Photo by Dan Kennedy. Thanx Dan!

This December I participated in my fist bikini fitness competition.  This is not to be confused with the figure competition that I previously competed in while in Stuttgart.  As common with most tests of determination,  there were times throughout the course of prepping that I asked myself, is this all worth it or should I just walk away? Here I highlight the struggles I faced in hopes of encouraging those going through the same process to stick with it!  It’s so worth it!

Turning Point One: Thanksgiving and Travel

Training for a fitness competition has its challenges and those challenges are only amplified during the holidays and complicated by travel.  I’m not saying the availability of clean foods is a problem. It isn’t. You can eat clean just about anywhere. Even McDonald’s serves salad and grilled chicken. But for me, food is usually a focal point of my travels. One of my favorite ways to explore a new city is through its local cuisine. It took training for this competition for me to realize that eating, along with exploring, is easily one of my favorite pastimes.

So when I traveled to San Francisco, a city known for its haute gastronomy, for Thanksgiving, I knew I was in for a test of self-control. Who wants to go to San Francisco and be surrounded by world class cuisine and have to order a salad?  Keeping in mind that I don’t like lettuce or raw greens anyway.  I was looking for some grub at a Grab and Go refrigerator shelf at a Wal-greens in Fisherman’s Wharf.  The Grab and Go hosted the typical selection of disposable plasticwear of salads, sandwiches, & pasta salads. But I viewed the selection as a container of carbs, container of fats, and container with a little proteins. I knew I hit a turning point in my dieting when I started seeing food by their make up of protein, carbs, and fats rather than the actual article of food.  Fortunately, a belle can always count on coastal areas being fish friendly. The Bay area has so much fish diversity and eating healthy was a pleasure more than a struggle.

Turning Point Two: Unexpected Social Events

My Post-it note wedding invitation.

My co-worker comes into my office at 3pm on a Thursday talking about how he “cannot stand going another day without being married” to his all around Amazing girlfriend. Crazy romantic huh?  He plans a whirlwind, spur-of-the-moment proposal and subsequent wedding in Vegas for the very next day.  Of course I wanted to be there. But it destroyed my training!  After waking for my 5 am workout, putting in a full days worth of work, then going to Las Vegs, I was awake for 23 hours. I ate at some iconic greasy spoon resturuant. Drank my fill. Didn’t workout a bit over the weekend. Monday morning guilt came when I stepped on the scale.  Three pounds gained since Friday! Fortunately, at six weeks out, I considered myself far enough from stage time for a minor slip up…so I thought.  The day before the competition, my work hosted a dinner party. Food was being passed around, toasts were made and I couldn’t even drink the water.

Me, the groom’s friend, the groom, the bride, and the bride’s friend.

Turning Point Three: The South

The weekend after thanksgiving I traveled back home to The South for a family event. Who wants to go home to The South and not eat the glorious deliciousness? All I could do was think about all the marvelous food that I couldn’t eat. I’m in my food element here.  I can’t help but be enticed by all the familiar restaurants and menu items not available in Southern California. Cracker Barrel, O’Charley’s, Cheddars, Ritzies, Rally’s instead of Pollo locos and Del Tacos.  It was really being back in my food element that I considered just throwing all my work away to enjoy eating!

On the plane, I found myself almost to the point of anger watching McDonald’s being passed around a family of passengers sitting around me. The kid sitting next to me licked his Dorito dusted fingers while he took a break from eating his delightfully smelling Panini. And there I was eating hard boiled eggs.  I started to have a food panic on the plane.  Panicked to the point of buying $7 mini bag of kettle cooked potato chips and putting mustard on them.  I could literally feel the calories fill me up and bring me back to life just like you can visually witness flowers perk up after placing them in a vase of water.  Yes. I broke down. I ate something I shouldn’t have.  Not because I wanted to eat junk…Potato chips wouldn’t have been on my food of desire list.  But maybe a lack of constraint due to being hungry and having few other options!  Then I felt guilty and imagined the love handles growing in the spaces I’d worked off.  After that, I decided to make a list of ll the foods I couldn’t wait to eat when training was all over.

What does it cost?

 

Meals, Gear, and Training

$100 registration the bikini show

$250 Waxing – two separate sessions. Apparently you have to
go three times to get the cycle of hairs…pretty sure this was a marketing ploy to keep me coming back. Other girls just shaved. After my first competition I swore I’d never wax again but for whatever reason, I forgot that vow. I guess it’s something like hen women have terrible deliveries and swear never to have more babies but forget the excruciating pain and go through it five more times.

$100 Spray tan.  Yes, black girls spray tan too. Black girls benefit from the cuts in their muscles being highlighted and their skin tone being all one smooth, even color just like everyone else.

Goodness! I’m sure I could have saved by shaving instead of waxing, finding a cheaper hair option and more frugal food options. For the next competition I’ll already have a bikini, heals, and jewelry. And that’s just the financial cost. Intagible costs also exist. Costs like the meal planning, and prepping required to never get caught without enough healthy food to eat like what happened to me on the plane. Or the mood shifts due to carb and water depletion.  There’s having to go to bed at 8pm in order to get up at 4:30.  It’s having to skip evenings out with friends because the the main focus of the night is drinking caloric drinks and eating poorly.

The cost of Getting Lean is the most inclusive article I’ve found that really details all the effort required to get the Michell Lewin body I covet.  But as I sit and contemplate my 2015 goals, I wonder if I’m getting as much out of the training as I put in. Do I value the abs I’ll gain more than I value sampling amazing food? Do I prefer abs over milkshakes? Biceps or Waffles?  Is there a way to have it all? Is the fit-looking body really worth the effort and sacrifice?

Below is where I’d like to be.  Very Lean and strong. I should be able to lift things if needed or run quickly for long periods of time.  It’s going to take actually weighing my food instead of guessing. Probably doing two-a-days a few times a week to get cardio in, and serious commitment to my diet.

Below is me during training. When I commit to a regimented healthy lifestyle of planned deliberate eating choices and consistent weight training with some slip ups here & there.  I usually need a coach or friend to keep me focused and motivated.

 

Below is me normally. It’s  a regular part of my moderately active lifestyle.  It includes eating whatever I want but running or Zumba three times a week,  walking the dog, taking the stairs, parking further away from the door, and doing some push ups and crunches here and there.

So is it worth it to be a fitness competitor? It all depends on my priorities and values this upcoming year.  As for now, the jury is still out.