Time Has Flown…

Hey guys!!!

It’s been a REALLY long time since I’ve posted here! I have no excuse really, other than I’ve been busy, but we’re all busy! Haha! Well, let’s get right to it….what’s been going on in the life of Brett & Shawna? Keep reading if you’re interested!

Competitions:

I competed this year in the same two shows I did last year. Tulsa, OK 6/7/14 and Bentonville, AR 6/21/14. Brett chose not to compete because he didn’t feel he was ready. More on that in a minute. I had successfully built some muscle during my off season but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get lean enough. I refused to not make the two shows I had my heart set on so I went ahead and entered hoping things would tighten up the last couple of weeks. My trainer had me on a keto diet, which was supposed to get me lean fast, but obviously didn’t work. If you’ve competed or know someone who has, you’re probably familiar with the no refund policy on entry fees, so yah, it was paid for and I had to go.

Surprisingly, I won one of my classes in Tulsa. The 35-39 sub-masters class, which only had two other competitors. I was super excited but still wasn’t happy with the package I brought to the stage. I had two weeks until Bentonville and hoped I would lean down a little more as I had done last year. Well, that didn’t happen. I got last in both of my classes in Bentonville, and I deserved it.

Change:

I decided it was time for a change. I wasn’t happy with my results and Brett wasn’t happy with his. I was contemplating hiring a different trainer and then I got the sign I had been waiting for. A public bashing on Facebook from my trainer’s fiancee. I had posted that I was done competing for awhile and was bummed that my stomach didn’t get lean enough and that it wasn’t due to a lack of trying. I didn’t blame my trainer or mention her at all. It was just me talking about my feelings on my facebook page. He basically said I had metabolic damage and was a super negative, ungrateful person, and it embarrassed me greatly. I made my decision right then and there to hire someone who wouldn’t punish me, especially publicly, for being me and talking about my personal struggles.

My new trainer is another female and she looks amazing!!! She has not only written me a new diet plan but she has shown me how to workout at a much higher intensity level to be able to attain my goals. I’m on week 4 with her and people are noticing the muscle I’ve gained in my shoulders and arms already. Brett has also signed up with her partner/soon to be husband who just won his super heavy class at the Missouri State Bodybuilding Championship. Again, he looks amazing, and clearly knows how to put size on a bodybuilder, which is what Brett needs.

Brett:

First off Brett works so hard in the gym. He loves it and pushes himself every day, yet he has made no gains in comparision to last year. He looks trim and small but also not lean enough in his problem areas. When he told his new trainer how little of protein he was getting per day, his mouth literally fell open! It’s clear we had both wasted time where we were.

Brett was trying to get lean enough to do a show 8/2 in St. Louis but he soon decided after I signed up with my new trainer that there was no point spending all the money to travel and enter a show that he might not even place in. Plus, he was ready to make a change and start building muscle. After all, that is why he spends 2 hours 6 days a week in the gym!

I’m really hopeful that Brett & I will look like totally different people in a year and we’ll decide then if we think we’re ready to compete next year or not. If we need to stay in off season for two years to come back and blow everyone out of the water, then we will. We have both said we will not compete again until we look DAMN GOOD! We are tired of being the cute couple who lost a ton of weight but never truly look the part. We are too competitive for that!

So I will attach some recent pics of us because if you are like me, I prefer looking at pics over reading people’s blogs! Haha.

Wish us luck on our new venture to actually LOOK like bodybuilder’s!

Thanks for reading!

Shawna….

More competition pics

Bentonville Competition

Hey guys!! Saturday was our 2nd and last competition for this year. I placed 3rd in Novice Figure and 4th in Open Figure. Brett placed 2nd in Submasters 35+ and won Best Entertainer of all the bodybuilders with his posing routine!! So proud!! We loved competing but now it’s time to GROW!!! Gonna bring a better package next year!

More competition pics!

First competition!!

It was awesome guys!!! The tanner was a mess so I’m having the spray tan done in two weeks at our next show!

I got 5th in both classes against the same girls. Brett got 3rd in novice and 1st in 35+ submasters but was the only competitor. Lol

More later…

4 WEEKS OUT!!

Hey guys, can you believe that we are already 4 weeks out from our first bodybuilding competition?!?! I can’t believe it! It’s going to go by fast now I bet!

