I am a former collegiate athlete. After graduating college, I had nowhere to play ball. I had no direction relating to my physical activity. I was very inactive and ate a lot. After several years of this behavior, a pregnancy and birth, I put on a lot of weight. In December of 2008, I decided to take back control and get myself into shape. I was tired of trying to hide my body. I was tired of feeling out of control. I was tired of feeling weak and I knew that I was the only one who could do something about it.

I started my weight-loss, life-regaining journey with at home workouts. Although I was a former collegiate athlete, I had no clue how to use a gym or eat properly and I was too ashamed to go to a gym in the shape that I was in. I didn’t want people to see how horribly out of shape I was. After six months of doing workout programs at home, I lost 54 pounds and a ton of inches. Although, I lost a lot of weight, I needed to build muscle and reshape my body. I was ready to head to the gym.

My first year and a half at the gym was wasted as I spent my time on cardio equipment wishing I was brave enough to go lift weights. As I walked/jogged on the treadmill, I longingly watched others squat, lunge, bench press and do all kinds of weight exercises. I wanted to join them, but I had no idea what to do.

I worked with a couple of different personal trainers who unfortunately only seemed interested in my money and not in giving me the help I desperately needed. I joined a bikini/figure team for a year. I changed my physique while working with the team, but I hated nearly every second of it. I was always exhausted and never felt like I was good enough because I could rarely complete everything on my plan. Often it called for 6-10 hours of cardio a week, 5 days of weight training, and more orange roughy and asparagus than I care to admit.

After one year with the team, I decided not to rejoin because it required far more of me than I was willing to give. I quickly regained all of the fat I lost in my year with them. I needed to find something else. I wasn’t sure what. I tried a few other programs. I would follow them for 12 weeks or so but it always seemed like a struggle for me. Finally, in 2013 I decided that my goal for the year was to find a sustainable workout and nutrition plan. I needed a plan that was mine. I wanted a plan that I enjoy and that can be tweaked depending on my current goals.

I joined GetGlutes.com (created and run by Bret Contreras, Kellie Davis, and Marianne Kane) in early 2013. I loved the workout programs, the member support, and the fantastic engagement and coaching from Bret, Kellie and Marianne. I was getting stronger (hitting a 400 lb barbell glute bridge and recently a 310 pound dead lift...what?!!), but I wasn’t getting leaner because I hadn’t yet taken control of my nutrition.

My friend, Hazel Egizi, told me about an eating plan called Carb Nite. She recommended that I look into it and that I work with nutritionist and coach Brian Schmidt if I needed help creating a plan for me. In April I decided to take her advice. I began working with Brian in April and it is the best decision I have ever made regarding my nutrition.

The combination of the GetGlutes workouts and working with Brian on my nutrition has transformed my body. I look and feel better than I ever have in my life. I have decided to see how much more I can change my physique. I registered for the 2014 BodyBuilding.com Challenge and know that I will make incredible changes in my physique by April 7th.

Although I started bodybuilding/working out as a way to lose weight, it has become so much more to me. I wake up at 4:00 am every week day and go to the gym. It is my time to work on me. During my workout I listen to a podcast or a YouTube video on a topic I want to learn more about. I feed my mind while I train my body. I rarely spend longer than an hour in the gym (including warm up and cool down). My training gives me incredible energy that fuels me for the rest of my day. It makes me a happier and kinder person. It has also been a way for me to help other women who struggle with the same issues that I did. They have seen my transformation and believe that they can also transform themselves. I can’t express how happy it makes me when I see another woman begin to believe in herself and start taking action to improve an area of her life.
Bodybuilding/Training has given me strength of character as well as physical strength. I have realized that if I can completely transform myself the way that I have over these past five years, then I can apply the same effort and consistency to all other areas of my life and great changes will happen.