IN DEFENSE OF MY SPORT.

"A well-built physique is a status symbol. It reflects the hard work you’ve put in.. You can’t steal it, you can’t borrow it & cannot hold on to it without constant work. It’s from dedication, discipline self-respect and dignity." - Ashley Horner

It has not been my intention to make anyone feel insecure or uncomfortable about their own bodies. In fact, it has been a goal of mine to inspire and encourage other women to make positive changes in their lives. I sincerely wish for every single woman out there to find the joy in something that I find in bodybuilding.

Let me begin by talking about the physical act of lifting weights. I LOVE to lift. I love the feeling I get walking into the gym, knowing that I can clear my mind of all the stress I carry around with me and focus on something that I love.  I love the feeling of accomplishment after giving it everything I've got. I don't do it to be better than anyone else or to look better than anyone else or to feel better than anyone else. I do it for me. I do it because of the way it makes me feel. Going to the gym doesn't feel like a chore to me. I look forward to it all day. Call it an obsession if you want, that's fine with me. I won't bore you by listing all the health benefits that weight training provides, as I'm sure you're all aware. (And if you aren't, I highly suggest you do some research. HIGHLY SUGGEST.)

When I downloaded the popular app, My Fitness Pal, it suggested to me that I consume 1200 calories per day to reach my "goal weight:." This is really disheartening to me, since so many women use this app as their guide to lose weight or get in shape. 1200 calories is entirely too low for the average woman. Being 5'8" and weighing 160lbs (at the time), I was working out 6 days a week and this app was telling me to only eat 1200 calories a day???! Are they nuts?! After consulting with an online nutrition coach and doing some of my own research on BodyBuilding.com, I came to realize how idiotic this whole "1200 calorie" thing really is. As soon as I began eating upwards of 1600 calories per day, I started to notice HUGE changes in my body. I went from looking flabby to looking fit in a matter of weeks. Again, not going to go into detail about my diet. I just want to be clear in stating that I eat PLENTY of food. I eat 6 well balanced meals per day. I don't deprive myself of my favorite things like peanut butter and ice cream. Instead, I make sure to fit those things into my daily macronutrients.

This. This is what dreams are made of.

What I don't understand is  that there are women out there eating 1200 calories, basically starving themselves and slaving away on cardio equipment, and that's considered acceptable?? Nobody bats an eyelash when they take out their salads with "fat free" dressings at the lunch table, add packet after packet of unhealthy artificial sweetener to their drinks, or even worse....drink nothing but "diet shakes" in order to drop a few lbs. Eat 1600-2000 calories of HEALTHY WHOLESOME food and lift weights 5 days a week, and people lose their shit calling it unhealthy.

Yes, currently I am on a relatively restrictive diet while prepping for my first competition. No, I will not give you the details of this diet, but I assure you, I am still well above that 1200 calorie mark. I am  a bodybuilder. We have bulking phases during which we eat an insane amount of calories, and we have cutting phases where we make adjustments and cut back to shed the extra fat we gained during our bulk. What people don't understand is that during the bulking phase, we're eating WAY above maintenance, so when we "cut", it isn't necessary to dramatically reduce the amount of food we eat. A bodybuilder on a cut probably eats twice what any normal person eats while "dieting."  I completely understand that this isn't a lifestyle that everyone should adopt. I have specific goals in mind, and in order to accomplish these goals, bulking and cutting have become a part of my life.

Let's talk about goals for a minute. Some women want to be thin. Some want to be curvy. Some want to be muscular. It's all good in the hood! My goal is to be muscular and compete in figure competitions. Here's an example of what an IFBB Figure Pro looks like.

Ohhhh Candice Keene....How I love you! Keep in mind, these photos are taken during/after what would be considered a cutting phase. Candice weighs a good 10-12lbs more during her off season. If you're looking at these photos totally grossed out, I'm cool with that. I know this isn't everyone's goal physique, and I'm ok with that too. But...I mean...look at those shoulders. Those strong quads and ridiculous lats! Yep....someday, that'll be me! If you think this woman is "unhealthy"...you are mistaken.

"But, that lifestyle isn't sustainable!" Oh, it isn't? Is it not realistic that I would continue to make time in my life for the gym? (FYI, if you think I spend 3 hours a day in the gym, I don't. I'm in and out in an 60-90 minutes.) Will something wild happen that will prevent me from having the few hours on Sunday afternoon to prep meals for the week by tossing some chicken and veggies in the oven or crock pot? Will it be hard in the future when I have children? Sure! What ISN'T more difficult after starting a family? Also, that's not even something I'm considering at the moment, so I'll climb that mountain when I get there. Will I be a figure competitor for the rest of my life? Probably not, but why would that stop me from competing here and now?

Another goal of mine is to get my personal training certification. I'm all ready to take the NSCA exam! I also hope to gain enough experience while competing to be able to coach aspiring competitors in the future. Like I said before, I would love nothing more than to help and inspire others the way that I've been helped by various trainers and coaches along the way.  I'm super proud of anyone who shows the desire to make positive changes in their life, and at the same time, I respect that others are completely happy with where they are in their lives. In fact, most of my friends drink alcohol, eat pizza and burgers, and skip the gym most night. I don't love them any less..But you can't blame me for trying to encourage them to be healthy! :)

In conclusion, I would like to thank the large number of people from whom I receive an enormous amount of support. The comments, messages, emails and texts help me to stay on track and motivate me to push even harder to reach my goals. I love logging into facebook and having messages from people I haven't seen in years telling me how inspired they are by my story and how I've motivated them to get healthy. I try my best to keep  up with it and answer everyone's questions as soon as I can, because I know how much misinformation there is out there and how difficult it can be to figure out where to begin. So, if you're one of the few folks who have expressed concern for me, thought I was "too skinny", or that I spend too much time at the gym... I hope this made things a little more clear for you.