goddessamazon’s BodyBlog

So for the first time in my competing career I didn’t go crazy with food the day after my show. Imagine that? Truth be told I like my daily routine of clean eating with the occasional cheat. So after the show on Saturday I ate 1 pound of raw cashews. That was all I did for that day. Yesterday I satisfied by sweet cravings by eating an entire pack of biscoff cookies. This things are so freaking GOOD! Lawrd have mercy! I also had a blueberry muffin and a slice or marble pound cake from starbucks. Everything else after that was clean food. So today I brought a waffle iron and made my famous whole wheat waffles. Of course drowning them in pancake syrup and unsalted butter. Mmmmm! Mmmmm! After that I ate clean again.

So tomorrow night or probably Wednesday night my friends are going to take me to one of my favorite Italian Restaurants for a dinner feast. This is usually done on my birthday but since I was cutting on my birthday they postponed it until after I finished my comps. I get to eat all that I want and drink anything I want. Whoo Hoo! PARTY TIME!

Truth be told once I go all out like that I look forward to eating clean again. Actually, after that big Italian feast I’m going 100% back to my cut diet. I’m still staying out of the gym for the rest of this week so that I can allow my muscles to rest and regroup for next week’s pounding!!!!!!! But this week I’m just getting some cravings out of my system and damn it feels so good to do that!

Not only did I have a great soak in the tub but I had a great meal too. I didn’t do anything extreme. Just some salmon, okra and brown rice with THREE SLICES OF CHOCOLATE CAKE AND A LARGE BOWL OF STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

HA!

Ok so let me go to part two of my story. My first figure competition. I didn’t let anyone know about entering my first figure competition because I didn’t expect to do well in this event. I know that’s negative thinking but I have reasons for this. 1. I never entered a figure competition before so I was destine to make mistake and boy did I make plenty mistakes. 2. I’m extremely tall and the promoter only offered class D as the tallest class when I’m suppose to be in class F. So imagine me competing against women who stand 5′5" and there I am 6′2". OH! OH! But don’t forget the heels! When they wear heels they are 5′10". When I wear heels I’m 6′7". Get the picture? Yeah! Talk about odd ball!

The figure competition was a test drive per say. Since I’m doing all of this with no in person help I needed to learn what to do and what NOT to do through trial and error. So I entered into this figure event to learn all I could before actually taking the placings seriously.

I kept a private diary of my experience. Here is what I said that day.

I’ve been back from prejudging for over two hours now but crashed for a nap as soon as I got home. I don’t think I placed at all. As a matter of fact I know I didn’t place but I’m OK with that because this was more for the experience rather than placing. A lot of things went wrong this morning and I’ll chalk this experience up as lesson learned.

Ok so I showed up to the mandatory meeting at 7:15AM but the promoter of the competition doesn’t get there until 8:53AM. The meetings started at 9:15AM so we are starting off late. During the briefing we are told of the changes of the NPC and given a warning about how to approach judges afterwards in reference to our placings or lack there of. He made emphasis on the figure girls and I quote. "If you look at another and think you are tighter than her but she places higher than you that’s because you came in too tight."

So already he’s telling us that the Judges are looking for a specific "look". Did that discourage me? No. I continued with my positive thinking and loved the condition my body was in. So we get our badge numbers and headed towards the changing room. The only thing I had to do was put "Dream Tan" on my body, apply my fake nails and put on my jewelry. As soon as I got back in the changing room and opened my bag one of the lady assistants yell "You got ten minutes ladies"

WHAT THE F*CK??????????????

TEN MINUTES!!!!!!!!

Now I’ve been to three competitions already so I know that competitors (especially figures) have way more time than ten minutes to get themselves together before hitting the stage. Usually an hour sometimes two.

So now I’m frantic! I don’t have my suit on and I haven’t even applied the dream tan on my body yet. So in a rush I reached for my suit, threw it on my body, tied it together and then vigorously applied the dream tan onto my legs.

"Five more minutes Ladies! Let’s go!" she yelled

Now I’m panicking. I say f*ck it to the dream tan even though I didn’t have time to get my friend to put some on the back of my body. I had her apply bikini bite to my suit while I get my jewelry. My nerves was so shot that I couldn’t find my jewelry! "OH MY GOD!" I said to myself, "Where did I put my jewelry". My friend felt my pain and she could see the horror on my face. She told me to just take a deep breath and look in my bag carefully for it. She kept tending to my suit while I looked for them. She was so helpful and I love her for that. I may walk on stage without wearing jewelry but at least my suit will be looking good on my body thanks to her.

"Two minutes Ladies! Let’s go! You don’t want to risk getting disqualified" yelled the assistant.

So I just said "**** it". I can’t think straight. My body was half covered with Dream Tan and I am without any jewelry. So I grabbed my fake press on nails and they all fall out of the box and on the floor. DAMMIT!!!!  Now I felt helpless and out of control. All this time I said today is a Good Day and this situation is proving me wrong. I must have looked like I was about to burst into tears because all the bodybuilding females rushed to my aid. Things were falling out of my bag and they reached down and put them back together. One female told me to just go and if I left anything she will bring it to me later (Love the sisterhood of most of the female competitors. They are so helpful during my time of need). So I grabbed my heels, lift up my bag and headed to the backstage. I walked there doing all I could to fight back the tears and keep it together.

When I got back stage I was a zombie. Totally numb! It felt like I was having an out of body experience. Backstage all the other girls were pumping up, eating and practicing their poses. Me? I just stood there motionless. I didn’t have on any jewelry (no bracelet or earrings), no fake nails and a partially dream tanned body. Oh yeah! I’m gonna win this comp for sure! LOL!!!!

I never been shocked like that before! I don’t remember the last time I felt so helpless. I didn’t move. I just stood there waiting for them to toss me on stage.

Now here’s the good part……….THE PREJUDGING!

So there’s 9 females in my class. Out of the 9 women three of us are cut with well defined muscle definition. The judges look at us individually and then as a group. Then they told us to go back to our original place. While standing there they called 3 women out to be lined up. I’m not one of them. I assumed that these three women are their top choice for first, second and third. Then they call two more so I assume these are the forth and fifth place. They make them do quarter turns and then sent them back to their original places. They call two more girls and these two girls are muscleless. They have no muscular definition or tone to their bodies whatsoever. They send those two back and then they finally call me and the other 2 well defined women. We were all standing side by side. I already knew where this was going. All though we all were beautiful it appears that we were put in the "too tight" category. When we got off the stage I went to my bag and suddenly remembered where I put my jewelry. I opened a small pocket in my food box and there there were. *sigh* Well at least I’ll have them on for tonight even though the winner has already been determined.

Now I could look at this experience as unfair but I’m not. I could blame the "10 minutes to get ready for the stage" on the lateness of the promoter but I’m not.

All of this was my fault. I had a mental breakdown and didn’t come to the stage at my best. But even if I did come at my best it seems that my best is not what the judges are looking for so I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t. LOL

So now what?

Well…………Here is what I’ll do next time.

* Leave out the house COMPLETELY STAGE READY! That goes for applying the dream tan onto my body, wearing my jewelry and wearing my fake nails.
* If I am at a comp where things are running smoothly and I have nothing but free time, I’ll use that time to help others.
* Take a moment to breathe and collect my thoughts if I am faced with a moment of crises like that again.

and last but not least.

* always go to the stage looking my best. If my best is not good enough then continue competing until it is. NEVER LOOK SOFT! REFUSE TO GO TO THE STAGE LOOKING SOFT! I don’t care if my body doesn’t place me in the top 5 here in Georgia. I will attend other competitions around the world in addition to competing here until I place. It’s time for the judges to get use to seeing a woman my height on stage competing.  Either they will get tired of seeing my TALL ASS up on stage or I’ll get tired of being up there. Either way, someone is gonna give and it ain’t gonna be me!

This is a learned experience and even though I had a rough morning and an awful prejudging I am glad to get that experience out of the way so that my next figure competition would run much more smoothly.

So that’s what I wrote  after prejuding. I’m not upset about not placing. I messed up BIG TIME! I even allowed someone to spray me with “Pam” which is a big NO NO for figure. It’s OK for bodybuilding but not for figure and I’ll make sure not to do that again. The figure division is going to be my biggest challenge but I’m willing to take it on.  My heart is in bodybuilding but NPC’s figure division cater to my body type. So until they up the height class in my state I’m gonna have to do the best that I can with what I have.

