My personal transformation story - Curvy to Lean

I was in two minds about posting this here, but this is a story about achieving your dreams no matter how far they seem to you.

(show day and 6 months before)

I was always considered ‘skinny’ as a child and teenager… and quite frankly I was happy to hear that… back then skinny to me was a good thing. I had this strange idea that somehow skinny meant beautiful… when it really does not. The thing that those people didn’t understand was that I WANTED to be skinny.. and I was doing what I could to stay that way… NOT through proper diet but through excessive exercise (running/ swimming/ what ever activity I could do and I did a lot)

As I grew older at the age of 23 I became a party animal and was partying till 6 am in the mornings, I had a job in retail which meant I was on my feet all day and I survived of snacks! … I lost A LOT of weight, and weighed 52 kg at 5’7 tall. People would call me a super model… it definitely made me smile and for a short time this weight made me feel like I was happy when deep down I really wasn’t, I felt unfulfilled. Like being skinny was going to make my life better…? I don’t know.

Towards the end of 23 I looked at my body and decided it was time for a change.. I wanted Womanly curves I wanted to eat and still feel good with the way that I looked… I wanted to be happy. AND as if the universe heard me I met my very loving Bodybuilder boyfriend, He showed me how to lift weights and I started eating properly. He introduced me to this weird and wonderful life of Bodybuilding! Like serious body building, the gyms we went to where full of BIG ripped guys! And stunning Girls with muscle! At first it was strange!.... are all these people so vain?!? what is this place??

But the more I became apart of this life the more I stared to understand. THIS IS A LIFESTYLE. One where you nurture and you push yourself to your fullest potential! It's a lifestyle that takes hard work and determination. Its something you LIVE and breathe every day! Its not a DIET or a FAD its your life!... It inspired me!

I was sold.

I wanted to become a Bikini Athlete.

The first thing I did was to get a Trainer, he was a big guy who had trained many girls who went on to become Pros. (I decided to drop him after a few months. Our personalities didn’t gel)

I was started my ‘Bulking’ phase, and was given 3-4,000 calorie meals! The intention of this is to give you energy to push harder with your weights and to help you grow muscle quickly. BUT over Christmas I ate A LOT of treats and quite quickly gained fat.

This is me at my heaviest I have ever weighed in my life 160lbs and a year before that at 120lbs.

Something surprised me, my attitude towards my body had completely changed to what it was a year ago. I was not skinny and yet…. I felt happy I felt good! I felt sexy and proud! Allowing myself to eat changed me completely! I was no longer clouded with insecurities I was doing this for the bigger picture and I was loving every step of the way.

It was now time for ‘PREP’ this is the phase where you slowly reduce your calories and intorduce cardio. It was time to strip away the fat to see what shape lay beneath.
This was the hardeest part.
But slowly and surely the weight was going down and muscle started to show.
I had abs!

And a booty:

And I had a good shape!

35lbs of weight loss later and the excitement/nerves started to creep in a few days before my show.
Was I going to be ready? Do I have enough muscle? Maybe I’m too skinny… maybe I’m still fat…. What are the other girls going to look like? In the end I told my self to shut up and enjoy the journey! What ever I happens I should just have fun.

Show day came and I came 4th! Out of 10 amazing girls I was top 5!. I was over the moon, because I had done this, I did it all on my own.

I get it now why people do this, it is truly exhilarating. To physically see your hard work paying off.

And I learnt something. No matter what size, shape, body fat %, you are…. At the end of the day, the only thing that makes you beautiful is WHO you are. 😊

Thank you for reading x

In my next post i will talk about what happened to me after the show, my plans for future shows and 're-bound' weight . Stay tuned! :)