I am now just over 4 weeks into my preperations for my August 20th mens physique contest here in San Diego. Again that being the NPC Pacific USA XXII.
I am at 10.5% bodyfat and 199lbs as of this weekends last weigh in. I plan to get down to about 5-6% in the next 9 weeks time. Weight does not matter as my division goes my height, not weight. How I look matters way more then what a scale says.
I should note that I had spent 4 days in Clearwater Beach Florida from last week Wedesday through Sunday afternoon just before getting back to town as I was attending the ISSN National Conference which in my opinion was one of the most informative and best networked conferences I have ever been to! Travel however can reak havoc on peoples training and diets in many cases but not this time, not for me. I still got my workouts in (and a barefoot beach run!) and stuck to my diet about 90% as planned. I even managed to indulge in some outstanding blackened grouper and some sushi that rivals what we have here in SD. Not too shabby hey?
So now that I am back in town and in the routine of things again I have found that the single hardest part of this diet and prep is not the day to day matters as that I have come to get very used to, it has little impact on me. What does have a big impact is what San Diego does oh so well every year! What is that you ask? FOOD FESTIVALS! All year San Diego County has endless food and beer festivals covering every corner of the culinary landscape. I have attended many of them already and found them to be a delicious fiesta of endless food and drink from the best venues SD has to offer. Talk about finding a better bite!
Looking ahead I see 2 major events I have been to before but missed last summer due to deployment and now looks like I will miss this summer as well. Those two events being.....
Taste of Little Italy and SD Bacon Fest
As you can see in the links above these two events are not and should not be missed if you can help it. GO! I urge you to go and see what these are all about. Bring the family and all your friends. Make a day of it. Your ticket price is easily worth the price of admission and then some.
Could I go yet if I really wanted to? Yes of course. But why tempt and tease oneself with an arena of amazing food when you cant really have much of anything there? Seems pointless to pay anything then not enjoy what you paid for ya know?
How I see it is simple however, if one single half a day of food samples means more to me in the short term them getting on stage at a national level NPC contest and possibly winning the division and moving on to bigger shows yet then I have my goals and priorities all wrong. The show never meant enough in the first place. And let me tell you......this show means the world to me right now. After a almost 3 year hiatus from the stage......I am clawing to get back up there!
So let me close out this post with a recent picture of a homemade breakfast I whipped up just today and man was it good! What we have here is a low carb Thai stir fry with zucchini noodles, cashews, chicken, onions, peppers, egg whites and carrot. Winner in my book!
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| Homemade breakfast grub! |
Its a ways out yet but I am also looking at my first major food festival to attend after my show and it works out perfectly! 6 days after my show is the one and only Best Of San Diego Party!
Best part of that is that its held directly across the street from me in Liberty Station! Its like they planned it right for me to attend! I hope to see many of you their as I can garuntee you, you will find many, many better bites!
