JOURNEY TO STAGE: 26 weeks out

On May 1, 2019May 1, 2019 By Bikini Competitor TracyHIn backstage, bikini competition secrets, Bikini competitor secrets, Bikini Contest Prep, bikini team, competition update, Competitor secrets, Flexible Dieting, IIFYM, macros, off season

26weeks
If you follow my blog, then you probably realize that I am totally transparent on my posts. I’m able to track my journey and if you are so inclined to follow.. then you will get the good, bad, and ugly.

The last time I competed was June 2017. That show.. omg.. whew. I was messed up when I finished it. I had a really great show in October 2016 and wanted to wait a year to compete for my pro card. In 2017, UFE removed the Halloween pro qualifer so the only option was to do the June show. I made a decision to do that so in 52 weeks, I’d prepped for 48 weeks. My body was not happy. After that show was over, I was mentally a mess. I decided to stop for a while and try to recover. It took me about 6 months before I could even look objectively at my pictures from that show.

Here’s a few shots from this show. I loved doing it with my sisters though. I’m glad I took a break. 43753668_2298874023459281_3131529486659485696_n 44996466_2298874560125894_3561750270436179968_n

Over the last 2.5 years it’s been a roller coaster of good, bad and holy shit for me. I’m finally in a place that I feel super pumped to do this new project. #Mayhem2019
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GOOD STUFF:
I’m really lucky because I have some really amazing things planned for my year. I’m doing some pole shows.
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I have a brand new secret project that is HUGE for our family. It’s going to blow up and it’s going to be a game changer. Our team!! ❤ ❤
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Mayhem will be the perfect icing for this cupcake!

DON CURRY PHOTOSHOOT
I’m 8 weeks out right now for my huge photoshoot. I’m doing a photoshoot prep right now so I can look my best.
I did this shoot last year and I cannot wait. I have so many costumes and shoes planned!

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After the shoot, I’ll take a few weeks and then start show prep. I’m also working really hard with my pole coaches to get my routines down for my shows. So Yeah.. stage lean will be the last thing I see. I need to maintain my strength to do my pole shows. I’m pretty psyched to plan this prep and make it all happen while eating as much food as possible!! BOOM

Posing starts with the Queen B on May 25 and I need a total overhaul!!
I’m ready to slay!

SLEEK BIKINI FIGURE TEAM
I’m doing my own prep with the help of my besties who are on staff at Sleek Body.
My goal is to go into this show with the best wardrobe I’ve ever had. The most beautiful themewear. I want to bring a better package than 2017 and have a calm mind.

Our team has really focused over the last 2 years on making our prep very calm and not scattered or upsetting. I feel like slow and steady will always help me succeed. Of course, I’m doing IIFYM!!

So we are off and running to this new project!
27 weeks track with Mango.
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Coach Mango!! She’s on her posing. 58542992_2579575988722415_1648926382605991936_n

Training at Fit City and Sleek Body for this show!!

My partner in my prep is the mister and he is my chef! He watches a lot of cooking shows. It’s a good fit. I’m lucky. I get that.
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Mango says.. we got this.
41542233_2235808806432470_4391235045159862272_n Stay tuned for updates!

Good luck on your competition!
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Secrets to Successful Travels for Athletes

On August 30, 2018August 30, 2018 By Bikini Competitor TracyHIn bikini competition secrets, Bikini competitor secrets, Bikini Contest Prep, bikini team, Competitor secrets, Flexible Dieting, food prep, Gym time, HOW TO, macros, off season

las-vegas-wallpaper-9
Ok, so listen there are a few things we hear from new athletes when they are in prep/offseason.

“I don’t know what to do, I’m traveling”
“I can’t travel or do anything with my family while I’m in prep.”

Traveling is super overwhelming simply because most of our preps are 12-16 weeks long! It’s nearly impossible to assume that nothing is going to come up during that time.

Prep is not a social death sentence.

Strategies: If you are on IIFYM your life will be so much easier than our Bro-plan sisters.
There are so many options for travel and eating well on the road.

