Approximately one week out of comp

Comp day was on a Sunday and I took Friday off work as I had to get my first layer of tan in and second layer on Saturday. I was positively looking approximately 10 shades darker and also experience my first tanning experience EVER.

Spot the Kmart earrings

I decided to go with just an airbrushed make up option and left my hair naturally straight as advised by my coach. We got to the venue nice and early and had time to settle down and hung out for abit. Unfortunately as I started to get change, one of my earrings from Lovisa fell out and cracked apart upon impact on the tiles. After a mini nervous breakdown and pretty much scrambling for help from strangers to see if anyone had a spare pair of earrings to boring, I couldn’t find one. Thank goodness for Kmart next door and I tasked bae to run and buy me a pair.

With the last minute fumbling, I didn’t get to pump up/practice posing backstage as much as I would have liked. I remember when the organisers were calling for the ladies to line up to go towards backstage, I was still flustered. Standing in line backstage, I remember having a quick glimpse for the very first time who my competitors were.

I had an overwhelming feeling of inferiority running through my mind when the view I was taking in were gorgeous looking girls, blonde hair, greats bosoms and amazing physiques. Everyone else looked so well put together and they all looked like they knew what they were doing. Meanwhile, I was feeling so under prepared and was silently cursing myself for not better planning my backstage strategy out.

The moment I stepped on stage, it all went on with auto-pilot mode. I was doing things I shouldn’t be doing and I wasn’t doing the things I’ve been telling myself to do. All in all, I guess this is what competition is like, the pressure, stress, stage fright and all is what part of competition day.

Out of a line up of 14 girls, I placed 3rd in both bikini categories – First Timer and Novice. Proudly representing the only non blonde in the top 5 for ICN Victoria Bikini Novice.

I went into the competition aiming for first place but is super happy that I’ve placed top 3 in both divisions regardless. It was a tough competition and I truly enjoyed the whole process from prepping up until the moment I walk off the stage. The whole journey has been life changing and I have walked away with so much knowledge and so much more to learn in every aspect of things.

Whilst I do not see myself competing anytime soon or becoming a comp junkie, I don’t reject the idea of competing again in the future.

16 weeks of prep

Infused with potent key active ingredients (Oxy-R – Oxyresveratrol) and combined with micro-fine bamboo particles and volcanic perlite, this cleanser saves you time from having to do both cleansing and exfoliating steps.

What I like about it:

• Unique powder texture that transforms into light foam when water is added to it
• The flexibility to adapt the amount of powder to suit a daily gentle exfoliation or weekly deeper exfoliation
• Appearance of pigmentation is reduced, balance out uneven skin tone and reduce blotchiness from dryness around skin
• Overtime, with consistent use of this cleanser, it helps to inhibite tyrosinase activity and the production of melanin to prevent premature ageing
• Suitable for all skin types and even those with pigmentation and sun damaged skin

Just add a level teaspoon amount of powder onto palm and mix with a few drops of warm water and rub hands together to activate powder to create a creamy texture and cleanse away. The only downside is that this cleanser is probably not suited to be use in shower as dry hands are required to handle and to mix with this cleanser.

Otherwise, if you want baby smooth and refined skin, this cleanser delivers just that!

RRP AUD$69
Available in www.medik8.com.au

I’ve always relied on tracking my body fat to see how I am doing with my fitness progress.

Say hello to Weight Watchers’ innovative Body Balance Bluetooth Diagnostic Scale, this easy to use scale connects to smartphones/tablets via Bluetooth technology and saves data straight into your phone.

What I like about this scale:

• It’s an all-rounder in-depth health analysis tool that tracks everything from weight, body fat %, body water, bone mass, muscle mass breakdown and BMI calculation
• Switches on with a light tap with my feet and off it goes
• Super easy to wirelessly sync the data from scale to my phone to track my progress daily
• If you are a Weight Watchers member, this can connect with your app too
• Compatible with Apple® Health or Google Fit® and allow all your favourite apps like MapMyFitness, Runkeeper and MyFitnessPal access your data

Who would love it:

• If you are training – building strength/stamina, this will be perfect to help keep tabs of your health & fitness goals
• Pregnant – great to track how you and bubba are growing and because it syncs data straight into your phone, you don’t even need to stress about the numbers on the scale when your belly is blocking your view
• Post baby – track how you are progressing to get back in shape

RRP AUD$ 129.95
Available via Weight Watchers website/ Harvey Normans

To fill in the gaps, here’s a mini update. I took a short one week vacation to Bali in February, spent Valentine’s Day and my partner’s birthday there. During the trip, I stayed relatively close to my keto diet and also continued to get my workout in and cardio sessions as much as I could.

