In my early 20's I spent most of my time what any other person in their early 20's would do... which was spend most of their weekends with close friends at social gatherings. My time over the week was spent working a full time job (40hrs a week). It was a never ending cycle of unhealthy habits. I had felt so tired from the weekend that it carried over throughout the week. I very rarely got a full 8 hours of sleep and I noticed that slowly i began to put on weight. My skin and hair was absolutely terrible from lack of vitamins. I was a complete mess.
In 2007 I weighed 165-170lbs. I decided I was tired of feeling tired, weak and embarrassed that I couldn't run or hike over 10 minutes before i felt out of breath. I cut out junk food and soda which made a significant difference but unfortunately continued to go out on my weekends and have a few cocktails.
In December 2010 I ended up weighing 132lbs. Keep in mind - i'm only 5'0! I decided to finally cut out the alcohol and decided to try to get in the best shape of my life.
In March 2011 - i went to Thailand to train Muay Thai, Western Boxing and complete a Boot Camp for 3 weeks. I left Thailand weighing 118lbs.
Thailand triggered a series of events that would change my life forever! I continued to train in MMA, Muay Thai and Boxing until late 2012. I decided to take myself to a different level of fitness and begin competing in the NPC and the rest is history :)
As of today (7/3/2013) - I've competed in 2 shows. Both of which i placed top 5!!
It doesn't stop here for me :) I've got a whole new set of goals i'd love to achieve! Pro-Card I'm coming for ya ;)
It's a complete lifestyle change. Physically I feel unstoppable. I've learned a lot about my body and continue to learn more about it. Since I've begun this lifestyle, i see everything in a completely different light. I've been approaching everything that comes my way with a positive attitude and it really does spread out into other aspects of your life. Bodybuilding has taught me to appreciate small progress (which again began to spread into other aspects of my life), and to value hard work. It's helped me become more disciplined, and focused. Most of all, I love being able to inspire and motivate other individuals who thought there was absolutely no hope and no turning back from where they currently are. If I could inspire/motivate and change at least one persons life from my own personal experience then i can sleep happy :)