FITNESS competition

It's time for a fitness post, because, well, I have some fitness news. Starting TODAY, I am training to do a figure competition in March! It'll be an amateur one here in Utah, since it's my first, but I'm quite nervous and excited. To be honest, I'm not completely sure figure is the category I want to compete in (and I'll get to why), but it'll be really nice to get into killer shape. I've always wanted to compete and I figure, it's now or never!!
So I've told a few people about my goal, and apparently no one quite knows what these competitions mean so I wanna outline it for you, and within the next coming months, I'll be posting little updates of my progress =)

NO I am not doing a bodybuilding competition!! I do NOT want huge manly muscles, just so we're clear!

There are roughly 4 categories of competing. From the most feminine to the most masculine, in order they are:

Bikini, Figure, Fitness, and Bodybuilding

Want some pictures?

1. Bikini is a newer division (and my trainer actually thinks it's a joke). If you have a toned, fit body without heavy muscular definition, this is for you. 

2. Figure is more athletic, muscular and lean (talkin around 10-12% body fat)

3. Fitness includes a dance routine (so, it's great with gymnastics or cheerleading backgrounds) and they are even more lean and highly muscular.

 We won't even discuss bodybuilding..

So here's my quandry: I naturally have a more muscular body- always have. I did do gymnastics and cheerleading but the routines I've seen these fitness competitors do are like cheerleaders on crack. Little spastic, very WEIRD costumes, and more muscular than I wanna be.

Figure seems to fit my body best, but the posing is quite weird. In fact, I showed my husband and he was super turned off by the "Frankenstein" poses that push your muscles out.

Bikini is the easiest prep, but honestly I probably already have bigger muscles than they're supposed to have. AND it's like model-y and sexy and I'd struggle with that lol.

I don't register til January, so we'll see where these next 2 months (the dreaded holiday months!) get me to.

My training:

For now, I'm working out 5-6 days a week, one of the days with my trainer, Brian. My diet isn't super strict yet, but I do have to keep it in a certain calorie range.

My starting stats:

Well, I'm 5'1.5"

Weight:  around 120

Body Fat: 17%

All of this is going to have to come gradually down quite a bit, but I can DO IT!!

Ultimately it's going to be about appearance, not necessarily body fat and certainly not weight.

I'm debating putting a starting picture up.... maybe next week ;)

photos and info via oxygenmag.com