TSA: OY.. that’s tricky. I put everything in my suitcase so I don’t even bother with frozen chicken breasts and a six pack cooler. That’s so old school and unnecessary any more.
If you ‘must’ bring your chicken breasts with you, freeze them. I never found any of this valuable. I don’t like eating thawing food. I’d rather just buy deli chicken. But, feel free to exercise your beast mode mentality and take it with!!

86ccb143-5c3c-4fef-ab97-1d6d321e49aa_1.7c58da4f95de8cd4ab0e0e0c32155324 — I get these at Walmart. I can put them in my carry on and I can eat them cold. I’m ok with that. Just add water. 20g P and 34 C.

How I do it:
1. Pack dry stuff in single serve packets in your suit case. Example: Oatmeal packets
whey isolate in small zip lock bags. Label them with the macros!! Remember to bring a few blender bottles and your scale!
2. Keep Protein bars, like Quest bars in my carry on or purse for hunger emergencies.
3. When I get to my destination, head to Walmart for supplies. I buy deli turkey and cottage cheese for protein. I also pick up cutlery because I forgot to bring it. You can also get some from your hotel restaurant or the lady at the deli counter at Walmart will give you some. I know her. lol
4. Veggies. I always book my hotel room with a microwave so I get the veggies that steam in the bag or are in serving plates.

Restaurants: Our team does not eat in restaurants in prep. I have brought my own food to many restaurants. The reasoning is.. you don’t know what the chef is putting on your food. They may not tell you that they spray that buttery spray on your chicken breast and that is lots of fat.

When I’m in prep, if I can’t see how it’s made, I don’t eat it.

Caveats: A bowl of lettuce or raw veggies. I’ve done that. Fruit.. ok. I’m good there. I carry my scale.
Truth bomb: 12 weeks out vs 4 weeks out.. my macros are considerable different.
There is no room to have extra macros unaccounted for as I near the finish line.

Strategies for eating:
Fueling my workouts is my number one priority. Getting my protein /fiber /veggies is next in line. I might save back carbs and some of my fats for ‘unknowns’ . I’m going to hit my macros like a boss but I’m a huge fan of carb cycling for my life. If I have more carbs on a day I’m walking around more.. so be it.
Also, I know that sometimes, it’s hard to get all your food in and no one wants to be back at the hotel after an all day meeting having 6 protein shakes to hit your numbers.
When you are at Walmart pick up Protein Water to drink during the day!!

Hotels:

There are actually good hotel options for athletes!! Our Coach Ashley, recommends
Extended Stay America.
“Stay at Extended Stay America if there is one – you will have a full kitchen…and generally the cost is super cheap so companies usually don’t have an issue with reimbursement for them.”

I’ve also stayed at Marriot Courtyard which also has a full kitchen.

If you don’t need a full kitchen, I recommend Marriot suites! They always have a fridge and Microwave.

When I was in Las Vegas I booked through Fun Jet this lovely condo!
It’s the Hilton Grand Resorts on the strip. It had a grocery store in the lower level
and a Starbucks. These hotels are all over the world. Just Google #Hilton Grand Resorts!!

hilton2 hilton1

Workouts:
One recommendation is to join a chain gym that you can use while on the road.
Gold’s Gym or Lifetime are good choices.
I will tell you that if you try to buy a week pass you will pay massive fees.
We wanted few day pass to LVAC and it was 100 dollars.

Since we now can Uber around, it’s worth it if you need a gym that surpasses your hotel gym.

With Hotels like Marriot, we typically see a nice gym but in NYC.. NOPE!! It’s a tiny room with a mat. Be sure to navigate your potential workout facility before you go.

fitness-center--v11682409-1280 — Hard Rock Las Vegas. Yep. I got this.

I always travel with bands just in case.

I also do my track on parking lots.

What are your travel secrets?

Halloween Mayhem 18 days out

On October 11, 2016October 11, 2016 By Bikini Competitor TracyHIn Bikini Contest Prep, competition update, progress, shop it up, Uncategorized

I feel like I blinked and September was over. I’m just 18 days from my show UFE Halloween Mayhem in Chicago.
I have been pushing so hard this year, but I feel really good.