I have some updated pics to share with you and I think you will be impressed. I got a new figure suit, courtesy of my wonderful Mom, and I love it! We are ordering Brett’s posing trunks this weekend and submitting our entry fees! Gah!! There will be no turning back then! Haha!

So here’s what our daily protocol is currently. I’m still doing cardio 7 days a week. I do 30 min in the morning and 30 mins pre-workout 5 days a week, the other 2 days are 40 mins of HIIT cardio with no lifting. I also do HIIT cardio Fri mornings for 30 mins. Cals are LOW for me, about 850 on off days and 1050 on workout days. Carbs are still decent, although I don’t get any carbs at lunch anymore. Still get a little for breakfast, afternoon snack, pre-workout & with dinner post-workout. My favorite foods are now oatmeal with sugar free syrup and cinnamon for breakfast and my protein pudding before bed, which is whey protein, natural peanut butter & water. That’s a far cry from what my favorite foods used to be!

I am so proud of us and the transformation we’ve made. It sure hasn’t been easy but it definitely has been worth it!

Have a good weekend!!!

bikini

back

brett comparison

me back

new suit

7 weeks out

Wow, it seems like these last 13 weeks have went by fast! Only 7 weeks left until we step on stage for our very first figure/bodybuilding competition. At the same time the days seem to go slow when you are constantly hungry but it’s all going to be worth it in the end, right?? I sure hope so!

Brett calls himself a realist and thinks he has lost too much muscle after losing 57 lbs and counting. He doesn’t think he’s going to be lean enough or have enough muscle come show time. He isn’t sure this process has been worth it honestly and I doubt he will do it again unless he does a lot better in the competitions than he thinks he will. His attitude kinda disappoints me but I want him to be happy and as long as he finishes this with me and tries it once, I’ll be okay with whatever decision he makes for the future. He has lost a long of strength and that means more to him than being lean.

I on the other hand am super excited about the competition and being on stage. Let’s be honest, I enjoy getting all dolled up and being the center of attention. Haha! I know that I won’t be the leanest girl up there or have quite enough muscle but it’s a natural beginner figure class so I’m okay with it as long as I make a respectable “beginner” showing. I will have lost approximately 45 lbs by show time and I will look better than I ever have so I’ve already won. Yes, I would absolutely LOVE to place in the top 5 but I’m definitely not expecting it. I have no idea what my competition will look like.

So here’s an update of what my day is like currently. I’m up to an hour of cardio a day, which I split into morning and evening. I’m lifting 5 days a week and doing cardio 7 days. My two off days are Wed & Sun and I do 40 mins of HIIT (high intensity interval training) for 15 mins out of the 40. I eat lower carbs on those off days and feel like I’m starving! I’m not going to lie, I’m low cal every day and it’s not easy being hungry all the time. Here’s the kicker, I have hit a plateau of sorts and have not been losing my 1 lb a week so there have been a ton of food and cardio changes the last couple of weeks, which would be okay if the changes were working! So imagine being hungry, working harder, and the scale still isn’t budging. Now, I do NOT want to hear “you can’t just go by the scale” yada yada, I know the story. When you are prepping for your first competition and you stop losing and can see fat that still needs to disappear the scale matters to you, even if it shouldn’t! Yes, my progress pics 3 weeks apart show change and that’s good but I need to drop and be around 115-110 and my current low is 120.6. Fingers crossed that the weight loss kicks back into gear soon.

I’m ordering a custom made figure suit that is gorgeous courtesy of my Mom! An early birthday present she said! She’s the best! I’ve been practicing my figure t-walk like crazy and have it down! I get to do flexing poses in the natural organization (NANBF) I’m doing, which is way more fun than NPC posing. I might not have the best physique up there but I’m going to rock my t-walk and show confidence and stage presence, which definitely makes a difference from what I hear.

We have picked a song for Brett’s posing routine and cut it down to 60 seconds. We have put his routine together and he practices it every Sunday along with his mandatory poses. Sadly, I think I enjoy this more than he does. Flexing and holding the poses isn’t an easy thing to do, especially when you are looking in the mirror thinking you don’t look good enough. I think he looks freaking awesome though and am so very proud of him. I wish he wasn’t so hard on himself but that’s just who he is.

