Stepping outside the comfort zone...

So three weeks have gone by and I still can not decided whether the time has flown or its dragged on...Either way a lot of thinks have things have taken place in this small amount of time. Fun fact, in three weeks I have consumed roughly 14 dozen eggs, over 5 lbs of chicken, over 5 lbs of turkey, 6lbs of tilapia, 42 scoops of protein powder, and 21 cups of asparagus. Multiply that by two and you can imagine the type of protein that is being manufactured in our kitchen day in and day out.

Before I started this specific training regiment and diet I weighed about 130 to 131 lbs, which is a normal, comfortable weight for me. However, currently I am weighing in around 124 to 123 lbs. My estimated weight the day of the competition is about 110 lbs, which I probably haven't weighed since birth. Anyway, anyone who knows my philosophy as a personal trainer, they know how much I hate scales and forbid my clients to use them. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I have turned into a total hypocrite. Every morning right when I wake up, I go pee, and then go right to the scale to record my weight and send it to Al. Although I eat the same thing everyday and roughly expend the same amount of energy, my scale weight is unpredictable and whether I will be up a pound, down a pound or exactly the

same seems completely arbirituary. I know my body and I know it is changing regardless of the number on the scale, so I do not get too bent out of shape. I have always preached that being obsessed with your scale weight is pointless and we should not use it as an indication of whether of not our hard work is paying off. I believe that now more then ever. Trust me, one thing I am looking forward too is getting rid of this dreadful morning routine.

This past week I realized how this whole experience is going to take me out of my comfort zone. It is actually going to throw my comfort zone out the window. This realization occurred with the arrival of my heels in the mail. They are clear and four inches high. The box they come in literally says, "Pleaser...Sexier than ever." Coming from a girl that wore the same converse sneakers to prom that I am wearing right now, I honestly can say I do not even remember the last time I wore heels. This is my first and hopeful my last pair of hooker heels. Although my mom and I are still searching around for our competition suits, I am getting a taste for just how revealing they are. Something about me you may not know is that I only started wearing bikini bathing suits at around age 18. And If I did wear one, I was always that girl who kept her clothes on over it. Yesterday I put it all together and strutted my stuff in a swim suit... and the heels of course. There were only three other people in the room and I felt like I was going to vomit.

TWO words...AWKWARD and UNCOMFORTABLE. There was only one other time in my life that I was on stage alone. I was seven and I played twinkle twinkle little star for my violin recital. I was so nervous that I was on the toilet the whole morning before the performance. And I thought that the diet and the working out were going to be the hardest part of this whole thing... Wrong.

(This is a picture of the classic flirty "dip and wave." Something I definitely need to practice)

WEIGHT LOSS TIP # 2: Concentrate on how your clothes fit, not what the scale says. The important thing is lowering your body fat and increasing your lean muscle. No matter what your scale says, nothing is more rewarding then when your hard work pays off by some saying, "Did you lose weight, you look good."