I’m bringing a fantastic wardrobe including 3 bikinis, 56 inch feather wings and a kick ass
Halloween costume for the evening show. My bikini’s are originals and not purchased from the usual online bikini sellers. Rebeltart.com has created my looks and we have pulled some ideas from Britney Spears, Prince and Victoria’s Secret Fashion shows with an edge. These are all 100 percent unique!

This year I’m cutting pretty hard at the end. It’s been harder for me to get lean. I notice every year, it’s not the fastest process. I’m not discouraged. I’m really pushing hard at the end here.

I’m still using my IIFYM flexibility but I don’t have much food right now so pretty much anything other than protein and veggies is out the door. Just keeping it real.

I don’t have energy for my pole so that will have to wait until after the show.

This was a week ago at 3.5 weeks out. I can’t wait to see how lean I can get!

Pink Muscle

One of our awesome Sleek Bikini Team Athletes competed in Pink Muscle. She looked amazing! That show was really, really fun. I was able to meet and totally fangirl Amanda Latona Kuclo. Amanda was pretty much the reason I started competing. She’s the booty queen! She was fantastic to talk with and really shared a lot. She’s great for our industry! I picked up some Booty Queen tights too. You should totally get these.

You can go to her site BootyQueenAppearal.com and get clothing line. I really like the fit of these and they stay put for leg day, ladies!! I got the first pair of these tights, aside from the ones Amanda had on at the show! Yeaaaa!

Photo shoot is this weekend with our coaches! I’m super pumped!

I hope your competition training is going great!!
xoxo

Join our team!

Competition 101: Master your prep mindset

On December 22, 2015December 13, 2016 By Bikini Competitor TracyHIn bikini competition secrets, Bikini competitor secrets, Bikini Contest Prep, Competitor secrets, Motivation2 Comments

britprep
If you have been training hard and have a show picked out, you will be starting your “prep” about 12-16 weeks out from your show date. Perhaps you are sick of feeling fluffy and ready to get lean! I get that!! This is very very exciting. It’s mind blowing how quickly things just got real.

You are officially just weeks away from stepping on stage! OMG!

I want to share with you some things that helped me considerably in my preps. Let me explain how they were different.

My first show prep was adrenaline driven. The show was ALL I thought about. It was my everything. I had zero balance. I feel like this is common with a lot of competitors in their first show. It’s actually pretty awesome. It doesn’t mean it isn’t grueling, or you aren’t hungry. It’s just different.
Stepping on stage after that prep is a high I cannot begin to explain.

Subsequent preps I tried to do with more purpose. I worked hard in off season to bring up lagging parts, improve my physique each time. Prep was very different.

I, in fact have a love/hate relationship with prep. I think it’s incredibly grueling and requires much more focus and strategies than adrenaline.

Mistake number one

I’ve had coaches in the past tell me to go eat whatever I wanted right before prep because it’s the last meals I would get for 16 weeks. I hate starting like that. I’m immediately feeling deprived and my focus is on what I am going to miss out on, not what I’m gaining. I do not ever want to start prep, bloated, and mad at myself for a “sanctioned binge”.

Going straight from several dessert runs to turkey chicken and fish effected me negatively. It reminded me of all the “I’ll start my diet on Monday so I may as well eat everything I want” experience. This is NOT how I want to start an competitive training schedule.

How I focus
I choose to start my prep in a positive mental state..

1. Knowing I am capable to do what needs to be done. Fear has no place here!

2. Knowing my food will be colorful. I will eat things I like and that are fulfilling because I choose the right things to forward this process. My health is important to me!

3. Knowing that it’s going to be very hard sometimes but I will prevail. 🙂

4. Knowing that skipping the struggle isn’t an option.

5. Knowing that I’m going to feel weary, and want to quit but I won’t.

6. Visualizing myself being on stage with my best package.

7. Knowing that others will question me not support me, be rude, comment on my body/food or try to make me feel like it’s ok cheat on my plan. I will prevail because my goals are important.

