T minus 24

Weight: 55.7kg (122.5lbs)
Yesterday's food: You have used 1443 out of your net daily budget of 1400 calories and have -43 calories remaining. 20% of the calories are from fat, 41% from protein, 39% from carbs
Exercise : Slept in

Hello 55's!!! Yahoo!

I was very tired, cold and hungry all day yesterday and ended up going to bed early and was asleep by 10pm. I woke at 5.00am and then went back for a snooze for an hour and somehow turned off my alarm to wake at 7.15am. I must have needed the sleep because I feel so much better this morning and the scales are my friend xxx

Cheryl raised an interesting point yesterday about putting weight back on after the competition.

I have always accepted that "competing" weight is less than "off season" weight. It is not healthy or practical to have such low levels of body fat all year round. In fact, having the amount of fat I do right now, means I am always extremely cold. I can't ride my scooter to work because no matter how many clothes, hats, scarves and gloves I put on, I am so frozen to the bone I can barely move and it takes hours to warm up afterwards.

One of the main reasons I have Liz coaching me is because she is an expert in post competition strategy. I do not want to fall head first into an out of control eating binge post comp, gain 8 kilos of fat and end up worse off mentally and physically than before I started this journey. It is one of my goals to finally nail a maintenance lifestyle.

Of course part of me wants to be 54-55kg all the time but I am wise enough to know that is an unrealistic expectation and wishing for this will just lead to disappointment. Where I end up will be the reverse of losing weight. Liz will manipulate my calories and exercise to find my maintenance point and then increase one or decrease the other until I start to slowly gain. Once I reach a look I am happy with (I am thinking about 58kg) then it will be simple to get to the weight and stay there. (Of course it won't be THAT simple but it won't be a complete mystery!)

There are other things to consider. If I place in my competition it means I will compete in the Australian titles so I will need a different strategy all together. If I turn out to be addicted to the sport, I might compete in the All Female Classic in July which is about 8 weeks later.

So rather than thinking that 25 May 2008 is the end of my journey, the goal of all these weeks of work, I think that it just the start of a new phase. My choices are (a) maintaining the muscle mass I have and adding some padding (b) competing again this season (c) building more muscle in the off season so I can compete with more muscularity next year (d) training to run the half marathon in the Sydney Running Festival in September.

The future excites me ... who knows where it will lead.

I am so thankful for all the girls who encouraged me to consider training for a figure competition back at the beginning of February and for Liz's expert guidance. Sitting here this morning, I am amazed by the things I have achieved in a few short months and I have really enjoyed being committed to a goal that seemed so beyond my reach at the beginning. If I had to step on stage tomorrow, I would have achieved everything I set out to do. I can't wait to see what the next 24 days brings.

Ah, there is nothing better than feeling pleased with yourself ;)