Post trip, surprisingly I didn’t gain/lost weight so I was pretty happy with that. I’ve been in ketosis for a good 2 and a half months and I have to say the diet has been easy on me and I had heaps of energy and no cravings due to the high fat content diet.

Last week, I was meant to start my high protein low fat and no carbs diet. However, due to a medical condition, my progress was set back a little. As a result of hospital stay, it messed with my diet and I only managed half of the workout routines I’m meant to do that week.

Having said that, I’m back on track this week and is more determined than ever to see through this comp. I have to admit it hasn’t been in smooth and pain free journey but I know it will all be worth it in the end.

Chat soon!

Pic source: Lydi Out Loud

Let’s face it, coffee is life. When in Melbourne, coffee is religion.

For many of us, we have a coffee machine at home because God forbid us to start the day without a cuppa. I myself have a Nespresso® at home and for the longest time I’ve only drank from Nespresso® pods at home as I ain’t going down the route to grind coffee beans; that is until recently.

Pic source: HonestlyYum

Through a friend, I discovered Pod & Parcel. It’s a Melbourne based company that partners with Melbourne’s specialty roasters to bring us Nespresso® compatible eco-friendly coffee pods. Think Padre, Code Black, Common Ground, each coffee is as unique as they come and may I add a total GAMECHANGER to my at home coffee experience?

I don’t think I can go back to Nespresso® pods now that I’ve tasted the ones from Pod & Parcel. Call me a coffee snob, but why have sub par quality at home when you can have cafe quality coffee?

Be sure to run a couple of empty runs through the machine prior to enjoying your coffee to get rid of any coffee residues in the machine. Enjoy!

To purchase: Pod & Parcel website

• Lost 3.5kg to date
• I’ve stayed in ketosis for a good 18 days straight with no cravings for sugar or carbs (unbelievable!)
• Once I got over the keto flu state, I literally feel heaps of energy everyday without the need for pre-workout to get me to the gym.
• As I am in shredding mode, my strength for weightlifting have certainly decreased. I’m happy to maintain my muscles mass at the moment through so focus is still on moderate weight with higher reps.
• Between my last update, I’ve went to my group posing class feeling nervous. I didn’t know what was happening half of the time and I needed to youtube quite a fair bit of videos to refresh my memory. Posing on 5 inch heels certainly isn’t an easy feat.
• Next week, I’ll have an appointment for my custom bikini and I can’t wait for it to all go down. Still thinking of which colour I should pick for my suit and I’m keeping that in the down low at the moment.
• I’ve also received a weighing scale this week and review this shortly. It helps to breakdown body fat, muscle mass ratio tracking and is able to sync all data into my mobile phone.
• Oh and I trained abs yesterday, first time in approximately a month. It is sore today and I intend to start reintroducing abs exercise into my routine again. No more excuses.

Whilst I was away, I have kept my diet somewhat clean and have continued lifting heavy and keeping up with my cardio sessions. I’ve also kept on eating healthy throughout Christmas and New Years. All that hot weather helped with suppressing my appetite too.

So what have I been up to since the New Year:

• 3rd January – Had my initial catch up with my comp prep coach. We’ve discussed and decided it is best for me to start my prep with ketogenic diet with plans to transition into cyclical ketogenic diet in the next couple of weeks.
• Long story short, it means I will be cutting all forms of carbs and sugar out of my diet. I am on a 80% fat and 20% protein diet at the moment. I am also fasting between by last meal and the first meal of the day for 16 hours daily.
• 10th January – Today is Day 7 of keto diet (started on the 4th Jan – 22% body fat) and I have lost 2.8kg thus far. I believe most of the weight I’ve lost are water weight and my goal is to lose 1% body fat a week.
• I’ve been reading up heaps about keto diet (something I’ve previously researched about a year ago) and surprisingly find that a diet without carbs and sugar ain’t all that bad. Due to the high fat content I’m consuming, I find that my skin is slightly oilier and my cuticle are well moisturised and my nails are growing quicker. Hopefully my hair would grow out quicker too.
• I got into ketosis within 24 hours of starting of the diet (usually takes 3 days) and surprisingly managed to stay in ketosis mode for the past 7 days. I’ve been tracking my ketosis readings via keto-stix that can be easily found in pharmacies.
• Along with being in ketosis; I experience keto flu about day 3 into keto diet, it lasted about 2-3 days and I now have energy to last the day without feeling sleepy/tired/lethargic.
• I do however noticed that I have been weaker at the gym. I have only been able to lift 80% of my usual weight. Right now as my body is transitioning into the new diet and burning fat as a source of energy instead of the usual glucose, my routine is focusing on less rest in between sets and focusing in moderate weight + higher rep sets.
• With the new diet, I’m also currently laying off most of my usual supplement except for the super greens and creatine only.
• I’ve got my first INBA posing class booked in next week and I can’t wait to get amongst it.
• My comp heels are ready and itching for some training.

