my first figure competition part 3

Show day

Show day started for me at about 5am.  Having done one coat of tanner before bed (Jan Tana  base) I had to do 1 more coat (Jan Tana competition color).  My hair/Make up lady was coming at 6 am so we needed the tanner to be on and dry enough for me to be clothed and seated.

We applied tanner, when Lindsay showed up to do my hair and makeup, Julie went down to have breakfast. Hair and makeup took a little over an hour to do!  I guess it takes a while to make me pretty J  We were supposed to report to the show by 7:45 but we were told by the show promoter at check in that figure competitors could come later because we wouldn’t go on until after women’s physique and all bodybuilding (and boy he wasn’t kidding). 

After hair/makeup I ate breakfast which was

1 sweet potato pancake See recipe here

1 “schmear” of natural peanut butter (it was about a tablespoon)

1 small apple

5 hardboiled egg whites.

I scarfed this down (carefully to avoid messing up my lipstick, as carefully as you can scarf food!  We packed up everything and headed to the show.  We arrived late.. after 8 for sure. My husband, dad and trainer were there waiting for us.  If you haven’t read my preceding posts, I suppose I should say the show was in a different city so I had just a small group of people there with me.

This is when we began the hardest part, the waiting.  The show was scheduled to start at 9. It didn’t.  In this post I posted a packing list. I mention food.. Lots of food. More food than you think.  Seriously. BRING IT! And tell your supporters to bring some snacks too. Most these shows don’t have any food at all and if anything, they only have some supplement companies/stores selling protein bars or something small. My Dad, husband and trainer at breakfast around 7.. they didn’t eat again until dinner time.  My friend Julie shared a pump up pop tart with me but that wasn’t really a lot of food.

So basically for the next 5 hours I waited… Touched up my tan, tried not to pee on myself. Peeing while in a posing suit it quite an adventure. I suppose I could delve into that experience real quick and give my two cents.  So some of you have heard the punch the bottom out of a Dixie cup in order to direct the stream and spare your tan. Well, I did pee, once..it was much more difficult that you would imagine and although I managed to spare my tan, I think the Dixie cups are more trouble than they are worth.  See, once you put your suit on, you don’t take it off until your done. So you kind of just pull it to the side to pee.  So imagine trying to  pull your suit to the side and hold a Dixie cup in place.. mind you the Dixie cup won’t hold the suit… anyway. In the future, I’ll be using both hands to pull the suit out of the way and forget the whole Dixie cup business.

Finally around 1 pm it was time for figure.  I think I must have been pumping up back stage for 20 minutes at least. They did an intermission that gave me a bit longer time. I didn’t really know what else to do.. at this point I’m just really ready to go on stage.  I should say for those who don’t know me, I’m an introvert. So don’t think you have to be this bubbly, outgoing, extrovert personality to do this sport. Now you do have to fake it a little on stage. Appear confident and comfortable, which I am still working on.  And it would be a total lie if I said I wasn’t terrified a little bit when I walked out on stage. Really most of it was because I knew my conditioning wasn’t what I wanted. I decided to do the show anyway for the experience, but being less than comfortable with the package I brought was really a challenge.

Regardless, here I was, lined up with a group of girls wearing teeny bikini’s and 5” heels.. and I was about to walk out and be judged.  Figure does a series of quarter turns.. so you’re thinking, you go out, turn, turn, turn, turn and you’re done.  Well it’s not quite that simple.  We had the smallest class, 6 girls. I’m not sure exactly how long we were out there but it feels like an eternity. You turn, the judges move people around, you turn some more.  Your cheeks are shaking.. honestly most of you shakes. I’m proud to say mine was due to nerves as I had been practicing posing a lot. (However my stage shots show I had pulled my shoulders forward so I was a bit disappointed that my posing wasn’t on)

I entered 2 classes, novice and open. You do the same process in each. Then you do a T-walk (I was competing NANBF).  I was so so nervous during my Twalk.  It’s just you out there, ALL ALONE. I’m not sure if I looked nervous but I shook like a leaf the whole time.

At the end of the day I walked away without any hardware. I walked away with experience that I will take with me in future shows. Yes, there will be future shows. Next prep begins in about 3 weeks.  I’m excited to do this all over again and hope to bring a leaner package next show.  

Show Day Sweet Potato Pancake

For breakfast the day of my show I had a sweet potato pancake with a tablespoon of peanut butter, a small apple  and 5 hard boiled egg whites.

