Journey to the Stage: Bikini Competition Pre-Prep

Bikini Competition, Fitness | 8 comments

I’ve been following the bikini competition training and nutrition plan for a few weeks now, and I’m really happy with how it’s going so far! The biggest change has been going to the gym for strength training and fitting that into my day. I’ve always been really into home workouts, either following along to workout DVDs or doing my own thing.

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Self-motivation to workout has always come pretty naturally and I liked getting it out of the way before the rest of my family wakes up. My trainers prefer afternoon strength workouts, but fitting that around my work schedule or taking time away from my family has been difficult. I’m about 50/50 for early 5:00 am workouts before work and afternoons after work. I changed my work schedule in December to work 5 shorter days instead of 4 slightly longer days. I miss my day off to spend with the baby, make appointments, and just get things done before the weekend, but I knew I would never be able to exercise after work if I didn’t get off until 5:00 pm. And then on the weekends I still try to get some activity in with my family with a walk to the farmer’s market (but I now have to skip the delicious zucchini muffins sold my our favorite vendor). Working out with my kids isn’t nearly as productive, but it sure is comical! (Please excuse the super blurry selfie photo, but this about sums it up!)

The nutrition part of this process hasn’t been that extreme because they developed my meal plan out of foods and meals I typically ate anyway. The only difference is no more sweets. I’ve always had a sweet tooth, but now I realize how often I gave into that sweet tooth and how much it was holding me back. Just with training and this small change in my diet, I’ve already noticed big changes! Planning ahead and measuring appropriate portion sizes have also been important. I’ve always liked to meal plan and prep to save time and stress during the week. Having meals prepped and ready to pack into my lunchbox for work has made this process so much easier and I don’t even have to rely on willpower to stay away from the junk food at work. I just eat what’s in my lunchbox and don’t even walk into the cafeteria or lounge. This is the food scale I use to precisely measure my food so I can track it in My Fitness Pal.

I haven’t cut out wine yet, but I’ve definitely cut back. When we go out to dinner or hang out with friends, I’ll have 1 glass instead of 2 and try to keep that at only once a week.

The only exception was a wine weekend trip to Fredericksburg that we had planned months ago. We rented a house with some friends, tasted wine at a few vineyards, and saw the amazing Christmas lights in Johnson City. It was our first vacation without kids since the baby was born and it was SO nice! We missed them for sure, but our adults-only weekend was so relaxing! We slept in, drank (a lot of) coffee, strolled around town and enjoyed a fancy dinner. On Saturday we visited a few vineyards and I was pretty good about just tasting the wines and not overindulging. I felt like I was able to truly enjoy the wine without the hangover the next day that I’d usually get after an entire day of drinking wine!

Christmas was the next big hurdle. We visited my family in Minnesota and there was so much food available all the time! Before going, I told my parents about my meal plan and that I’d be happy to do my own grocery shopping. Luckily, my mom tries to eat healthfully most of the time too so they already had most of the items I would need. Even though they knew about my goals, that didn’t stop them from offering desserts, snacks, and drinks very frequently. I don’t think they were trying to sabotage me at all, just trying to show love and be good hosts. My mom even made my favorite cranberry dessert bars looked so hurt when I told her I couldn’t have them. At our big Christmas celebration with the family, there was an abundance of crackers, cheese, cookies, cakes, and bars. I realized that if I did not have the goal of competing in a bikini competition, I would have over-indulged in all of these! I knew lasagna would be served as the main course, so I offered to make a salad and then packed my own chicken to each with it. I was a little self-conscious that my family would think I wasn’t celebrating by not eating, but very few people seemed to notice or care! And those that did notice complimented me on my healthy habits and self-control.

I think most of our holidays and social gatherings revolve around food, so I thought I would have to isolate myself to be successful in this prep. So far this hasn’t been the case at all. I definitely have to do a little more planning and pack my own food if I don’t know the menu, but I’ve found that most people are very complimentary of healthful habits and the hosts are extremely appreciative of my offers to contribute a healthy dish to the meal.

So here are my progress photos so far… nothing staggering, but I can tell a difference in how I feel. My jeans fit a little better and everything feels a bit tighter. Unfortunately, I’m wearing leggings, but I can definitely see more definition in my quads.

Bikini Training Program

Strength x 5 days (mostly 3-4 sets)
Cardio x 3 days (15 minutes HIIT)
1 class per week (for fun if I want to)

Week 3: cardio increased to 20 minutes HIIT 4x week and my strength sets increased to 4-5 sets

Week 4: cardio goals is still 4x a week but either 20 minutes of HIIT or 35 minutes steady state

Week 5: strength workouts increased to 7 sets per exercise. OMG what?! SEVEN sets?!?! My leg workout took me 80 minutes to complete! I had planned to do cardio afterward but even just barely finishing my strength workout I was already running late to work.

Strength Training

Monday: Legs

Tuesday: Shoulders (try this Sculpted Shoulders workout)

Wednesday: Back/Abs

Thursday: Arms

Friday: Chest/Legs/Abs

Saturday: fitness class through ClassPass (try it and get $30 off with this link!), walk with the family, or something else active and fun

Sunday: Rest

Cardio

I get bored VERY easily during cardio, so I keep myself motivated by using the Aaptiv app. It’s an on-demand audio fitness that combines the guidance of a trainer with the perfect playlist to give you a fresh way to work out. They have hundreds of workouts for outdoor running or walking, treadmill, elliptical, stairclimber, cycling, race training, yoga, strength training, and meditation. I used to hate cardio, but this app is so motivating with a trainer in your ear telling you exactly what to do and encouraging you along the way.

