Follow Dani as she makes her WBFF Diva Fit Model Debut!

Reflections of a Competitor...

I have always been a competitor. As far back as I can remember, I have always loved a challenge.  It is motivation for me.  My parents always encouraged me and my siblings to push and rise to a challenge. As an athlete, fast pitch softball was my sport of choice from 7^th grade through college and that satisfied my need for competition. In college, I chose to study nutrition as I have always had an interest in health, and wellness. One of my professors made a comment one day in class that impacted me.  She said, “No one would take a Nutritionist seriously if they don’t look the part. Your appearance is your biggest marketing tool in this field. Do you look like what you teach?” No matter how shallow that may have come across to some, and feelings it may have hurt in class that day…It stuck with me and I have always striven to find ways to “maintain my marketer”. Not solely for business purposes, but so my clients would listen and be open to what recommendations I had to offer to help them.

After college, I tried various types of activities to challenge me. I stayed in the gym, looked into various sports leagues and fun ways to keep me active and eventually taught pole fitness classes. Once in my career as a maternal and child health nutritionist, life took over. Life happened, stress increased and metabolism decreased.   I saw changes in my body that I have always prided for ”looking the same way in clothes as it did out of them”.  Up to this point, I never really had an issue with my weight or eating well, and took extra liberties with food because of it.  The truth is, clothes can hide a lot. I felt weighed down. While others thought I looked good, I hold myself to my own standard, a critical one…and I was not happy with what I saw. 

In 2008, my friend Ron invited me down to Trinidad and Tobago for Carnival.  It opened my eyes to this amazing celebration of life, energy and beauty.  Bikini’s and Beads….which is NOT what Carnival is all about, but a segment of costumes that I adore. They allow me to feel sexy, free and confident.  These are areas that have for some time made me anxious.  Since discovering Carnival, it has been my annual therapy. An extra benefit is that it pushes me to stay fit because when carnival comes around, you want to fit into whatever costume you choose. Which, will most likely be smaller and skimpier than the one you wore the previous year.  It forces you to be comfortable in your skin…something I have not always been.

I was introduced to my sorority sister and coach Malenna by my friend Sharilyn who had competed previously and was treating her Carnival 2015 preparation as a competition prep.  What an excellent idea!  I began to work with Malenna through online coaching and saw changes in my body I had not seen in years of working with personal trainer’s standing right next to me.  During this time, I branched out as a Nutrition Consultant with NutriDS, LLC, got a website and began to ponder ways to market myself outside of maternal and child health.  While following Malenna’s program I started playing with the idea of competing due to another friend’s encouragement. Gabbie had also competed and looked amazing. After Carnival I decided to go for it.

  I attended my first fitness competition, Fitness Atlantic in 2015 to get an idea of what to expect.  My stomach was in knots watching these women of various ages and from different walks of life that had prepared for differing lengths of time, strut with confidence across this stage, opening themselves up to judgement on their appearance. It takes a lot of nerve and every one of them deserve applause!  When I saw Malenna’s team “The Elite Heat” on stage, their ease and confidence just stood out.  2 of the team members won their pro-cards that night.  I was sold.

I did not know what I was in for….definitely under estimated the toughness of this task.  This journey has been full of highs and lows, self-doubt, lots of faith, tears, frustration, breakthroughs, breakdowns, cravings, boring meals, research, observation, comparisons, shaky moments, lots of sweat, LOTS of laundry, compliments/criticisms, patience, get off your ass-ness (lol) and learning to “Trust the Process”. I am proud that even in my weakest moments, I was able to keep my corny sense of humor. 

Choices that supported my goals had to be made on a daily basis. Prepping meals multiple times a week to not be swayed at work by doughnuts, chips, pizza, etc.  I chose to miss out on social events where I knew I would be tempted to eat and drink things that would not help achieve my goal.  That is not to say that I did not fall short at times.  Being located in Connecticut, I drove at least 4 hours a weekend for this.

Surprisingly, the hardest part to swallow has been opinions. I was told before I began to listen to your coach.  Everyone is going to have something to say, different philosophies, different ideas of what you should look like, but you have to stay the course.  THAT WAS THE TRUTH and it caused for a lot of frustrating days for me.  Days I would stare at myself in the mirror.  You have no idea what your body will do or how it will react to things. What works for some, may not work for all.  It is a lot of trial and error.  Working in a health care setting, I was looking at and counseling on Body Mass Index’s (BMI) and Body Fat charts on a daily basis.  I was forced to throw the idea of that out the window because in this sport, NO ONE CARES. Those numbers means NOTHING on the stage. What matters is the package you present.  As much as I teach “the scale is the devil” and not to allow what it says to weigh so heavy on your shoulders, it took a long time for me to walk that talk.  Acceptance of this has helped improved my counseling and my clients love me for it.  There was so much I did not understand as Sports Nutrition is a different monster than Maternal and Child Nutrition, that I even took a Sports Nutrition course.  It helped my sanity.

