Shelter, comfort, escape, blessing, craving, habit, benefit, good, asset, protection, source, preference, advantage, risk, stake, improvement, influence, interest, dominance, gain, choice, pain, gratification, self-fulfillment, profit, protection, recognition, strength, emotional, spiritual and physical support, stability, help, alleviation, care, furtherance, guidance, encouragement, endowment, relief, reinforcement, rescue, reward, salvation, shot in the arm, engine, fuel, sacrifice, sustenance, enrichment, merit, enrichment, sacrifice, focus, determination, persistence, insistence, virtue, superfluity, quality, convenience, confidence, assurance, enhancement, drive, power, goal…. my sanctuary.
Reminiscing of my childhood, and reflecting upon how, when and why I started my fitness affair, brings back the healthy and uninhibited (food-wise) little girl who always came last because she had to stop ant catch her breath when running after her thin as rail sisters. As 'La gordita,' she never "fitted" in the picture completely. I don't like comparing myself with my sisters because we are all very unique in our own particular way but I felt like the ugly duckling with my excess belly spewing right out of any clothing I wore standing next to my sisters.
All through my childhood and most of my adolescence were a rebellious process of denial and self-acceptance. In middle school, I started liking boys but not a single one even dared glance at me convinced I was one of their kind (my mother used to cut hair very short, making me look like a chubby little boy). During my Freshman and Sophomore years in High School I wanted to date like my oldest sisters but all I landed was NOTHING! All the boys I liked, only had eyes for my girlfriends. By Senior year, I had already trimmed down quite a bit so I met my soon to be first boyfriend - a 22 year old chilango (someone from Mexico City), who I dumped right after prom because I was young, not that bright, and immature. I later regretted that decision only for a very short while because I was too young, there were still many people to meet, places to go, and things to do.
My childhood and adolescence defined and formed the woman I was to become one day… in a way! I was brought up in a close-knit family in which sports where not ingrained, at least not in the girls. We never nurtured a love for movement, ate abundant meals; lots of tortillas, pan dulce (sweet bread), rice, and heavy and high-calorie Mexican and American meals…adding pizza, pasta, and other international high carb meals to my daily diet. I grew up believing that satiating my appetite was the equivalent of feeding my body with heavy and abundant food…years later I learned to debunk that myth along with many others, in which the majority of the population worldwide wheedle into.
Excess and low quality food, frequency, no physical movement whatsoever, mounted into lack of self-confidence turning me into an insecure, quiet and timid young woman who lusted the angelic beauty and slick physiques of the cheerleaders and most popular girls of my generation. I wish I had old pictures to back my statement because everyone I narrate my story to, reflects with an automatic skeptical look. “How can I come close to being like them if I ABHOR any type of physical movement?” That thought roamed in my mind tirelessly throughout my adolescence.
At the beginning of my fitness quest, it was very difficult. One of the major obstacles I encountered was that I am and have never been coordinated nor flexible, therefore dance class was more like some sort of torture. I was slow and clumsy when perfuming other sports, I was the last one to be chosen when P. E. class was split up in teams! LOL!
That is the reason why I kept coming up with a 'good excuse' to all my 'F's' in P. E. "An F, only means, fantastic, formidable, fabulous, flashy, fortunate, friendly, funny, and so forth."
Hence, my fitness mission began with a plan my Senior sister and I, a Sophomore came up with. Make the cheerleading team tryouts! We gathered another three friends and pursued the first step. Ok, at that time, we didn't put the two together, we were oblivious to the fact that in order to improve our performance and to at least make it to the semi-finals, we had to have a sort of dance or athletic background or training. Not only did we miss that, but during our random rehearsals, we didn't have the slightest clue of how to get started or what came next. Needless to say more, we only ended up ridiculing ourselves and breaking out in a scandalous laugh. My stunning young dance instructor tried to be as supportive as she could but regardless, it took me a while to look at her in the eye out of embarrassment. Now I can get a good laugh out of that defining event that was to introduce me to a long term hobby, later becoming a lifestyle.
Freshly out of High School, my love for physical movement started developing.
1) I got enrolled into weight training, body conditioning and calisthenics classes. Every semester I chose two different Physical Education courses which I unbelievingly looked forward to.
2) My 'vanity' legacy started evolving at the same time. As part of a catholic youth group, in Semana Santa - Holy Week, lent, we were putting on an Easter Passion play together and I was chosen to represent the queen. I was overly contented and looked for THE perfect dress, crown and stilettos. I had to wear them! I mean before that event, opportunities were none existent!
From there on, my fitness affair and beauty legacy have gone hand in hand until now.
