The following is a bit of a 'rant' (apparently toned down from what she really wanted to say) from one of my IFBB Pro Figure girls who's … 'been there and done that'; all of it and is tired of seeing many girls on the same path she was on.

Enjoy ...

The T-Shirt

We’ve all heard the saying, “been there, bought the t-shirt”; well, when it comes to fitness and competing, I freaking designed the t-shirt! In my “career” in physique sports, I’ve gained and lost over 1000 lbs during the span of 16 shows. I’ve never sat down to actually calculate exactly how much weight I’ve gained and lost. I’m almost scared to; not because of what that number may be, but more so the damage that number implies. I have put my body through the proverbial ringer over the years and as a result have unfortunately had to deal with the metabolic, physiological, and often overlooked psychological consequences of the cumulative effects these contest prep choices have had on me.

Here's an email I sent to Erik summarizing some of my issues as a result:

Seriously, it is amazing to me that my previous choices are STILL wreaking havoc on my body. The naturopath most likely feels that when I sort of "crashed" in 2007, it was entirely adrenal, which is what I and my Dr also felt at the time. I spent the next 18 months or so doing nothing, but rest alone and no training stress was probably not enough to get my adrenals fully functioning again. He thinks that I've been probably walking around for the last several years with my adrenals not running at 100%, which completely makes sense. I would start to feel a bit better and jump into a super hardcore training program in attempts to get my body back and all I would do is cause another crash, so I'd have to back off training and then the poor food choices would start again. What a cycle, just amazes me how the body works and how much we can really hurt it.

Well, it's kind of nice the know that there's actually a reason behind some of the issues I've been dealing with and it's not "just me". Time to focus on getting HEALTHY again, I'm so excited!

What scares me even more is not the weight loss and weight gain, but the steps I’ve taken to get there and decisions I’ve made along the way. Some good, yet more bad; still though, all very valuable learning tools and each with its own unique consequence which truth be told, in a sense, I’m grateful for, no matter the outcome.

There's a lot of bad recommendations circulating in this industry, bad advice and recommendations given to clients and it's not advice based on anything, often times, other than, it was heard by someone else. Well, so and so does this. Or it could be just decisions made by an individual on their again, because Pro So and So does it. Just because something is common (2+ hours of cardio per day every day when dieting for a show), does NOT mean it's right, sane, healthy or best of all, even necessary. Just because you might have won doesn't mean you found a winning formula either. I've won shows too.

Now we've got the New Year rolling around, and more and more people will be jumping on the weight-loss bandwagon. Admit it, we’ve all done it … many of us are planning to do it again. New trends will come up and some of us will fall victim to them and some of us will ignore them. I’ll admit it, even with all of my experience and education, I will still likely at least ponder some of these fads. However, I’m fortunate enough to have good, logical coaching, from someone who will often reel me in when my thoughts go astray. Someone who will back up their reasoning with science, someone who bases their methods on healthy ways of achieving lasting results. It's a far cry from the often unhealthy approaches I’ve taken previously.

The prompting for this blog stemmed from my coming across a website that promoted fasting methods during competition prep and for athletic performance. Nothing wrong with that; great, I’m all for it … if, and this is a big if, it’s done in a healthy and responsible way. By healthy, I mean under the guidance of someone who is educated in these methods, whether it’s yourself or someone else. As I said to my coach the other day, “as if this sport doesn’t screw up enough people already, now we’re going to have a bunch of people starving themselves and thinking they’re fasting”. Now I’m not cutting down Intermittent fasting; far from it, as I believe it has its purpose and can be a useful tool, again, if understood and applied correctly. And really, this isn't even about Intermittent Fasting, it's about the mindset of many of us have or have had – whatever it takes.

I find so many people (ok, almost always women) are making decisions affecting their health because “such and such magazine” said to, some website said “I’d get ripped” or “someone told me to”.

Really????

You’re going to make a decision to do something that will affect your HEALTH based on heresay? You’re going to do something to your body that could potentially put your health at risk permanently and you’re basing that decision on what? What’s “trendy” right now? The same can be applied to the common;y heralded “fasted state cardio” myth that is all too common in fitness circles. Sure, if doing your cardio before you eat is convenient for you, then by all means do it. But do you HAVE to do cardio before you eat to get lean? Is this the “best” way to do cardio? Says who? Truth be told, it's not true. And I’m basing that big, resounding no on facts proven by science and my own years of competitive experience.

So the point of this is not to dispel some of the information out there; it’s simply to share things from my point of view, from how I’ve learned some difficult lessons. Some can say that I’ve accomplished things the hard way and I would tend to agree with that, but each experience has taught me a valuable lesson.

Base decisions on sound advice, from educated sources, not just because it’s trendy or the “in” thing to do, but truly because it is the right thing for your body and your goals.

When in doubt, seek outside sources and don’t be too proud to ask for help. Sometimes when we look in the mirror we aren’t always realistic with what we see and can jump to harsh decisions to get to where we want. Allow others to be your voice of reason (and logic) when you need it. Value your body and more so, your health; it’s all we really have and no trophy, no placing in the world is worth that. Take it from someone who’s almost lost both. It’s a steep hill to climb back up.

Posted Dec 30, 2010 by Erik Ledin.
This entry is filed under Metabolic Issues, IFBB Pros, and Guest Blogs.