As I approach my debut as a WBFF Fit Model competitor, I’m excited, nervous, proud and stronger mentally than when I began this journey.  Competing requires sacrifice and is a team effort. I couldn’t have done this alone. I thank you all for your support, encouragement and a listening ear when all I could talk about was competing.

As challenging as it has been, I have learned so much about myself and I am already proud of me.  I feel like I have done what many others have opinions about but will never do. As I approach my 40’s,  I am the fittest I have been since my 20’s.

 

Thank you to my family, LPTS, Shorblu, Malenna and The Elite Heat, Crystal Marcus and YUMA AND my support system near and far!

It’s me against me.  I’m ready for the stage!

Follow Sabrina as she makes her WBFF Diva Bikini Debut!!

The grass is not always greener...

For me, the journey to stepping on stage has been emotionally trans formative as it has been physically.

Growing up I was criticized constantly for being too skinny.  People would make comments about it relentlessly - "Ugh, you're SO skinny", "Go eat a cheeseburger","Easy for you to say, you're skinny!"  As many comments as the people made about wanting to be skinny, I began hating myself for it, and became extremely self -conscious of how long and lean I was.

Everyone is met with obstacles in life, and I was faced with a few that really knocked me down and kept me down for a while.  But after each one I pressed forward stronger and learned to grow from each challenge I was faced with. The problem was that as much as I had accomplished and as much adversity as I had overcome, inside I still felt like that skinny self- conscious little girl I had always been.  I couldn't shake her.  

For me, there is something that translates from physical strength into being able to feel confident in all other areas of your life. The first time I stepped into the weight room at the gym, I had not idea what I was doing. I just anted to get in shape for summer.  What it turned into was something so much greater than I had ever imagined.  The more work I put in at the gym to becoming physically stronger, the more my emotional strength befitted. 

After a while, I started asking myself "what next" - I loved the changes I was seeing in my mind and body and loved that every day I was becoming a better version of myself than the day before.  With that in mind, I decided I wanted to start competing and joined the Elite Heat to surround myself with like minded women searching for the same things I was.

One thing I know for sure is that this competition is not the end of my journey; it's the very beginning. When you are on a mission to be the very best you can be, there's no tellin where your drive will take you.

Follow Jennifer as she makes her WBFF Diva Fitness Model Debut!!!

The world is my stage..... 

My fitness journey has been just that - a journey.  A journey filled with self doubt and fear.  I've been struggling to lose weight my entire adult life.  I'm a confident girl, but I've never been able to look in the mirror and feel confident about my body.  I would look at the other girls and friends and think , " I wish I had that small waist or tight stomach", but in truth wouldn't stick to a diet long enough to have it. I am an aspiring actress and at the end of the day, the last thought I want to have when I don't book a role is ' Is it because of the way I look?'  My weight has fluctuated over the years but never to a point where I felt like it was my best.  This is where I had it wrong.  I needed to worry less about my weight and more about my lifestyle.  I had to ask myself what does it take to have the body I want.  Well, for starters it takes a lifestyle, not a quick fix diet that will put me back in the same position once it was over.  In the past, I've had personal trainer, worked out 5-6 days a week but I learned all that was useless unless I decided to change the way I eat.

2013 I decided to give it another go.  I was looking for a personal trainer in which I could feel comfortable with and who would motivate me to push myself.   I met Malenna Jan 2013, and shortly learned that she was just what I needed and more.  Although, she had been consistent in doing her part, I was not.  I still wasn't giving it 100 percent.  IT'S HARD. VERY HARD. Food makes me happy.  I needed something sweet everyday to fulfill my cravings.  I started slowly winging myself off tings such as pastas, breads, and alcohol.  After about 6 months of training with her, she started telling me more about her team and about competing.  I wasn't really listening because I didn't think someone like me had the will power to get onstage to compete in a fitness competition.  I didn't think I could be determined enough to say not to my cocktails, bagels, cakes, cookies, and so forth.  Actually, I didn't want to. But how could I get the body I wanted if I wasn't willing to make sacrifices? Well I couldn't.  I would ask her questions and even started searching online for what it took to compete but I stayed quiet for so long about it because i as afraid of saying it out loud. Me compete?  Yeah right.

About 3 months ago, I still wasn't making the progress I wanted to make so I told Malenna that I thought I wanted to compete.  Without hesitation, she said, " Okay. I know you can do it"  She has had so much confidence in me from the beginning and it's because of her confidence and faith in me, that I am doing this. I knew at the end of the day, if I set a goal to compete in a fitness competition, that I would do my absolute hardest because I didn't want to be the 'big girl' onstage next to all the other sexy athletes.

Here I am eleven weeks later and I have to honestly admit that it's been probably the hardest experience of my life.  I struggled the entire time and my biggest one was saying no to sweets.  Sugar is really addictive.  Yes, I failed at time. No I didn't devour cakes and cookies like I used to. The most important thing is I really gave it all I got.  This has definitely been a learning experience.  Do I have the body I always imagined?  No, I don't but I do have the best body I have ever had in my life. I am still earning and struggling.  This isn't the end for me.  In fact, I wanted to compete to make a new beginning for myself.  I wanted to learn self control and discipline so that I could input that in other ares of my life as well.  If I want the body of my dreams. I have to control what I put into it - bottom line.  I've lost more than 20 pounds, and will continue to get better from here.  After this show is over, I will take time to reflect on my mistakes and work hard to get better.  This isnt' over and I'm looking forward to living a git and healthy lifestyle.

