The Holly Barker Adventures in the Bikini Lifestyle!: 1 Week Out!

Well, I'm back from Las Vegas 1 husband richer and 1 year older! I can now fully focus this last week on the competition and I am getting very excited! Even though I was away for a week celebrating my wedding, my birthday and my honeymoon, I did not stray away from my training or diet. The gym at our hotel was amazing and it was good to try new excercises with the different equipment they had there. It was a refreshing break from the treadmill to get out and walk outside, hike Red Rock and swim in the pool! We were also able to visit one of the local Anytime Fitness clubs on our way out to Red Rock. I think there are approximately 15 Anytime Fitness clubs in the city that doesn't sleep....so really, no excuses! :)

We requested an additional fridge for our room and visited the local Whole Foods market. I absolutely love visiting grocery stores on our holidays. Whether they are better or worse than the ones we have in Saskatchewan, they are different, and that's what I love about them! I like the challenge of finding my healthy options wherever I go. Usually the different types of cereals are my favorite to try, but this trip I had to walk past the cereal isle and stock up on cans of tuna and the pre-cooked chicken breast they had in the salad isle! We loaded up on veggies galore and I was set for the week. I had packed my own protein powder, oatmeal and my food scale (which they red flagged at the airport - a scale + bags of protein powder do not go over well at the airport....go figure!) :)

So now I am one week away and am going to try to embrace all that I have accomplished to get to this point. I have to continue my training schedule until Wednesday. My diet starts to include a few new things on Wednesday and on Friday I am allowed to have peanut butter!!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am for that!

I have posted my one week out photos compared to my start date photos and I am blown away at the changes! If nothing else comes from all of this, I have a huge appreciation for all athletes that compete. This has taken more dedication than I could have ever imagined and I could not have done this without the people that I am surrounded with. Brett is amazing. He has supported me and allowed me to express everything I am feeling through this journey. He pushes me to train and supports my extensive hours at the gym. My whole family is a huge support and has been amazing.

Front - Jan 25th