An Incredible First Week!

I finally did it! I signed up with a professional bikini bodybuilding coach. I've wanted to for so long! But the idea of it was so daunting. I have never felt that I would be able to meet the level of expected precision and accountability that would be required by a coach. I felt like I was "hard to coach". I'm learning though that even if I appear to be purposefully rebellious in my lack of follow through, this is misleading. I'm a people pleaser to a certain extent so I never believed that it was because I didn't WANT to follow the rules. Rather, when there are many many rules, I often FORGET or lose sight of them along the way. I am well intended. I just need a lot of reminding. Like A LOT! And as you learn what goals I'm now trying to meet, you will understand just how freaking hard this is.

BUT, with a coach, comes an amazing amount of support! I'm not in this alone. I'm with a coach who truly understands my own person goals and, more importantly, my barriers to reaching these goals. I'm doing the work, but she is my virtual body double standing next to me and symbolically holding my hand as we walk through this process together. My good friend Whitney is also under the same coach so we can chat about our mutual goals. And, boy, are these things making all the difference!

That and the fact that if I don't submit my check-ins thoroughly every week, there is a good chance I would be fired from the program until I'm ready to do the work. SOOOOOO, guess who doesn't want to get told she's not ready to be coached? Ha.

My primary goal:

⭒ Build muscle!

(For the next several months and likely through the end of the year so that I'm stronger and larger going into a cut in 2024.)

My secondary goals:

⭒ Routinize my weekly review so that it becomes an ingrained habit

⭒ Make alcohol smaller in my life

⭒ Stick to a building nutrition plan long enough to see muscle gains

⭒ Not just work to get on stage, but do the very best that I can

WEEK ONE!! LET'S GO!
(Note: 1st week was only 5 days)

✅ Daily water goal - 95 oz (goal: 64 oz)
✅ Average daily protein goal - 133 gm (goal: 130 gm)
✅ Average daily calories - 1923 cals (goal: 2000 cals)

✅ Average daily fiber - 32 gm (goal: 25 gm)

✅ Average daily servings of vegetables - 2 (goal: 2)

✅ Average nightly sleep - 8 hours (goal: 6.5 hrs)

✅ Weekly strength workouts - 4 workouts (goal: 4 with optional 5th)

✅ Weekly cardio sessions - 2 sessions (goal: 3 sessions)

Areas I will be specifically targeting for next week include:

⚪️ Continue meeting protein and calorie goals so we can find my maintenance

⚪️ Getting in all my workouts

⚪️ Increasing average daily steps to 10,000 steps and sun exposure to 30 mins

My accountability to my goals outside of just the workouts is already going up. My hope is that this is exactly what I need in this time in my life to help these daily habits to solidify and stick. The more automated they become, the easier it will be for me to execute with less effort. The easier it will be for me to make habits that do not fuel me become smaller in my life. The easier it will be for me to then focus my energy on the people and activities that light me up and increase my connections to them.

It was an amazing week! And I cannot wait to keep trucking along this path!