My belief is that if I set my mind to something I can accomplish anything! I think everyone has goals in life they think about accomplishing. The real task is setting my mind to what I want to do and actually doing it. I went through most of my life always thinking that I wanted to do the things others were doing, like running a race or finishing a difficult task. But I was never confident enough in myself to believe I could do those things.
That all changed when a friend at the gym asked me to do a figure show. A firgure show is a show where women are judged on their figures. The women get up on a stage in front of ten judges and do a number of poses, and they judge on her figure type. It is somewhat like a beauty pageant, but they are not judging contestants on their overall looks. They are judging on the way the contestant’s body looks. I thought, at first, this will be fun. I can do this. Then, the next day at the gym I told my trainer about the show. She said that I could do the show, but I better be prepared to come in last. She told me I had too much weight to lose to compete in a show. My trainer was not a mean person. She was just trying to be honest with me. At that moment, I thought to myself, no one can tell me I can’t do something. This just made me want to do it more. I can do this. All I have to do is set my mind to it, and that is what I did. I went home that night and told my husband that I was ready, and I was going to do this show. Of course, he supported me in anything I did, but I think even he thought that I wasn’t that serious. I knew I had work ahead of me, but I was ready and knew I was going to do it, no matter what anyone said to me.
This was a personal journey for me, and it didn’t matter what others were thinking. I knew I had a long journey ahead of me, but I was ready for the challenge. I might not have been physically ready, but I was mentally ready. I started four months before the show with what they call the show diet. The diet consisted of no sugar, no processed food and every meal was protein, a carbohydrate and a vegtable. Along with the strenuous diet, I worked out six days a week for two hours a day. The workouts consisted of one hour of cardio and one hour of weight lifting with a trainer. I had always stayed in pretty good shape and thought I worked out pretty hard until I started training for this show. The weight lifting was heavy and the cardio was very intense. For this show I had to get my body in the best possible shape. The judges for this show would judge me on my figure. I had to lose 30 lbs in four months. The weeks went by quickly, and I was starting to notice a big difference in my body. the better shape I was in, the more motivated I was to continue. The closer I was to the show, the more physically ready I became, but I always knew in my head mentally that I could do it, and I never gave up.
The night of the show I was so excited. There were a couple of girls at my gym who did the show with me, so we all got ready together. We had all been through so much together, with all the work outs, and the diet. We were so happy just to make it to the day of the show. By the time we arrived at the theatre, I just wanted to get up on stage and show everybody how hard I had worked. I didn’t care if I placed or not. I had a great experience, and the fact that I was going up on stage was enough for me. But I did place, and it wasn’t last, I placed fifth out of twelve competitors. I could hear all my friends and family in the audience cheering for me. It made me so emotional that I cried on stage. My trainer was also so proud of me, and I was really proud of myself. I had accomplished something I knew I could do. I was so motivated by this experience that the next year I did another figure show, and I placed third.
The best feeling is to know in my mind that I can do anything I want to do. All I have to do is set my mind to it. Accomplishing this figure show has shown me that I am a stronger person then I thought mentally and physically. I am ready for the future, and I know that anything I decide to do, I can accomplish. My future plans are now to finish my degree in nutrition and became a nutritionist. I know that with planning and hard work, I can accomplish anything.