My Competition Story

Getting ready for the Iron Man Magazine Naturally Championship and competing in the competition was such an amazing experience. I can’t believe that I actually did it. There are so many amazing people that have encouraged me and helped me along with this journey that I am going to list EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!! Without them I don’t think I would’ve still done it.

I have my Twitter Fitness family: @babytatten, @lilfitprincess, @FIT4LIFE2020 @beccasgym, @tracykirby55, @DonaldDDiva, @Sharde2focused, @4amaven, @CommittedTrain, @Bionic_Black, @mrgeecue, @obarmuscle, @Bodybldrmarcus, @SamuelFrauens, @OBARmuscle, @mercedesfitness, @CarrieNyden, @iamkendra86, @elleboogiee, @bikiniorbust, etc (this list can go on forever lol)…

The Rest of the crew: Romalice Reed, Godfrey Cortes, Ryan Liming, Kashka Clay, Donna Spinola, My big cousin Earnest, The VSP Crew: Dan, Joy, Jason, Juan, Hayley, etc., Kemi E, and MY FAMILY…

A BIG THANK YOU TO DRE!!! You stuck it out and sat with me all day!! Thanks for all your love and support! You’re awesome.
I know I’m forgetting so many other people I hope they can forgive me….

Ok so here it is:

Mid October is when I entered the competition and I was really hesitant about doing it but I thought why not. So I started to diet and took my first progress pic in November and I looked like this:

As you can tell I had a lot of work to do 🙂

So for the next few months I ate CLEAN and worked out to the point where I couldn’t even move. I would wake up at 6am to be at the gym by 7 and workout til about 8:30 and then go to class from 10-2:15 and then go home lol….I did that everyday about 5-6 days a week for about the first month just to get my body into a routine. So for the next 8 weeks I did Metabolic Conditioning classes @ Velocity Sports Performance, lifted weights, ate right, and here is the finished product:

So the last few weeks up until the competition sucked major donkey balls (YES! Donkey balls). It sucked because at this point I wanted “real” food. I wanted chips, cupcakes, candy, burgers, etc. I wanted to eat everything I could get my hands on. The week of the competition wasn’t as bad as I thought until Thursday rolled around. On Thursday I had started drinking Metamucil to start pulling the water out of muscles and drop water weight. I was so dehydrated that the more water I drank the more my head hurt. I could feel the water being pulled out of my quads and my arms. Friday I couldn’t drink any water at all especially if I wanted to dry out. So I started eating 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal and 2 oz of chicken breast every 2 hours. Trying to eat 1/2 cup of oatmeal dry was HARD! I didn’t really sleep Friday night because I had to dry out and my alarm would go off every 2 hours just to make sure I was up to eat another 1/2 cup.

When I did try and catch a few zzz’s I was in pain because I could feel the water being pulled out of my muscles. TRUST ME it was bearable it just hurt. So I had packed my bag and was just ready to get to:

So all competitors had to be there at 8am for the meeting and 8:30 am check in..Pre-judging was at 10 am. So I checked in and found the nearest bathroom to do my hair since the expensive ass hair people took up all the plugs in our dressing area 😦 Hair was done make-up was done the only thing left to do was get ready for pre-judging. So we were lined up in our Class A,B,C,D (for my people that don’t know what classes are: it’s just based on your height). So the expediters backstage sent out Class A and B together so the judges were a little frustrated because we (class B) had to leave the stage and come back out. We did our model turns and then all lined up and did quarter turns. Filed off stage and were told to be back at 3:15.

So I walked around the expo with my BFF Dre and we walked around FOREVER!!! He did this max rep competition where you had to bench press your weight as many times as you can in 30 seconds. We laughed because one guy who weighed 121 pounds did his weight about 41 times so everybody after him was like pretty much forget it. I really wanted to take pics with Alicia Marie, Ava Cowan, and Jamie Eason but the line for Bodybuilding.com was longer than the line to get into the Expo so I was a little disappointed. I wanted to take a pic with Lou Ferrigno but he was charging $20 a pic. I said KICK ROCKS LOU!!! We watched the powerlifting competition and some of the other competitions that were there. It was a really fun expo.

