Just like working out hard to build muscles, I'm working hard to support and develop the things that bring joy, love and happiness to my life (friends, family, work, etc...)

These are HEALTHY life changes and I really feel that overall I'm changing in a very positive way!

Two-a-days

Tomorrow begins the next phase of my training. I'm going to two-a-days. I will continue to work out with Blythe on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but now I will also be adding two-a-days three additional days. I'm not sure I'll always stick to the same three days; I may do Monday, Tuesday, Friday and have weekends off, or I may take Tuesdays or Fridays off and workout on Saturday. Not sure; we'll have to see what life has in store.

The plan is for me to do HIIT training all three of those days in the morning and then strength train in the evenings. Ideally, the strength training will be a full body workout. I'm looking into taking one of those Body Pump classes or Boot Camp classes at my gym since they work the entire body in an hour. However, if I'm too sore from my workouts with Blythe, I'll have to modify it so that I don't burn out or injure a body group.

When Blythe gave me my instructions, I of course told her that I would do whatever she said. I started to have questions about the reasoning. Not that I questioned her, but I wanted to know and understand the process; so I asked. Hey, its my body, I should know what's going on, right?

Blythe explained to me that we don't have time for my body to plateau and then make adjustments, I need to be one step ahead and confuse my body and make it work harder. So I'll be increasing my caloric intake and expenditure. I only have 5 weeks to go and so I need to make sure that in these last 5 weeks I tap into critical fat and turn my body into a fat burning FURNACE!

I'm really excited about starting my two-a-days and I'm even more excited to see the changes in my body during this last month! I can do this!

Refeed Day

I worked out with Blythe yesterday morning, but before my workout John did a body fat measurement and I was down another % in a WEEK! YAHOO! I earned a REFEED day! A refeed day is when I get to have ANYTHING I want to eat! ANYTHING!

So through my workout, I started thinking about what I would eat on my refeed. Pasta? Steak? Potatoes? Cake? Alcohol? So many choices! After the workout, I immediately called my husband and we started planning. We were definitely going to take advantage of this!

After eating clean all day, we decided we were going to head into Bethesda and hit Maggiano's (a fabulous italian restaurant!) My mouth was watering the entire drive! I didn't really take full advantage of my last refeed day, and I wasn't about to let this one slip by me.

We ordered Pinot Noir, Shrimp Scampi, Stuffed Mushrooms, Chopped Salad, Spaghetti and Meatballs and Rigatoni D (Chicken with Mushrooms). I sampled it all! To most, I probably still ate like I was "dieting" but for me, I felt like I was truly PIGGING OUT. We ended the dinner with the most delicious piece of Tiramisu. YUM.

So that was my refeed; like I said, I didn't let it go to waste. I slept like a rock last night, restored my glycogen and then hit it hard today with cardio. Life is GOOD.

Sibling Rivalry

My brother, Mike, did HIIT training with me today! Man did that push me hard! Mike has always been the athlete in our family so yesterday when he said he would do training with me this morning, I will admit that I got a little lump in my throat. I knew that there was no way I would be able to keep up with him!

So I was up bright and early, got myself mentally prepared, took my Jack3D and got my game face on for him to arrive at 8:30 am! He was there at exactly 8:30 and he was ready to go. I was sooooo nervous!

So we started out on our 2 minute warm up before our first interval of sprints. Two minutes was up and we took off...of course he shot out like a canon and within 20 seconds he was out of sight. I thought at that rate he's be in Baltimore by the end of our training. :o)

After our first sprint, he walked in place (more like circles) waiting for his heart rate to come down and let me catch up. I caught up with him just in time for our next interval to begin. I was pleasantly surprised in myself when I was able to maintain a steady pace and keep him within visual. I was only about 20 yards behind him.

We continued the interval training for about 25 minutes. The "Hill of Hell" as I call it (its a hill with about a 70% incline) about killed him. Hills are definitely easy for people with shorter legs. I had the advantage being I'm about 7 inches shorter than him. After that hill, I was able to maintain pace with him and we hit it pretty hard for the remainder of the HIIT.

I noticed that I was making much MUCH better time on the course. Where I am normally around 20 minutes, we were approching at 17 minutes. That was pretty darn impressive to me! That meant that I was about 3 minutes faster than my last HIIT on this course. Mike was PUSHING me HARD! I was so proud that I had made up time and I was thankful that my competitive streak with my baby brother was pushing me to surpass my previous goals!

The last 2 minutes I could tell were getting hard on Mike. I challenged him to one more sprint and he lived up to it. He pushed me hard, yelling at me, "Don't let me beat you!" and in that sprint I thought I was going to puke! I was only about 5 yards behind him the whole time, pumping my arms and legs hard, feeling my shin splints and praying that finish line would move closer to me! We finished hard and then had a nice cool down walk home.

I am so thankful for a supportive family, people that push me to my limits and being able to laugh and compete with those that I love. Thanks, Mike for an awesome HIIT training today! See you next Sunday! I'm READY!

What Motivates Us?

On the CUT THE FAT PODCAST Facebook page, there was a question about what motivates us. It was so inspiring and extremely motivating to hear what other people do or think to motivate themselves. It made me reflect inside myself and think about what motivates me.

