This post may contain affiliate links.
Official prep is starting now! With 6 weeks of “pre-prep” under my belt, I’m now entering my official bikini prep phase.
After looking at the calendar of bikini competitions in Texas, my coach and I decided on the Ronnie Coleman Classic on April 7th. With tax deadline for my CPA husband and my daughter’s first birthday later in April and a long vacation scheduled in May, the timing and local location are perfect. I was a little worried it might be too soon, but I know it’s important to allow time to cycle back up to a maintenance level of exercise and nutrition before going on vacation where I will probably eat a lot more for enjoyment and not get to exercise as much as I’d like.
The short deadline is also great motivation to stay strong with my willpower and push myself with training.
The only changes that have been made to my plan are 1 more cardio session each week (and slightly longer) and adding more carbs to breakfast with an additional piece of Ezekiel toast.
I honestly thought we would start decreasing my calorie intake now so I’m pleasantly surprised to see the opposite! I’m not so excited about increasing cardio, but I knew it would happen at some point. I’ve never loved cardio. I’ll do it because I know it’s good for my heart and overall conditioning, but I SO much prefer weight training over logging miles on the treadmill.
Luckily, I have my favorite fitness app, Aaptiv to get me through all these cardio sessions. If you’ve never heard of it, you need to try it NOW! They even offer a free 30-day trial!! (haha I totally thought I would just take advantage of the free trial when I tried it nearly 2 years ago, but I loved it so much I bought the annual membership!) It’s an all audio app with hundreds of trainer-led workouts set to a playlist to keep you motivated. I seriously don’t think I’d be able to do this much cardio without it!
To keep things fun, I went to a Fit4Mom Stroller Barre workout on my day off this week. It was so nice to get outside and enjoy the sunny weather while getting in a workout, singing to my baby, and getting to socialize with other moms. And afterward, Whole Foods provided a playdate with snacks and story time for the kids and coffee for the moms.
I also won a free bag of Milk Drunk Mama Mocha protein powder from Rawr Naturals on Instagram! All of their products are developed for the active breastfeeding mom and contain galactogogues like oats, flaxseed, and brewer’s yeast to support milk production. Paired with gluten-free and dairy-free pea protein, each serving provides 18 grams of protein for the ultimate pre- or post-workout snack. The original Milk Drunk protein powders contain fenugreek, an herb known to boost milk production, but their new Mama Mocha flavor is the first fenugreek-free formulation. It’s still packed with other whole food galactogogues, just without fenugreek for moms that want to avoid herbal supplements. I’m so excited I won a bag and I can’t wait to try it!
After a tough week of workouts, I did a quick yoga workout and foam rolling workout (I love THIS foam roller) on Sunday morning to re-energize and roll out my sore muscles from the previous week’s workouts. It can be tough fitting in workouts with kids, so I set my 3-year-old up on Facetime with my parents (she loves to chat and read stories with them every week) and put the baby on a yoga mat next to me with some toys so we could interact during my recovery workout.
Then I took my official beginning of prep/12 weeks out pictures. Haha I had NO idea what I was doing! My trainer said to put on a bikini and some heels and hit some bikini poses. I haven’t done any posing practice yet, so it wasn’t pretty! I tried to look at some pictures and copy those poses, but it’s obvious I’m going to need a lot of help! I balanced my phone on my treadmill (and then dropped it and cracked the screen of my brand new phone) and turned on the selfie camera so I could sort of see what I look like. So here are my super awkward “before” pictures with weird facial expressions as I cluelessly attempt bikini poses!
Weekly Training Recap
- Strength x 5 (thankfully it went back down to 4-5 sets per exercise)
- Cardio x 4 (20 minutes HIIT or 35 minutes steady state)
- 1 class (if I want to)
Strength Training
Monday: Quads/Hams/Abs
Tuesday: Shoulders/Biceps
Wednesday: Back/Abs
Thursday: Hamstrings/Calves/Quads/Abs
Friday: Chest/Tris/Glutes
Meal Plan
Here’s what a typical day of eating looks like for me. Please keep in mind that this meal plan customized for MY specific dietary needs for my height, weight, workout intensity, AND my caloric needs for breastfeeding. This may not be appropriate for you.
Breakfast 4:30 am
Protein shake with half a banana and 1 cup spinach
2 slices Ezekiel toast with 1 Tbs almond butter
AM Snack 8:00 am
5 Egg whites, spinach, red onion + half avocado
Oatmeal + ½ cup blueberries + ½ oz chopped walnuts
Lunch 11:30 am
Ground turkey
Sweet potatoes
Green beans
PM Snack 3:00 pm
Dale’s Raw Protein Bar
Dinner 6:00 pm
Salmon
Brown rice
Steamed broccoli
Bedtime Snack 8:15
Cottage cheese + ¼ cup blueberries + 1 Tbs granola + cinnamon
Or Chocolate covered almonds 2 days a week as a treat
Journey to the Stage: Bikini Competition Series
If you missed any of my Journey to the Stage bikini competition prep posts, you can get all caught up here:
Tracy, you look great. I am not as young as you, in fact I feel old and fat, not head turning like how my husband looks at every young girl that walks by or is in the room when I am right beside him. But because of my dream to look young and beautiful again, I have decided to work out and feel good again. I got so disappointed in him, recently I started going to a gym, I work out three times a week, now I also do an everyday routine. I have always been thin, but with medicine and age I weigh 145 at 5″4. I am 58, so I will be on a journey to not be depressed over this, so your story today lifted my sprits. Thank you so much!
Tracy I am gonna take your information to heart and include your pattern of beauty in my life.
Thank you for sharing your story.