I remember a few years ago when the idea of a competing in a bikini competition started to bounce around in my head. But seeing the training plans and the amount of cardio required, especially towards the end, I thought “no way I could ever do that much boring cardio!” Now the fun part of my week is looking through all the workouts on Sundays, narrowing them down by favorite trainers, genre of music, and duration, and planning them out for the week! I have a to-do list within the app of AT LEAST 50 workouts!

Want to try Aaptiv FREE for 30 days? Try it HERE!

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 (my favorite protein powder is Legion Athletics Whey+ in Dutch Chocolate or Chocolate Peanut Butter) with half a banana and 1 cup spinach

1 slice 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

Grilled chicken or ground turkey

Sweet potatoes

Green beans

PM Snack 3:00 pm

Dale’s Raw Protein Bar –> went out of business in 2019 🙁

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:

New Fitness Goal: Bikini Competition!

Bikini Competition Pre-Prep

12 Weeks Out

10 Weeks Out

8 Weeks Out

7 Weeks Out

6 Weeks Out

5 Weeks Out

4 Weeks Out

3 Weeks Out

2 Weeks Out

1 Week Out

Peak Week

Show Day!

Post-Show Update

8 Comments

Melissa J. on September 28, 2018 at 1:12 am

Hi there! I’ve been thinking about doing a competition, and was really enjoying reading about your journey! I can’t seem to access your peak week or show day link pages. There seems to be a problem with the link?
Reply
- Tracy on September 30, 2018 at 6:39 pm
  
  Hi Melissa! Thanks for letting me know!! I’m fixing it now 🙂 I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! This was always something I wanted to do, but reading other blogs about it is what finally inspired me to actually do it. It was a lot of work and a big test of willpower, but I’m so glad I did it. Please let me know if you decide to train for a competition!!
  Reply
Laura on November 15, 2018 at 6:21 pm

Hi Tracy !

I love your blog and progress ! I’ve been thinking about doing a bikini competion as well. Recently, I started working out with weights, HIIT, weight loss walks on the treadmill with varying levels of intensity. Anyway, I was thinking about becoming used to the actual work outs first before the actual diet lol. It’s hard to start this before the holidays but it’s looking like maybe the 1st week of January may be more reasonable. I do love to go out to eat and get sashimi and such but I’m pretty sure I can’t do any of that for a solid 12 weeks if I would like to attain my goal! Any tips?! You look so good! You should be proud of yourself !
Reply
- Tracy on November 17, 2018 at 4:03 am
  
  Hi Laura! Thanks for your kind words! I’m so excited that you’re thinking about doing a competition too! It’s tough getting started during the holidays, but I’m really glad I did or I would have gone totally overboard on holiday treats. As for tips: still indulge in the foods you love (maybe just a little less frequently) and continue to lift HEAVY! I actually just wrote a post about how to keep your health and fitness in check during the holidays so check it out for more tips https://www.fitandfulfilled.com/holiday-proof-your-health/
  And let me know what competition you decide to do! It’s a tough process (but worth it!) and I’d love to cheer you along during prep!
  Reply
  - Laura on November 21, 2018 at 12:45 am
    
    Yes! I totally have cut out snacking and alcohol aside from the occasional glass or two of wine.. I feel like sometimes I just need that. Your story stuck out to me Bc I think we have a similar background .. I was a cardiothoracic surgery RN and now I’m working as an acute NP in cardiac Cath recovery so def no time to snack where we are! Unless u walk in the break room…. lol. Anyway, I need to do this! I feel like it’s really good for my mind; a nice reset like mentally and physically .. I do need to start lifting heavier also.. how strict exactly were you, you have to be so disciplined!
  - Tracy on November 24, 2018 at 11:52 pm
    
    Wow, we have so much in common! It was definitely a good way to get and stay focused on a goal by having a definite deadline. And while the diet isn’t really sustainable for real life, it felt good to get to know my body again with how it reacted to certain foods (and I realized my sweet tooth went away pretty quickly when I didn’t eat that stuff all the time). As far as workouts, I was very disciplined and never missed a single workout (but I truly enjoy exercising so that’s pretty normal for me all the time). That meant early 5am workouts before work a lot of times. For diet, I still had little treats here and there (like a bite or 2 of dessert, a few chips and dips at parties), a glass of wine each week, and a few “cheat” meals of burgers and fries. I think those little things helped maintain my social life without feeling isolated. But by the 4 weeks out mark, no more wine or cheats 🙁
Laura on November 27, 2018 at 3:25 am

I think I can do this.. I think I’m going to make my start point the first week of January although I’ve already changed my diet a lot, I also am realizing I’m not such a huge sweet tooth person anymore… it’s true, if you’re not having it much you won’t miss it. I do have very good self control and when I want things, I have no problem working towards my goal. That being said, have you mentored many people with this ? Would you mind doing that for me? I can totally check in with u occasionally and maybe you can help me figure out exactly how and when I can join a competition. My dad is very much into physical fitness, so he is training me which is great. I have a lot of weights and work out equipment in my house which is perfect. Maybe if you have time and you’re up for it, you can email me at Laura.e.gonzalez917@gmail.com .. I don’t have Instagram or fb lol, just Pinterest and yelp hahaha and I know you’re prob super busy with fam and work but hope you can help me! Thanks for all of your insight, Tracy !
Reply
- Tracy on November 28, 2018 at 6:02 pm
  
  I sent you an email 🙂
  Reply