I remember talking to a woman who was recently divorced. She and her husband had been married over 20 years and it was sad to see their marriage just deteriorate. I asked her..."what happened?" and her answer was quite simple..."I forgot how to be a woman." Man did that resonate with me!

I think that's what was happening with me, I forgot to be a woman; some may think, "what the heck does that mean Alice Anne?!?!?" I admit I'm probably just about the girliest girl out there. I don't mean woman in the sense of being feminine. Femininity is not something I've ever lacked. I'm talking about being a PERSON. I was so busy being a mother, a wife, a business owner, a daughter, a volunteer, etc....I didn't take care of ME.

What I realized was that in the efforts to give so much of myself to so many other people and things, I was stretching myself too thin and rather than doing good for a lot, I was doing a lot...and not very good. I was stressed, tired, irritable, achey, sick, frantic, busy, overwhelmed and I didn't feel very good about myself at all. My life was in a downward spiral and everything around me was just falling apart.

I thought about the recently divorced woman and remembered her words about "being a woman" and decided it was time to start taking care of me. Does that sound selfish? Probably. However, in taking the time for me to take care of my body, eat healthy, gett rest and feel good about myself my friends, family, and work reap the benefits.

My husband says, "Yeah, I benefit...my wife is SMOKIN' HOT!" LOL! Then he goes on, "in all honesty, I don't worry about you; you're not getting as sick as you were before, you're less stressed, happier...and yeah, you're smokin' hot!" Thanks, Marty!

My kids see me eating healthy, taking care of my body and they are making good choices about the foods they eat and they want to exercise too! Today, on the way to the gym my husband and I were planning our workout, my son exclaims from the back seat, "I'm gonna workout too! I'll do the bench, then flys and then some airplanes cuz I'm a muscle man!" TOO CUTE!

I really feel that what motivates me is that I want to be the BEST ME so that I can give the very best to those who need me. If I don't take care of my health and my body, how could I possible do anything to be there for my family, friends and work? I think about that when I'm planning my food and when I'm pushing hard at the gym. I'm doing this for me...so that I can give to others!

I want to hear what motivates you! Please comment on what motivates you...it really is inspiring to hear and read!

"You're TOO skinny!"

So the comments begin...

I understand that to many people I probably didn't look like I had a lot of weight to lose. The truth is, I've perfected deception thanks to my fashion skills. LOL! I wore a lot of just below the knee skirts, cardigans, layers, cinched belts, high heels, etc. If it made you LOOK skinny, I owned it.

As the weight has come off, so have the layers of clothing. I'm wearing shorts; and they aren't even BERMUDAS; they are real 3 in inseam shorts! I wear tank tops (without the cardigan to hide the granny triceps) and I find that I'm showing a lot more skin than I used to. This could also be attributed to the record heat we're having here in Maryland...

As people see me, they are starting to make comments like, "are you sure this is healthy?" or "You're getting too small." or "I'm not sure I want to see you lose more weight..." Ummm, that's nice... The reality is, I'm actually VERY healthy. Its taken me a good year to lose the weight, which probably means, I'll keep it off. I'm training hard, but that's for a COMPETITION, I won't always be carb cycling and flipping tractor tires.

I didn't completely cut carbs out of diet, I eat healthy from the earth foods, and I stronger, more fit and sleeping better than I ever have in my entire life. Where are the negative side effects (aside from the mood swings on my low carb days)? Overall, I think I'm doing pretty damn good!

I'm at about 120lbs now, some days I'm up a few pounds, but I expect to lose another 8 lbs in the next 4 weeks. I'm averaging about 2lbs a week in loss. That's going to put me at just about the smallest I've been in my adult life. I recognize that this is not a state that I will keep myself; this is ONLY for the competition. That's why competitors take a break afterwards, put 10lbs back on and go back to a higher body fat percentage. I understand this and I don't plan on maintaining the low body fat after the competition. I think where I'm at RIGHT NOW TODAY is where I feel comfortable and happy for every day life.

My clothes are going to look big for the next couple weeks, but I'm not ill, I'm not fading away, I'm just in prep mode. In my workout gear, I look much fuller and developed. Its a mental game and optical illusion! LOL!

Don't lose faith in me. I promise I've been healthy in doing this and I FEEL healthy and AMAZING! Its hard work, but it really is the best thing that I could do for my body right now! I'm clean, I'm lean and HEALTHY!

Kids and Teens Certification Cancelled

Bummer!

I was scheduled to go for my certification as a Kids and Teens Personal Fitness Trainer this Saturday, unfortunately there wasn't enough interest in the course so the class was cancelled. :(

I'm really disappointed, as this is what I was most looking forward to learning so that I could incorporate it in with my preschool and personal goals to improve health and fitness for children!

I'll do some more research and see if another venue is offering the training... Wish me luck!

One Year and 45 lbs later...

July 6, 2009

July 6, 2010

I can totally see a difference! I just can't believe it! It makes me really feel like my hard work is paying off!

July Progress Pictures

Progress pictures were taken after Thursday's workout. I'm down 4 lbs and about 2% body fat! I see some changes and hope to see BIG changes in the next couple weeks!