I am pretty sure my journey to the stage started like a lot of women’s; either via observation of others at the gym or going to a local bodybuilding show and being completely awestruck at the gorgeous and flawless bodies before me, all the while thinking ” I COULD NEVER DO THAT”. This particular journey began with that exact mental roadblock, but I pushed past it and keep pushing past the mental stops on a daily basis (even now, I look at the contest photos and think, I did that?). Ok, so… as I decided I needed (yet another) goal to push me to lose the weight, I chose a figure competition, talk about going to extremes… and I gave myself only 12 weeks. I thought ‘I will watch You Tube videos, get a suit, tan up, follow an online diet and I’ll be good to go’; WRONG! I spoke with a dear friend of mine about my plan and the first words out of her mouth were ‘get a coach’. She recommended Sandy Hancock, said she was the absolute best and gave me her contact information. I contacted Sandy and scheduled an appointment. The day I walked into her home, I was literally cringing at what she was going to do to me (calipers and tape measure equaled fear) and found out at 135 lbs. and 23.5% body fat, I had a VERY long way to go. I signed up for Sandy’s Platinum Success Series, knowing that I needed the very best I could get for this undertaking. I was so doubtful, I kept asking her ‘can I do this, is it realistic?’ and she simply and confidently replied, ‘yes, I have seen some women go through amazing transformations’. I think I asked her a few dozen times during any conversation, from July through October, ‘can I do this?’, and she never wavered with her support. She helped me prepare my affirmations and the one sentence that stuck with me this entire time is “I see things from start to finish” and honestly, I realized I never did that, I had this horrible habit of stopping mid-way with so many self -improvement projects.

I’m going to break, just to tell a little bit about myself because I think so many women can relate. I have always had VERY poor self esteem when it came to my body image; I have curves, never have been what people consider skinny, and I have always equated my beauty and sense of self with a number on the scale or a size; those numbers or sizes go up, self-worth plummets. I also am a very hard working, intelligent and driven woman; I work full time, and am a full time and single mom, I have a home I take care of and the remaining hours of the day are spent at the gym; I do all of this and do it well, so, why was it that in all of these successes, I let my one self defeating weakness be my body image? Where could I find the courage to get past this and get up on stage, wearing close to nothing, and letting the world judge me? I found it by closing my eyes and going forward with my decision; this is where the ‘start to finish’ affirmation was key. I wanted this like nothing I have before and I was going to do it. I followed my nutrition and training plans to the letter and kept myself going with (obsessive) on-line searches of bodybuilding, figure and fitness sites, but nothing compared to working one on one with Sandy. Training with her on a weekly basis was phenomenal; she pushed me like I have never been pushed before. When not training with Sandy, I would wake up before my son was up and train with some equipment at home, then would ‘drag’ my sweet and patient child to the gym in the evenings. I didn’t just ‘have’ the time to do all of this, I made the time to do all of this. The day prior to my October competition, I was at 114 pounds and 12% body fat, I was in shock. During my transformation I leaned on Sandy more than she realized…I would use our appointments as motivation not to stray from my nutrition or training. Even after my competitions, I realized I needed to keep in contact and continue training with Sandy as the accountability factor plays a huge role in my journey towards my fitness goals. None of this has been what people would call easy, it comes down to a lot of hard and consistent work, but I want to scream from the rooftop that it is SO WORTH IT!!!!! The feeling of setting and reaching my goal is honestly the most wonderful feeling in the world. Thank you Sandy, so so much, for accompanying me on my journey; your knowledge, experience and friendship has truly been the foundation of my success. I couldn’t be more grateful and words cannot do justice how appreciative I am of the opportunities provided by you. We truly make a great team!

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