OH but here’s the good news. Are you ready for this?

I MADE HISTORY IN THE NPC AS BEING THE TALLEST FIGURE COMPETITOR IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, you heard me right! There has never been a woman my height in the NPC figure event. NEVER! So I’m the first one and can officially call myself “The world’s tallest figure competitor”

HA! Tell me I can’t take lemons and turn them into lemonade!

I’m gonna warn ya’ll ahead of time. This entry is gonna be a long one because I need to give you all the run down of my competition yesterday and make a confession about a figure comp I entered for the first time 3 weeks ago.

Last night I placed 2nd in the women’s heavyweight division for the NGA’s Excelsior Classic. So with this being my 5th competition but my 4th bodybuilding one I must say that this is the first time that I felt screwed. Last night I was in the best shape of my life. My muscles were fuller, I was very conditioned and my legs were popping. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY COMPETING CAREER MY LEGS WERE POPPING! The woman who beat me was smaller, less conditioned and softer than me. Unlike the SNBF where they go by height the NGA goes by weight. So their "heavyweight" division is 130lbs and over. She weighed 135 and I weighed 152. So what did she have that I didn’t have? She had a team of people backing her and her trainer was good friends with several of the judges. How do I know this? This event was held in Duluth which is an hour away from my home so after prejuding I had no choice but to hang around the center and wait for the evening show. I had a few meals packed away in my bag and I went up to the balcony to eat. After being up there for fifteen minutes I saw the promoter and few members from judging panel leaving for lunch and her trainer was with them. So when it was time to get ready for the Evening show the girl who I lost too tells EVERYONE that she won the heavyweight class and will be competing in the overall with the other class winners.

When she said that shit I was thinking to myself how arrogant she was for saying she won when we haven’t even stepped on stage yet. The evening show hasn’t even started and she’s bragging to all the figure girls about how SHE WON and how big her celebration dinner party was gonna be afterwards! I thought she lost her mind but now it all makes sense and I feel like such a fool for thinking I had a fair chance.

When it’s was time for us to do our posing routine, she went on stage and did a few poses and walked off. Her posing routine was 15 seconds max. I KID YOU NOT!!!!!!!!!!! The audience was like WTF was that? I get out on stage, do my routine AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!!!!!!!!!! Afterwards, we stand side by side to get our awards and when they announced me as the second place winner we heard serveral people yell "What the hell?" and then in unison THEY ALL BOOED! Then when they announced her name as the winner they booed even LOUDER! So we took our pictures and I kept a smile on my face the entire time. I posed along side her with our trophies and then walked off stage. All I wanted to do at that moment was get the F*CK out of there!!!! I was so furious I started shaking.  One of the assistants of the event ran after me as I was approaching the dressing room asking if I would take pictures for their (the Excelsior Classic) website. I gave her this crazy look and said "Are you kidding me? You want me to take pictures with this thing?" Showing her my 2nd place trophy. She didn’t look surprised at my reaction but said in return "But you really look great and you did an excellent job on stage!"

"Right! Is that why I have a second place trophy in my hand right now instead of a first?" I said

She stood there speechless

I broke the silence by saying "Hey? I know you’re just doing your job but thanks but no thanks. I don’t want to be featured by this organization because I don’t want to have anything to do with this event again. This is my first and last time competing in the Excelsior Classic." and then I walked away.

Now that I’ve had some sleep and a good breakfast I’m pretty much over it. I feel good right now because I honestly did come to this competition AT MY BEST! But this only motivates me to come to the NPC and SNBF even better. You see this is what you’re gonna deal with from time to time in the bodybuilding competition world. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but bodybuilding competitions are not always fair. That goes for all  levels………….Pros and Amateurs. Winners are based upon other people’s opinions not your individual sporting skills. Always remember that and if you find yourself put in a position where you were judged unfairly never take it personally. But most of all NEVER GIVE UP! Everyone has their moment to shine and the Universe decided that my time hasn’t come yet but when it does I’m gonna enjoy every minute of it because I’m paying my dues right now.

The good that came out of this……………..