8. Knowing that everything that tempts me, will be there after my show.

9. Knowing that this challenge is something that very few people actually complete and that I can do it.

10.Knowing there will be times when I doubt myself, feel I won’t be ready, feel I’m not going to do well . I will push past that with the mindset that I am bringing my best. Negative self talk is out of place.

11. Knowing that I can give 100 percent to this goal every single day. I will be disciplined when desire/motivation fails me.

stop
Stop trying to skip the struggle:
So, in one of my preps, I realized that I’m pretty much, always wishing I could skip the struggle. It’s not an option. Did I embrace it and work through it? Sometimes. Sometimes I was just angry and questioned why I ever really wanted to compete. Once that light came on for me, I really found myself pulling it out at the end. This is typical Tracy fashion. Getting out of the comfort zone is like me jumping off a cliff willingly.
hmmm..
Sometimes I wish I was flying blind again like I was in my first show.However, I have learned a lot about myself. I find the challenge of prep the thing I most appreciate about doing this sport. My goal is always to bring a better package but now I also have a goal to perfect my prep each time. I grow an incredible amount during this process. It is worth it on the other side because I prevail on a real challenge I set for myself. When I step on stage, no one knows all of this, no one cares. It’s my journey.

I encourage you to take some time before you begin your prep and make peace with the next part of your journey. If it’s your first time, you can benefit from adrenaline prep and strategies!

I believe we can push ourselves far beyond what we think is possible. I wish you luck in your competition journey! xoxo

Low fat Low carb Maple Peanut Butter

On September 17, 2015September 17, 2015 By Bikini Competitor TracyHIn Clean Recipes, flex, Flexible Dieting, food prep, IIFYM, macro counting, meal prep, Prepping not starving2 Comments

Poverty macros are no match with this trick I just discovered yesterday!
Maple Peanut Butter will fit your macros in some way shape or form!

Ingredients:
12 g PB2 Powder
60g (1/2 cup) Ihop sugar free syrup (available at Walmart) Trust me.. it’s the best.

Mix it up and eat it all up.

Macros for the above recipe:
Calories: 65
F: 1.5g
P: 5g
C: 12g
Fiber 2

You can adjust the amounts based on how many macros you have to play with.
I use less than 1/4 cup if I want it to be thicker like sticky peanut butter. The full 1/4 cup
of syrup is perfect if you have macros to double the PB2.

I want to use this as Icing on everything. I want to dip a quest bar in it.
You will use a spatula to get it all out of your bowl
Here’s how I do it

Prep 911: Sugar Cravings

On August 7, 2015March 3, 2016 By Bikini Competitor TracyHIn Bikini competitor secrets, Bikini Contest Prep, Clean Recipes, Competitor secrets, flex, Flexible Dieting, food prep, Health and fitness information, IIFYM, Prepping not starving, sugar

If you are cutting.. then you know about sugar cravings! I’m no stranger to this!
On my Bro-science prep, there were ZERO options for taming that. It was cold turkey and it was tough.
On Flex.. it’s tight but you can be creative.

My perspective on Flex/IIFYM prep
I follow the guidelines of the original IIFYM protocol.
In a cut, ten percent of your daily can come from ‘fun foods’.
I currently have 150g Carbs per day. That leaves me with 15g of fun carbs daily.
If I get my fiber in and the rest of my day comes from whole foods, that leaves me a little teeny
bit of yum. I have to be careful, as do many clients, of triggers. Some foods trigger binges!

I KNOW that IG is full of awesome competitors who eat lots of variety of foods on prep.
That is awesome! They may have more macros and my guess is that they still kept their
food pretty tight. Stage lean , is no joke. You do what it takes. Whatever your coach tells you, go with.

For me and mine..
In Flexible dieting, while I still keep things very tight, there are more options, you just have to be creative.

