Exactly one month after starting the diet for the Junior USA's, I finally had a cheat meal! There is a new burrito place that opened up down the street and everyone had been talking about it lately, so I went there, watched the Super Bowl, and chowed down on a huge chicken, beans, and rice burrito with a bit of cheese, guacamole, and sour cream. I munched on tortilla chips and tomatillo sauce, and had three oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. Yum!

I reached a point in the dieting phase where I felt I could mentally handle the cheat meal. Physically, my body could have handled it a week earlier, but I wanted to be sure that I could eat the food, not overeat, and not be riddled with guilt after eating. Success was achieved. Better yet, my physique thanked me by popping out veins in my arms and...get this...my abs! I don't think in the past I've had veins running up and down my lower abs 10 weeks before a show. In fact, the gym owner at the new gym I joined asked if maybe I wasn't a bit too lean. But I know that I'm not because my legs and glutes still need to tighten up a bit more and my lower abs need more work. It's still great to see everything coming together and to know that I could be ready to step on stage in just six to seven weeks.

My seamstress is coming over tomorrow night and we'll discuss the cut of the suits and the fabric selection. I'm not getting jitters yet...it's too early for that...but my mind is completely geared for this first show of the year. One of my friends who just turned pro in figure in 2003 saw the back shot of me and said, "Wow!" I can't wait to get those up for y'all to see.

I usually think that if I feel too positive about my physique, then I'll jinx it, so I can't allow myself to get too excited or too focused on the good aspects. In the past, I've really been critical of my physique and centered on the portions that I need to fix. It then makes me even more nervous for the shows and makes me doubt whether I could actually turn pro. I've had a change of mind this year, though. I think all the depression and self doubt and lack of motivation that I suffered through in the fall and winter months of 2003 paved the way for me to uplift myself and find some positive energy. I've never walked on stage feeling like a pro. I'm hoping in 2004 that I can change that.

I will plan for another cheat meal in two weeks. At that point, I'll be eight weeks out and probably won't have a cheat meal for a long time after that. I might have one two weeks before the show to keep myself from getting too flat, but the cheat meals in season are very different from those in the off season. That burrito I had was not that bad in terms of fat grams. I had a lot of carbs (I told them light on the beans, but that wasn't because of the amounts of carbs...you've heard the bean song, right? Lol!), but that was okay, because it was a shock to my system. This restaurant, though, specializes in making their food the healthy, natural way. Anyway, I'm rambling. But suffice it to say that these cheat meals will not be pizza and ice cream fests!

I'm still keeping the weight training very heavy with moderate reps, about 8 to 15 depending upon the exercise and the muscle group. I'm keeping my legs smaller by staying away from heavy weights and instead doing a lot of explosive jumping movements (plyometrics). And cardio fell to just one time a day last week but will rise back up to twice a day this week.

I'm taking my flaxseed oil every day. And I'm still taking in the avocado a couple times a week. Both of those fat sources seem to work better than the olive oil and almonds combination I was using in the off season. But that could be because it is a drastic change, and the body will always react whenever there is a shift in the diet.

I'm still having the protein shakes as well. Those will probably disappear about one to two weeks out. I'm going to handle my water depletion differently, but I haven't quite decided exactly how yet. But taking out the glutamine, glucosamine, and the protein powder will help to pull some of the water out of me. I will also quit adding salt to my food and will stop with the spices that have sodium in them. Right now, I add salt to my potatoes and my egg whites and have this yummy fajita seasoning on my ground turkey and my chicken.

Okay, enough about my diet. I'm sure you're bored by now of that. What else happened this week. Oh yes, a mad dash into the post office after sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic and dealing with road rage at ridiculous drivers (I'm in the right, of course!) made for quite an exciting evening. The pictures that had been ordered by a few members made it into the 6:15 mail by mere seconds!

I returned a couple pairs of tennis shoes that I had gotten at the end of December. I thought both would work, but they actually hurt my feet and my shins; luckily, Just for Feet took them back even after they had been worn a few times and allowed me to exchange them. Definitely get your shoes there if you have one by you because you can exchange the merchandise if it doesn't work out. This kept me from wasting almost $150. And now I have some extremely cool red and white Nike Air Shox! I can now boing my way through my workouts. That doesn't sound quite right. Ignore that statement!

Well, that's my boring life for now! I'm doing shoulders tomorrow and will let you know how that goes later this week.

Speak to y'all on the boards!

Jodi :)