Ally M.
PROGRAM
NEW YEAR PERFORMANCE CHALLENGE: 1ST PLACE WINNER
*Transcribed from a video submission*
I decided to partake in the Black Iron Nutrition New Near Challenge in the performance realm. I am not new to nutrition or tracking or working with a coach. I had done so last year, and I really enjoyed it. But when I worked with him, I focused on more of a cut and dropping weight. I had a big fixation on the scale and the number that it read, along with body scans and things like that. And while I learned a lot and I really appreciated my time with him, when I saw the advertisement for the Black Iron Nutrition 12 week challenge to kick start the new year I got really excited because there was a performance option. That has always been something that I wanted to explore but didn't know how I would feel doing it. You're eating more food, you're not so focused on the scale, you're focused on how you're performing, recovering, feeling, et cetera.
I followed Kelsey Kiel and Kelly Baker on Instagram, and I saw a lot of the information they were putting out there and I thought, you know what, it's time that I invest in myself in a different way than I would have normally. I thought I would give it a shot and decided to work with Kelly. I know life changing is might be a bit of a drastic thing to say, but I really do feel like it changed my perspective and my view of myself and my body and how it's built and how it looks and how it performs. I'm eating more food than I've ever eaten in my entire life, and I'm also performing better and recovering faster. I feel like my energy has far surpassed what it was ahead of this and more so I've developed a more positive relationship with myself.
I always felt like I had to look a certain way or drop a certain amount of weight or see a certain number on the scale. Or we see things on Instagram or different body types, and think, why can't I look like that? Instead of actually just doing the work, eating the food, getting the rest, and putting an emphasis on how I feel, how my body is fueled and what I'm doing for myself to remain healthy, more so than letting the scale dictate everything. One day I’m at my lightest weight and I feel great and that correlates to me having a great day, and the next the scale is up 2 pounds and I’m freaking out. This was a learned habit to not focus so much on that number. And Kelly helped me through that a lot, but I learned a lot about myself. And I learned that I can be strong and beautiful and muscular and fit all in the same arena as being healthy and skinny and cut. So I'm probably rambling, but I'm extremely grateful for this process and going down a different road than I normally would have. I feel more confident. I feel proud of myself nearly every day when I leave the gym, and people around me have noticed it. I feel myself being okay with the scale not moving and being okay with my body fat maybe up and down a little bit along the way. Because I know that it's for the greater good, I know that I'm performing, I know that my output in the gym is significantly greater than what it was before I started this challenge and before I started feeding my body the way that I am now. So to say that the 12 week challenge was life changing isn't a stretch for me because it really has been. And I'm so excited to continue working with Kelly and continue being a part of the Black Iron family. And I appreciate the fact that you put this out there with those different options. It gave me a lot to think about before I really did commit to the performance side of things. And it's a decision that I'm so happy I made. So thank you so much for this program and putting this together and I'm excited to see what comes next.