The recipe for my sweet potato pancake is below

Ingredients:
56 g (2 oz) Baked, mashed sweet potato
46 g (3 Tablespoons) egg whites
15g (1/2 Tablespoon) coconut flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Procedure:
Mix all the above ingredients in a blender, mixer or by hand until a batter forms.
Pour on to a heated skillet.

I made 1 large pancake, you could make a couple smaller ones.

Macros for entire recipe
Calories: 97
Fat: 0.6 g
Carbs: 14.2 g
Fiber: 4.1 g
Sugar: 3.9 g
Protein: 6.1

My first figure competition part 2

Hi there! I'm back with the continuation of my first figure competition experience. I need to get better about documenting my journey in here!

So let's pick up where I left off.. I covered packing last time. I'm going to start chronologically starting with Friday night, before show day. 

My show was out of town, so my friend, Julie, and I drove the 3 hours to Omaha. Arrived, checked in to the hotel and then headed to the competitor check in. I would say this is when the nerves really kicked in. It was all very very real! Being there with all the other competitors really made me feel, anxious. Really that's the best way to describe it.

I really didn't know what to expect having never done this before.  There was a lot of people there.  Thankfully my posing coach was there with a bikini competitor she was training so I knew at least one other person.  I'm not really an extrovert. So although a lot of people make a lot of new friends at these type of events, I'm not the type to just go talk new people.  That's one reason I brought Julie, so I wasn't just there by myself.

At the check in I received my number, Tank top from the show and the promoter gave us some information about how the show was scheduled and when to show up etc.  Then we left.

Since I was going to be putting tanner on, we had to prepare the hotel room so I didn't stain anything. I had my own dark colored sheets and had brought my own pillow with a dark pillow case.  I wrapped plastic wrap around the seat and lid of the toilet as it can soak up the color from your tan.

Next, I laid out everything I needed for the following day. Then double and triple checked that I had everything. 

Then we began applying my tan.  I used Jan Tana and I think it went on pretty well.  I'm pretty pale and it's amazing how you paint it one and boom, you're brown!  We actually painted 1/2 my body first just because we were so amazed at how it instantly tanned me.  I'd say it took about 45 minutes or so to completely cover me. Later we discovered bigger applicators would be faster (So next time I know).

After it was applied I waited for about 30 minutes or so for it to dry before putting on some dark colored clothes for bed. 

By this time it was probably near 11 pm.  I was a bit hyped up and had trouble winding down to sleep. 

To be continued...

My first figure competition part 1

So I just competed in my first figure competition. It was an amazing experience. I called this post part 1 because I plan on breaking down the experience in to pieces to avoid a CRAZY long blog entry.  So let's start with "peak week"

Peak week was a bit different than the rest of my training. We did full body circuits Sunday and Monday. Cardio only Tuesday and light cardio Wednesday with my trainer. Then nothing else. That was hard. Partly because I hadn't peaked. I was far from peaking. We hadn't reached our goal. Also, working out has become an important part of my life and I enjoy it. 

So I spent my last couple days before making a list of items I needed for my show and packing my bags. The show I competed in was the Heartland Classic in Omaha which is about 3 hours from where I live.  I was going to be out of torn for less than 36 hours but I had 2 very full bags to take with me. There's a huge list of items I took with me and most came in handy. Below is the list I used when packing. 

Nutritionally we kept everything the same for peak week. I was doing a keto diet  and we kept it the same through Friday. I did a bit of carbs for breakfast Saturday morning and for pump up before going on stage. 

So let's get to the packing list. Here's what I brought with me and things I highly suggest anyone doing any kind of physique competition consider bringing. 

1. Alarm Clock

2. Beauty Blotting Papers or powder if face gets shinny

3. Bikini Bite (to keep your suit in place) 

4. Bottled Water

5. Bras

6. Camera

7. Cash

8. Clothes - dark colored  

9. Competitor Number/Contest Registration

10. Contact Lenses/solution 

11. Cooler – soft sided or hard sided

12. Copy of entry form 

13. Crazy Glue

14. Dental Floss

15. Directions to and from the venue, hotel and any other necessary locations

16. Dixie Cups with Bottom Punched Out (for peeing)

17. Extra Competition Suit – having a back up can be a life saver

18. Flip-Flops

19. Food – premade and premeasured (bring a lot more than you think you need.)

20. Hair Spray

21. Hair Ties, bobby pins, hair clips

22. Hairbrush

23. High Heels for competition

24. Jewelry (competition) 

25. Laundry stain remover stick 

26. Lock for Bag

27. Loose, dark comfy clothing to sleep in and wear around

28. Lotion (for after the show) 

29. Mini sewing Kit

30. Mouthwash

31. Nail File/ Clippers

32. Old dark sheets - tan will stain sheets and hotels will charge you if you ruin theirs

33. Organization Membership Card

34. Panties 

35. Pillow case – tan will stain sheets and pillow cases (or just bring your own pillow with a dark pillow case like I did) 

