Yes, that’s me. I was obese in May of 2010. If you’ve been following my story, you may have read that I started working out with P90X and lost a substantial amount of inches in only 90 days. In February of this year, I decided to up my game a bit and joined training to become a bikini competitor. I was VERY shy about it at the beginning but because I was committed to breaking the mold and really pushing myself… I decided to announce it on this blog… (actually that’s not the truth LOL,) the real reason is that I know myself too well and the only reason that I would stick to the training and nutrition was if I announced that I was going to compete so I did. I let the cat out of the bag and announced it on this blog.
In March, Joseph (my hubby) told me that he was taking me to a bikini competition so I could get an idea of what it would be like. So we drove to Los Angeles and at the competition I met an amazing bodybuilder who inspired me with his story. He had beaten cancer and was getting ready to compete again after finishing his cancer treatments that week. I was amazed! He had even worked out during his treatments. With that, I told myself that I could do it too… all I had to do was lose the last few pounds and get toned.
I came back home that weekend and announced my competition date to my training group on Facebook: July 23, 2011. But would I be able to pull it off? I wasn’t sure and knowing me, I’m skeptical about everything. I try stuff thinking that it won’t work or that I won’t get what I want or whatever other silly story/excuse I can make up about whatever it is that I’m doing, so I try stuff for a few months to see if it works, if it doesn’t I simply give up and if it does, I never turn back and keep going. In order to get this training to work, I had to give it my 100% and stick to the plan, no kidding! So I did. I screamed, whined, complained at times. “I’m not getting results!” Then followed by really looking at what it was that I had failed at… the frozen yogurts ended up being too much of a temptation for me so they went out the window. Slowly but surely, my goal to compete became stronger than my urge to sabotage my training and nutrition. I was on a roll now, 100% committed to doing this. I could NOT give myself the luxury of standing on that stage and feeling underprepared physically or mentally.
Last week came and I was on an emotional high. I was excited, a bit spacey and extremely focused. I felt a bit tired too and it reminded me of my marathon training days, when you’re about to hit the finish line, you’re exhausted but you have NO other option but continue and so I did. I also noticed my tendency to bring a stressful situation that was unnecessary into my life. I had been contacted by someone who had offered me what seemed like a good business opportunity and I had to consider it, but when I reached out to someone for questions, the call did not go the way that I was expecting and I found myself shaken, in tears and pretty upset. I called Joseph and his response was: “You need to focus. You can’t allow yourself to be distracted by this. Surround yourself by those who empower you and don’t waste your time with those who don’t.” Those were the EXACT words I needed to hear. I’ve noticed that whenever I am getting to do something BIG, I cause distractions to come into my life and under normal circumstances I would have thrown my arms up in the air and sabotaged my training and nutrition. I could have used this situation as an excuse, but I didn’t, I took my husband’s coaching and set that problem aside until after the competition when I had the ability to deal with it.
I booked a tanning session, hair and make-up session. I did not want to worry about having to do these things myself so I trusted myself into the hands of the very talented people who are experienced in these competitions and they were pretty darn amazing. My first tan coating was done on Friday afternoon. My hair and make-up were done Saturday morning at 4:30 AM., yes THAT early and so I was ready to go. The girls that compete were incredible. It wasn’t the usual cattiness that I would have expected in a competition… we all knew what we had been through, our hours of training and strict nutrition. We were considerate towards each other. They all knew I was brand new to this so when I went out there and came back, everyone back stage told me what a great job I had done.
No, I didn’t place and I honestly didn’t care. I had already won. I had told myself that my level of fitness at this moment in time was more than a trophy to me. The judges did not know what I had been through, what my weight-loss journey had been like, only I knew that. That was my trophy, my story, my weight loss triumph. I did it! I earned my right to be on that stage in only fourteen months and if I did it, anyone can.
So what now? It’s time to pay it forward. Now it’s my turn to help others lose the weight, get fit and healthy. If you’re interested in getting fit and healthy, send me a message and we can talk about it. You have nothing to lose… (except the weight) and a lot to gain, (your health).