Between 17 and 18, I became interested in running and pursued that activity. I scheduled 5am runs with my sisters, mother, friends and my second boyfriend at the time, until one day we learned a woman's body was found in the dumps, we panicked and stopped going at the crack of dawn.
At 18, September 16, Independence Day was approaching so two local radio stations were looking for female candidates to be 'La Reina de las Fiestas Patrias.' - Queen of the Patriotic Holidays. The minute I heard the news broadcasting, I said to my young and vain self, "I am going to enter one of those contests and I will win!" I indeed came out victorious. That was my first 'A-ha moment with many more following after that. For the first time ever, I started feeling important and noticed. My first photo shoot and others happened, I got a taste of posing in cute clothes and shoes, met a diverse group of people, the other contestants and I were finely dined and wined at expensive restaurants, we went to bars, clubs and events to promote the radio station, the importance of Independence Day, ourselves, to persuade people as to why each one of us was the 'best' candidate, and to sell tickets to make the event holder money and to pay for the various expenses involved.
At 19, I joined an indoor co-ed soccer team which not long after, was 'forced' to cut all the ties with for once and for all. I was also invited to play with a women's outdoor soccer team, that only lasted no more than six months, the quickness and adrenaline of playing indoor was more attractive.
That year I worked a weekend late-night shift at a restaurant as a receptionist when one night I was approached by one of the clients. He attempted to persuade me into working for him at his oil-wrestling bar and thought I was a good candidate. To this day I still remember his deep masculine voice, "Here's my business card, I am looking for young beautiful girls with an exotic look like you, to work for me." He didn't tell me what role I would be playing but I later investigated. The next time he came by to have dinner, assuming I already knew what the job entailed, he told me very bluntly, "I can pay for your breast enhancement to add on to your sex-appeal and you can pay me back within a year's work." I told him I'd think about it but that was too daunting that I never called or mentioned a single word about the matter and he eventually got the point. That surely was an immediate “.NO,” I’ve honestly always been too afraid to even go there.
That same year, I wanted to work on my self-confidence and image, with this in hand, that led me to a six month modeling course at John Casablancas modeling agency in mind-blowing San Francisco. What else could I have asked for!? I didn't land any jobs immediately but that was not my main target, I was mainly interested in being 'pretty' and 'attractive' and forming an imposing personality. I had a sleek and professional photo portfolio made along with my biography - I don't recall what happened to it, It must've been left behind in one of the million stays I've left behind.
Shortly after, there was a modeling job for Bellisima Modeling Agency which I immediately went after. The job required the models to promote different beauty products, going to stores and events to give out samples of Pantene, Revlon products, and more nail, hair, beauty and other types of products and talk women into buying them. I enjoyed every single moment of it. Concealing my face under layers of makeup, wearing tight and very little clothes and stilettos was something to die for at that tender age!
A few months later, I was offered to work at an elegant bar/club serving drinks and appetizers wearing nothing but lingerie!!! I had to skip that as revealing a bit too much has never been my cup of tea!
I later moved to Sacramento. As a SCC student, I kept taking P. E. classes, continued my long distance runs, entered 5 and 10k's and kept myself as active as possible along with my younger sister. I loved spending time with her and doing everything together. It was so much fun when people looked right at us and asked if we were twins! I don't know why they wondered about that, I mean, we resemble each other but we definitely don't look like twins! That year she met the Track & Field and Cross Country coach and introduced her to me. For the first time someone had noticed my athletic potential - I'm only talking about my potential because my sister is a natural born athlete. Right off the bat, she asked us to try out for the team. I was caught in a mix of excitement, stress and insecurity thinking about my High School failure when we humiliated ourselves in front of the most popular, charming and physically talented girls and coaches.
To my surprise, I was accepted, the only problem was that I was still commuting from Sacramento to Santa Rosa (a 1hr 45 minute drive 1 way), engaging both soccer and running. One day I was badly injured due to a combination of performing the two activities. Both games, competitions, or rehearsals happened on the weekends. There was traveling involved for several state meets, discipline, rest and focus, a clean diet was demanded, but I refused to get overwhelmed.
Unknowing what to stick with, I held on to both for as long as I could until one day my coach pulled me aside to put the cards on the table for the following reasons;
1) “I just found out you are playing soccer, I know you love both sports but I need you with me 100%. If you stick to soccer, or running, I will respect your decision but I cannot have you split up into two. We are in high season and I'd like to think we are in high season all the time for better performance and to reach our goal, that's why I cannot afford to have one of my girls getting injured.”