36. Plastic food wrap – for wrapping toilet seat in hotel room – tan will stain seat

37. Plastic gloves

38. Portable food heater for car if driving

39. Posing oil

40. Posing Suit / Competition Bikini – packed separately in labeled plastic bags so they stay clean and organized 

41. Q-tips

42. Razors or hair removal stuff

43. Robe – to wear after tan application

44. Safety Pins

45. Schedule for the day (received at registration)

46. Scissors

47. Small Mirror one that stands on its own on a table

48. Snacks &  Food 

49. Spare Hand & Face Towels

50. Stage Makeup (even if you're getting your make up done, extra bronzer and lipstick for touch ups are important) 

51. Sugarless Gum

52. Supplements

52. Toothbrush/Paste

53. Tubing to pump up prior to stage

54. Tweezers

55. Umbrella

56. Vaseline for Teeth

57. Vitamins

58. Wipes for quick clean ups

59. First aid kit

60. Deodorant (for after the show is over) 

61. Tanner (if you're doing your own tan, I used jan tana and I liked the result) 

This seems like a lot of stuff, but I used most of it. Didn't need the back up suit thank goodness but it's better to be prepared. 

I think that's enough for this post. I think it's good to leave off at the list. This will for sure be something I refer back to as well as tweak for future competitions. 

Protein Fluff Recipe

Here is a yummy post workout treat that would be especially refreshing on a hot summer day and is super easy to make protein fluff.  It's a protein packed low carb ice creamy marshmallow-y fluffy treat.

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen fruit (I used raspberries for this one)
1/4 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
1 scoop of whey protein.

So let's get to the directions and pictures shall we? :)


1. measure out 1 cup of frozen fruit (berries or banana will work for this. I have done pineapple but it's really hard to break it down when it's frozen)

2. Add 1/4 cup of milk of choice to the berries.

3.  Add your protein.  I used Core Fit protein. I love the handy prepackaged scoops and the flavors are delish!!  You can buy it here and you can save 20% with coupon code Jennibean

4. Smash it all up.  I used this attachment to my hand mixer. I usually smash it all a bit before I turn the mixer on and smash it some more. 

5. Smash it all until it looks like the pic below.  Basically until it's well blended and no large pieces of the fruit remain.

6. Then switch to a whisk attachment and fluff it. You want to try to add a bit of air and make it a frozen-y fluffy yummy treat.  It should look like the pic below.

7. Enjoy your delicious healthy treat.

Macros below are for 1 recipe. It pretty much makes 1 serving so you don't have to share :)

Calories: 201
Fat: 4 g
Carbs: 20 g
Fiber: 9 g
Sugar: 8 g
Protein: 24 g

Sweet Potato Protein Cupcakes

So I have a little something to celebrate. I just accepted a new job. I'm super excited to be taking my career to the next step.  Unfortunately, 4 weeks out from my debut show isn't the greatest time to have a celebratory meal or treat.  Fear Not!  Here's a healthy treat that tastes so naughty but is actually packed with protein and good complex carbs!

I adapted this recipe from one I found at www.proteinpow.com  I usually don't have everything on hand or the exact ingredients but I've been pretty successful at getting some amazing recipes from there.  It's a go-to site when I need a protein packed recipe.

These really hit the spot!  I didn't even feel like I was eating something healthy.. it was totally delicious and tasted like a naughty treat, but without the guilt.  I actually got to eat 2 and will have the other 2 tomorrow.. I can't wait!

So let's get to the recipe, then we can get to a couple more pictures!

