When I chose to compete, I had no idea how hard it would be for me mentally. As most of you know, I have a past of an eating disorder.. which by the grace of God, I conquered & overcame. The mental aspect of competing though has been hard to handle at times, almost to the extent of becoming unbearable at some points. But through my past two competition preps, I have learned what works for me & what keeps my mind right. I’m writing this blog to reach out to all the girls who are rookies to competing. I was a first-timer once, & I know all too well the battles you face our first go around.
First things first, STOP comparing your body to others. It will get you no where. I found myself going on social networks & finding other girls who were going to be competing against me, comparing myself to them, & in return coming down harder on myself. DON’T DO IT. It’s a waste of time, energy, & stress. My coach (who knows how hard I can be on myself) basically tells me to get off social networks the last few weeks before a competition.. for the simple fact that I won’t be so hard on myself & prep becomes a little less “stressful”. Regardless of where your body is at, you need to learn to love it. Don’t beat yourself up because you’re not happy with certain things, use that to fuel your drive & work harder in the gym.
Wake up every morning, look in the mirror, & be thankful for another day to chase your goals. Every morning when I wake up, I think of all the goals I have, & it gets me moving, motivated, & focused. Push through the hard days & focus on all the good surrounding you! It’s easy to look in the mirror & critique yourself.. stop it. If you can’t accept yourself for who you are now, how will you ever love the body you’re working so hard to earn? Having a positive self image is vital in this industry.. & that’s one thing that my coach has stressed to me time & time again. Stop beating yourself up for those little “imperfections” that you see. Start turning your weaknesses into your strengths. It all begins with the decision to try.
Once you hit the stage & you’ve seen your “stage ready” body, you’re willing to do whatever it takes to keep that. But the hard truth is, most of the time, it’s not completely maintainable. For those of you who carb deplete, water deplete, & cut calories.. you know what I mean. Your body is so dieted down, that the minute something other than chicken hits your stomach, it turns to chaos. My first go around I dealt with “post comp blues”.. & it was rough. My stage weight at that show was 122 lbs, two days after my show, I stepped on the scale, & was at 133 lbs. But that was my “realistic, not depleted of nutrients” weight.. my healthy weight. And after a month or so, I finally picked myself up, dusted myself off, & realized that. Don’t step on that stage expecting to completely maintain what you have. Currently, I am only 10 lbs above what I would be on stage, my body fat is sitting at 12%, & my energy levels are sky high.
For my third competition, I will not be carb depleting or dealing with extreme water depleting.. but I’ll save the explanation for my next blog!