Thank You, Girl At The Gym.

I'm calling you out! You know who you are. 

You wonderful, wonderful friend who stepped onto the treadmill next to me and happily exclaimed "Why are you still here?! You don't have to work out anymore!"

Thank you. 

THANK. YOU. 

You unknowingly sparked what is possibly the longest dialogue I have ever carried on in my head. 

Should I write about this or not?

What will they think?

Am I showing off?

...setting myself up for criticism?

So many questions.

WELL, I DONE DID THAT LAST ONE. By simply competing in a pageant, I signed myself up for criticism. To shy away from it now would make me a hypocrite. And I did the next-before-last-one too. I walked onstage in a swimsuit. And I werked it. 

As for the second one, I try not to think about it.

As for the first one...well, you see how that worked out.

Back to the original question posed to me by a friend.... What was my response?

"Turns out I like to work out."

While that is true, there is far more to the story. For those that know me, let's go back to 2009-2010. For those that don't, meet the Kiley of 2009-2010. 

This is her.

And my personal favorite....

I look at my face and I see a girl who did not like to work out. She ate WHATEVER she wanted whenever she wanted it. She had no concern for her health, fitness, or general well-being. THAT GAL didn't even know she could feel better, because she didn't even know she felt bad.

So, what happened?

I'll be real honest. I wanted to compete for Miss Kentucky. It's not that I couldn't have competed at that size/shape, but I was not the picture of health or fitness, nor did I look like the other women winning their state titles and going on to compete for Miss America. I knew what it took to be competitive. Whether or not that is a realistic image in today's society is another topic for another day. All I know is, I knew what I had to do.

When I began the process, I didn't even know I had 35 pounds to lose. I gained the Freshman 15--every bit of it-- and I was more concerned with those 15 pounds I had lived so contently without only 10 short months before. So I got to work. And, over the course of two years, I got to where I am now and have remained since early 2013--give or take 5 pounds. There

are no plans to put the weight back on.

And you know how I can guarantee it won't happen? Because there are no plans to stop working out or eating healthfully.

Mine is not a miraculous weight-loss story. I don't claim that it was. But seeing that it has only been a month since my last pageant, and I've already been met with numerous questions about how my diet or exercise schedule has changed, I wanted to shed a little light on my situation. And to the person that said I'd "better start saving up for a closet full of bigger clothes..."

No. Just no.  

YEAH, girl at the gym (whom, I love dearly), I totally got in shape for a pageant. Thankfully, somewhere on that "journey" (how cliche is it to say 'journey,' anyway), I grew to love the way I look and, more importantly, feel, and I'm totally cool with feeling good for the rest of my life. 

Lord, I don't know if I made my point or not. Given the energy, I could write a month's worth of Friday blog posts about this topic. 

Now is the time when I am so utterly tempted to click delete and start over with something new. Maybe you don't care about this, maybe you shouldn't care, I don't know. I suppose the thing to remember is that it's important to me, and that's why I have chosen to share it with you on this beautiful Friday afternoon. 

I LOVE YOU. I do. Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you next week from Santa Fe, New Mexico.