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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Bitter Sweet: Part One - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

"Everything has it's beauty, but not everyone sees it." -Confucious (China's most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, 551-479 BC)

 Today's post is a continuation of the previously written Giving it "ABS"olutely my all!!!! that discussed the personal five week challenge that I was carrying out at the time in preparation for a much anticipated photo-shoot.  I was so excited and pleased with the progress that I was seeing.  I came in 2lbs under the original intended goal weight.  (I was on such a roll that it even inspired me to go farther and take on another challenge.  I planned on starting to train for fitness competition but we'll discuss all this in part two.)

Before you skip down and see the pics., I'd like to take a moment to thank my amazing photographer. Melissa Jean Schutte and my talented makeup and hair artist Tonia Reynosa for doing such an amazing job and taking me from the canvas to a stunning work of art. So here is the finished product:












The rest of the set can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/honeybeewu/sets/72157625847127175/


I have to say that seeing the finished photos was so overwhelming.  It was so amazing to see myself this way.  To see how fabulous and gorgeous the "pictures" are.  But the emotions running were both bitter and sweet.  
I knew I had worked hard to lose some weight and tone up here and there and I was so proud of the pictures but that part of me...the narcissistic part quickly took over.  I started over analyzing each picture.  "Well I could have done that better...I could have worked harder...I could have gotten trimmer...I could have been more determined and dedicated.  I could have lost a little more here and there. I could have worked X body part even harder."    Let's post that intro quote once again....

"Everything has it's beauty, but not everyone sees it." 
Yep, I wasn't seeing it. I could definitely see the beauty in the work of the photographer and see the beauty in the work of the makeup artist, but I couldn't see all the beauty in me.  Don't get me wrong, I said this and will say it again and again and again.  I definitely think that this is something that ALL women should do at one point or another.  It was amazing to see just how beautiful I am or can be but again, I've programed myself to beat myself up so much that I was losing out on the full enjoyment of the pictures in full. 

Any how, a few days before the photo-shoot, I was so excited and feeling on such a roll all around that it had all inspired me to set out on yet another challenge.  For a long time, I have wanted to do a fitness competition.  Be it a bikini comp or a fitness comp.  I know that it's a lot of work and always thought that I have the mental and physical strength to carry it through, but was never really ready for it.   I was certain that after all this, I was "READY".   I went ahead and set up an appointment with a trainer, started mentally preparing for the meals and the training etc., etc., etc.,  I was set! I was on fire... there was nothing that was going to stand in my way.  



Two days after the shoot, I posted the following pics with a caption that read "The stats...i started exactly five weeks from the day of my shoot and I lost a total of 20lbs on the nose.  Today, I started my next challenge which is training for a fitness competition. Consider these WEEK ONE!"  Like I said...I was on FIRE!!!


"Weighed and measured in today 02/01/11.
@ Waist 29"
@ Chest 35"
@ Hips 40"
@ Thigh 23"
As I stated, I came in on Sat 2lbs below my actual goal... and after weighing today, it appears that I gained 2.5lbs back...So for the SHOCKING #...for the DIRTY DIGITS..... weight is 140.5lbs "



I was set...I was ready.... (are you catching on?..."was") .......TO BE CONTINUED!!!


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