Look out, lean machine one the loose!

Life is nothing short of surprising and the dream world I've been living in has continued to leave a smile on my face. Maybe the key to all this is the happiness I have found in the little things that life offers. Whatever it is, the feeling is indescribable.

Yesterday I woke up tired and a little later than planned but the day turned out to be a great and even thought I will admit to being a planner, sometimes you have no control over how things change at a moments noticed but you have to remember that life goes on. If we constantly get hung up on road blocks, life would be full of disappointment. After laying in bed for a few minutes the last thing I wanted to do was to get up and go to the gym. Maybe you can relate to waking up in a warm cozy bed and not wanting to get up to sweat at the crack of dawn but when I arrived to the gym I found myself in the midst of a great cardio session on the spin bike. With sweat running down my face and my quads burning, all the passion that had gone missing was back. I have 2 weeks until Toronto and I plan on doing everythig in my power to be leaner and more muscular than last weekend.

This time around, I've made my meal plan, scheduled and planned my weight workouts and precooked all my food except dinners. I am ready and let's be real, pre cooked steak sucks. It's much better fresh off the bar-bee. I am doing 2, 45 minute cardio sessions a day to help keep my heart rate up and help my lean up a little more. David is in charge of putting on the muscle...and break! Over the last few weeks I've made friends on "the Facebook" and I have recruited some help with regards to my posing because I definitely winged my last performance on stage as much as I'd like to think I was prepared I wasn't.

Another challenge I faced this week was failure because I didn't place. I've really had to look at this in a new light and stop making excuses. The plain truth is, I didn't win. I can't help being a competitive person. It's in my bones. Even though I didn't leave with a trophy, I did leave with the satisfaction of knowing I competed one of my two goals and learned a lot about post contest life which they don't tell you about. I've learned that I can set my mind eyes on something and after seeing photos of myself last weekend is something I am very proud of. Someone once said, the only thing stopping us from being successful is the doubt we have in our abilities.

Hers a goal for you and it doesn't have to be long term or running a marathon, although it can be but it can be as simple as walking for 20 minutes after dinner or drinking more water throughout the day. If we don't set goals for ourselves, we will have nothing to measure our successes against. Nobodies perfect and we have to accept that we can only do so much but the things we can do, we should do.

Today was another great day. I did weights (chest and back) with David and then my morning cardio. I visited my grandma which was good and then Alison and I went and watched the Canucks game downtown which was amazing! We left right after the game and then it was off to the gym. Since the Oval closes at 9, I went to the gym near my house. It was dead considering the game had just ended which was amazing because I hate a busy gym. I know that sounds super snotty but Hillcrest gets mad busy and its impossible to sneak an extra 10 minutes on the cardio machine before someone kicks you off. After getting home at 10pm and being out since 845am this morning I couldn't stop thinking about the steak I had in the fridge so I eat it. Not sure how my body feels about digesting the 6 oz steak I just inhaled but I'll wait a little longer before I pass out.  

Anyways, I'm back on track and even though I have a plan, I'm enjoying each day as is comes.

Keep up the hard work to all of you who are making life changes to live a healthier and more active lifestyle. Your body and heart will thank you.

Eat. Train. Sleep. Repeat.

Xo

Nic