So 3:15 came and it was time to get ready again. Jay Cutler (NOT FOOTBALL LOL) got on stage and spoke for an hour then it was time for finals. So they started with the Men and each competitor had 60 secs of posing…I was so cold backstage and just ready to get everything over with cause by this point I was HUNGRY and getting frustrated because Bikini Bite was causing me to stick to the seat I was sitting in lol…So the Pro Tan crew got me all greased up and I just waited back stage until the guys were over since Figure was last.

While the men were doing their posing the crowd was HUGE!!! By the time I came out the crowd was NON-EXISTENT!!! We were supposed to be done at 6 but we didn’t get done until almost 7. Here is the VERDICT: So here were my stats on competition day: 34-26-38 3/4 weighed in at 129 with 13% body fat… When I started I was: 34-28-39 1/2 136 with 21% body fat. So I am now about 117 pounds of muscle!!

This experience was priceless! It was worth every bit of sweat, tears, frustration, and hunger. I had the 3 D’s: Determination, Dedication, and Discipline. It helped me get through it all.

I got on that stage without paying for a trainer, a posing coach, an expensive suit, or Pro Tan. I did it all on my own. You have to learn from your mistakes and find out what works best for you. Just because it worked for someone else doesn’t mean that it will work for you.

Now it’s time to BULK UP and lean out again for my next competition in June. I’m going to compete in the West Coast Classic. Competing is really expensive. So time to save up and shoot for the stars!!

I AM OFFICIALLY AN NPC FIGURE COMPETITOR AND WINNER!! NOBODY CAN TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME!!

P.S. I can still feel the water being pulled out of my muscles 😉

P.P.S. MAKE SURE TO PICK UP THE MARCH IRON MAN MAGAZINE AS ALL THE COMPETITION PHOTOS ARE IN IT

The person behind the blog…

As you all know that I’ve been preparing for my first figure competition. It’s been a long road since late October- early November. I’m only 18 days away from the Iron Man Magazine Naturally Championship. The past few months I have been dieting and working hard to get ready for my competition. I have been on a somewhat strict diet only eating 1200 calories for about 8 weeks and then dropping down to 1000 calories. Lately I have been eating in between 600-1000 trying to lose the last few pounds. For competition I want to be 120-125 and now I am currently at 130. I started at 135 got down to 126 and shot back up to 134 really quick. But I’ve managed to get my weight back down.

I haven’t taken any protein supplements or creatine. The only supplements I have taken are: BCAA’s, Glutamine, and CLA. I drink almost 2 gallons of water/day and green tea unsweetened *YUCK*

Here is what my day looks like:

Wake up 6-7am

Breakfast: 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 2 pieces of wheat toast, 1 cup of almond milk

Workout for about 1.5- 2 hours (depending on the body part and how much weight that needs to be used) BCAA supplement and glutamine right after

Post Workout Meal: 2 turkey burger patties, 5 egg whites and 1 egg yolk with chopped bell pepper and onion and a teaspoon of crushed red pepper, 1 1/2 cup of almond milk

Snack: 1 can of tuna, 1/2 avocado, 1 chobani greek yogurt with carrots

Lunch: 3 oz of chicken breast, 1/2 cup fresh green beans or zucchini, brown rice

Dinner: 3 oz of chicken breast, 1/2 cup of veggies, and a yam or baked potato

Bed @ about 10 or 11pm

Sometimes I prefer to eat veggies most of the day. But I did cut out salt completely since I’ve started prepping. So far so good.

Dieting isn’t as hard as I thought it would be but you better believe that my post competition meal will be serious. I’m hoping to place in the Top 5. My goal is to get my Pro Card in Figure by the end of the year.

Below the pic in the red was taken in November. The pic in blue was taken yesterday you can see my progress.

If you’re in the LA area on January 29 come and check me out at: