Diana Gets Her Victory Lap
When I first met Diana, she was shining bright. Dressed in her polka dot bikini and clear heels, she was ready to show everyone just what she had accomplished and how she had transformed her former self! At the time, I only knew a little about her amazing journey. For example, I knew that Diana had lost a tremendous amount of weight to reach her goal of getting up on that stage and that she referred to her first show as her “victory lap”, however, I would soon discover just how inspirational she truly is!
Shortly after that show, Diana put together a video of her journey to the stage. It included pictures of Diana that she said she found embarrassing, as well as pictures of her transformed physique. I admired Diana for her willingness to “put it all out there,” and her video certainly put her unbelievable transformation into perspective. The many obstacles she conquered and individual triumphs she enjoyed along the way are ones we all can identify with. There is something in Diana’s story that is certain to personally touch every one of us. For some, it may provide a helpful lesson. For others, it may simply serve as a reminder that this sport should be about achieving YOUR personal best.
That is why Diana is the perfect member of TEAM F.A.B.! Each lady on the team is from al different walk of life and they are all at different points in their journey, but they are all equally important! Diana serves as an inspiration for all the ladies on the TEAM and I am so excited to be able to cheer for her on once again as she takes the stage October 22nd!
The following is a timeline of Diana’s story, please watch the video link to learn more about Diana!
2002- Maria was born; I weighed 100lbs more than before I had become pregnant. I was 18, and weighed 240lbs. My daughter should have just been a SUPER size McDonald’s value meal because that is all I ate that whole year…
2003- I got a job immediately after having my daughter, working as a Nursing Assistant in a highly physically demanding Nursing Facility and lost SOME weight (40lbs), but still had a long way to go. I struggled with everything, became sick often and never had enough energy. Depression, lethargia and anxiety took over my life. Stress and exhaustion was all I knew. This was when I met Mark…
2003- Mark’s father was an Alzheimer’s patient at my place of work. He visited often and although he was 45, he was in great physical shape. I envied him for the obvious athletic abilities he possessed. One day I saw him running past my house. I was embarrassed. Here I was, 19 years old and I’d never been able to run even one consecutive mile in my entire life. I bought running shoes and decided I was going to be a runner. Long story short, I went on to lose the full 100lbs and even ran a full Marathon. Mark became my daily running buddy for the next five years until my divorce when I had to re-locate.
2008- My husband told me he had been hiding a big secret…he was gay. SO, through my struggles with this whole scenario and my lack of having the ritual of running with Mark every morning, I slowly but surely began putting the weight back on.
2010- On my Birthday, May 12, my sister took me to a Brewer’s game. The photos came back and they were brutally honest to the fact that I had become very, very overweight again---this time without the excuse of a pregnancy. I decided that 185lbs was my body’s way of telling me I was on a slippery slope back to the weight I had worked so hard to run off in the first place.
Summer 2010- I applied for college and was granted some scholarship money so my daughter and I relocated to Neenah. As I began the training process for my aspiring Law Enforcement career, the physical demands were obvious for the field and I knew I wasn’t going to cut it. I knew I needed to make some real changes. I needed to get in shape.
Late Summer 2010- I learned that my new next-door neighbor John was a Bodybuilder. He had competed in several shows and when I saw his photos I was in awe. It was crazy to see a regular guy had mad this sort of physical transformation. He told me about the process and about how beautiful the women competitors looked. I wanted to be beautiful like that; even with my initial weight loss through running, I’d never ate a clean diet (didn’t even know what that meant!) and I’d never lifted a weight and certainly never had that athletic look.
December 2010- I searched online for Figure Competitors and when I saw them, I decided that was exactly what I wanted to shoot for. I was going to do whatever I had to do to learn how I could achieve this body. It would be my own experiment; could an ex-fat lady actually achieve this physique? I bought a second-hand Figure suit and clear heels and registered for my first show. Come hell or high water, I forced myself to agree to do the show regardless of how I looked. (this was my tactic to scare me away from eating garbage and to be consistent in the gym.) It worked. I had finally gotten to a place where I felt confident in my body and enough so to compete in Figure and Bikini. I had lost 53 lbs during my training for the 2011 Fox Cities Showdown.
2011- 7th Place Figure, 1st place Bikini (by default, I was the only competitor for the short class…but HEY it was really motivation to have received a trophy so YAY!)
Summer 2011- Training for my next show, Badger State on
October 22! I met a ton of other lady competitors at the Fox show who began mentoring me and giving me great tips and encouragement to continue competing. I became a member of TEAM FAB with Sandy Wiedmeyer who had been in my Figure Class at Fox, and she has been coaching me for the last 4 weeks of prep for Badger State as far as diet and workout planning. The other members are so inspirational and motivating as well!!! I will be training with Sandy for my big goal of competing at next year’s FCBBS in hopes of making my greatest transformation yet.
I don’t know what exactly triggered me into diving into this after struggling for so many years with food and health and excessive weight gains, but I can say that there have been countless great things that have followed my newfound athleticism and energy. This summer I completed the Tough Mudder, hiked for a week in Yosemite which included summiting four mountains to almost 10,000 ft. and made a PR at the Fox Cities Half Marathon. I also feel confident in my abilities toward becoming a great Police Officer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dvYyI_AYRw&feature=player_embedded
Team F.A.B-http://www.facebook.com/TEAMF.A.B.PRIDE
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