Malissa Robles
Profile by Hans/ Photography by James Cook
As
a senior in high school in the San Fernando Valley, Malissa Robles was
seriously overweight, weighing a whopping 208 pounds at 5-foot-6. She
came from a family with a history of obesity and had been on a Weight
Watchers program since she was in fourth grade. "I had always been
the fat girl growing up," she says. "I knew I had to make a
change."
The only problem was,
she didn't know how. Desperate to lose her excess weight but with little
idea about proper nutrition, she simply stopped eating. "I just wanted
to be skinny," she says. "I would go three or four days without
eating. When I ate all I ate was fat free bagels and Cream O Wheat."
In
a year, she had got down to 135 pounds, but it was not exactly healthy
weight loss. She started going to the gym and even entered a figure show,
but when she placed second it triggered the inevitable binge, and she
put much of the weight she had lost back on. Once again, she felt disgusted
with herself.
Anyone who thinks
bodybuilding is "extreme" should take a look at Malissa today.
At 5-foot-6 and 145 pounds in contest and 160 pounds in the off-season,
Malissa, now 26 years-old and with two years of competitive bodybuilding
under her belt, has a tight, muscular physique that is both impressive
and healthy. In May, she placed second in the heavyweights at the NPC
California state and now has her sights set on Nationals, an incredible
achievement for someone who just a few years ago was so obese.
It was through bodybuilding,
in fact, that Malissa finally found a happy medium that allowed her to
put her weight fluctuations behind her and feel good about herself. And
as she has developed her body, her self-esteem has improved as well. "The
best thing about being a female bodybuilder is the confidence it gives
you," she says. "I have so much pride in myself, and I love
giving people advice about diet or training."
Malissa
Robles was born in Eugene, Ore., and moved to Tulare, Calif., a small
town 45 minutes from Fresno, when she was five years-old. Her father was
an alcoholic who physically and verbally abused her mom, and she divorced
him when Malissa was just six months-old. Malissa was raised mostly by
her grandmother, who was also a closet alcoholic and had battled her whole
life with bulimia. "I think that's how I became so messed up when
it came to body image," Malissa says.
Growing up in such
difficult circumstances, finding happiness has been a long struggle for
Malissa. She now lives in Visalia, Calif., with her husband David, also
a competitive bodybuilder, who placed second in the light-heavyweights
at the Cal in May. "He is my best friend and soul mate," she
says. "He supports me, trains me and makes me want to be a good person."
Malissa works as a grocery checker, a job she has had since she was 16
years-old. However, she plans on going to the police academy in the next
few months. "I have always wanted to be a police officer," she
says.
But although Malissa
is now happier with her life than she has ever been, it is far from easy.
A normal day starts at 5 a.m., when she gets up and goes to the gym to
do 30 minutes of cardio and abs. She comes home, makes breakfast for her
husband and herself, and packs their five meals for the day. After David
goes to work at 8, she squeezes in an hour-long snooze, before getting
up and getting ready for work. After work it's back to the gym where she
trains with her husband and does another 30 minutes of cardio. She is
home around 8 p.m., cooks, cleans up, returns phone calls and checks e-mails,
and then goes to bed. What little time she has to relax is at weekends.
Now
that she's a bodybuilder rather than just fat, Malissa is having to get
used to constant attention that comes with being a muscular female. She
admits she gets "a lot of staring and nudging," particularly
when she is out with David. "People don't know how to react,"
she says. "It used to really bother me and make me feel very uncomfortable,
but now I know it's only their lack of knowledge about the sport. I always
show off - I don't let my ass hang out, but I'm very girly."
With her drive to
succeed and her exotic looks (she is part Cherokee), Melissa has a great
future ahead of her in bodybuilding. After competing in seven bodybuilding
shows in California in the space of two years and placing in the top three
in all of them, her goal now is to compete in the Nationals in the next
couple of years. "I feel I have accomplished so much coming from
were I came from that anything is possible," she says.
She says she wants to bring up her calves and her back and work on defining
her legs and rounding out my physique. "I am happy with my size,"
she says. "I just want everything to look more mature. That will
come with time and hard training and a clean diet."
Whatever her future
holds in store, Malissa says bodybuilding has already improved her life
immeasurably. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make it sound
like my life is a bed of roses," she says. "It is anything but
that. But I just try to stay as positive as possible. I grew up in an
alcoholic family and I had a tough childhood, but I don't blame anyone
for that or feel sorry for myself. That is what has made me the strong
person I am today. I wouldn't want it any other way." And when she
sees old friends who knew her when she was a teenager and weighed over
200 pounds, it makes all the hard work worth while. "They just can't
believe I do what I do and look the way I do," she says. "That
is my sweet revenge - them admiring me and giving me my props."
Malissa
Robles E-mail address is malissadrobles66@msn.com
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