BREAKING THE CYCLE

As some of you may know, I am currently six weeks into my diet for my very first fitness model competition! This is the first ever serious diet that I have embarked on and I wanted to share with you a few things that I have found so far.

            For those who are not familiar with bodybuilding, one of the aims each competitor will have before they step onto the stage is to be at a very low body fat percentage. They need to be very lean to show off all the hard earned muscle! There are many different ways to achieve this, but unlike regular diets, competitors need to ensure minimal muscle wastage.

            So six weeks ago I began my journey. Naturally my caloric intake was decreased, basically meaning I was to be eating less food during the day than I was used to. Before my diet began I had worked my metabolism up to a point that I could enjoy food pretty much whenever I pleased throughout the day. Majority of my food was always very healthy anyway, so I have not struggled in adjusting to eating different foods, I still eat the same foods, just a bit less. What I found to be the BIGGEST struggle of all was overcoming and breaking old eating habits that I had. Two of the things that tortured me for the first four weeks was that I could not eat out of boredom, and that I could not eat pointlessly late at night or constantly snack throughout the day. It was honestly a constant battle in my head at some stages. I won’t lie to you, the lead up to my competition has been very hard at some stages, however it has also been extremely rewarding and I know I am a stronger person from it all. Every time I overcame a craving or steered myself away from the kitchen late at night, I woke up feeling so thankful that I hadn’t undone all of my hard work. This may all sound very extreme, but diet is a precise science, and bodybuilding is what I now believe to be an extreme sport. I want to stand on that stage knowing that I couldn’t have possibly done any more! After all it was my choice to compete and this is all part of the process!

            It was in my fifth week of my prep that I started to notice myself not even thinking about snacks, cravings or late night eating anymore. It took my body a whole month to break its old habits and routines. I can’t tell you how much easier life is now!

            I guess the main point I want to make in this blog is that if you’re starting to make healthier changes to your lifestyle and they seem really difficult or impossible at first, don’t give in and don’t give up. Every single time you make a better decision you will become stronger and it will become easier to face that situation the next time it arises. Give yourself a few weeks or months and that old habit will be done and dusted and you will feel so proud of yourself for your progress. Whether you’re trying to quit smoking or trying to quit eating fried foods, the process is the same. Day by day, step by step, decision by decision. You can do anything you set your mind to, just have patience for yourself!