Bikini Comp Round 2

     As many of you know, I did a bikini competition around this same time last year. I placed in the top 10 back then and was generally happy with how I did for my first time. It was a tough experience but definitely worth it. Since then I had that fire under my butt pushing me to do another one. My main goals were to gain more upper body muscle and a little bit bigger booty :) and of course actually place this time around! 
     Well I just competed for the second time 2 weeks ago and was pretty happy with how I did. I placed 5th in my class which definitely was an improvement from last year! However, I felt that this prep was SOOOOO much harder than the first one. I went into this one thinking it would be easy because I had done it before but boy was I wrong. I had a lot longer of a time to prepare for this one so I felt like I had all the time in the world compared to my last show. This kind of led me to bing a little more lax on my diet for a while which was a bad idea probably! 
     The beginning phases of my prep was what's called 'bulking' (I hate that word btw). For those of you unfamiliar with the term 'bulking' it really just means that you eat more than normal and lift a lot to essentially gain more muscle hence the other bodybuilding term 'gains'. Bulking was hard for me, I in turn gained weight, and although I knew it was necessary to build the kind of muscle I wanted to but I still felt like crap because I had never weighed that much before. 

     In the end it was worth it though don't worry.  I got my cardio on mixed with a much stricter diet and I eventually shed down the fat while keeping on the muscle I had gained, woo hoo! In all honesty though, I didn't give 100% effort during this prep. I had cheat meals more often than I should have, I skipped workouts every once in a while, etc. It was really tough mentally to get through the last month. I definitely have a lot to work on mentally and physically if I want to do another show, but for now I don't have any plans for future shows. We shall see! Anyways.. here's a few pics of the day!

          

     

 

Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Hi!! I'm back and I am sharing the most delicious and EASY Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancake recipe. It's October and that means pumpkin everything, amiright? I wish I could make every single pumpkin recipe I find on Pinterest but unfortunately I don't have enough time to wait for 47 minutes for bread to rise or to make my own  pumpkin puree, etc. Aaaand the fact that 90% of the recipes are packed with sugar, cream cheese, and more sugar also makes me a little less inclined to make them.  So I decided to make up something just as delicious, only a lot healthier, and much much quicker!

Recipe (makes about 2-3 pancakes)  * 1/3 C Kodiak cake pancake mix * 2 Tbs pumpkin puree * 1/3 and 2 Tbs water * 1/2 tsp pumpin pie spice *1/2 tsp cinnamon *Chocolate chips   Just mix it all together and add water if you need to make the consistency a little thinner. You can make them as pancakes or waffles, either will work great! I eat them with Walden Farms 0 calorie pancake syrup and fat free Reddi Whip. Hope you like them :)