I had no idea that continuing on from my first competition and winning would have been so difficult. With only managing to get one cheat meal under my belt, it was straight back into the diet!
I hadn’t necessarily prepared myself for this. I thought that once I had competed I could go on and eat whatever it was I was craving. And honestly, this was part of my motivation to keep pushing on, knowing that it would come to an end. However, now the plan was much different.
The fact that I had set a goal and achieved it was all a bit too surreal for me. Although I felt accomplished, I had a softer approach, my drive for the next competition wasn’t as fierce this time, or maybe it was a sense relief and liberation.
Only 3 weeks from my first competition was the North Coast Classic, held in Newcastle; this was now my next objective.
My coach wanted me to compete in Newcastle so I could have more experience and practice my posing before the City Nationals in Sydney the following week.
The plan was to maintain my same prep; however, I would not enter in my best achievable condition and would save it for the main show, the City Nationals. The intention wasn’t to go in it to win, this was out of character for me. Everything I do, I do to be the best of my ability.
I trained hard for 3 weeks leading up to the North Coast Classic but my discipline in terms of my structured diet had slacked off a little bit; let me tell you, wasn’t I in the wrong frame of mind!
I went in on Sunday in poor form and my competition in this show was much tougher! It wasn’t what I had expected at all. This weekend was definitely the wakeup call I needed.
Going on to that stage knowing I had NOT done everything I could to be in the best condition possible was hard for me to come to terms with. And I made sure that there would be no more slip ups in the future.
What I learnt from this was that it wasn’t necessarily about being physically in shape, but about being mentally prepared.
Every week on this journey I am always learning something new about myself; and in a way, it has been a blessing in disguise and a motivator to come back better next week.
It was that weekend which has given me the power I need to push ever harder and to make up for the mistakes I had made.
I know what I need to do.