By Liana Jacob
THIS PERSISTENT woman has gone from a skinny teen to a ripped beauty queen by gaining one stone four pounds of muscle.
Fitness model and two-time International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB) and Fitness champion, Maite Garcia (27), from Donostia, Spain, didn’t always have the bodybuilding physique.
As a child, Maite was taken to a nutritionist, who informed her that she was too skinny and needed to incorporate food with higher calories, so she started to eat a lot, but was driven to junk food such as pizza.
After a period of eating unhealthy food, she was still skinny, but because of her bad diet, her body turned flaccid and covered in cellulite.
Being a teenager that wished to be curvier, she went to extreme lengths to achieve her goal and started spending money on aesthetic anti-cellulite treatments to solve her problem.
She used to be the tiny weight of seven stone one pound and a UK dress size four but after meeting her husband five years ago, he re-directed her, helping her bulk up to eight stone and UK dress size six to eight.
She used to consume only 1,500 calories a day, whereas now she consumes between 2,300 to 2,500 calories a day.
“I have always been very skinny and it took a lot of effort to gain the weight, I have what is known as an ectomorph biotype,” Maite said.
“I looked too skinny and I wanted to gain weight. I also wanted to eliminate the flaccidity and cellulite and see myself more toned.
“I’ve always liked curvy and toned bodies and it was my goal to get it. Also, I think that clothes fit better when you are curvy.
“When I met my husband, he practised fitness for years and introduced me to this world. He taught me many things about fitness and showed me that I was wasting my time and money with those aesthetic treatments.
“He made me realise that changing some dietic habits and starting a workout programme could help me get a more toned body and eliminate the cellulite and flaccidity – and he wasn’t wrong.”
With a few changes made to her eating habits; cutting out junk food and enforcing a good exercise technique, Maite transformed her skinny body into the voluptuous, curvy physique she’s always wanted.
“I feel fulfilled, but not only for the physical change; this sport has affected me a lot on a personal level,” she said.
“It has given me discipline, self-improvement and self-confidence. It makes me look better and feel more comfortable with myself.
“It has allowed me to compete in the IFBB Bikini Fitness category and win some contests. It has also helped me with some jobs as a fitness model.”
Although she has achieved the goal body she’s always wanted, it wasn’t a straight-forward journey. Persistence has played a big role in the process.
“Such a change takes time and requires patience, but with perseverance, hard work and good nutrition, you can get the body of your dreams,” Maite said.
“At first, I had a hard time because I was not used to doing exercise, but mainly because I loved eating and I was so used to eating lots of junk food.
“Changing the way I ate was the most difficult part for me. Seeing how my body was changing, was the main motivator that helped me continue learning and working to achieve better results.
“As a starting point, just avoiding all the junk food and eating healthy food five times a day makes all the difference.”
While Maite had no problems when bulking up, she says that the journey of seeing the results were difficult.
“I was too skinny that I had to be gaining weight to build muscle and that leads to some more fat. In this way, I saw myself fatter and I thought that I wasn’t progressing, so I got discouraged,” she said.
“But you need to be patient. When you shred and see the results, you really know that was all worth it.
“Most people are surprised by the change and they ask me how I made this change. The most important thing is to know what you’re doing; ignorance is a very dangerous weapon and can do a lot of harm.
“Read, learn and if you still need help, there are many people who offer their training and nutrition plans that will undoubtedly help you.
“Each body is different and needs to be targeted in different ways. My advice for all the girls that want to change their bodies is to forget about those long sessions of cardio and don’t be afraid to lift weights.
“Lifting is what is going to change your body. The cardio should just complement your training. If you really want to progress, you must realise that this is not only a diet and a workout programme that you should follow for a few months. This is a lifestyle that should last your whole life.”
