ohio bound!!!!!

tomorrow is the day!! i leave to go to columbus for the arnold classic. the ASC is one of the premiere bb events on the schedule. its a fitness weekend that i really dont have the words to describe. i mean it started with the bb show but its way more than that now. there are martial arts, mma competitions and demonstrations. gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, arm wrestling, olympic lifting, power lifting... the list goes on and on.

in classic miche style there is still lots to do and of course i am running short on time. but i guess i can always sleep on the plane. LOL

i ran into army last night on line. im not sure which of the two of us is more excited. but its really going to be a good trip this year... i can just feel it. the advantage this time, over the trip to miami, is that we are no longer strangers so i think thats going to make this adventure even better. as well from the posts that she has been writing on the boards, she expects that we will be hanging together for the balance of the weekend. a stark contrast to last year.

so how am i looking? well i'm pretty pleased with how things stand. i'm fairly confident i could take pics in a cropped top and not look like the michelin man. granted i dont have hard granite abs but it's not bad for an offseason look. my best ab look i think ever. and to think i still have a good 20+ lbs to lose.

i took progress pics on the weekend and they are by far my best pics since i started this diet. finally i can truly see that i am on track. in fact i even crawled back into the posing suit. if i get a chance (sorry had to stop to laugh hysterically for a minute), i'll post up the new pics.

the continuation...

i had a lot on my mind, but not a lot of time. so this is the continuation of my last entry:

we are a little over a week away from the arnold. my other friend army, who coincidentaly is in the army, and on her way back from a month long posting in japan. we are both very excited about hanging out again in ohio. army and tg are dieting for the same show again this year and they both would like me to be there. but for many reasons that's not in the cards. i've been racking my brain for a present for army. just want her to have something from me that says even though i can't be there i'm behind you... get 'er done. thats the message i get from the t-shirt tg sent me and the message i hope she got from the slippers i sent her.

well army is not the 'fun slippers' type. but she does love to train in a ball cap. i've been seeing that roots 'canada' ball cap and i've decided to pick one up and give it to her in ohio. if she trains in it, it will be like i'm there reminding her that any unscheduled stops at the cheesecake counter will get her a miche-sized azz kickin!! army's more inclined to respond favourably to vinegar that she would with honey. just a part of her charm i guess. LOL.

i've got a shoot scheduled for ohio. nothing crazy big but i still want to look my best. i am desperately trying to shed as much bf as i can before i get down there.

i'll be seeing george tomorrow to see what changes we will make in the diet. the good news is i finally have a date. june 9th has officially been announced as the show date. another promoter had to pick up the ball. they are basically adding the natural event to the card of the untested show they already had scheduled.

the show is going to be in sudbury, which is a 4-5 hour drive. i was concerned that my coach b, might not be able to make it. as a back up i asked speedy bike racer if she could be there. most of the stuff i could probably do on my own, but there is no way i can put the contest colour and pam on myself. it's a great relief to know that she said yes. having her colour me will be weird but will it be any more wierd than last year with b and his lady friend?

cannon was recently back in town. yes, i know people with real names. i like to use nicknames... just because i chose to air my life and thoughts in this forum does not necessarily mean that everyone i know wants to as well.

once upon a time i played football. i don't remember if i ever mentioned that before. when i started playing cannon was a team mate. she eventually moved to the u.s and i don't see her too often. i'm glad that we were able to get caught up over a cup of coffee. i don't fell like i have alot of friends but the one's i have, that have stood the test of time... are special.

speaking of special friends. s-nj dropped me a quick email, monday morning, to tell me that she had injured herself. doing something that she loves, but it's fairly serious and it's definately going to slow her down a bit. she had recently been hitting the gym regularily and was starting to see the kind of changes that truly improve the quality of one's life. not the sh!t i do... but the important stuff. i'm sorry she had a setback. nobody i know bounces back quite like s-nj... but i have to admit this injury has me concerned.

