So a funny thing happened to me at the gym yesterday…I got on a scale! With so many women obsessing about their “weight” on the scale, my reaction to the digital read out yesterday was probably the OPPOSITE of what you’d expect. When I competed in the show this past April, I weighed in at around 117 lbs. on show day. Yesterday I stood on the scale and felt excited that my weight was UP thirteen pounds!!! Wait…WHAT? How can THAT possibly be exciting? I’ve been working on gaining muscle for the past eight months and while I’m certain that not all of that weight gain is pure muscle, I’m excited to see just how much muscle I have gained when show time rolls around. In the meantime though, something occurred to me that I hadn’t considered before…

Think about YOUR ideal weight. Chances are you thought of it when I typed in “117” at the top. Got the number in your head??? O.k., great! Now, tell me, who told you what number your ideal weight should be? If you’re anything like me, the answer that comes to you might shock you. For me, that answer is NO ONE. I weighed 117lbs. the summer before I turned 19. My diet then consisted mostly of donuts, sugary cereals and copious amounts of coffee for breakfast (I thought drinking coffee made me look older…lol), whatever I could afford for under $5 for lunch, along with a soda, chips, and candy bar afterward. I lived with my Grandparents then, so I relied on them for dinner, but I can tell you, it was lots of gravies and as much butter on white bread as you can imagine. Back then I had youth on my side and a metabolism that allowed me to eat whatever I thought looked tasty or that I could afford. That summer I bought a white bikini and imagined myself tanned and voluptuous lying in the sand while I spritzed lemon and peroxide in my hair to give me “natural highlights”. I’ll admit I was tanned, but voluptuous? HARDLY! But hey, I wasn’t quite 19 and I still had lots of maturing to do. Not only was I ignorant about the foods I ate, I was establishing habits that would take me YEARS to undo.

So how is it, that I decided that 117 lbs. was my ideal weight? Was it the great tan I got that year? The white bikini? I was an awkward, skinny little girl, but somehow I latched on to that number and carried it with me like a ball and chain for the next 26 years. I skipped meals, I did cardio like I was being chased by cheetahs, I thought cellulite and muffin-tops came from OLD AGE, not POOR DIETARY HABITS! I thought as long as the scale stayed close to that number, I was at my IDEAL WEIGHT.

Well guess what? I’m letting my body decide what my IDEAL WEIGHT is. I’m eating clean, I’m training hard, and I’m trusting my body to do the rest. I believe that my body knows EXACTLY WHAT TO DO if I give it the fuel it needs and work it hard to help my muscles grow. As long as I feel healthy and strong, as long as I feel good in my clothes, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing and not let my life be dictated by some random number I once weighed when I was still a teenager. It’s interesting, I still fit into my size 2 jeans, but they fit me WAYyyy differently than they did even 8 months ago. Today I’m supposed to take my “BEFORE” pictures, in preparation for the March show and though I know I will be critical of my own physique, I’m excited to see how much my body has changed in the past year. I can’t wait to share my progress with you! Don’t let the scale dictate who you are! Feed your body whole, fresh, foods, exercise, drink plenty of water, and get 6-8 hrs. of sleep each night. Your body will take care of the rest.