This past semester, I met a fellow female UD student on a Friday night who was completely ripped. I thought to myself, how on earth does one even think about getting like that, let alone execute the process? I come to find out that this woman is a NPC bikini competitor and she trains 24/7, even in the off season. A few Instagram DMs later, I found myself agreeing to be coached and trained by Michelle. When I first told my friends, I don’t think anyone could believe it. For the next 12 weeks, I would be on an extremely strict diet and at the gym 6 days every week.

When I first got the email from Michelle containing my dietary plan and lifting regiments, I was petrified. I had no idea what counting C/F/P meant, or what barbell sumo deadlifts were. Needless to say, I was nervous. I remember my first day of training, going to the gym and finding Youtube videos of my prescribed lifts. It was discouraging, to be honest. The next day though, I lifted with Michelle and she walked me through each move. It took quite awhile, but eventually I was no longer afraid to be one of the few girls in the weight room.

My weekly checkins with Michelle consisted of a weight chart, workout tracker and progress pictures. This really helped me because I could visually see my progress. In addition, I could feel myself getting stronger and stronger, adding more weight to each exercise. Now, I’m not saying that I never went to the gym before these 12 weeks, but I had never worked out like this. Lifting was a new kind of sweat—one that challenged me not only physically, but mentally. I started to get really psyched over my shoulders peaking through or my quads firming up. Needless to say, I liked my progress. But it wasn’t always that easy…

There were many moments in my 12 weeks that I just wanted to eat a burger or skip the gym. The hardest thing for me was probably getting up at 6am two or three times a week to do fasted cardio. Thankfully, I had so much support from Michelle and my friends and family who helped me push through. At the conclusion of my 12 week program, I was thrilled—so thrilled that I decided to do round 2. I am currently in my second week of training and this time is so much harder. The workouts are tougher (the stairmaster and I have a love-hate relationship) and the diet is really challenging to stick with. I know though, at the end of this, I’m going to have even more results.

My training has guided me to a healthier lifestyle. I know what kind of foods will make me feel like crap, and which ones will fuel me for hours. I know that going to the gym not only helps me physically, but also mentally. I also know that skipping the gym will only make me more angry for not going in the first place. I’ve yet to share my progress pictures with anyone, so here we go.

The photos on the top are the pictures I took the day before I started the program in September. The photos on the right are from last week Tuesday (excuse the bad lighting and lack of makeup).

Thank you to everyone who has helped me get here, especially Michelle!