All in all, I am hopeful with what I am capable of bringing on stage and can’t wait for May 2017, it’ll be a life changing month for me.

Of which, you’ll get access to professional strength Dermalogica skincare products and if you were lucky like me, you’ll get the magic hands of Jo who managed to put me into a deep sleep despite us being in the middle of a buzzing shopping centre.

While you are there, do check out Dermalogica Age Reversal Eye Complex (RRP AUD$94.50, 15ml) from their Age Smart range. It’s my current go-to eye cream and I am definitely pro eye cream as I do believe in giving that little bit of extra care for the eye area.

This one has retinol microspheres that reduces visible dark circles, improves hydration and smoothes away signs of ageing. Especially good when you are looking to prevent first sign of ageing.

Additionally, there’s also a newly launched face oil – Dermalogica Phyto Replenish Oil (RRP AUD$120, 30ml). This facial oil is feather light and absorbs into the skin rapidly. It forms a layer of protective shield all over face and neck area to help restore , smooth and lock in hydration. Perfect for daily use on normal to dry skin.

Soak Society is made in Australia and their wellness soak combines all natural ingredients like real rose petals, rose oils, pink kaolin clay, himalayan pink salts to soften, enrich, tone and smooth skin and promote detoxification.

I had one of these sachet thingy to trial. So I tipped the entire bag into my bath and to be honest it wasn’t as luxurious as I’d imagine it to be (barely any rose petals), the content of the soak didn’t dissolve very well in my hot water bath and after soaking, it left a residue ring all around my bath tub which I then had to scrub hard for it to come off.

It did however smell good and left my skin feeling smooth and soft to touch after.

If you are interested, it is available to purchase online here 

I took an entire week of gym last week. Simply because I wasn’t 100% for gym and also had heaps of lunches/dinner and Christmas parties to attend to. Having said that, I felt like it was my last hurrah before getting my shit together.

I still tried to eat relatively clean when I could and the also kept alcohol intake to a minimum when possible.

Still felt relatively lean though. (Mom will probably freak out to see this pic on the internet)

Physique update:

Front – Yikes, this was taken post Xmas party drinks the night before. LOL at my fringe.

Back – Same old!

Side – Think I really need to up the cardio sesh.

Changes this week:

• Catching up with heaps of rest and sleep.
• Eat, drink and be merry – sometimes we just got to live a little.
• I feel full recharged for the shredding season lies ahead.

Read all about my weekly progress here:

First 10 weeks: 

Week 1, Week  2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10

Week 11 

I have to admit, whilst my training has been consistent at 4-5 sessions a week and cardio has been incorporated in most ofmy  sessions; my diet on the other hand hasn’t. I’ve been struggling in getting the right macros and keeping within my macros. I really need to clean up my diet and keep food intake as clean as I possibly can moving forward. This will be my focus for the next week weeks.

Last week’s exercise routine:

• Legs, glutes, cardio
• Abs, cardio
• Shoulders, tris, cardio
• Cardio – long walk (40 mins)
• Back, bis

I’m trying to incorporate as much cardio into my routine as possible. Including walks after dinner and days I don’t make it to the gym so I can keep things moving along and keep the heart rate going.

Physique update:

Front – Feeling leaner than before even though I’m am due for the time of the month in about 3-4 days. Usually I’d feel bloated and carries a stupid amount of water retention with me.

Back – My arms are slowly filling out and also hit my PR of barbell curls 30kg this week.

