Once upon a time, I competed in an NPC bikini competition. It was a goal from my 20s, but I never thought I had the discipline to stick to a strict diet and exercise plan for 3 months, so I avoided it for years. I finally committed to a show and entered my first competition in 2014, and then did a second one in 2015. I didn’t realize it until the week before that show that I was 5 weeks pregnant with Jordan! It’s amazing how you can change your body in such a relatively short period of time. There’s also a huge mental component of bikini prep that I found surprising, but very rewarding. If you are considering competing, I say go for it! You will make yourself so proud and be amazed at your physical and mental capabilities. You can do it!
Weekends sure seem to be flying by these days. I spent this last one in Atlanta with lots of blogging friends at the Haven blog conference. I can sincerely tell you that the women of Haven are so genuine and fun to be around. I’m so glad I went and I encourage any of you thinking about going next year to for sure go!
If you’ve been following my blog for the last three months, you know I was preparing for my second NPC bikini contest. I competed for the first time last July and I got the itch to do it again mostly because I needed to get back in shape after falling off the wagon after my first competition.
I can’t believe we’ve made it to the final week of the competition! Some days it felt so very far away, and now it will be show time on Saturday! The contest is the NPC Branch Warren Classic in Houston at NRG Stadium. Two weeks ago, I wasn’t feeling ready at all because I still hadn’t gotten my posing routine down and I felt like my stomach still looked too bulky, but I think it’s finally all coming together now! The next week will be lots of preparation and I’m just hoping to stay positive, keep to my diet and exercise,
Hallefreakinglujah! I’m seriously feeling like I’m starting to lose steam and I’m so happy we’re almost done with this bikini prep. If it were up to me, I’d compete now and be done with it! It’s the timing more than anything that’s throwing me off. My son is out of school for the summer and didn’t like the camp we had him signed up for for these next few weeks, so I cancelled it and he’s home with me now. I’m totally fine with that and only signed him up at camp because I thought he’d enjoy it. So, since he’d rather be home,
I hope you all enjoyed your Father’s Day. We celebrated my husband and made it his day, but this was also the first one without my own Dad and it was really tough. I was maybe taken by surprise at how sad I was because I’ve been doing relatively well accepting the loss. It reminds me that there are so many of us with Dads not around (gone or estranged) and that’s so hard to deal with. Sending lots of hugs to all of you in my same boat, many of my own close friends included. I shared some special photos on my Instagram if you want to check in.
Thank you so much for sticking with me through this bikini competition prep. Your support and encouragement has really helped me through these last few weeks. And now we are finally in the home stretch with the contest being just just 4 weeks away! We can do anything for 4 weeks, right?!?! As bad as I feel like I’ve been sticking to my diet lately (the cheats I’ve reported to you each week), I’m going to try my hardest to just stick with it the last 4 weeks! I want to finish strong, make my family proud, you proud,
Being the first week of summer vacation had me a little off on my workouts this week. I felt like I didn’t do that much cardio this week, but when I looked back over my training log, I still did 6 days, just not as long as I’ve been doing. I’ve felt rushed this week since my son was out of school and I wanted to spend more time with him. Next week, he’ll be at a day camp that he’s really looking forward to, so I’ll have a little more time for cardio.
Today is the official start to our summer vacation! We don’t have any major plans, maybe a quick road trip or two after bikini prep is over. Our son is signed up at a few day camps and also swimming lessons and we’ll just be doing some fun stuff at home and around town. I’ll be sharing some of our quick and easy summer routines and organization soon too. Nothing too crazy or rigid, but just enough structure to keep mama from losing her mind! I had a chance to get caught up on cleaning and organizing over the weekend,
We are officially into the home stretch of the school year and our Summer Break starts at noon on Friday! But, it hasn’t felt very summery here lately. We’ve been having terrible thunderstorms and one so serious on Monday night that it caused flooding throughout our city and schools had to close. It was one of those late night storms that had me awake all night because it was so scary and loud. I don’t know how James slept through it! Thankfully, we are safe here and just took advantage of the extra day off, but many have been affected and we are thinking of them,
Happy Memorial Day Monday friends! We’re doing a whole lot of nothing this weekend and it’s nice! We got caught up on household chores and grocery shopping and always meal prep since I’m on this bikini competition prep for the next 7 weeks. It’s been a rough start, but in the last two weeks I feel like my hard work is starting to pay off. The contest is July 11, so far, but so close when I think of the changes I still need to make!
