I worked out pretty steadily from age 14-24. I remember at a young age being so determined to work out in a gym and after begging my parents, I got my first membership as soon as I could at age 14. I was the only 14 year old girl that I knew with a gym membership and a magazine subscription to Muscle & Fitness. For ten years I worked out consistantly eventually doing 5ks, 10ks, and some tri-athlons by my early 20's.
I fell off the wagon around age 24 when I had my first child and started eating whatever I wanted to throughout my pregnancy. When my daughter was about one year old I had lost 30lbs of pregnancy weight gain with the exception of 10lbs. My body was slim again yet proportioned differently than before but I never really got back into shape. I knew that my husband and I would try for another child so I figured, what was the point in training hard just to gain the weight again. A second pregnancy came and went and again, I ate whatever I wanted. Exactly 2.5 years and 2 days after the birth of my daughter, I had my son.
On January 26, 2012 I underwent a preventative bilateral mastectomy when my son was only 5 months old. I carry a genetic mutation that puts me at high risk of breast and ovarian cancer called BRCA1. At this point, I weighed about 140lbs on my 5'4" frame. I had never weighed this much in my life. I was not happy with myself and what I let happen to my body. It could also be said that I was slightly depressed from my mastectomy.
Things all changed for me in May of 2012 when I realized that I was increasingly unhappy with the way I looked in ANY outfit that I tried on. I was still wearing my maternity pants and baggy t-shirts. This was not who I wanted to be!
In June of 2012, I found Jamie Eason's 12 week Live Fit Trainer on bodybuilding.com and completed it. It was a great experience and by the end enabled me to throw out all maternity clothes from my closet! This program was the introduction to a healthy lifestyle that I needed. By November 2012, I had decided to train for my first NPC Bikini Competition however, I knew that my training would be interupted with one more planned preventative surgery.
On December 17, 2012, I had a complete hysterectomy to reduce my risk of ovarian cancer and was put into surgical menopause at the ripe young age of 28.
I want to be a role model for women like me who have some sort of outside element challenging them not only mentally but also physically making it nearly impossible to gain any ground. Surgical menopause and hormone replacement therapy won't keep me out of the game. In fact, the coach just put me in!