Thank you Anthony for your kind words. 🙂

These qualities transcend gender and I can say with all honesty that I believe her tips and suggestions are great tools for making right choices.

Good Luck everyone!

I just posted a video on my profile of a 50 year old woman with diabetes who got in shape with Beachbody products. How many more excuses do you have? 😉

The women look unnatural because they are wearing tanning products that make their muscles show more. I have friends that are figure competitors and bikini competitors who look amazing, their level of health, fitness and discipline is something that I tremendously admire and they don’t look unnatural in a regular bikini with no tanning on. I’m not trying to convince you here because I know that many women have issues with women looking like this. But I tell you, I much rather have defined muscles than cellulite, and I much rather have muscle definition than clogged arteries. Given the choice, I choose being fit while having a feminine body.

Thanks, Veronica. I got it ! (And I still think the women in these competitions look scary and unnatural).

You are an inspiration to many women not just your daughter. Now if I could just find someone in my age group who has got results…

Cheryl, thank you so much for responding and asking the questions that you have. The competition I am entering is a bikini figure competition (which is not the same as for bodybuilders who focus on extremely low body fat). I’m sorry if I sounded defensive. I know that I can sound that way at times because at times I am.

I hope you’ll take the time to check out these resources on the kind of competition I am entering.

The Sioux Country Figure Competition
The Arnold Amateur Women’s Competition

Why enter at all? There are so many reasons, but to me the main reason is that I need something to get my body into the shape I most want to be in. Before I met Joseph I was very much into kickboxing and you may or may not know that we trained for a marathon (twice, in fact; we had to quit training because I was pregnant and the other time was because a kidney stone put me out of running and I wasn’t able to train enough for that race). I’m a fitness fanatic. I want to do this because I can. I want to do this to show women that they don’t have to be resigned about their bodies and that they can go from nearly obese to super-fantastic-fitness. If I can do this, then so can anyone else if they set their mind to it and if they want my help.

I am inspired by some great women I met this past weekend who are doing what I am doing. I am in great company. I want other women to join me and enjoy this level of health. I’m not saying that people have to do exactly what I am doing to get fit, but I want to do this because it is hard and will give me the results I want.

I want my daughter to see for herself that she can achieve anything that she sets her mind to do and this is what this competition is to me: something difficult, something I could quit, something I can say that I have done.

Veronica, my questions were completely innocent. I don’t know much about the kind of competition you are entering.
I’m sorry if you felt criticised and judged. That wasn’t my intention at all.

My point was – why enter at all ? Isn’t your daughter getting all the right messages from your commitment to healhy eating and regular exercise already ?

I knew that getting into the competition myself I would be faced with criticism and judgment from people.
But to answer your questions:
1- I think that there are plenty of misconceptions about bodybuilding and no, bodybuilding does not over-emphasize the importance of being toned and having “zero” body fat.
2- No it doesn’t put too much emphasis on a restricted diet. (I have two cheat meals per week and the rest of the week i eat good, healthy, clean food.. restricted? No, you may see it that way but hey, I’m the one getting the results).
3- It’s important to “perform” (which I wouldn’t exactly use that word) in a bikini because there is no other way to see the results of our work.
And I think you’re missing the point… I would not compete in a bodybuilder category. I’d compete in either bikini or figure. My point is that I prefer my daughter to grow up being active, exercising (whatever she chooses), playing sports and learning that she can do whatever she sets her mind to, in whatever discipline she chooses.

What other ways Cheryl? The ways that the media teaches her? I much prefer that she grow up learning that strong is sexy and not the bulimic/anorexic world that the media teaches her. That’s my point. I much prefer that she learn that. Besides, I don’t think you’ve seen the figure competitors, (Not the bodybuilders) they look great, strong, feminine, sexy, not bulky.