How did I get myself into this?... I ask myself this question regularly. Well, it all began a couple years ago. As you might know, I go to the gym quite often... love it there... and I have a lot of friends there. I watched some of my friends... Dana and Quincy, to name a couple... as they'd go through their training and I remember thinking how AMAZING they looked. They were FIGURE competitors. I asked my friend, Ashley, HOW these girls got to be this way. She told me it was lots of exercise and a crazy diet... no sugar, no trans-fat, and only complex carbs. That's when I decided to go off sugar... that was something I could handle. I know what does and does not have sugar... I'd start there.
So I did. Now, there's sugar in just about everything... so I made a rule: nothing with more that 10 grams of sugar. July 2008 was the LAST time I had a dessert. It was hard at first, but honestly, after the first 2 weeks, I didn't look back. It was amazing to me to see how FAST the fat melted off me! People told me how much I had changed and how quickly. When other people notice... THAT is your reward. I FELT GREAT!
Then I had someone... her name is Carrie... ask me if I would ever compete in a FIGURE competition. I had never thought about it before... I didn't really know what that even meant... and I certainly had NO idea HOW. She told me a little about it and I just kinda shrugged it off. Sounded fun... but difficult... I'd think about it. I shoved the thought into the back of my mind... and it's been in the back of my mind for a while now. Maybe one day I'd find the courage.
A few months went by and I'd get asked every once in a while if I was doing a FIGURE completion. So, now it was on the BRAIN. People told me how EASY it would be for me and how much I'd love it and how great it felt to accomplish such a huge goal.... blah, blah, blah. I made a deal with myself that if ONE more person asked me if I was competing that I WOULD. It happened the next day. OK... I'm in!
So I started asking around... what kind of diet do I need?... what sort of exercising?... what do I wear?... how do I DO THIS?! That's when I was introduced to my girl... Karli. Karli is the sweetest, kindest, most
sincere person I've ever met and she wanted to help me. Karli did a show last spring and won 2nd place. (first place went to Andrea... a girl Karli and her husband TRAINED!) She knows how to do this. She put me on a diet and helped me learn how to walk and pose and just explained the whole thing to me. She even took me shoe shopping! If nothing else, I've made a good friend out of this. Actually I've made a LOT of friends out of this. I have so much support from people at the gym who want to help me... who want to see me succeed.
Anyway...that's how this all got started. I've been exercising for years... but never with a goal. NOW, I have something to shoot for. For me, this experience has been about self-mastery and wheel-power. I've gotten to know my body. I know I store sugar in my upper body... I store milk products in my tummy area and extra carbs in my thighs and butt. I love to feel the energy surge through me about 8 minutes after I eat an apple. I love to see my muscles fill up after I eat carbs... bodies are incredible.
There is a spiritual side to all this... It's hard for me to understand people who don't believe in God. There are too many coincidences... too many things that are too perfect and too complicated for happenstance. I would never have KNOWN how much our bodies DO for us if I hadn't entered this crazy competition. I would never have known exactly what a GIFT our bodies are and that our Heavenly Father truly, truly, truly LOVES us. It's hard for me to talk about without getting teary-eyed. I will always be grateful for this incredible machine that I have been trusted with... I will always and forever respect this body.
CHANGE THE SUBJECT... I get a lot of questions about this whole thing... let me see if I can answer any you might have.
The most common question... WHAT DO YOU EAT? Well diet is about 70% of this. Here's a typical day's diet at 8-4 weeks out from the competition: Breakfast... a serving of OATMEAL with almonds (and I LOVE IT... I don't think I'll give that up after the competition.) Then a PROTEIN DRINK. For lunch... TUNA FISH and BROWN RICE and an APPLE. Snack... HARD BOILED EGGS (usually 2) and CELERY. Dinner... grilled CHICKEN (little seasoning.) BROWN PASTA with a dressing-less SALAD. PROTEIN DRINK before bed. I could also eat BLACK BEANS, YAMS, and AVOCADOS. I eat very little FRUIT (too much sugar), NO MILK and low SALT. Throughout the day I have to drink a GALLON of WATER and have about 120g of PROTEIN. This is NOT considered a HEALTHY DIET. It's just the way to get out all the JUNK under your skin and inside your muscles.
