The Road to my First NPC Bikini Show – Week 4

Hey loves! How’s it going?

WOW. I swear that these weeks are flying by quicker than normal! I wish I could just press the pause button on life because I feel like there is so much to get done in such little time! I am now within a month of my competition and I am starting to freak out a little bit. I am excited and nervous but I am ready to get this journey started. Stage Allison has a little less than a month to get her stuff all together! Last week I started my carb cycle and I lowered my calories quite a bit. I also decided that I have to be more serious about my cardio so I planning on incorporating some fasted cardio a couple times a week to get my cardio in before the tiredness from the day sets in.

One of my goals this year that I haven’t started yet was to start my own youtube channel where I can vlog and share my life and stories with my “followers”. I want to do this so I can show people that anyone who sets their mind towards a specific goal can achieve it. Today I decided that enough was enough and I was finally going to create my first video and get over my fears. WELL, I got ready, changed and cleaned and when I got out my new camera my boyfriend bought for me I realized that it doesn’t have a video option!:( Let’s just say I am not very happy about that AT ALL! So I will keep you updated on that and I am probably going to try and use my phone for the meantime.

Carb Cycling

So this past week I decided to attempt carb cycling for the first time. I recalculated all my macros, divided them up, and created a rotation between high, low, and no carb days. The three days that I did heavy lifting (back, squat, and shoulder/arms) I ate high carbs. I did this because carbs aka glucose fuel your muscles with energy for those long, hard workouts. My one no carb day, which you still eat enough carbs to get your daily fiber intake, I used during my rest day. My remaining three I had my low/moderate carb day. It is crazy to use the term moderate since 60-90g of carbs a day is insanely low in a normal diet plan. The high days were amazing and I ate so many sweet potatoes that made my heart so full. My low days I indulged on peanut butter and avocado since my fat intake is higher on those days.

The main issue that I have had since starting this cycle is that I have retained an extreme amount of water weight. I have also been sitting at an average of 120lb which is almost 2 lbs more than weighed before last week. Thankfully, retaining water is normal. This is due to the higher levels of glycogen in your body. Each 1 gram of glycogen is linked with 2.7 grams of water. Therefore, the more glycogen in your cells, the fuller your muscles are of water. Now when I say retention I don’t mean that I am bloated with water weight, I am referring more to water retention inside the muscle.

My lower carb days were hard to maintain because trying to eat only 70g of carbs a day is hard to do. Even while avoiding high carb foods, I still would rack 70g without a problem. Most of these carbs came from my veggie sources and the remaining were from the extra calories from the fat and protein sources. Regardless of the day, I consumed majority of my carb dense food before and after my workouts. So if you love to workout bright and early eat some oats or sweet potatoes after your workout! This will help refuel the body and all the carbs that you consume will not be converted to fat. My current carb filled meal obsession on low carb day has been 1/4 cup of oats, 1 scoop of protein, and cinnamon.  I like to use water or almond milk and then I either microwave or use the stove top to cook it. If I need a higher fat or want a thicker consistency I add flax seed or chia seeds!

High Day:

• Calories: 1,645
  • Carbs: 42% = 170g /690 c
  • Protein: 42% = 170g / 690 c
  • Fat: 15% = 27g / 246 c

Low Day:

• Calories: 1,400
  • Carbs: 45% 155g /620 c
  • Protein: 20% = 70g / 280 c
  • Fat: 35% = 55g / 490 c

Workouts

Along with carb cycling, I decided to add in a couple fasted cardio sessions per week which I have not yet done the previous couple months. So I did 3 cardio sessions with one day being a 2- a day workout. Below is my workout/carb cycle schedule just incase you guys were wondering how it was set up! I am still setting up my workouts up the same way as before but I am adding in more super and tri sets. This has helped me keep up the intensity during my workouts. It also gives me a new and harder challenge which is oddly fun for me.

• Monday: Back/Abs  HIGH
• Tuesday: Shoulders  HIGH (I did two highs in a row because I wanted to and I need my energy to be up after fighting a cold and trying to prep, meal plan, and other obstacles)
• Wednesday: Cardio (30 min fasted) LOW
• Thursday: Legs (glute/hammy concentration)  HIGH
• Friday: Arms/Abs/Cardio  LOW
• Saturday: Cardio (45 min fasted) LOW
• Sunday: Rest Day! NO/LOW

Well guys after this week I am in my final few weeks and I am so excited, proud, and nervous. I plan on practicing my posing, as well as trying to learn as much information about peak week and the weeks leading up. I am also going to review how my diet made me feel this past week and decide if I am going to continue using this method or go back to my normal diet plan. Only time will tell! I have bought my jewelry, my spray tan, and scheduled another posing session this week with my awesome coach! Time to get everything else done this week!

Goals:

• Register for the show in both novice and open (what my posing coach suggested)
• POSE.
• Pose more.
• Schedule hair appointment!
• Buy teeth whitener.

Talk to you all later! Have a Wonderful week friends!