Well I’m now in my final countdown to my upcoming figure competition and I wanted to share a bit about my journey back to the figure stage.
It’s only been 18 months, but it feels like so long ago that I tied up my bikini, smelled that delicious tan and put my feet (my ‘oh-so-used-to-trainers’ feet!) back into 6 inch heels. Very excited! But have been so busy training and working, I’ve barely stopped to think about it all. In some ways this is good and works for me – just head down, getting on with it – like an Ostrich. I’ll look up soon and go ‘What did I just do?!’
I really feel that I’m starting to nail the competition diet and training process for myself now. I understand my body so much better than when I first started this in 2006 – not having a clue about the bodybuilding world. Man, I’ve learned SO much! In all sorts of areas of diet and training – things like the importance of pre and post workout nutrition, monitoring everything in detail, how important extra sleep is and mostly – how HUGELY important the emotional and mental state of mind is. The most valuable lessons have been personal and internal.
I always eat pretty clean anyway and I don’t let myself get too far above my competition weight. But it certainly has been more challenging being in a new country. My focus has been more on building my business and adjusting to a new life with different challenges. On a practical level, I now understand the best way to change things gradually as a process, so my body adjusts week by week. In the past I would throw myself into something too hard, and my body was not able to cope very well. I’d push and push and push to tears – literally. The price was high – the results felt glorious, but I was a bit of mess at the end of it all.
This time I have taken my time and more of an intelligent approach. I started thinking about competing again at the start of the year, but I just let the idea brew in my head for a while. I started eating more calories (that was fun!) taking creatine, and training heavy with lower reps. Slowly as the year has gone past, my vision for what I wanted became clearer and once I set my date, there is no going back.
Ok, now to the diet.
It has been a process of intense analysis as to what is going in and out daily. I have been able to week by week change things in my diet and my training as I go and I’ve been able to enjoy the process a lot more because I’ve ‘weaned’ myself to this stage by making one habit change at a time. Each week I reduce my calories slightly and take something out, substituting it for something else. I’ve treated it like a fun game, and it’s actually been thoroughly enjoyable! I can honestly say I’m not missing anything. The biggest surprise for me is not missing alcohol at all. Something has shifted in my mind. In my last competition diets, I was always hanging out for wine and feeling envious of people who were drinking it. This time my mind is stronger and my internal language more powerful. It’s at a subconscious level – I walk past 7 pubs on my way home from work every night, and have absolutely zero desire for a wine. This is a first for me! And compared to how often I was drinking when I first arrived in London, I’ve surprised myself by how little I care! Even though it’s summer and I often run past people enjoying a drink in the sun on a balmy Saturday evening, my eyes are set on my goal and nowhere else. It’s a very freeing feeling!
Often bodybuilding diets involve 12 or 16 weeks of the same diet, getting very strict at the end. I decided this time to do a process of changing things each week, so I wouldn’t have cravings. I always like to have things to look forward to in my diet and if I keep variety in, I don’t have any desire to cheat. I’ve learned this about myself over the years and it really works. I also need to keep flavour in as long as possible until I really start seeing results in my body, then the great feeling I get from seeing the changes gives me a new dose of motivation where I literally don’t care what I eat – I could eat grass as long as my body is changing every week. I just really enjoy feeling smaller and seeing my abs!
I stopped drinking 13 weeks out. Easy, just made the decision, then it’s not an option. I only find it tough if I give myself options. Then I waste mental energy deliberating on ‘should I, shouldn’t I’ and it’s a waste of time. I enjoyed a delicious glass of Pinot sitting by the Thames, put my glass down and said ‘That’s it’.
At week 12, I started adding more and more vegetables and learning and practicing new ways to cook them. I dropped my carbs back by about 50g a day, actually without intending to, just by adding so many fibrous veges I was too full for anything else. Each week I just dropped whatever I felt like at the time, I don’t really plan it much, it just kind of falls into place instinctively.
At week 9, I dropped carbs back again. I stopped buying yoghurt and increased veges again. Around week 7, I stopped buying cottage cheese and quark. If things aren’t in the trolley or basket, I don’t eat them.
It’s not that these are unhealthy foods – they are very healthy, but as your calories drop, you need to save them for the foods that give you the most nutrient and ‘satiety’ so you’re not getting so hungry. So I stick to my shopping list and I’m sweet. Week 6-ish I stopped eating sweet fruit and just stuck to berries. I drink a lot of green smoothies too which are really nice and gentle on the digestion and give loads of healthy benefits.
Each week, seeing the fat loss keeps me going. It’s never enough for me; I always want more, but that’s just human and in our nature I think. I’m learning to accept that my body isn’t always as fast at letting go of fat as I’d like. It doesn’t like being in calorie deficit and the lower I go, the more it fights me every step, but that’s just part of the price you must pay. Weight loss is not easy, that’s why so many diets fail. That’s why there are 50,000 diet books for sale on Amazon. Everyone’s looking for answers. But it’s not ‘one size fits all’. It’s a process. And it takes time and commitment. As challenge as it is however, it can be such an enjoyable adventure! My motivation and energy is great! I get tired of course from all the cardio (I’d be worried if I didn’t!), but eating clean really makes you feel amazing and seeing changes in your body is so exciting and motivating. Physically, sometimes I feel like I’m dragging a dead body up the escalators in the train station at 10pm every night. But that’s a good thing, I know I’m pushing my limits 
I’m now at 3 weeks til comp day and this last month really is the ‘diet from heaven’.
I was tempted to call this ‘The diet from hell’ – but really, it gives great results – nothing hellish about that! So, ‘The diet from heaven’ (our words are powerful!) begins. I’ve cut everything from my diet that’s not white or green. I call it ‘White and green fun month’ and make it like a playful game, trying to do as much as I can with green veges (there’s actually a lot you can do!) and white protein – chicken breast, turkey breast, fish and egg whites. Plus a bit of vanilla protein powder – which will be dropped soon, and then it’s all super duper natural – which is where the definition and fat loss magic really happens!
I’ve come up with all SORTS of things that I really enjoy eating! My taste buds have completely changed and I’m truly appreciating the flavours of everything now. Cherry tomatoes became my ‘lollies’ a few weeks ago – my treat for movies or Saturday night. When you eat a lot of greens – man, tomatoes taste super sweet! A few weeks ago, red pepper became the main flavour for my dishes and I can’t believe how sweet it tastes now. I’ve discovered and experimented with lots of spices, herbs, rubs and natural flavourings – and even have the most delectable egg white pudding every night – egg whites, vanilla flavour drops and stevia – a natural herb sweetener (my life saver at the moment!), blended and cooked in a muffin pan. So quick, easy and delish!
So, here I am 21 days out and feeling on track. Things are not perfect and never can be; I still worry my bum is too fat, my thighs are too big etc. etc. but I’m choosing not to waste valuable time thinking about those things. If I’m doing everything I can to be the best I can be, I’m more than happy. At the end of it all, I know I’ll be proud of the choices I made.
Dwelling on things you can’t control (like genetics and where your body likes to dump your fat!) is a waste of energy.
Focusing on enjoying the process, the lessons I’m learning, on kicking my own butt, pushing my absolute limits in the gym and finding ways to enjoy my ‘diet from heaven’ is much more fun!
Til next time,
Kat
Posted by Kat 