A couple weeks ago, I started the PROTEIN-SWAP diet. One day, a diet like I described before and the next day only the morning oatmeal CARBS. This is a BODY SHOCKER diet... the more you SHOCK your body, the more calories you burn.
Now... tomorrow... I'm starting HELL WEEK. I have to cut my carbs WAY down. I only get my morning OATMEAL and that's IT for carbs. (DANG... I LOVE CARBS!)I'm drinking a gallon of water a day, but that decreases each day until Friday when I'm only drinking about 1.5 cups for the entire day. (DANG... I LOVE WATER, TOO!!) This diet wouldn't be so bad, but since I still need to work out... it's really going to be tough. The cool part is... on Saturday, before the show, I get to CARB LOAD and WATER LOAD. The idea is to starve the muscles so much that when they get carbs and water again, they just SOAK them up and look better than they really are. (SEE how AMAZING our bodies ARE!! I'm also amazed at all the science behind it!!) I'm TOLD that you can actually SEE your muscles swell. I'll be sure to BLOG it! :)
Another question I'm frequently asked... DO YOU HAVE TO WEAR A BIKINI? The answer is YES. It's not exactly a bikini... it is called a POSING SUIT and is made specifically for these contests. They run from $300 to $1,000 and are usually pretty sparkly. I am renting mine... it's purple with rind stones. They have strings that cross in the back and attach to the bottoms so your LATS are nicely displayed and they are cut really... and I mean REALLY... high above the hips so they flatter the hip-flexors. (they look straight out of the 80's..UGLY!!) So, yes... it's a bikini... but not a sexy one by any means.
People ask a lot about POSING. In Figure, you never flex your arms above your head or bring your arms together in a chest flex. It's really all about being feminine and looking symmetrical and balanced. We have to gracefully walk on stage one at a time... sucking in our tummies and sticking out our booties. We will stop and strike a pose at 3 different (judge-picked) spots...2 side poses and one front/back pose.... and we have to look like we're having the time of our lives! Then we have MANDATORIES. We line up across the stage and try to make our muscles look the tightest and strongest we can. We do front, then side, then back, then other side. Our shoulders have to be square, our heels touching each other, our muscles tight and flexed, our faces relaxed and smiling and NO shaking. We do these mandatory circles over and over... maybe 50 times!... until the judged are happy with their judgements. I'm told it's a pretty difficult work out.
I am asked if I would ever do it again. Honestly, I don't know... I haven't had the pay-off yet. If the show is really fun and I do well... then I might think about it again. If I do horrible and it's not fun... then NO WAY! I'm way too hungry today to have it turn out bad.
Well, anyway... that's what I've been up to lately. Thanks for READING! I'll for sure be blogging about Saturday... so stay tuned.
It was so fun to see their faces as they walked in.
We set the TV and tons of blankets and chairs up in a dark corner and got comfortable with our Diet Cokes and Popcorn.
The movie was ARACHNIPHOBIA... you know the one with all the spiders that live in that barn. It was PERFECT!
We set the TV and tons of blankets and chairs up in a dark corner and got comfortable with our Diet Cokes and Popcorn.
The movie was ARACHNIPHOBIA... you know the one with all the spiders that live in that barn. It was PERFECT!
I am second from the left.
The Class winner AND Overall winner is that chick with the really short dark hair... 2 to the right from me.
Well, now I know what it feels like to be in a FIGURE COMPETITION. Truthfully, I don't know if I'd ever want to do another. I LOVED the training and getting to know my body more and becoming lean and fit and strong... I'd do THAT part again! But the actual SHOW... I don't really GET IT, I guess. I didn't WANT to wear all the crazy sparkly jewelry and funky make-up. I didn't really LIKE to walk their special walk and paint myself black and POSE and fake smile and hope the judges like me. I thought it'd be more about levels of fitness... it wasn't. It was like a pagent and that is SO NOT my style. I loved learning what it's all about and I'm glad I did it! Maybe it's too soon to tell... (I hear you get the "BUG" for it)... but today... right now... I don't want to do another one. I reached my personal goal... to be the MOST FIT in my class. And even though the judges didn't think so, I feel like I WON! 
Not quite ready for school. I KNOW we did more school shopping that THAT!!
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