5 days out!

I know, I know, I've been a little quiet the past week. Don't get me wrong, everything is going great! It's just...HARD!
Everything is getting to be intense, my diet is very very strict. I'm eating tilapia and fish basically, drinking insane amounts of water, working out for at least 2 hrs a day. But only a few more days! This is certainly not for the faint of heart lol!
Last week was very difficult. I was tired, and it felt like time was dragging on forever!
However Friday and Saturday brought me a much brighter outlook on everything. I went shopping with one of my best friends and got some clothes that actually fit. I saw a big drop in the scale, another 2 lbs!
I started in January at 151.8, and weighed in this morning at 125.2! That's almost 27 lbs lost! I would never think in a million years I could be that light! The healthy range for my height is 120-150, in case you were curious. I had hoped to begin peak week at 127 so I am doing great in that regard.
Feeling a little crappy but that's to be expected!
I felt summery this weekend so I put on a sundress. Leigh took this pic of me in Leigh Square by my house. The other pic is from our first wedding anniversary last year. Can you spot the difference? Hehe!

Vision

One of the most important things that has helped me through this process is vision. I started thinking about doing this a few years ago and by February of 2011, I knew I wanted to compete in 2012. I watched everyone train for it, watched how they dealt with things, watched them all leave and return from Kelowna last May and I vowed I would do it. I volunteered at the BC Championships and watched the girls who placed at Kelowna and the fall show go on stage. I kept it so close in my vision that when the time came to start training for it I just started. My heart was already in it.

As I get closer and closer, my vision gets so clear it feels real. When I picked my suit, my hair, my shoes, my makeup. I can see myself so clearly achieving this goal. When I am exhausted on the treadmill, I visualize myself on stage and I can push through.

I heard this story at a course I took and I think of it often.

"The Catalina Island is twenty-one miles away from the coast of California, and many people have taken the challenge to swim across it.
On July 4th 1952, Florence Chadwick stepped into the water off Catalina Island to swim across to the California coast. She started well and on course, but later fatigue set in, and the weather became cold.
She persisted, but fifteen hours later, numb and cold, she asked to be taken out of the water.
After she recovered, she was told that she had been pulled out only half a mile away from the coast. She commented that she could have made it, if the fog had not affected her vision and she would have just seen the land.
She promised that this would be the only time that she would ever quit.
She went back to her rigorous training. And two months later she swam that same channel. The same thing happened. The fatigue set in, and the fog obscured her view, but this time she swam with faith and vision of the land in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind the fog was land.
She succeeded and became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel. She even broke the men’s record by two hours."

So amazing. Think about what you can achieve. Start with a dream and begin to visualize it!

Xoxo,
Taren

Yes, I Can and So Can You

All my life, I would always quit whatever I started because I thought I couldn't do it.

Dance? I can't perform in front of other people at a recital. Quit.

Piano. Ditto. Quit.

Tae-Kwon-Do. Ditto again. Quit.

See a pattern here?

Fear kept me from finishing things I started and kept me from starting things I wanted to do. I believe life has an amazing path for each and every person and I become more and more amazed as I follow it and realizing all the things that I sure as hell CAN do.

The absolute BEST part so far of this entire experience is constantly stunning myself on what I can do that I never thought I could. I have always dreamed of being fit and being in amazing shape. When I discovered the gym, I LOVED it just from the way it made me feel but I never worked out hard enough or ate clean enough to change my body. I maintained the same weight pretty much no matter what I ate for a long time. I started to lose my belief that I could have my dream body.

When they opened the bikini division of fitness competing, I was instantly intrigued. I wanted to look like that, curvy, fit and toned. I wanted to DO that. I vowed that I would do it one day. Now that day is in 15 days. I have been working so hard and I can't wait to keep working hard after the show too. I will set new goals and challenges to complete. Because now I know that I CAN.

xoxo,
Taren