Guilt?! Get over it!

This past week has been a great second week of contest prep training! Despite taking a couple days off due to a cold, my energy levels were pretty good. My eating was on point. And most importantly the scale was good to me for my weekly weigh-in. So my trainer allowed me a reward meal. So why do I feel GUILT?!

Let's break it down. After my first week of contest prep I earned a 600 calorie reward meal ... a treat meal with restrictions. I'm okay with that. I actually didn't think I'd get any kind of "reward" at all! Celebration time! Woot! Woot! Fast forward to week two. I dropped a healthy amount of weight after my second week so my trainer says ... word for word ... "Watch the fights and have some good food tomorrow!!!" I was looking for the small print that said "Caloric limit = 600" or some other restrictive number. Nope. Couldn't find it. Then I started to question: "What does he mean by good food exactly? Should I ask him? Should I just stick to the 600 calorie thing? Should I just throw down on a feast? He wasn't specific this time. What should I do?" Then I got distracted day-dreaming about the endless possibilities of treat meals I could have. Oh joy! I quickly decided on a burger and fries. And as usual, it never tastes as good as I imagined but it was better than fish and cucumbers. So me and my "food baby" were content with my reward meal and ready for the week of clean eating ahead.

Now before I get to the guilt part, bare with me as I share something. I remember as I prepared for my very first competition a very knowledgeable and experienced trainer told me to ignore what everyone else was doing for contest prep and just focus on what my trainer has instructed me to do. So I've always done that. But this weekend I was almost influenced after a casual chat with yet another trainer who is equally experienced and knowledgeable. He said he doesn't give his clients a reward meal ... only on rare occasions ... and it might be just 1 or 2 glasses of wine. He said "Don't do the burger and fries thing." Damn it! I just did!!! But I earned it! Didn't I? Guilt!

Whatever! What's done is done and he's not my trainer. I need to just get over it and stay focused on MY contest prep. Plus I think I burned off all those burger calories worrying about eating that treat meal. Guilt?! Ok! Ok! I'm over it! Time for some cardio!

DOUBLE TROUBLE

What’s better than one Crave cupcake? Well ... duh! Two Crave cupcakes of course! (My faves: red velvet and chocolate coconut!) So with that in mind, what’s better than one kick-ass boot camp with an amazing trainer? Two kick-ass boot camps with ANOTHER amazing trainer! Yes! I kicked off my Saturday morning at Hour of Honor with my trainer Nathan Harewood. And a couple hours later I decided that was not enough because I “bent over” for another whoopin’ from Tommy Europe! (see photo above) Can you say DOUBLE TROUBLE?!

Both workouts were awesome! Heart beatin’, sweat pourin’, fist pumpin’ workouts! Ok so maybe I was the only one pumpin’ my fists. It’s because I think these guys are a couple of the smartest trainers I’ve come across. Smart, not because they “know everything”. But smart because they both continue to grow and learn in their industry. That’s so important. But that’s not all! Here are a couple examples of why I dig these guys:

NATHAN
I’ve been working with Nathan since July of 2010 and my biggest struggle was finding the right combination of foods that worked for me and my wonky stomach. Well unlike some other diet plans from other trainers, Nathan has customized this diet just for me. Every meal and food combination has a purpose. That takes a lot of research and knowledge. Just sayin’. My tummy is happier! :) Plus his style of training is so fun you almost forget how much you dislike him as he’s making you do more freakin’ burpees and sprints! And he makes laugh. Heehee!

TOMMY
Tommy is gettin’ it done! He really knows how to handle a room full of about 100 ladies (and a few guys) who adore him. A gentleman and a jokester, all at the same time. The guy clearly knows that he needs to diversify if he wants to stay on top of his game in the fitness industry. He’s got his two hit TV shows, his sold out traveling boot camps, a new book coming out, and could there be another TV show is in the works? Maybe!

So I feel very fortunate to have been able to workout with two fitness professionals this weekend. Two fit fellows who are working their butts off to spread the gospel of fitness! What an awesome day of fitness it was for me! And even though it’s over, I still have sore muscles EVERYWHERE to remind me of the good times! Oweee!

What a way to kick off my contest prep!

I’m ready! I have my game face on! My meals are prepped! My calendar updated with my workout schedule! I even went to bed at a decent time last night. But Monday ended up being a bit of a challenging kick-off to my 12-week contest prep.

It started when I got into work this morning. My co-worker’s wife baked Valentine’s day cookies. She bakes the most AMAZING treats! They looked soooooo gooooood! I had to talk myself through it. “Walk away Cara! Don’t make eye contact with the pink frosting on the heart shaped cookie!!!” Ugh! Well I passed that test. You would think after my last cheat weekend I'd be sick of "dirty" food. Anyway, let’s just hope no one brings their left over Valentine’s chocolate to the office tomorrow.

There was something I couldn’t avoid today. It was an appointment with my physiotherapist. I had a nagging sore toe that I’ve been trying to ignore for the last 3 months. I know. I know. I was trying to “play through” the pain. To make a long story short, after the assessment he says to cut back on anything that puts pressure on my toe. Ummm let’s see that would be EVERYTHING I DO IN THE GYM! I basically told him in a round about way that I wasn't going to cut back. I’m going to “play through”, get therapy from time to time, and deal with the pain as best as I can during these next 12 weeks. Aging pisses me off sometimes.

So here I go! Preparing for another figure competition. Woot! Woot! After an awesome “off-season” I’m very excited about the next 12 weeks of weighing and measuring my food, eating the same thing everyday, training 6 days a week, spending my Sunday’s prepping food, spending Friday and Saturday nights at home, going to bed extra early on the weekends, not drinking wine, not eating chocolate, not eating Crave cupcakes, not eating out ... wait a minute ... why am I excited again?