Accept the body, hair, and skin you're in!

One of my favorite TV shows is What Not To Wear. Yes I love the fashions ... I love Stacey London's style ... and I have a secret crush (not so secret anymore) on Clinton Kelly (and yes I know he's gay.) But what I love the most is the transformation that happens to the person who gets the makeover. Not the external transformation ... but the internal transformation ... the confidence they have after they realize they can look hot, sexy, and sophisticated ... in WHATEVER BODY SHAPE THEY HAVE! So basically at the end of the show they start to ACCEPT their body, hair, and skin they're in. It's a beautiful thing. So how do I take all that in watching this transformation and doing cardio at the same time ... trying to lose fat? I'm training hard to get lean and look great on stage for a figure competition ... while people are already telling me my body looks fantastic. (Not good enough yet, I say). It's very easy to get obsessed to the point where you never feel like you're lean enough. But the hardest part is when it's all over and your body goes back to normal ... yes .... normal. My normal body was hard for me to take after my first year of competition. However, it still looked better than before I started training but I was so focused on getting lean, the normal look didn't look good to me. It was hard to accept my "new" body ... but thank goodness I'm a pretty confident person. What I learned? You have to be emotionally strong as well as physically strong to compete ... especially women who are so conscious of their body image. And it's something I have to continually work on.

Earlier this week I was retaining water like crazy ... that time of the month ... so that leanness that my trainer saw the week before was kind of smooth ... and he was a little surprised ... but didn't change anything in my training or diet. Well that bothered me ... a lot ... for the next few days. Now, I could have cut my carbs even more ... I could have done extra cardio ... I could have skipped meals ... just to get that lean look back. But I didn't. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that it was normal ... it was only water not fat ... and I would be back on track in a few days ... and most importantly ... I had to trust my trainer. Even when I get on stage with several other lean hot chicks ... we're still all going to have different body shapes and sizes ... no matter how lean we get. So again I say ACCEPT THE BODY YOU HAVE ... AND MAKE SURE YOU TAKE CARE OF IT ... eat healthy and exercise ... it's that simple really. (And NO you don't have to train like I train to be healthy.)

So yes it's mentally and emotionally tough to get ready for a competition. And I don't have much of a life ... my day is basically wake up, eat, work, eat, workout, eat, sleep ... repeat! I'm totally enjoying it! (ask me in another few weeks though!) Am I obsessed? Yes ... but is it really obsession or dedication?

Train like a champion!