Four Weeks Till the Big Dance

Hey everyone,

I missed last week because my brain was a mess from eating at buffets and trying to decide what I should do about the biggest show of my life. I decided that since it is the biggest show of my life it doesn't make to much sense to skip it.
Last Monday I returned to my office (the gym) and got my ass in gear on the step mill. When I weighed myself in the morning before my cardio I was a watery, fat, 276lbs. Eating at buffets and your soon to be mother in laws house for a week straight will do that to you. I gained an unhealthy 30lbs in just one week and now it was time to get it all back off.
So, literally, one step at a time I began to take it off. Chad got me back on my diet last Monday and I got myself back in the gym working hard. I have good training partners, one of which is getting ready for the Canadian Nationals so staying on the diet and getting into the gym has been relatively easy in terms of motivation.
I feel a little burnt out I have to admit but it is an honor to stand on the O stage and I really am pushing myself mentally and physically to bring the best package I can bring. This last week of training has actually been very intense and has rekindled the fire I had when I started this precontest season. Training at Metroflex with Johnnie Jackson, seeing Flex Lewis' work ethic and watching Branch Warren tear through iron like it was tissue has made me realize what real hardcore is. It brought new meaning to the term, 'when you think your training hard, someone else is training harder'. Those guys in Texas were animals. I'm sitting here in my air conditioned heaven while they're out there in the sweltering heat building physiques cut from stone. So I brought some of that mentality back with me and my training has been on fire.
Sleeping is a sad state of affairs for me. I go to bed only to wake up two hours later, not able to fall back asleep for hours sometimes. Its choppy and very light but I am getting as much as I can for now.
The diet has been pretty easy. I ate so much food after the Europa that I think I made myself sick of eating and actually was glad to get back on the diet. It has been one week and I have dropped twenty-three pounds......can you say water weight...lol.
So I am back down to 253lbs this morning and with another 8-10lbs to drop before the O things are moving in the right direction. Sometimes I have to pinch myself because I can't believe I am going to be standing on the Olympia stage. I remember it like it was yesterday, standing on the Windsor Cup stage at 21 years old. Sometimes I don't believe it and I am not sure I will until I actually get on the stage and feel what its like to pose with the best in the world.
Just a final thought to try and really express my feelings about it. A few nights ago I was on YouTube watching some of Kevin Levrone's posing video's. Now I always get nervous before shows but not because of the crowd, more so because of the competition and wanting to do well. This video brought about a new nervousness though. At the start it shows the camera behind him just as he is about to pull the curtain to get onstage. As he opens the curtain all you see is a see of people and camera's flashing. I just realized I will be going from posing in front of 500 people to posing in front of 10,000 people! Like I said a whole new ball game and an entirely new nervousness. I can't wait.....

Sacrifice Without Regret,
Fouad Abiad