Follow Marjorie as she makes her WBFF Diva Bikini Debut !!!

A Different Race to the Finish

Fitness, working out and body maintenance has always been at the foreground of my life.  Whether it was running half marathons, bikram yoga or spinning classes, I've always been physically active.  But over the years, I had reached a plateau in my owrkout regiments and began to lose interest in exercising.  It became more of a chore instead of something fun to do.

Two years ago, I began gathering information on the world of bodybuilding and competing.  I had been following a few professional athletes on social meda for some time now, and decided that I was up for the challenge.  Following their tranformation and how they morphed into having these beatiful physiques made me want to compete even more.  I figured, " I can do this. Lift some weights, eat some chicken and I'm good right?" WRONG!

This process has been a true test of my will, determination, and tenacity.  But how much fun I've had throughout this entire process negates all tof the days I wanted to give up.  I've also found comraderie and friendship amongst my fitness/compeititon teammates of the Elite Heat.

The changes I've gone through physically and mentally over the past 7 months have been paramount. Hitting the competition stage in less than 2 weeks is just the icing on the cake.  I'm going to bring my best to the stage and KILL IT! Don't believe me?....Just watch.

Follow Yamilett as she makes her WBFF Diva Bikini Debut !!!

The Author of MY Story

" If you want something you've never had, you've got to do something you've never done." Let's hit it off with this delightful quote! BUT first let me apologize for any improper grammar due to no carbs and water depletion.  Hope I didn't scare any of you just yet. I promise, it will only get better from here.

I was born and raised in the Bronx, and I have two amazing, supportive sisters.  I was never interested in sports, let alone fitness. My theory was always " I don't run unless I am being chased, and if I am being chased by a dog, I won't even attempt it."  LAUGH if you must, but this is the God honest truth!  I was always very diffident.  My mother, as much as I love her, always told me " In this world, you will only have your family. Your friends are your family. That's it" As I grew older, I realized she was wrong.  As bad as this may sound, don't always listen to your mother.  This caused me to have very few friends. I portrayed a cold, inapproachable, self centered person.  I obviously was controlled by my mother's beliefs and it was time to put a stop to it.   I was not happy with the person I portrayed to the world.  With all these emotions running through me, I finally came to a decision...I got a dog.  I figured why not get a dog.?!!??!  Yeah.....that didn't work.  I worked 40 hours a week and attended a university full time. My poor puppy experienced depression.  For her sake, after a wonderful year, I shipped her to my aunt in Florida.  My puppy is healthy as can be now, sipping on a pina colada somewhere. :)

Months later, I started feeling depressed again.  I needed some excitement in my life.  I was tired of living a routine life, and I needed to step out of my comfort zone.  I ad the privilege of attending my friend Laura's WBFF competition show, and in that particular moment, I fell in love!  It was the perfect change I had been seeking.

My main focus was never to compete.  The competition was the ultimate push to complete my fitness journey.  My first encounter with my coach Malenna was seamless.  ( I swear I am not just saying this cause I know she will eventually read it. She is truly amazing! See for yourself! ) :)  Of course, I was nervous, and frightened. I never imagined I would stick through it.  BUT GUESS WHAT!?!? I am currently 6 days from my first WBFF competition and couldn't be more ecstatic. This wasn't a walk in the park.  I approached this journey with blindfolded. I didn't know what 'macros' were. I hadn't ever been in GNC, and the only gym I ever attended was my school gym.  (because it was mandatory)  OH, and Lucielle Roberts, because it was strictly for females.  I still don't know how to perform a perfect squat, but give it time, I am almost there!  Hope I didn't bore you just yet. IF you got this far, please read a little further.  It's time to get to the nitty gritty as to why I believe this team is so friggin awesome!

Our first team retreat was in Jan of this year, and was eventful.  I was a little skeptical about attending.  These girls didn't know me from a hole in the wall. How can they like me?!  But I was wrong!  All the ladies shared a similar purpose. A purpose to grow, better themselves, motivate others and to encourage one another.  It was such a pleasant retreat, it actually made it much easier to stick around and witness everyone's success.  To this day, these girls are a part of my family. Not blood, but certainly by choice. To have the privilege to be a part of a team with such beautiful, talented, motivated females really just inspires me to become everything I've ever wanted to be. Having so many people believe in you, even at the lowest point when you stop believing in yourself, is enough to keep you going.

I've come to realize I am my own worst enemy.  However, I knew if I allowed fear to over take me, my journey would be ruined.  I believe fear is born of a story we tell ourselves. From this point forward, I choose to tell myself a different story.  Insisting on being fearless is a form of mind control.  I refuse to let myself become afraid.  In 6 days, I will step on stage alongside my girls and we will relinquish any negativity we may have encountered.  We will continue encouraging one another because we are the Elite Heat and that is what we believe!