Some possibilities that may work for you.
Gum: Everyone loves the sugar free EXTRA gum. I do NOT use this. Some sugar Alcohols are a trigger for me and stimulate my appetite. Each stick also has 1-2 carbs. One day I had 73 pieces of gum. (It was a hard day, don’t judge). My poor stomach. I’ve left most sugar alcohols behind.

Bars: I have become obsessed with BUP Sugar Cookie bars.
C: 25g P: 25g F:6g fiber 20g
The macros are fantastic on that. One of my awesome Bikini Competitors also turned me on to Oh Yeah, ONE bars. The Coconut Almond tastes like Almond Joy. Myself, I use them until later in prep.. .
I could make bars fit until the bitter end but I don’t. I don’t stay full as long when I eat them. So..I actually choose other foods to stretch out those macros I would have used in a bar. So in my last weeks, I don’t see them. I don’t avoid them because of any other reason.

My Favorites

Stevia drops are fantastic. You can flavor your food /drinks with just a few drops.
If you use the English Toffee in your water, it tastes like hard candy. I use the flavors in my oats, shakes, yogurt.
Locally, you can find them at Dierbergs (just vanilla and chocolate) but Amazon has ALL the flavors. There are many, many flavors. Search stevia drops!

Skinny Mixes!

Jordan’s Skinny Mixes. I mix this with fuzzy water for a little treat.
The macros on the mixers for 4oz (120ML)
Calories: 30
F: 0
P: 0
C: 7g

So that fits in my 15g of fun carbs!

The peach one is awesome. It has zero everything!
I love this with fuzzy water! Peaches floating in it.. Use the ninja for a slushie!
I found these at TJ MAXX stores.

Pinterest is your friend!

You could go to Pinterest and look up Protein ice cream. You will have to search some recipes but you can find
whole ingredients that will meet your prep macros.

I also look up
Protein cookie dough
Overnight oats
Protein pancakes
Low carb desserts (tread lightly.. but you never know)

RIPPEDRECIPES.COM

If you like you can search on RippedRecipes the macros you have available for
your treat, but also.. look. You can search for what you need by filters.

I tend to stay low carb, high protein so I can incorporate it into my meals.

I wish I could make this fit all the way to the end but I can make a little of it.
I just modify the recipe so I can have a little.
cookie

Starbucks:
Iced coffee plus 1 scoop vanilla whey in the blender!
I love this. It’s fantastic!
Or
Icy Donut (my hubs created this one for me)

mem
Add your own protein powder to this. I use Quest Salted Caramel! It’s amazing.
I don’t know what the macros are for Starbucks protein but I know my own!!

Sexpresso

Blendicano

My Birthday cake shake

Last but not least.. my favorite low carb crepe is here

I know it’s hared. It’s going to be hard! Track everything that goes in your mouth! Don’t give up though.
xoxo

Meal Prep Sunday

On July 12, 2015 By Bikini Competitor TracyHIn Bikini Contest Prep, Clean Recipes, Competitor secrets, fiber, Flexible Dieting, food prep, Health and fitness information, IIFYM, macro counting, meal prep, Prepping not starving

um… well

My lifestyle clients, brides and competitors are all macro counting. Doing flexible dieting is
an amazing experience and for some of us, we have to be super tight with macros. I’m glad I have more
options in my prep but I’m still keeping my food very tight. Lots of veggies. I love this meme though because until I found
a food scale and the ‘gram’ setting, I was all over the place. Just for fun, I wanted to show you the actual tablespoon serving of jelly for your rice cakes.

My normal thought pattern is to use that giant serving spoon in the back of the drawer!
Ok.. moving on.

Prep this week is pretty simple I got some great items at Costco. I got rotisserie chicken and
lots of veggies. I don’t prep a lot of food because I can make a lot of it as I go.
My protein sources are still meat, egg whites, eggs, whey, and some dairy like greek yogurt and cheese.
I don’t do a lot of dairy but I’m not pulling it yet, either.
Here’s how my day started post track workout which I did fasted.

Heated a pan with butter flavor cooking spray and added a bag of spinach.

Added fresh kale from my client’s garden and cooked it down.