There is a silver lining to this dark cloud. Actually it’s something so wonderful that I can’t help but smile right now as I type this. I HAVE A HUGE FAN BASE HERE IN GEORGIA!!!!!

After prejudging I had so many people come up to me and say "Hi Akilah, I remember you from last year!" or "Hi! You look great! Are you going to do a posing routine tonight! I love watching you on stage! Your posing routines are great!"  I had soooooo many people remember me and cheer for me. Just like last October, the people who frequent these bodybuilding shows here in Georgia really like me. I love when they know my name and I really like it when they are excited to see me on stage competing.  Their face lights up when they talk to me and that gives me  joy. So after a year of competing alone and having no one to cheer for me  or call out my name I finally earned a fan base who will  do it for me! They yell out my name or my number and cheer for me (and also boo for me when I get unfairly placed LOL)

This is the reason why I will continue to compete regardless of my placing. I have a lot of people who want to see me compete. They love my posing routines and they admire how much I improve my body show after show. I got sooooooooooooooo many compliments about my legs last night. YES MY LEGS!!!!! They noticed the changes I brought in my legs and complimented me about my conditioning. THIS MADE ME FEEL SO GOOD!

Granted, there are unique things about myself which makes me stand out. One primary quality is that I’m almost six foot and three inches tall. The second is that I’m a woman who improves her physique yearly. But the best quality is that I love to entertain. Now that I’m comfortable on stage I’m all about entertaining people during my posing routines. Regardless of my placing in my class one thing they can count on is that I’ll BLOW EVERYONE AWAY DURING MY POSING ROUTINE!!!!!!!!!!! And I mean everyone! The men too! Believe that!!!!

So now what? Well, I’m gonna take a week off from lifting weights but I’m gonna continue to do one hour of cardio because I need something to release my stress (especially since I’m back to working my business full time) and cardio seems to ease all my stress away so that’s staying. Next week it’s back to the drawing board. Back to improving my legs, staying on my cut diet but having a cheat day instead of a cheat meal and going back to 2 hours of cardio 5 - 6 times a week. My next competition is in May and I’m going to do both figure and bodybuilding in that show. Right now I’m competing against myself and determined to look my best at each show with the goal of looking better and better each time. After all, I have my fans to think about now and I don’t want to disappoint them or my "family" here at bodybuilding.com  **huge smile**

Ok, I’m gonna take a break from my blog and run a nice hot bath. After letting all that out I need to give myself a long soak! When I come back I’ll talk about my first figure competition. Yes, I know I kept that tidbit of information to myself but there’s reason for that I’ll explain it all when I finish my bath. Trust me, it’s gonna be a good read and maybe not as long as this one.

See you all in several hours.

TO BE CONTINUED…………….

I am so relaxed about this competition coming up this Saturday. I feel good, look good and I’m ready to take the stage. I’m all fired up. I’m laughing at myself right now because I haven’t finished my posing routine YET! LOL!!!!!! But don’t worry! Posing routines are easy for me. Remember last October when I made up my posing routine 6 hours before the evening show? Remember how I ROCKED that stage? Got a standing ovation? Pfft! Coming up with a slammin’ 90 second posing routine is easy as pie as long as I know how I’m gonna start it off and what music I’m gonna do it to. I’m going to enjoy myself and have a good time at this event. This will be my first NGA bodybuilding competition so it will be interesting to see how they do things.

I haven’t been on BB.com much lately. I’ve been devoting my time to improving my thought process. I’m a firm believer in self empowerment and for some reason over the years I’ve allowed myself to sink deeper and deeper into negative thinking. It’s amazing how I can go all out and beyond to improve my body but neglect my mind WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY BODY!!!!!!!

So now it’s time for me to put my priorities in order. All those hours I was spending in the IFBB forum playing around with the guys, I could have been spending that time listening to motivational speakers, writing down my goals, listing 10 things that I’m grateful for, cleaning out clutter and meditating. I wish you guys could see how AWESOME my body looks right now. I am so proud of myself. Now I need to work on my mindset just as hard as I worked on my body. There is no way I can achieve the goals I have in Bodybuilding and figure without dealing with my mind. So that’s what I’m doing and since I’m doing that I’m afraid you all won’t see me post her as much. Oh! Don’t worry! I LOVE BODYBUILDING.COM WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL! I owe this site and the people here ALL the success I earned in this sport. There’s no way I could have achieved all of this without BB.com………………NO WAY! So my loyalty is and will always be here. However, my presence will not be as frequent. I will post here from time to time but my main objective right now to improve my body as a whole and now that I got my body in tiptop shape it time for me to get my mind the same way.

