Bodybuilding.com - Jeanette Rivera - Female Transformation Of The Week

Jeanette was battling a weight problem for a long time and did not come to that realization until she started suffering from the effects of malnutrition. Learn more about how she got down to a healthy 120 lbs. The pictures tell it all!

Female Transformation Of The Week - Jeanette Rivera.

By: Jeanette Rivera

Before
146 lbs

After
120 lbs

Vital Stats

Name: Jeanette Rivera
Email: JERivera@brownrudnick.com

Before:
Height: 5' 2"
Weight: 146 lbs

After:
Height: 5' 2"
Weight: 120 lbs

Why I Decided To Change!

I began to battle a weight problem since I was 16 years old, and throughout the years I saw my weight steadily gain as I dealt with the pressures of what I was going to do with my future and going away to college. By the time I got to college in 1990, I was in a new setting, new people and saw that as an opportunity to begin a new me.

Once I got to campus, I started to jog every day for about 3 miles a night relentlessly. As my obsession with weight loss grew, so did a slowly developing eating disorder. By my third year in college, I had begun my journey into bulimia - the much dreaded secret - eating as little as possible, purging and even taking laxatives in various forms.

Eating Disorders:

It was not a surprise that I soon I started to develop serious debilitating pain, and even hair loss due to malnutrition. Alas, I was forced to abandon my journey into self-destruction. At the time I had no knowledge of nutrition and my method for weight loss was eating as little as possible.

As an alternative, I decided to join a local gym and that is where my love of fitness commenced in 1994. I have been working out consistently for the past 13 years. My weight would fluctuate over the years as I tried different diets and different approaches.

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Jeanette Rivera.

I would never reach my ideal weight. In other words, I spent 13 years of my life in the gym trying to get myself to the finish line and simply could never get there. Besides my quest for the ideal physique, the gym also represented my stress outlet and a venue to meet new people and I never though in all the years thought "I'm wasting my time."

What Got Me Started

Fernando Cuco, Personal Trainer, Nutritional Advisor and Motivator

When I met Fernando Cuco, I got an introduction as to how to manage a healthy lifestyle on a day to day basis, with unfailing consistency. I came to the realization that this was an example I had to emulate. I saw the consequence joining knowledge together with tenacious consistency and that this could be a reality for myself.

He pointed out that the best way to reach my goal was to have a clear picture of that goal in mind and I realized I needed to aim to compete since that was a dream of mine for the last ten years after reading issue after issue of Oxygen magazine. Still I wasn't quite believing enough in myself that I could actually become a competitor one day.

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Jeanette Rivera.

Cuco instilled in me the champion-minded attitude that anything is possible if you have the perseverance and discipline. As a biblical passage reads,

"Perseverance Builds Character,
Character Builds Hope And Hope Does Not Disappoint."

He then began to teach me the basic principles of a proper, clean diet as well as proper form with weight training. I began to live the healthy lifestyle in full force day after day.

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Jeanette Rivera.

When & How Long It Took

First, I had to learn to believe that I could be a Figure Competitor. I was always inspired by the cover girls in Oxygen Magazine, and secretly always had the desire reach that level of fitness. It was for many years "Just a dream" and never a reality. The first time I saw photos of Figure Olympian Davana Medina, I was immediately inspired. I was so proud that she was also of Latino heritage, just like me.

I started to work out in July of 2006 with the goal of competing. I hired a personal trainer for two months and made some great strides. At this point, I did not completely believe I could do it and I was afraid to even say the phrase "I want to compete" as an affirmative statement to my trainer.

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Jeanette Rivera.

Through the words of my now trainer and motivator, Fernando Cuco, who consistently reminded me that I had the power to do this I slowly began to see that this could be a reality for myself. Through his mentorship, direction and knowledge, I began to see that with a defined goal, I could become a figure competitor one day. Circumstances in my life lead me to change gyms and change my strategy and become more focused than ever.

I hired a personal trainer, Nancy Fuentes, who previously competed and provided proper training and insight as to Figure Competition preparation, my nutritionist, Carlo Filippone, from Workout World in Fairview, New Jersey, who proved to be absolutely invaluable and instrumental in my nutrition during my contest preparation and together with Fernando Cuco -- who wore all hats during my transformation (mentor, personal trainer, nutritionist, motivator) -- I finally reached my goal on April 14, 2007 at the NPC New York Metropolitan Bodybuilding & Fitness Show.

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Jeanette Rivera.

At my very first show, I ranked 10th place in Figure Class A. However, I walked away with the biggest trophy of my life - a body which embodies a spirit and mind which has a new found belief and knowledge and that anything is possible as long as you have Faith and you put your mind and efforts in motion towards achieving any goal.

As Cuco continuously reminded me,

"Every Battle Is Won And Lost In The Mind First."

I kept a positive mental energy all throughout my transformation phase. Fortunately for me, I also had a great support base to get me to the finish line.

I am now set in motion to continue to strive to make headway in my new found love of Figure Competition and to continue to improve my physique from hereon after.

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Jeanette Rivera.

Just the other day at the gym, a beautiful young woman approached me and said to me, "You are my inspiration". It did not dawn on me until later, "Oh my God - did I hear right? Someone is inspired by ME!!!" This is one of the greatest feelings a person can experience. My reality has become even better than I had hoped for in my dreams.

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