Our hotel is booked for June 7th, I’m ordering my suit this weekend $195.00 from saleyla.com, we’ve got the tanner (Jan Tana), Bikini Bite, most of my makeup & my costume jewelry. We will order Brett’s posing trunks about 4 weeks out from cherrybombs.net for $30.00. We will need approx $310.00 for membership cards, entry fees & the polygraph test, which is good for 45 days. We plan on doing Tulsa 6/8 and Bentonville 2 weeks later and that might be it for us this year. The Springfield show in July is NPC so we’d have to spend another $200 on their membership cards plus $75.00 pp entry fees and our competition will be a lot tougher. This crap is expensive!

I’ll attach some pictures and give you an update soon. Make it a great day!

Thanks for reading!

updated pic me

updated pic brett

suit

9 weeks out!!

Hey fitfam!!! We are catching up on our dvr’d shows so I thought perfect time to write a blog!

As of tomorrow we are 9 weeks out from our first competition. I can’t believe it! Single digits baby!! These pics are our most recent progress pics. I’m so happy with the progress we’ve made since July! We look like totally different people! This journey has been more mental than physical but we have proven we have the strength to do this because we have already succeeded!!! No matter what happens when we step on stage, we have already won! Now Brett would say that’s bs and he actually wants to win or place top five! Lol

We are working out 7 days a week now. No more off days! We are lifting 5 days a week plus cardio and doing hiit cardio on Wed & Sun. My cardio is at 40 mins and Brett’s is at 35. I’m sure we will be doing two a day cardio sessions very soon. Our food hasn’t really changed yet but our refeed is limited and has been for sometime. Depending on how much weight we lose during the week, our trainer reduces or increases our carbs for our refeed. We are averaging 250 for me, and 500 for Brett.

Brett has lost 53 lbs and I have lost 40 since last April. Those are amazing numbers!! We have fought and earned every one of those pounds! It has been a long process but it has so been worth it!

Thank you all for your continued support! You guys are the best!

13 weeks out!!

I know it’s been forever since I’ve posted an update. Sorry about that! You’ve read it before, busy busy busy! Our life is so wrapped up in competition prep it’s insane. We are 13 weeks out from our first competition. We are doing cardio 6 days a week and I’m only lifting 4 days. Brett’s feeling weaker the leaner he gets. He has lost 15.3 lbs in 7 weeks! We are having limited refeeds now. We have to count our carbs and not go over 250 for me and 500 for Brett. I’m doing HIIT cardio twice a week, Brett hasn’t started HIIT yet. We haven’t had to incorporate 2 a day cardio sessions yet but it’s coming. Our first show is still June 8th in Tulsa but we are doing a natural organization instead of NPC for our first show. NANBF baby! So now my posing has to change because I’ll be doing a T walk on stage. Our trainer thinks we’ll do better at a natural show and we agree. Our diet is getting easier. We’ve done it for so long now it’s simply habit! I treated myself to a new piercing today! Belly button piercing!!! It didn’t hurt hardly at all and was over in a flash! So far so good. I’ll try to keep you all updated.

I appreciate all the encouragement!! You guy

129.4 for SIX DAYS?????

…..yeah the subject line says it all, doesn’t it??? I have never stayed the exact same weight longer than 3 days before! What’s really sad is that two weeks ago my low was 128.4 but for some reason I can’t seem to get back to the 128’s. My trainer was wanting me to hit 127 by the end of this week, well, I don’t think that’s going to happen at this point! The scale is sooooooooo frustrating! This really is a mental game for me now. My teammates are telling me not to worry, that this happens more often that you would think. A friend posted a pic of a competitor from last year who was having the same issue during her prep and yet you could visibly see that she was getting leaner. Well, if I could SEE that I wouldn’t be worried! I’m not lean enough to be able to see my muscles popping out in the pics I’m taking every 2 weeks but hopefully I will be soon!

I’m attaching a pic of my teammate who visibly got leaner while the scale did NOTHING! I’m also attaching a pic of the figure suit I am buying from a friend. It’s kinda blurry but you’ll get the general idea. It looks HORRIBLE but I’m 17 weeks out so I’m trying not to freak. I’m also trying to focus on how far I’ve come.

Thanks for sticking with me through this journey! I appreciate all of your thoughts & encouragement!

val getting lean

me before after figure suit