Only three weeks to go until I step on the stage for the first time. I am super excited, anxious, worried and proud. All emotions mix and I feel in these past weeks before the first show so much happens. In the mind, my body and in the diet and workouts.

Diet

This past week was absolutely crazy to me. After arriving back home from cologne, the stress of travelling showed in my weight. Luckily, only for one day. My weight kept dropping after until I was one kilogram lighter than average of last week. This might sound a lot but considering I was on my period last week, this is not too crazy. Then, my coach decided to do a day of high carbs, low fat and protein, to see how my body reacts and getting a feeling on how it influences the look. As high carb days is a tool to use in the week before show day to make the muscles look fuller this was a good time to trial.

It was delicious and awesome to fill my muscles up with carbohydrates. We could immediately see the change. Although eating more on these two days, my weight dropped on the first day, but increased after the second. The look improved.

Also, worth mentioning is that I got all the carb mostly from whole foods, e. g. oats, rice, veggies and fruit. The only thing I got myself outside of my normal food choices was a cereal bar. This just as a sweet treat. But apart from that, did not eat anything different, just more of what I usually eat, and some special fruits I haven’t eaten in a while, like mango or papaya. I love fruit, but they too have quite some carbs.

See the macro split for my carb-up days below:

Salt is fixed now on 10 grams per day, water at four litres. Salt and water we keep the same now to being able for fine adjusting my diet and workouts. Salt and water, next to stress, inflammation etcetera contribute a lot on the scale weight. This is why we now keep as many factors consistent as possible to making me stage ready.

Meal of the week: Plain rice. Does this count as meal? Since last week (4 weeks out), I am trying to eat the same or very similar foods every day. Rice is simple, especially with a rice cooker, and cooked with some butter, salt, and herbs it is absolutely delicious. It doesn’t really need any side. Of course, often I have some veggies with it and some chicken or fish. But with the two days of very high carbs, I am not going to lie, rice saved me. It is easy to digest, and I can eat a ton of it when prepped the way I just described.

Workout

The feelings in my workouts this past week really depended on the daily form, sleep, and mood. Some days it was great, on others I had trouble getting into it and got really frustrated. Some days I could improve my lifts, on others I couldn’t get the usual weight up whatsoever. It is important but also hard on some days to keep my ego in check. To listen to my body. Push it to maintain muscle but don’t break it.

This past week was a very interesting experience in noticing my bodies boundaries, feeling it struggle, and noticing how sleep, mood, performance, and overall mental and physical wellbeing are so tightly connected. I feel this connection does not feel as extreme with higher bodyfat, but every little bit being off is massively affecting all the other pieces of the puzzle.

Overall feeling

Distracted. This past week I had some days which were awesome. I could feel progress daily, got more carbs for two days, enjoyed them a lot. But then there were other days, when my sleep wasn’t perfect, workout wasn’t great, I got super frustrated, and just very emotional. I think overall, the last weeks before the show, with bodyfat getting lower and lower, it is more fragile, and this is noticeable in every part of life now.

Summary

A week with lots of ups and downs. These past weeks before the show just feel more and more emotional. We increased carbs for two days to see how my body reacts. After the first day, weight continued to drop. After the second day, it went up again. Weight is a rollercoaster, just as emotions are lately. am checking in evey three days lately, sometimes even daily. This depends on how we adjust my diet or cardio.

On many days I am optimistic, on some days pessimistic and anxious. I feel like now I am entering the hard phase of prep. Body fat is further dropping, we are still looking for the glute-ham-tie, and I get impatient to finally get on stage and show what I have been working hard for.

Interested in previous posts on this topic?

• 4 weeks out – My Road to Stage 2022
• 5 weeks out – my prep to stage 2022
• 6 weeks out – My very first prep to bikini 2022
• 7 weeks out – My very first prep to bikini 2022
• 8 weeks out! My very first prep to bikini 2022
• Week #9 – Road to bikini 2022
• It’s about halftime! Week #8 – Road to Bikini 2022
• Week #5 – Road to Bikini 2022
• Week #4 – Road to Bikini 2022
• Week #3 – Road to Bikini 2022
• Week #2 – Road to Bikini 2022
• Week #1 – Road to Bikini 2022
• My Road to Bikini 2022