Ingredients for cake:
212 g Sweet potato (cooked and peeled) this is about 7.5 oz
1/3 cup whey protein (this is about 1 scoop)
1/3 cup egg whites
1 Tablespoon coconut flour

Ingredients for frosting:
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 scoop protein powder (I used core fit cinnamon bun you can get it at www.livecorefit.com save 20% with the coupon code JenniBean )
2 Tablespoons coconut flour
1/4 cup almond milk (add this 1-2 tablespoons at a time as needed until the desired consistency is reached)

Directions for Cake:
Preheat your oven to 325 F.
Mix all the cake ingredients together into a thick batter
Scoop into a pre-sprayed cupcake pan  (recipe makes 4 cupcakes)
Bake about 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean

Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting.  I kept mine in the refrigerator overnight.

Directions for Icing:
Mix the first three ingredients together, slowly add almond milk until the desired consistency in reached.  Put the icing into a ziplock back and cut a corner and pipe on to the cooled cupcakes.

I garnished with a dusting of cinnamon.

Macros for 1 cake (out of 4)
Calories:  173
Fat: 2g
Carbs: 19g
Fiber: 4g
Sugar: 6g
Protein: 19g

They are also kid approved. Note the tiny toddler finger photobomb 

Keto mini no-bake cheesecake

Hey there FitFam! Work is finally easing to a slow steady crawl after tax day, I'm a CPA for those who don't know. This was the first time I've actually been in the office doing taxes on tax day (normally I'm out working on an audit).  It was CRAZY!!  So even though I've been a bit quiet I have still been hard at work in the gym and in the kitchen making all my foods for my ever changing diet.  We are having pretty good success with Keto, but we are going to cycle off for a couple weeks. Before I do though I wanted to share a few recipes with you that will always be my in my Keto back pocket.  Today I want to share with my coffee lovers out there.  (Not a coffee lover..keep reading, I've got you covered too!)  If you're not keto you could sub low fat cream cheese and sub almond milk for the heavy cream to make it lower fat friendly.

Let's start with the odd fact that I am NOT a coffee lover! I drink a little.. I like to add a lot of milk and sugar so, I haven't had coffee in quite a while.  But I do have some mocha cappuccino mix and thought it would be an excellent addition to the mini no-bake cheesecakes I've been making. This is something pretty simple to whip up and since I'm the only one in my house I make a lot of single serve dishes. If you wanted to make a few at once you can just multiply the recipe by the desired number of servings, easy-peasy!

Ingredients:

Basic recipe:
2 oz cream cheese
2 tablespoons heavy cream (I've also used 1 so if you need a bit less fat 1 will work!)
sweetener of choice to taste (this is optional if you're a cream cheese lover you might omit this)

Flavor options:
2 tsp mocha cappuccino (for the coffee lovers.. this had a pretty strong coffee flavor, you could easily cut this in half if you wanted to tone it down)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (if you like a chocolate cheesecake)
1-2 tablespoon(s) waldon farms strawberry syrup (calorie free, carb free and delish!!)  I find mine at the local grocery store but you can get their stuff here https://www.waldenfarms.com/

I like to garnish with a little waldon farms syrup too!

Procedure:

Pick your flavor above and mix all the ingredients. If your cream cheese is straight out of the fridge then pop in the microwave for 10 seconds oro so to soften it a bit.

Once its all blended, pour the mix into a small container or glass or however you wish to serve it, and place it in the fridge to set. (30 minutes should do the trick, but I tend to make mine a bit more in advance and let it sit longer)

It should be about a 1/2 cup serving size.  Perfect to satisfy a sweets craving and excellent macros for a keto diet!

What I ate today. Ketogenic.

Hi there #fitfam .. Just over 5 weeks out O_O .. About to wrap up 2 weeks in keto and go back to a "traditional" 40/40/20 bodybuilding split. I've kind of gotten the hang of keto. Still sometimes have a hard time getting all the fat without many carbs or the protein level I was used to. I took pics of all my food yesterday so you could see what keto is looking like. 

So here's everything I ate and a total from myfitnesspal on macros for the day. 

2 pieces of bacon, egg white and cheese omelet 

Homemade keto "mounds" bar.. I skimped on the "chocolate" a bit :). And mozz stick 

Chicken and asparagus. (Probably the least keto of all my meals) 

OMG these were delish! I have a bad sweet tooth and these hit the spot. 

Mini mocha cappuccino cheesecake and a mozz stick 

Green bell pepper with some ground beef and cheese. 

My carbs are a bit high.. About half come from fat sources though so it's not like I'm eating startchy things. Still figuring it all out. After 2 weeks on 40-40-20 I get to try my hand at keto again.  Will be looking up some recipes and things getting ready.