2) “As far as your diet, you either improve that, or improve that!” She was very adamant with me after noticing me sprint straight for the doughnuts after a meet or reaching out for the low quality meals, soda and desserts when we went out to lunch or dinner. She was even less tolerant when she found out that I was the one hindering my performance as well as my teammates' effectiveness. The night before competing I talked them into partying out like animals, drinking out of control and topping that off with a greasy pizza or dinosaur burritos we got at the in an out Mexican fast food on our way back to the hotel! She found out how destructive an irresponsible I was with myself and others! "I understand you are still very young and you want to have fun but I am only going to tell you this once. I am not the one to tell you what to do but it's your call. You can either continue partying and doing what you like, or you straighten up, focus and give it your best!"
Even if I didn't appreciate it right away, I deserved her laying it all out to me very clearly and harshly without hesitating. My first reaction was to fire back my venom but had to count to a million trying to make myself look at the whole picture from her perspective. I eventually understood and accepted her arguments. That serious talk was the most important determining factor that helped me set later decisions, even to this day. I went on 'nun-mode,' as I like to call that: Absolutely NO drinking, partying, AND stay away from unnecessary and compulsive eating, and any performance and physically sabotaging distractions.
After college I went on to doing 21 and 42.1k's (from 18 to 30) I was fully devoted to high-rendering competition. Only this time, my coach was NOT there to get on my case. Even when that serious talk made a huge difference in my life, I was free to make my own decisions. That's why my negligence walked me right into an injury and to give up running for 4 years now! I recall a salsa congress in San Francisco that takes place the second or third Saturday in October, the next morning, there's a 42.1k in Sacramento. I attempted to do both to feed my ego, pride or whatever. In reality I only ended up abusing my temple, leaving me sour for a couple of days.
In my 20’s, I took another 12 week modeling, etiquette, makeup, fashion, etc. at Maniqui, Modelos y Edecanes which was a huge milestone, for it gave me the chance to create a professional portfolio, (I had to hire a professional photographer), and get myself out there. From that course on, many events lined up that.
In 2012 I finally got certified in Sports Nutrition. All the material that I read, was only a reaffirmation of a lot of things I already knew. I didn’t have to do that but as usual, I always demand more from me. Therefore, I want to keep adding on to my fitness profile, the more the better!
All in all, my fitness and beauty affair has entailed different events.
1) Worked as a fitness trainer for 3 years when I came to Gdl.
2) I took a 12 week modeling and self-image course at Maniqui, modelos y edecanes in 2007
3) Worked at different beauty and sports events for 7 + years, such as: Expo Belleza, body painting runways, fiestas de octubre, May-Tai, Valetudo, martial arts, wrestling matches, gym events, casting for sports modeling events/commercials, advertising tequila brands, etc,
4) I've been interviewed by two different radio stations to give health & fitness tips.
5) In 2009 I was hired by an American company to do a workout video, interview/s, to answer doubts on body trimming and motivating women to get into the best shape of their lives, and put on a brochure with health and body shaping tips.
6) I completed a certification in sports nutrition
7) From time to time, I get short-term female clients that request to be put on a diet and workout routine to lose weight and feel more confident.
8) I have informally written about health and fitness for about 4-5 years.
9) My gym just invited me to help them promote and attract more clients to a new location opening in Gdl in May.
10) I schedule fitness photo sessions once or twice a year just for self-fulfillment and for motivational purposes.
11) And last, but not least, I’ve got an overly important upcoming event to represent Mayahuel, the Goddess of Tequila, pulque and mescal. This will be the most important happening throughout my physical affair since Phil wants me to be on the cover of the narration. Despite not being at 100%, I am counting the days!
True, although I didn't eat clean, exercised or was disciplined during my childhood and part of my adolescence, yet , that was turned around for the reasons I mentioned before. I developed a love for movement, changed my eating habits, invested in my health, I try to surround myself with minds that think and act alike on a fitness level. I constantly keep myself updated with fitness articles, magazines, videos, I try to eat as clean as I can (to this day food has been my downfall), but overall, I eat fairly clean, I only become an unyielding and craving beast when I go trough serious bouts of stress. All of these factors have been a great influence in my life. That's what's made me be worthy of the name, "Yoryet Roman Athlete," like many people have called me. I would better define myself as a health and fitness lover and enthusiast. As an amateur who is always looking to learn more and gain more expertise.
Clearly, years ago, vanity and superficial matters were my priority but through trial and error, I learned to not be critical of my body and regard other women's bodies to appreciate what it can do and create. On top of that, help myself and them to make the best with the tools they possess without letting themselves be deceived and try to look like the amazingly fit model on tv or on a magazine.
This lifestyle describes my nature, the who, why, when, and how. A frame of mind I would never forsake for anything under ANY circumstances…unless I become a handicap or bedridden. God forbid!