Went with some portabello mushrooms.. mmmm.

Here’s how that came out!

This is my fun beaker from Home Goods. It’s all kinds of scientific. So that’s my egg whites.

I let that set up like a frittata and added my portabello mushrooms.

Finished that off with a serving of fat free cheese. Folded it over and let it melt. It
was perfect. I ate the spinach and kale on the side.
Breakfast for me today was
Calories: 255
F: 2g
C: 20g
P: 41g
Fiber 9g

I’m on a lower carb day today so this was great! It filled me up!

Prepping Not Starving: Banana Pancakes

On March 27, 2015June 14, 2015 By Bikini Competitor TracyHIn Bikini Contest Prep, fiber, Flexible Dieting, food prep, IIFYM, macro counting, meal prep, Prepping not starving

Being in prep is tough. Cutting isn’t fun. I forget how much I like all the eating of ‘grow season’.

Alas…
Once I begin prep.. “oh hey…I remember you”. HUNGRY.

I realize, that sometimes I’m going to be hungry. I sure was in my last preps with bro food. That food did not fill me up.

On a lovely side note: One of my dear clients told me that last year at this time (prep) I was super crabby but this year I’m much more chill. Ah… that makes sense, when you have some good food!

Poverty macros : when you have very little macros to work with.
You are going to have to stretch your food out. It can be done.

In my new series Prepping, not Starving, I’m going to share how I am going to stretch my macros as far as I can so you can see, you aren’t left with zero options just because you want to get to the stage.

The above pancake recipe might not classify as a volume food but it’s a pretty substantial meal for me and keeps me full for a few hours.

Because I am following a nutrition based IIFYM plan this prep, I’m going to use fruit. My last two preps had just a tiny bit of blue berries until those went away. Fruit is pretty much banned on bro plans.

This pancake is fantastic because it’s fluffy and delicious.

Secret to success:
Don’t be the girl who eyeballs her food. Don’t use measuring spoons or cups. That’s lazy and sloppy. Use your scale every time you do your food. Leave nothing to chance!

Banana Pancake
For this recipe I used
Pourable egg whites 125g
Banana: 56g (that’s half a banana .. be sure you weigh it!!)
Quick oats: dry 15g
Chia seeds 10g

I used my Ninja Blender to blend then cooked it using cooking spray in my pan.

The banana is new to me this prep and I am excited to have it! A plain pancake with just egg whites and oats is a snooze fest and the texture is pretty dismal and flat.

The good thing is I can control my macros by adding or subtracting more of the ingredients if need be.

I have a very tough morning schedule and burn over 1300 calories from just training clients and lifting. I need a majority of my carbs to be substantial enough to have the energy to work. I made two of these pancakes for my M1 and M2 today.

I have lots of macros to work with still today because I didn’t blow my macros out of the water at 4:30am.

Note: The fats on this are a tad low. I sometimes end up with some extra fats dangling at the end of the day. I could have added a little bit of nut butter, or even 10g walnut for two pancakes. It would only add
Calories: 32.5
Fat: 3.25g
Carbs: 1g
Protein: 1g
Fiber: .5

My goal is to keep my fats per meal, below 10g if I’m going to be training. Too much fats in my meals around my workouts, slows me down.
Just a little bit of walnuts could really amp that pancake up to IHOP status!

Happy Prepping!

Epic leg day finisher

On December 4, 2013 By Bikini Competitor TracyHIn Bikini Contest Prep, Health and fitness information

On Wednesday, I do my metabolic/plyo with my clients in my studio. This is my new fav finisher for our legs. This is the Olympic Bar Step back. My dear friend and client, Sara is demonstrating this move. Let me tell you the burn is insane.

To do this, use your bar, start with soft knees and booty in the back seat. Step back into your lunge and pulse 10 in the hole. Power back up and repeat on the second side. We did 6 sets of this.

I went to Club today and knocked these out. Sara makes these look simple. That bar is heavy!
Let me know how you do.

IIFYM BIKINI BOSS TRACY

Tag: prep