April 20, 2009

Hello everyone! My name is Ashley and I have finally made the decision to become a figure competitor. It has something that has always been in the back of my head but never really thought I had an avenue to do it, until now. I have recently moved to Charleston, SC to work for Gold's Gym where I met my boss and figure competition coach. He has been more than supportive in getting me started and I am really excited to begin this journey. Let me give you an idea of what got this crazy idea suck in my head:

When I was little I really struggled with my weight and it continued to bother me until about mid high school. Now, when I say struggle it wasn't like I was a tad over weight or "could stand to loose some pounds", I mean I was 160 lbs around a 12-14 pant size all before I reached the age 15. My parents just said I was "big boned" which I do believe I had a lot of muscle but a lot of fat in my tiny 5'2 frame. My sophomore year of high school I got the flu and lost my appetite and I slowly started loosing all that weight. I finally realized I could run and play soccer soooo much better than I could before. Soccer has always been apart of my life but no where near to the level that it was at that particular point. On the off season I decided I want to still keep in shape and I joined the track team. I thrived off of sports; they were my life. After finishing high school I went on to college and ran my first year gathering 5 school records. I continued to fuel my self esteem and my happiness through athletics. (My mom use to ask me what I was going to school for, and I would joke with her my saying that I was there to run track.) That was my life.

Unfortunately, the school that I was attending did not have the major that I wanted to go into so I decided to transfer to a school where I would major in Health and Physical Education with the hopes that I would still run for the track team. However, once I finally got to the school I was so far behind where I should have been in the major (adding a year to a year and a half onto when I should be graduating just by taking a regular class load), plus living off campus (no transfer housing) I made the decision to drop track. I finished out my last 3 years playing some intramural soccer, doing the occasional activity class, lame attempts at trying to workout but primarily working part time jobs. Needless to say, exercises was not a priority.

Over the last 3 years the weight has been slowly creeping back up. I haven't felt comfortable in a bathing suit for 2 years. I think it finally hit home was just a couple weeks ago when I scheduled my 3 mandatory personal training lessons and I finally had to check my BMI with a handheld body fat monitor. There is a question where it asks if you are "normal" or an "athlete" and my PT put me as normal. My heart sunk and I knew I just had to start doing something.

Today, I find myself fluctuating between 145-150 lbs, still 5'2, eating whatever I can afford on that particular day, and trying to sell other people gym memberships that I can't even sell myself. It is time for a change and I am hoping this blog will help. :o)

I chose tomorrow's date because tomorrow is the day I get serious (or my coach will seriously not train me). I know if I don't do something that involves my life 110% that I would not continue it. And, what's the worse that could happen? I get back in shape.