A mother-of-two who tipped the scales at 11 stone has revealed how she transformed herself into a prestigious national bodybuilding championship in just 10 months.
Fiona Stott, 37, from Bradford, cut out all ‘naughty’ food for a year, dropping down to 8.5st, and then in January she started training to get the toned look she had always wanted.
She has now been crowned National Amateur Body-Builders’ Association’s Miss Great Britain Athletic Figure 2015 – the event was her third competition.
Fiona, who runs a holiday cottage business, said: ‘It was an amazing feeling to take the win.
‘There were seven girls on the stage at the finals, all with amazing physiques so I was elated when I was announced as first place.
‘The first contest I entered was daunting as I didn’t know what to expect when stepping out onto that stage in front of hundreds of people scrutinising every body part.
‘But once I got into the poses and heard the encouragement from the audience then I got a real buzz. I couldn’t wait to do it again, but better.’
Fiona spends an hour in the gym lifting weights and focusing on a specific part of her each day.
She would also spend 30 minutes each day on the stairmaster doing cardio exercise to burn fat.
Fiona said: ‘It is challenging to make sure that I get my training and cardio done without it impinging on my time with the children.
‘Whilst prepping for the competitions I would get up at 5am before the children woke to get on the spin bike, which was downstairs in the lounge, to do an hour on it before breakfast.
‘My children have learned to understand how important healthy eating is and enjoy a good balanced diet. My daughter tells everyone that mummy loves chicken and broccoli.’
Fiona decided to take up bodybuilding after she successfully lost weight following the birth of her second child, in 2013.
She said: ‘The heaviest I weighed was 11 stone. When my daughter was seven-months-old, my partner set me an eating plan which I stuck to for a full year, cutting out all naughty food, and also the wine.
‘I was allowed one cheat meal a week where I could indulge in something like lasagna and chips with a pudding and also some wine.
‘By July 2014, I had got my weight down to 8.5 stone. I felt really happy with my new slim figure, but now I felt too skinny with no definition to my shape.
‘I needed another goal now I had lost the weight, so in December of the same year I decided that I wanted to train five-days-a-week and aim towards doing a bodybuilding competition the following October 2015.’
Fiona now weighs 8.5 stone, the same weight as she was 10 months ago, after bulking up to 10 stone while training for 20 weeks to strengthening her muscles.
She then started to lose the weight to gain her ideal, more defined look for the competition. She says she does not check body fat as she finds the tests to be inaccurate.
Fiona is now working hard to keep up with her training, gaining more muscle and staying lean in preparation for another British finals taking place in Southport in May next year.
She will also be starting her qualifications to become a personal trainer with a view to helping and inspiring more women.
Fiona added: ‘The next year will be spent training hard still to gain more muscle mass and to stay lean. I will also be starting to study for my Personal Training qualification in February next year at NRGym.
‘From that I would like to inspire more ladies to use the weights in the gym and how they can sculpt and transform their bodies through weight training and a good healthy way of eating.
‘I want to pass on the knowledge that I have gained through training, dieting and competing to help other women, whatever their end goal may be.’
Courtesy of: Daily Mail