Bella's New Journey 2011

[belladiabla13]

Its Monday morning after The Cage. Was not sure I would go this year, but here I am reflecting on it all. This was my 2nd year. I have learned alot. Made some amazing friends. Some feel more like family. When I decided to go to The Cage this year I told myself it would be my starting point for a new journey. As many of you seen, I took 3 of my daughters with me. I realize that part of the reason I have not came as far as I should be, is I did not have the support and understanding of the people who matters most to me. Can you even imagine what our diet looks and feels like to a house full of kids? They think Im crazy. They dont want chicken and rice. They want pizza and donuts. And my daughters were sure that lifting the way I do, I would surely turn into some half women half man looking creature. That scared them to death. Having my oldest daughter Dawnielle there was invaluable to me. She is 15 and a athlete. I wanted to show her to see that women can be strong and still look like women. I wanted her to hear Vinny,Evan, Frank and everyone tell her "you can do anything, you set your mind to". I wanted her to believe in herself. What better place to find that? I cant think of one. Thank you all for being so gracious to my children. I fiound the motivation that I thought I had lost. Truth was, it was just hidden. Probably somewhere under the salt n vinegar chips I have been eating. I am 35 and the mother of 6 amazing people. Its my time to take my body back and make it something I am proud of. Something that works and looks the way I want it to. All the negative comments I heard as a kid, and even the ones I have heard lately from the people who have said they love me, don't even matter today. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I cant live my life to please everyone else. A short thick brick house is whats beautiful in my eyes. This is my piece of art to sculpt. Comes down to the old saying, "if you dont like it, dont look". I will lose 60lbs this summer. Thats a good number for me, a good place for me to cut and become the woman I am inside. Powerlifting mesmerizing me. It is my goal to become as strong as I can. When I lose this 60lbs my reward to myself will be to come to The Cage at the Olympia and finally not be ashamed to get in there under that bench and put up the iron. I have been benching more than half of my body weight for a very long time now. Instead of being proud of that, it was never enough for me, and I was not even trying to step on that scale in front of the whole world. Thats going to change. Here I am. Let the new journey begin.

[A10]

I can appreciate the struggle diet wise before I deployed my wife was pregnant.. still is.. and you can imagine how hard it was to convince her rice and veggies with a plain chicken breast was a meal. It was pickles one day, ice cream the next, then a combination of both, following that by a spurt of craving for pizza hut. Having one child blows my mind where I will find the time. My hat's tipped to you mam for juggling the duty as a mother and your promise to yourself to reach your goal I am sure it takes a hell of a woman to do it.