Growing up I always admired the physiques of fitness models and would day dream of having my own some day. Throughout high school I remained active participating in many sports and outdoor activities but always wanted to achieve more with my body.

I was married very young and was very discouraged by those around me to participate in the fitness industry at all. With that my dream faded and it wasn't until halfway through my pregnancy that I truly realized how important it had been to me to achieve this particular goal.

I began hitting the gym very regularly and continued to clean up my diet throughout the remainder of my pregnancy. I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and was back to the gym six days later. I was hooked.

It didn't take long before I began to make some major changes in my body. I became addicted to the rush of a good workout and obsessed with watching my body transform. Fitness modeling had always been something I wanted to pursue and I knew it was time to set a date.

I began to really clean up my diet in October and set my date for December 20th, 2009. I maintained a five day training split and added a double cardio session a few times a week. Preparing for that first photo shoot was by far one of the hardest things I had ever done.

However, it was also one of the most if not the most empowering experience in my life. I remember waking up the morning of my shoot, looking in the mirror and seeing a very defined four pack.

Focus was the key for me in achieving this goal. I would weekly evaluate my progress and make changes where I felt there could be room for improvement. It became very evident that I needed to start filtering out some of the negative influences in my life.

I began to only share with those who truly cared about my success and happiness in this life and tried to ignore the negative influences from those around me. Every day I looked forward to hitting the gym.

I became very addicted to the positive energy coming from others around me who were also trying to transform their bodies. I learned a lot about myself through this process both physically and mentally.