Side – Slowly but surely have seen a more defined shoulders. Hopefully this will continue to grow and shape!

Changes this week:

• This week I’m feeling weaker than usual with a shorter amount of stamina. As a result, lifting has been focused on higher rep and lower intensity. I’ve also switched up my rest time to a minimum so that I can push for the pump.
• Been cutting out strawberries from my morning smoothie but still taking some other form of fruits (banana, blueberries, apples). So far so good, I feel less bloated already.
• Got myself a new pair of Nike. This is their latest Nike Focus / Free from their rose gold collection. You can’t really see it in this pic but there are specks of rose gold all over it. It’s love and is designed to be a training shoe too!
• My cheat meal this past week has mostly consist of either dairy products that I should be taking (ice cream, matcha latte, yogurt, etc) and I should really cut down my recent venture into soft drinks (coke zero! yikes no more!).

Read all about my weekly progress here:

First 10 weeks: 

Week 1, Week  2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10

Many of us don’t realise we have sensitive skin, sometimes it can be reactive (to products, treatments, lifestyle, diet) and sometimes it can just eventuate from build up of poor skincare/lifestyle routine. For those of you who are unaware of Bioderma, here’s 3 things for you to get up to speed.

1. Made in France
2. Famous for their cleansing water
3. Great, afforable skincare that works!

For those with sensitive skin, rejoice! Bioderma has a range dedicated for the sensitive skin folks with active ingredients to prevent skin sensitivity, skin redness and strengthens skin overtime.

• Sensibio Cleansing Milk (RRP AUD$32.99)
  • This doubles as a non rinse gentle makeup remover and cleanser. The emulsion milk formula is good for full face including eye, lips and face area. Helps with skin sensitivity and strengthen skin overtime to become more resilient and less reactive.
• Sensibio Toning Lotion (RRP AUD$32.99) 
  • Toning Lotion doubles as a double cleanse and to prep skin before moisturiser steap to soothe, decongest and keep skin feeling supple and fresh. Additionally, you can keep this in the fridge during warmer months for a refreshing treat to skin/soothing eye mask.
• Sensibio AR BB Cream (RRP AUD$43.99)
  • Unfotunately for me, the “light” version of this cream was too dark for my skintone. This anti-redness BB cream has broad spectrum skin protection of SPF30+ and delivers a radiant, velvety finish.

There are other products within the Sensibio range so be sure to check them out when you’re in a pharmacy next as I am sure you’ll love it like I do!

Let’s start this week’s chapter with a quote I’ve came across recently. It is so simple yet the flow from beliefs to destiny is so true. If you want change,  you need to grasp onto a firm belief that it WILL change, no matter what obstacles come your way.

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Oct 2015 vs Oct 2016 – Progress probably could be better if I stop loving food so much!  

Last week’s exercise routine:

• Shoulders, cardio
• Quads, hamstrings, glutes, cardio
• Abs, glutes, cardio
• Back, Bis, tris, cardio

Managed to hit all my sessions relatively heavy this week and ended all my session with cardio. Maximising my current luteal phase to work on lower-intensity cardio and moderate to heavy strength work at the gym. I’m also trying my best to avoid high carb food to avoid crash in serotonin, nauseating, fatigue and exhaustion. These are all common signs when one is going through luteal cycle.

Physique update:

Front – Tried to pose with my arms differently, to keep track of my biceps growth too.

Back – Waiting for my back muscles to lean out….

Side – Shoulders has been leaning out and I can see more of a definition here.

Changes this week:

• This week I went and got a body composition scan update at my local Evelyn Faye supplement store. The last time I did such a scan was back in March 2016 at Arnold’s classic. So it was interesting to track how I’ve gone for 8 solid months of training in between. Overall, whilst my body fat has increased but so has my lean mass index. Glad to see that my arms, legs gains has been symmetrical too.
• I picked up quite a few tips from a seasoned bodybuilder earlier this week. He mentioned about how it takes 4 days for any food to show in our abs. So if I had cheated with a meal on Tuesday, it’ll show on my belly come Saturday. All I can say is, I will never have good abs on Wednesdays as my dedicated cheat meal day is Saturday. LOL
• With the increase of cardio exercises, hot weather days in Melbourne and lack of sleep (pretty much surviving on 5-6 hrs per day all of last week); I have been breaking out more than usual and is also slightly dehydrated. I’ve been getting peely lips and flaky nose. It goes to show, sleep is super important especially once you’ve past the 30 mark, it definitely takes time to bounce back.
• Today, I saw a 7 months pregnant woman working out hard at the gym. She went at it with the treadmill, TRX, stretches and leg machines! The image of her working out reminded me of how there shouldn’t be ANY EXCUSES to not to make it to the gym and work for my goals.
• For some glitchy reason, I lost my Spotify account. As a result, I’ve lost all my workout playlist/tunes. At the moment, I am listening to MarLo, Will Sparks and Eminem on repeat and random whilst working out. Insert sad face.
• My meals hasn’t changed much since I’ve first documented them. Just slowly reducing fruits one variety at a time and having leaner/cleaner protein – chicken breast instead of thigh, white fish instead of salmon, etc. Cheat meal galore below.