Once that’s done………….nothing will stop me!

NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Everyone,

I have a situation along with a couple of questions that are really heavy on my mind.

I have a competition coming up this Saturday (that I’m gonna ROCK!!!) and I am much tighter and lighter this year than last year when I competed.

I stand 6′2.5" and weigh 150lbs. Last week I weighed 148lbs.

Now those numbers seems low for a girl my height and for some reason in my mind I thought that my bodyfat was so low that my period would stop this month. Well it didn’t. Aunt Flow came as scheduled last Thursday and my hormones were so bad that I found myself going crazy with "Bad Food". This is the reason for the 2 pound gain but I’m not sweatin’ those two extra pounds though. Now that Aunt Flow is gone and I have my sanity back.

You constantly read from others about how female competitors should not keep their bodyfat low because it’s unhealthy. I also read how many women competitors get their bodyfat so low that they lose their periods.

This has me thinking

* I haven’t weighed 150lbs since the 8th grade. However, even though that’s a light weight for my height it has nothing to do with my bodyfat percentage because that’s still normal enough to allow my periods to come on. So it looks like my bodyfat is not as low as I thought even though my weight is.

* Since I’m 100% soul sista who was famous for having a big booty and thunder thighs………..when I look in the mirror now I can still see small traces of fat still there. Even though I use to have an ass which measured 45 inches in the past, I now have a butt that measures 35 inches. To be honest, I think I have 2 more inches of fat left back there and 1 inch of fat left on my thighs before all my muscles will show in my lower body.

* After my competition this Saturday I decided to stay on my cut diet, continue my 2 hours of cardio and weight lifting until I lose those extra fat deposits. I want to see what it takes and how long it takes to get my bodyfat as low as possible.

So here are my questions

* Besides getting your bodyfat levels measured, is the absence of one’s menstrual cycle the only indication of very low bodyfat?

* Is having low bodyfat at a competitors level really unhealthy? Come on, like is it REALLY or is everyone just saying that?
The reason I’m asking is because when I see marathon runners, cyclist and swimmers……….oh and WOMEN BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS (those girls have 3% bodyfat easily), they all have extremely low bodyfat and seem to be doing just fine. Not only that but their diet is higher in carbs due to their cardio type sport while mine is higher in protein due to gaining muscles.

But for some reason in the bodybuilding, fitness and figure world it’s often said "Women shouldn’t keep their body fat low because it’s not healthy". I’m beginning to think that this is just an old fashion wise tale.

What do you all think?

See? I kept my word. I uploaded my pics and now I’m posting them here.

So here are my stats.

Last Month’s Stats

• Weight - 158
  
• biceps - 12 1/2
  
• Waistline at belly button - 27
• Waist below belly button - 30
  
• Hips - 37
• Upper Thigh Left - 21
  
• Upper Thigh Right - 21
  
• Middle Thigh left - 19
  
• Middle Thigh Right - 19
  
• Calves - 15
  

This Month’s Stats

• Weight - 151lbs (Lost only 7 lbs)
  
• biceps - 12 1/2
  
• Waistline at belly button - 27
• Waist below belly button - 30
• Hips - 35 <—–LOL
  
• Upper Thigh Left - 20
  
• Upper Thigh Right - 21
  
• Middle Thigh left - 19
  
• Middle Thigh Right - 18
  
• Calves - 14 1/2
  

So let me talk about my stats for a minute. My upper body is going to stay the same except that I think my waistline will probably be 26 inches com comp day but the rest of my upper body is going to be the same because I carry my bodyfat in the lower part. Although it took a couple of shock methods to get my booty to let go the fat………..I’m happy to see that what I’m doing is working. Never in my wildest dreams would I think I have a 35 inch ass. NEVER! I have made peace with the fact that losing the fat in my booty is a GOOD THING! Once I realized that I needed to lose that fat in order to get the optimum physique that I”m working for…………….I devoted most of my attention to that area. Having a booty that was once 43 (I think I was 45 at one time too) to now having it at 35 is a huge breakthrough. A black woman loves her ass if it’s BIG and even though mine isn’t the size it use to be, I will soon learn to love this new one too.