i'm quickly running short of patience these days. it's part of the reason why i finally quit the hip hop class. i just can't find the energy to keep doing something that i suck at, that i don't seem to improve at, or that i still don't even really understand why i was doing it. during last sunday's class i fell behind again and i found i was more irritated than usual, and far more than the situation warranted. rather that put myself in a postion where i might frighten the little dancing girls with a full on miche-tantrum... i'm going to tap out. maybe i will try again... after the show is done.

funny... i sent the instructor an email explaining why i wouldn't be back for a while. i found her response somewhat entertaining. first she feels that i have been 'improving', clearly what she sees in the mirror and what i do are two different things. but the best part was when she told me that she thought i was too hard on myself... oh yeah??? you think??!!!

i'm a competitive personality and an athlete to boot... you bet your lulu lemon coverd azz i'm hard on myself...

it's all a part of my charm :-)

what's new?

well i guess the biggest change is in my physique. yeah!! of course changes feel incredibly slow and i'm still way behind where i was last year at this time. i was looking at my pictures from last year recently. i was about 10lbs lighter and showing way more muscular definition.

as you know my friend tg recently sent me a t-shirt. i called her to thank her and i found out that she has been having some issues with her hips. she has been wearing a lift in her shoes to help balance out her hips and reduce her pain. the imbalance of course, has been compounded by the heavy lifting and the hard training involved with our sport.

both tg and i enjoy 'fun slippers' and she hasn't been able to wear hers for some time. she had a backless pair of curious george slippers. she has been told to wear her lift at all times and since the lifts will not stay in without backs... she had to park george.

well i couldn't have my friend going without fun slippers. so i got her a pair that match the dog slippers that i have. she called me on saturday, she got them, she loves them and the can 'slip' around the house with her lifts in.

here is a shot of me coolin' in my pair:















and the latest comparison:

lesson's learned.

this is going to be a long one. i will likely post it in stages.

my friend had been told to take chromium picolinate to help with body fat reduction. since i'm in bb and lean mass is paramount to bb she asked me what i knew about chromium p. i had heard of chromium p but i didn't know anything about it.

a google search told me that it was a natural supplement and it wasn't likely to injure anyone who took it. it was reported to control the bodies insulin response. but here's the kicker... there was no scientific evidence to support the products effectiveness. tests were done and apparently the data was somewhat inconclusive.

the last time i saw george i told him what i had read about chromium p and he explained why the data was inconclusive. chromium p is a valid product that does indeed help control the bodies insulin response PROVIDED the user actually HAS diabetes!! in a diabetic body it controls insulin and that in turn does help some diabetic patients lower their body fat. however if your not diabetic, then there is no need for insulin control.. your bodies is already doing that and subsequently your body fat is not magically lowered.

the same he said, could be said of ALA, alpha lipoic acid. again if you have diabetes it's probably going to work. if you don't it's not. well guess what was on my shelf at home? ALA. why? because i was told to take it to help control my offseason body fat. did i not look up ALA before i bought it? i did. but the only information on it that i could find, that i could understand was that it was not harmful.

i also want to mention another product that was recommended to me. again, i attempted to research it but i was unable to find any more information that i could understand, beyond that it wasn't harmful. i just don't speak medical-ese.

GABA, gamma-aminobutyric acid. because i wasn't sleeping i was told to take GABA. it was supposed to hlep me sleep and have the added benefit of increased growth hormone production. thus i was going to sleep like a baby and i was going to grow bigger muscles. well i can't say that my sleep improved. on nights that i wasn't going to sleep, i still didn't. on nights that i was... well getting up the next morning was a challenge.

when my offseason weight became more of an issue than i could bare, i went to see george. i mentioned taking GABA to help me sleep and he told me something pretty fascinating. GABA, in his opinion, is not the best product to recommend to improve sleep. it's best application is to patients with depressive disorders. it can be very calming and can help those patients sleep. well what about the growth hormone production? as a natty i might be looking at a percentage of a pound of lean muscle growth. however... and this piece of knowledge was huge. GABA can trigger depressive responses in patients who are not depressed!!!!

