Summer is the time when most people realize that new year’s resolution diet hasn’t panned out for them.
But it’s not too late. One local woman is proving it can be done. Francy Gillespie not only got in shape, but now has an award-winning body…literally.
Gillespie recently placed third at the NGA Alabama Natural Open Bodybuilding Championships in Birmingham.
“Some people are genetically built to build muscle quickly, and I am fortunate to be one of those people,” Gillespie said. “I knew nothing about the sport two years ago and now I’ve placed at my first competition.”
Just a few years ago, Gillespie had hardly been inside a gym. Two years later, she placed at one of the largest body building events in the state.
Shortly after joining her first gym, she was persuaded to give body-building a try and soon she was hooked. Gillespie chose to enter the NGA competition because of its strict policy on banned substances.
“A lot of people who do this use steroids, but I wanted to be able to say I did this without using anything,” Gillespie said. “I chose to do it with dieting and hard work.”
Dieting and hard work are how Gillespie became interested in bodybuilding. She says the diet and workout bodybuilders use can be practiced by anyone to lose weight.