OK now here are the pics.

I’ve looked at these pictures very carefully and it seems like the only part of my body that will improve with time is the bottom part of my right butt cheek. I have loose skin there and small amount of fat deposits. If you look at the bottom left pic you will see it clearly. However, I am so HAPPY to see that the muscles in my hams are coming through. HOT DAMN! That is a pleasant sight to see. I’m so proud of myself when it comes to  my legs. It took a long time but looking at these pictures made me realized that I need to keep it up because my hard work is finally showing.

Still carrying water in my lower abs but that’s to be expected since I’m drinking tons of water now.

Like I said before. All I want to do now is maintain the muscles I have in my upper body while still losing the fat in my lower body so that my muscles can really come through. So far so good. I just need to stay focus and continue doing what I’m doing.

Ok! So when I critique myself I know what I need to work on. I am amazed at my weight status right now. I haven’t weighed 151 since I was in the 7th grade. SHEESH! The real mind blowing thing about all of this is that I am still carrying bodyfat in my lower glutes and thighs. I also have some loose skin due to going from JUNK IN THE TRUNK to just "a trunk". Time will take care of that provided that I keep my booty this size which I intend to do.

OK, gotta go do cardio. I’ll be back later to talk more about this and to correct any type O’s I’ve made in this post.

But to make it up to my bodyspace posse I’m going to post my recent pics and stats in about 10 - 15 minutes. I just took the pictures and now all I got to do is upload them to my computer and transfer them over here.

I haven’t forgot about taking pics in my new figure suit. I’m gonna do that too but I started decorating it and haven’t finished it yet. So once I finish decorating it I’ll take pictures of me wearing it and post those up here too.

I will also post my experience at the morgue (due to popular demand). I’ve been slacking on my bodyspace blog BIG TIME and I apologize for that. Ya’ll know I’m a goober sometimes. I’ll go run in the IFBB section and play with the boys before updating my blog. But now that I’m 3 weeks out it’s time to stop playing in the forum and focus on my upcoming comps.

OK, let me go upload those pics now.

be right back

I love Atlanta but the weather here sucks from time to time. Yesterday it was in the low 60s and warm and TODAY it hit the low 30’s and SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!

I go into the Morgue this morning and all it was doing was raining when I walked in. When I come back out snow was coming down HARD and it was everywhere. Thank goodness it was wet snow or else I would have been stuck at the hospital.

My visit to the Morgue was a VERY learning experience. Some of you sent me PMs asking for details and I’ll send those out soon.  All in all I’m glad I went.

So tomorrow is my birthday and when I was doing cardio this morning I thought to myself "What food item could I have to celebrate my birthday?"

Usually during my birthday my friends take me out to one of my favorite Italian Restaurants and I would eat like a mad woman.  Unfortunately, I can’t do that until after my comp on the 28th so until than I decided to have a food item to celebrate my birthday. What food item did I pick? Well at first I wanted to get a big chocolate muffin with chocolate chips. Then I thought about it and changed my mind. I haven’t had chocolate in over 14 weeks. If I eat some now I’ll have a relapse. So I thought about the time when I walked into the grocery store last week and saw some strawberries on sale. I remember starring at those strawberries with desire in my eyes. They smelled so good and they were so big. "Oooo the things I could do to you MR Strawberry" I said to myself before walking away. So that’s what I decided to have. I’m going to eat a bowl of strawberries for my birthday. This is a good choice because A. It won’t throw my diet prep off  B. It’s something that I really want and C. It’s going to be my birthday so I need to have some form of joy in my life while I’m cutting. Especially on my birthday!
Yo? I can’t believe it was snowing today. Yeah, I’m back on the snow bit again. It’s been years since I’ve seen snow here. What’s even crazier is that when it does snow here in Atlanta it doesn’t stick and it’s gone by the next day. Now just you watch……………even though it was warm on Saturday, cold and snowing today it’s gonna be a heat wave tomorrow. UGH! Georgia!