Along the way, we discovered that this girl has some. I headed straight to Vitamin Shoppe to grab my supplements, then put in a FreshDirect order for tons of white meat turkey, nonfat Greek yogurt, oats, cashew butter, and veggies. After meeting with Searles for five minutes, I found myself stripped down to my bra and underwear in the middle of her Chelsea office in NYC as she analyzed my body composition with a fat-pinching machine. As a woman who spent equal time in dance recitals and semi-brutal field hockey games growing up, I was intrigued. Whitney has a story that hits home with a lot of women. Meal prep at home is an essential part of this, because avoiding oil-soaked restaurant food and maintaining proper portion control is key. Every week she was leaner and leaner, we started seeing more and more muscle definition and I could see her confidence growing on a regular basis as she told me about the many compliments that she was now receiving.
The first weeks were the most difficult and frustrating because I knew I was capable of so much more. When I first discovered Team Works Figure and Bikini, a NYC team that specifically trains females for bikini figure competitions, I immediately called up the founder, Jennifer Searles. Throughout the last four months Diana has helped me with my Diet, my biggest problem, as well as my workouts. She asked me about my goals, and after crunching some numbers, she presented me with a plan to follow for one month that could deliver them. I realized I was always training for something. I saw a lot of myself in Whitney, her story reminded me of my own, I remembered how it felt to feel out of control of my own body and not quite sure how to get it back to where I wanted it. The plan included three weight-lifting routines and four cardio sessions a week, a specific diet, and a list of supplements that all the Team Works figure competitors take. Eventually I started to feel like myself again. I recently discovered pro bikini figure models—a group of women who compete in fitness competitions specifically geared toward the ideal beach body.
