Like many women, I grew up looking at women in magazines wishing that I looked like them. I grew up believing that the only way any boy would like me was if I was small and skinny with big tits a brain, flawless skin and luscious, long hair. However, I am not a small human. My Norwegian Swedish heritage made it impossible that I would ever be a small person. By the time that I was 16 I was already 5’9”, about 160lbs, could palm a basketball and wore size 11 shoe. I inherited my father’s eczema, which covered my whole body (especially my legs) and had pretty bad acne. My hair was stick straight and wouldn’t hold in any style for more than about five minutes. All in all, I was the exact opposite of what the media told me was desirable and beautiful. I hated everything about myself and was always trying to cover up. I never wore shorts and wore about a pound of make up as soon as I was allowed. I played sports in high school and every coach I had put me in the “big girl” positions and would comment on how big I was. I finally had enough of being the “big girl” and almost stopped eating. All I knew about food was that protein grew muscles, and fats and carbs made you fat. I started dropping weight and everyone commented on great I looked. Boys started giving me more attention and the day I got down to a size four, I finally felt like I was semi pretty. But I was miserable. I was obsessed with my weight and after about one year I started eating again and put on weight. I gave up on ever being “skinny” or “beautiful” and resigned myself to hating my body forever.
One day I decided that if I couldn’t be skinny, I would at least be strong. At this point I was about 175lbs. I joined a UFC gym and started training in kickboxing. I loved it and loved feeling powerful and strong. I decided that I wanted to have an actual fight but needed to make weight for it. I hired a nutritionist who got me down to 153lbs for my fight. I felt great but the meal plan was rigid and not sustainable. It was a cookie cutter diet that worked for the fight cut but I still had no idea why it worked or how to sustain a healthy relationship with food. I gained the weight back a couple months after the fight. Frustrated I decided to try out body building. Surly a coach could get me in shape and make me look like those girls on Instagram.
I hired a coach and personal trainer and started my journey. This coach gave me a meal plan and told me how many days to work out a week and to do cardio every day. She asked for progress pics every week and based on the pictures alone, would change my plan. She was not very available and a lot of the time I was wondering if I was doing this thing right? I had a 16 week prep where I made my own workouts (not really sure what I was trying to do with them other than burn calories) and hoped that my form was right. For twelve of the sixteen weeks I was on a diet that as 1300 cals or lower. I was doing fasted cardio three times a week and lifting five times a week. The progress I made was slow and frustrating because it didn’t show how many hours I was putting in for it. When I asked questions, she told me to just do what she told me and I would be fine. “When I say eat four asparagus spears, I don’t me three and I don’t mean five. That is the difference between placing and not placing”. That is an actual quote from my coach when I was about four weeks out from my show and not where I needed to be. I was miserable. When my show came around, I was not ready for the stage but I got up there anyways. I knew nothing about what to expect or what kind of suit to get or how my hair and makeup should be done. The only support that I got from my coach on the day of my show was a text saying good luck.
I am proud of myself for having the balls to get up on stage and follow through, but I was pretty sure that competing wasn’t for me. I fired my coach and thought I would just start powerlifting and be done with it. However, my amazing boyfriend encouraged me to look for a new coach and give competing a try. I deserved to be happy with my body and I needed a professional’s help. I was following Christina Williams on Instagram and loved it. She was tall confident, beautiful and fun. Her athlete’s all looked amazing and seemed to love working with her as well. I messaged her on Instagram and have been working with her since late March.
Christina has taught me so much. The beginning of this prep was a bit frustrating as I wasn’t seeing very big changes at all. But Christina talked through each phase with me. She started by having me get a body composition test because each person is different. She spent hours tailoring my meal plans and workouts for my specific needs. She explained why she gave me the food that she did and what we were trying to figure out with my body. We discovered that my birth control was messing up my hormones and that my celiacs disease and Hashimoto’s were having a huge impact on my progress. Christina decided to try putting my body into Ketosis and my body absolutely loves it. It is naturally gluten free and I am making great progress and feel amazing. My workouts are quality and I have energy all day.
Working with Christina, even just these few months, has been a life changing experience. She has helped me become a healthier individual not only physically but mentally as well. Christina has been available, supportive, patient and encouraging. We check in every week over the phone and about once a month in person. After every check in I feel like I can do anything I set my mind to. I feel comfortable asking her about anything and telling her when I didn’t follow the plan 100% or about personal life stuff that could have an effect on my progress. Christina has been more than just an amazing coach, she has become a mentor and someone that I aspire to be like for other people.
~Liz Jensen
