Today we have an interview with Lita. She placed 6th in the Open Category Level 1 in the latest Venus Index Contest.
Check out her pictures:
Be creative with your after photos! They represent your personality and achievements…and you will have them forever.
Lita was always pretty active. She did mountain biking, rock climbing, swimming and even tried running marathons.
But as she approached 160 pounds she realized that she wasn’t in the shape she wanted.
She was interested in fitness and wanted it to be a part of her life, so she started looking around the Internet for some advice on how to get in shape. She ran into some bodybuilding website and fitness pros.
And she really wanted to look like them, so she downloaded some bodybuilding split workouts and started following them.
Contest & the Permission to Be Light
Last year things changed, because Lita found one of the Venuses – Stephanie and thanks to her the Venus Index.
She bought the program, got into the community and just followed the protocols immediately.
And she got results!
That’s what happens when you set a goal, take it seriously and you are ready to take action.
When you listen to the interview, you will notice that Lita is one of those women that doesn’t ask a bunch of questions before trying something new and isn’t arguing whether it will work for her or not before she’s even attempted it.
And that’s probably the easiest road to success. We’ve even had people downloading the workouts and following the plans without reading the manual. They learned it all by experience.
Not that we recommend skipping the manuals, but the best thing you can do is to try the system and judge by results. And that’s exactly what Lita did.
After a couple of months, she got in great shape, started getting comments on her fit physique and found some wonderful women in the Venus Community.
And when she saw the possibility to compete in one of the Venus Index Contests, she jumped right in.
For the contest Lita ate very low in calories, she even admits that she was unwilling to eat up to 1600 that the Reverse Taper calculator suggested because she didn’t feel it was right for her. Lita is an independent woman who obviously likes to think for herself. For the training she followed the Venus Index Workout Phase 1 and then progressed to phase 2.
In the interview she talks about giving yourself “Permission To Be Light”.
This is mostly a problem that guys run into, especially thanks to our social conditioning that leads them to believe they have to be big to earn respect, however even women seem to find the idea of being too light mentally challenging.
The truth is that there is no perfect weight for all women. The weight will differ based on height and genetics. Only you can determine what your best, healthiest, and happiest weight is once you arrive there and see a figure you like and feel good about.
And as you are losing fat, don’t be afraid to be light. You’ll never know for sure until you get there.
You have to realize that what you see on the scale is just a number that tells nothing about your body without considering muscle mass, proportion, Venus Index, conditioning, and most importantly how you feel.
That scale number is only relevant when you combine it with your height and most importantly a picture pinned next to it. It simply doesn’t say whether you look good or whether you are healthy. So, don’t take it as an indicator of either of those.
When you reach your Venus Index metrics, or as close to them as you’d like to get you may not weigh at all what you expected. This could mean you will be heavier than you expected, but it could also mean you’re lighter than you expected. There is no one ideal bodyweight for you, there is only a range. And within that range you will have to discover what fits best for you.
Expect Some Blow Back & A Lot of Attention
You will have to be more careful with the clothes you wear, expect guys making comments on your looks, people asking about your fitness approach and getting some blow back from other women. This is something every Venus experiences.
You need to mentally prepare yourself for this and even though it doesn’t make sense to you why other people would tell you to stop getting in shape, it will happen as you get leaner. People will disapprove of what you are doing.
The key is to understand why and what you are doing and realize that people are insecure about how they look and this is just their way of trying to pull you back to make themselves feel better.
What’s the Deal with Taking Good Pictures?
Get a fitness photographer, while all good photographers will know how to take the pictures with lighting and everything, those who understand fitness and have experience in this industry will know how to make you look leaner and sharper with more definition. Which is what you want, you want to show your body at its best angle, so you might as well take advantage of this. The only negative side is that fitness photographers may charge more for this expertise.
And most importantly have fun during the contest and photoshoot itself!
Another thing you need to do is learn how to pose and flex your muscles. The women that always look stunning in photos have spent hours practicing this (even those who are not models!).
Do multiple shots. Expect that you will choose about 5 photos from 500.
When models do a professional photoshoot they will take hundreds even thousands of photos and choose just 2 or 3 for the magazine, from which they choose one for the cover.
Lita’s take home message for women like her:
- Your best self is the real you
- Be proud of your body and your achievements
- Aim for the athlete or model look you want not what other people are telling you
- Don’t get caught up with the mainstream fitness myths
- Women are afraid of developing an eating disorder, so they’d rather stay average than lose the weight. Don’t be like everyone else, get in shape!
- Everyone thinks about food, the real question is how much stress does it bring to your life?
- Fat debt – Not taking care of your body is just like ignoring your bank account (it will catch up with you!)
- Thinking about food choices and making good changes in your lifestyle and body is equally important as managing your bank account
- Ignoring problems won’t make them go away
- You have to get away from scale and function from body shape and body composition
- If you are lean and already have some experience working out, then the month to month changes are not going to be massive, it’s about refining and improving a little bit here and there
- A good looking body is usually a healthy body
- Ignore the average charts and recommendations, aim for the top and find your true numbers
- Being under 130 pounds is not a bad or unhealthy thing for taller girls if it’s where you just end up with the look and feel that you like…remember that weight number is irrelevant without all other metrics added to tell the whole story
- Test your health markers if you are unsure or want proof that the weight you end up at is indeed ‘healthy’ for you
- More information about your body is always a good thing
Links form Lita’s interview:
- Reverse Taper Diet – Stop using the ineffective traditional taper and reverse the process to avoid overeating after dieting and end the yo-yo dieting cycle
- Venus Index Workout Phase 1 and Phase 2 – Venus Index workouts focused on building your ideal hourglass shape
- Venus Index Community – Forum full of amazing women, sharing all their fitness and lifestyle tips and tricks. You can get access by buying any Venus Index program here
- Learning to Maintain a Change: Interview With Erik Ledin Part 1
- Getting into “Stage” Contest Shape, Tracking Results is Key: Interview with Don Gauvreau
Read Lita’s experience with Venus Index in her own words:
I arrived at the VI Community just before the start of the VT4 contest period with a recent weight loss of 30lbs and measurements very near to the VI metrics. It was thrilling to discover a set of quantifiable measurements I could further train my body to. At the time, I didn’t really know where I should or wanted to go “next” with my physique and fitness goals. Finding the VI metrics gave me a new measure of refinement to work towards so I became…
Listen to the interview here:
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