so likely the GABA was helping me to feel even sh!ttier about my weight issues, upping my cortisol production (one of the stress hormones that hinders fat loss) and possibly even helping me feel the need to binge eat.

so we add that all together with the overindulgent 4000 calorie a day diet and it is really no wonder that i had weight issues.

and who do i think is at fault for all of this? me!!! i went looking for the 'secret' to bb. i was somehow convinced that there was something that i wasn't doing or was doing incorrectly. in 6 years i've added a fairly decent amount of muscle mass to my body. and i managed to do it without getting fat.

i'm not being overly dramatic. i normally offseason at 22-23% bodyfat. which is a decently athletic look, soft enough to encourage muscle gain but with enoght muscular definition to look athletic. this offseason i hit 30%!! which is soft enough to be soft with the muscular definition of a coil of kolbassa!!

as far as i know, i'm currently between weigh-in's, i'm down about 13 lbs. i would guess around 23% and i am now just starting to get compliments. people have noticed the weight loss. my face is leaner, my legs, stomach and arms have all come down. i've lost two inches off my chest and waist and another inch off of my hips.

i'm hoping to be down another 10lbs by ohio. that might be a lofty goal but i might be doing a photoshoot down there and i would prefer to be considerably leaner.

these lessons i won't soon forget.

uggghh

last week wednesday i had a follow up appointment with george. he was happy with the rate of which i'm dropping the weight and he was hesitant to make any more changes at this time.

the downside was missing my regular wednesday night workout had me training 5 days in a row to get back on schedule. well monday was the 5th day and i have to tell you it was a battle of wills. on the drive to the gym i was yawning, not a good sign. i managed to get through the workout ok, but i really didn't feel like i had the gas left over for cardio. in fact i was halfway to the locker room when i got a text message from a friend off of the boards reminding me that i could tap out of cardio but the other girl on stage likely wont be. i did my cardio. the intensity wasn't there but hopefully that won't matter.

so your probably wondering how i'm doing? here is my first progress comparison:















and my last comparison:

i did not fall off the earth

forgive me friends for it has been a month since my last 'confession', i know some of you have been worried. i recieved more than an email or two just to check that i was still playing a part in the oxygen - carbon dioxyde cycle.

first let me catch you up on what's new. the date of the show? still a mystery. i called the promoter when i first heard that the date of the show had been changed to mid-may. the promoter told me that he had not changed the date of the show and that it was still the end of april. of course the date in question already had a show on that date and its highly irregular to have shows on the same date... unless the locations are very far apart. i was told that he needed to look into it and that i should call him back a week later. from then i could only reach his voice mail and none of my messages were returned. to date i have had three show prep appointments with george with no confirmed show date.

since then i've heard from two different sources that the promoter who has been doing the show, is no longer doing shows with the OPA. so now what? will somebody else pick up the ball or will there be no natural show in ontario in 2007? that's where things stand at this point. but wait, i've been dieting since the 9th of december, what about that? well... i'm aiming for that mythical may 17th date in the hopes that rumour is true. if it's not then there IS a untested show the weekend following. i have no real desire to do an untested show but by that point i will have already been dieting for 6 months. it's time to do something and get back to growing.

it also officially looks like my friend tg and her husband will not be in ohio with army and i. just so you know show tickets, hotel reservations and plane tickets have all been purchased for the 2007 arnold schwarzenegger classic. its going to be a fun show to watch. plus a lot of members from my board will be attending the event and its very likely i will get to meet more of them.

speaking of tg she bought me a shirt. it came in the mail a few weeks back and i was really touched when i opened it. that one simple gesture made me feel like i truly had the support of a friend, who sees me as a bodybuilder as well, even IF i refuse to cross the supplement line. the interesting thing is, i hit a personal best squatting the first time i wore that shirt in the gym. below is a pic of me post workout.