What would you do if you had time: 85 days

I’m going to start out by saying that when I started bikini prep in June, I was optimistic, but terrified. I am driven by deadlines and goals; I thrive on a challenge. However, I was worried that I was my goals were hefty. I originally wanted to get down to 135 for this competition. I started at 174 pounds and have lost 19.5 in 13 weeks. At 154.5 pounds I am wearing a 6/8 depending on the article of clothing and a small or medium top, again depending on what it is. I have clothes from my freshmen year of college that fit better now and I weight around 30 pounds heavier. I never realized how much lean muscle mass I actually have or had the potential to build. With that being said I re-evaluated my goals and decided 145 pounds for this show would be considered success. I have 9.5 more pounds to go until I reach this goal and 8 weeks until the competition. I believe I can do it, 8 weeks is a ton of time.

In the first 85 days of competition prep this is what I accomplished:

• 19.5 pounds loss
• 3.5″ loss in waist
• Down 1-2 dress sizes depending on article of clothing
• Gained knowledge about nutrition and food as fuel
• Learned even better time management
• Built relationships and developed connections with other gym lovers
• Gained confidence in and out of the gym
• Increased strength

There are so many other things I have gained from lifting that are not physical. I smile way more often than I used to and I have learned to love myself through my ups and downs. While I have been working on self love for a while, lifting has really pushed me to understand myself better. This summer has been amazing and it’s sad that it’s over, but this fall is going to be equally awesome.

So my question for all of you is, if you had time or if you learned to make time, what could you or would you do with it? I never would have thought that in 85 days I would lose almost 20 pounds and be on my way to my first bikini competition.

Below are some new photos of my progress. Bring on the next 8 weeks!

<3 Cristina