Thank you for checking back in on my progress as I prepare for my second NPC bikini contest July 11, 2015. What a difference a week makes! After being on prep for the last month, I feel like I finally turned a corner in my eating and workouts this week and it felt great! The previous week was a reality check (having gained body fat) that if I’m really going to compete in two months, I needed to buckle down and get serious. It took some time to get going, but now, I’m starting to gain that momentum that keeps you going and makes you want to work harder to reach your goals.
Thanks so much for your encouraging comments and for following along on my fitness journey! I’ve been emailing with many of you who are sharing your own fitness journeys and have other questions. You can also leave a comment – I read every one! If you’re just getting caught up, I’m preparing for my second NPC bikini fitness competition on July 11, 2015. I competed in my first contest last July and I decided to do another one because I was doing most of the exercise anyway and already eating similarly to the bikini prep plan.
A critical component for bikini contest prep is the food. It’s a super strict diet, but it’s also a lot of food. I’m never hungry, eating 5 meals a day, but of course I do get bored eating the same thing over and over. I typically eat the same thing for a few days, then switch it up.
This type of bikini meal plan is designed to help you lose fat while maintaining muscle. My meal plan starts out a little higher in terms of portion sizes, and then we’ll cut it back but I’m not sure when yet. My current meal plan equals to about 1,500 calories,
Thank you so much for your supportive comments on my Bikini Contest Prep | Here We Go Again post. I’m excited that you want to follow along and read my updates here. It encourages me hearing about your journeys and knowing that we are getting in shape together. I’ll be doing a weekly recap and since I’m currently 10 weeks out from my NPC bikini contest, I’ll be recapping the previous two weeks.
But first, can I show you my new chopped hair?! I’ve been growing out a bad cut where the front was about shoulder length and the back was seven inches longer and the two couldn’t really be blended in a stylish way so I figured,
Happy Monday friends! I may not be operating at full speed today, having spent the last 4 days in Dallas with my blogging girlfriends (see what I packed to wear here), staying up too late, and indulging in all things girly and fun. I felt like I was a kid again having an all-girls sleepover for 3 nights, complete with getting ready together and pillow talk. But, you know how it is when you go away for even a few days, it seems like when you get back there’s so much to do from unpacking to laundry to grocery shopping,
It’s been a little more than five months since I competed in my first NPC bikini competition and I wanted to share what life’s been like since then and where I am now with my (lifelong) fitness journey. I say lifelong journey because as long as I’m alive, I want to take care of myself and never take my health for granted. With my Dad’s illness, I’ve painfully watched his physical ability diminish to the point where he cannot walk, so I’m always mindful of how grateful I am to be able to move and exercise.
A surprising thing about post-competition is that I’m not all that anxious to eat all of the food that’s been off limits during contest prep. You’d think I’d want to eat everything in sight, but that hasn’t been the case. In fact, the thought of a big, juicy cheeseburger and fries (something I love to indulge in once in a while before) doesn’t really sound good to me right now. I think it feels so good having worked so hard to get in shape, I don’t want to “blow it” by eating bad. It doesn’t feel worth it.
After five months of dieting and training (15 of those weeks with my trainer), I finally competed in my first NPC (National Physique Committee) Bikini Competition. THANK YOU, THANK YOU for following along on this journey. Reading your comments helped me feel like I had a lot of friends rooting for me along the way. On the drive to the contest (4 hours to Dallas), I kept thinking, “I can’t believe I’m doing this!” I had dreamed of prepping and competing in a bikini contest in my 20s, and finally accomplished it at age 39, as a wife and mother to a 4 year-old.
Hi guys! Just popping in to give a quick update on my bikini contest prep. I can’t believe we aren’t measuring time in weeks anymore, but days- only two to go! This Saturday is the NPC Independence Day Classic and I’ll be competing for the first time in the Bikini division. The photo below was taken today (July 3, 2014) just after my final posing session. I still need to practice at home because I’m not the most fluid or graceful. You only get 10 seconds to hit 3-4 stances. Today, my trainer played music while I was posing and that actually helped.
