5 things I wished I would have known before I did a Figure Competition; a few thoughts from an airplane.

1. You will never look at food the same way again. Food now is just protein, carbs and fats. Food is more about function than pleasure. You will no longer just go out for a meal and allow someone to order for you. You will not be able to sit back and enjoy food. This would be very stressful for me.

2. You will never look at your body the same. Once you have been extremely lean, anything else is “fat” or “ out of shape”. Even if you are leaner than 80% of the population, you just aren’t hard core enough. I would check for my abs 100X a day. Getting them was so gratifying, keeping them was exhausting. Losing the sight of them was devastating. You will always compare yourself to how you looked on stage in 2013 for 5 minutes and forever keep those photo’s in your iphone and feel ashamed.

3. You will have to water load, take diuretics and then go without water to dry out and it is horrible. You will be lying on the floor half naked with 100 other tanned half naked women so you don’t ruin your spray tan. Oh the spray tan- the freezing cold spray tan where you stand naked in tents with all the other bodybuilders- male and female while you dry. No one even bats an eye! Annnnnd we ladies- have to pee into a paper funnel so you don’t sprinkle or drip on your tan! It’s a trip! 

4. Your parents, friends and family do not want to spend $60 to wait 3 hours before it’s your turn to go on stage only to watch you flex for 5 minutes. Don’t invite them. 😂

5. You will never be good enough. Even if you place 1st, you will want to get right back in the gym to improve - and for what? A little trophy and some free protein powder. I spent thousands of dollars on my competitions and I didn’t get much in return for my hard work and money. In fact, I could have easily just trained and got in really good shape to go an a beach vacation. 

**Bonus: you will find yourself posing like a figure competitor in every photo - it’s still my go to way to stand for the camera and it is so annoying! 

Many of you may disagree but your opinion is not mine.
I appreciate the full experience regardless of the negative aftermath. Those Figure Competitions proved to me that I could do hard things! I followed a goal until the end, even when it was hard and I wanted to quit. I didn’t quit.
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For that I am grateful.