Read all about my weekly progress here:

Week 1, Week  2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9

From the famous Youtuber duo Sam & Nic, these limited edition Real Technique brushes are a must have!

I’ve previously used their previous collection of brushes (circa 2013) and I absolutely loved them and still use them til this day.

This base set includes their 3 essential base brushes. As these days I focus less on eye makeup, base brushes are what I am most keen on. It also comes with a carrier pouch that has a huge mirror.

This pack comes with:

Expert Face brush – firm and broad brush for buffing cream or liquid foundation. Or even liquid/cream blush!

Miracle Complexion sponge – rounded side blend larger area of face and precision tip covers imperfections and flat edge helps to contour around eyes and nose.

Deluxe Concealer brush – dense, rounded bristles to blend concealing application especially great for around the nose and eyes area.

Mirror To-Go case – Perfect for touch up and for your brushes on the go with you

Overall, I highly recommend the Real Technique makeup brushes as they are good value for money, performs surprisingly well and holds their shape really well too. They all work really well with wet formulas so any foundation/concealers that has a gel, cream, liquid texture can all be used with these base kit to blend well with.

RRP AUD$45 
Available online here 

26 weeks out! May 2017 sounds like such a long time away but in reality 26 weeks is really not much. As an inexperienced female competitor, I will need a minimum of 20 weeks to start prepping for comp. I am quite confident that I’ve already had the extra 8 weeks to research, mentally prepare and getting into the zone. Come next week, it’ll be no excuses and no exceptions!!

This whole time though, I’ve been researching and mentally preparing for ANB as I’ve been to one and is more familiar with that. However, it’s been announced that due to the clash of both ANB and INBA comp dates being the same, ANB decided to push the comp date out by a week to the 13th of May.

This sucks because I am leaving for a planned overseas trip on the 11th of May, as a result I have no choice but to compete in INBA on the 7th May and I will have to re-look and plan on the divisions I’m attending.

Last week’s exercise routine:

• Shoulders, cardio
• Abs, glutes, hamstring, cardio
• Bis, tris
• Back, glutes, double cardio session

This week, I’ve been working on heavy sets and focusing on my negatives. This combination has always been my favourite way of training except I got a little extra help on negative training and boy did it burn. I’ve also upped my cardio session to a minimum of 30 minutes and max of 40 minutes.

Physique update:

Front – Bulking mode, nothing to see here.

Back – Back definition is coming along nicely but definitely heaps of room for improvements.

Side – Quads are popping!!

This week, I’ve started to work on my poses and boy can I say, I have no graceful bone in me! Lets just say the biggest challenge for me would definitely be posing.

Changes this week:

• For some reason, on day 9 of my follicular phase; all the water retention dropped off and I woke up to my leanest in awhile. Could also be a combination of smaller dinner, less food intake, T432 Plus and cardio session. I am definitely capitalising on the follicular phase by eating lots of carbs and training hard and lifting heavy.
• Been doing some research on Sweet Sweat and I am keen to give it a trial. Meanwhile, I’ve been training with more clothes on (long sleeves tops) throughout my exercise and cardio session to keep my body temperature warm throughout each session. So far so good, I’ve been sweating heaps and this is coming from someone who doesn’t sweat easily.
• Cutting out fruits and starchy vegetables as much as I can as a first step to reprogramming my body come shredding season. I’ve slowly reduce strawberries in my morning smoothies and is keeping only blueberries and banana in it. Soon, I’ll cut out blueberries to phase it out too.

Cheat meals this week and then some…

Read all about my weekly progress here:

Week 1, Week  2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8