Judy Weichman: Negative Conditions Handled By Positive Attitude

A great example of someone living as a champion is recent figure pro, Judy Weichman. Raised in Pontiac, Illinois, she was naturally competitive, competing in track, softball, and volleyball. She did particularly well in track, competing as a sprinter, high jumper, long jumper and earned a scholarship with Illinois State University for high jumping.

The summer before college, Judy was rear-ended in a car accident, which caused a spinal injury. This left her with five years of physical therapy, making her unable to use her track scholarship. She went to a junior college but lost her ability to quench her competitive nature.

Life gives us many challenges to face. Judy's oldest son, Austin, had bacterial meningitis as a baby, which led to seizures. This included a 15-minute seizure in which he was announced as being brain dead. Austin fell into a medically induced coma but woke up a few days later asking for his mother. The doctors were amazed at this miracle.

Judy's second son Kolton was born healthy, but her third son (Brandon) was born seven weeks early and had suffered from a stroke prior to her giving birth. This was discovered when he was a year old since he was not using the right side of his body.

Nine years ago, Judy started to notice some weird symptoms like numb arms and feet and lightheadedness. She saw four different neurologists with differing opinions. It seems like she was in the early stage of multiple sclerosis. They found a lesion on her brain and on her spine and suspected that the stress of overall family health problems may have added to a genetic tendency to MS.

The head neurologist from the Mayo Clinic recommended she start weight training, cardio work and following their clean eating recommendations, rather than relying on pills. “Judy, eat clean and work out,” he said. “That is the best chance you are going to have for it not to get worse.”

Judy's doctor appointment was on a Friday, she joined Gold's Gym the next Monday, and bought a book describing the clean diet recommendations. “I ended up discovering that I loved to lift weights, as I had never lifted weights before.”

The book recommended foods to avoid body inflammation. Prior to the diagnosis, Judy was naturally skinny and ate sweets and anything she wanted. She had the nickname “Junkfood Judy.” Her doctor told her that nutrition had a serious effect on most diseases, particularly diabetes, heart issues and MS.

“I literally did a one-eighty,” Judy says. “I went from junk food to preparing all my meals right out of the suggestions of that book. This included clean healthy food, nothing packaged, just home cooked healthy meals.”

Her diet was based on the clean diet requirements to reduce inflammation in order to control her MS symptoms.

For this, she avoids wheat products and simple sugars, and eats in a gluten-free  manner. Her carbs are geared more towards sweet potatoes, brown rice and quinoa. Her protein sources are chicken, fish, and Beverly protein shakes. Her fats include natural almond and peanut butters, avocados, and she cooks with coconut oil.

“If you are a competitor or just someone wanting to be as healthy as possible, the key is clean eating,” Judy says. “I can’t stress that enough. Whether you have a specific disease or not, the most important thing you can do for yourself is to eat lean clean foods and supplement your body with Beverly International supplements. You can also make so many great recipes with their protein powders.”

A guy at her gym told Judy that she had a great figure and should compete. “I was so shy I couldn't imagine getting up on stage,” she says. “And then I realized that I didn't have to talk, and I'm a competitive person, so I decided to give it a try.”

Figure Pro, Chaundra Tangi moved to Bloomington from Colorado at this time. Chaundra had lost focus on competing, but was inspired by Judy. They both worked together and Chaundra helped her particularly with her posing and stage presence.

“My goal was to get up on stage and not fall down in the heels I was not used to wearing, but I ended up winning my first show in Rockford, Illinois. I did another show two months later in Chicago and also won. Since then, I have been doing two to three shows a year.”

This includes competing at the national level, in which she won the figure overall at both the 2014 NPC Continental USA Championships and the 2016 NPC Masters Nationals (and her pro card).

Her diet was so on track that at a recent show she was able to eat the same food plan she was on for twelve-weeks up to the show, no adjustments were necessary. She didn't need to do anything to fill out or adjust her hydration. “As we women get older,” Judy says, “our hormones and metabolism sometimes get off track. I have been lucky so far not to have that as a concern.”

Every year, Judy has an MRI in which they look to see if her lesions have changed. Fortunately, hers have not gotten worse. “What has changed, and what shocked my physician, is that he saw the changes to my body a year after my first show.” Her doctor was shocked by the changes to her physique and encouraged her to continue in that direction.

What makes Judy special? It’s not just winning a pro card as Judy did, but it was how she handled the challenges of real life. It wasn’t using her burdens to accept less from the world, it was how she put forth the effort to make her life as good as possible. Judy Weichman is a great example of what it means to be a true champion!