SOPHIE WINS TITLE AFTER JUST FOUR MONTHS OF TRAINING
AFORMER Welsh beauty queen has won a fitness modelling competition after just four months of training. Sophie Hodgson, 25, said a strict fitness regime – and lots of white fish – helped her win the title of PureElite Bikini Pro Champion.
The former runner-up of Miss Wales said she decided only four months ago to enter the competition but didn’t think she would win.
She said: “I thought I could get to the stage where I would be suitable in four months but not top of the category.”
Sophie, originally from Abercarn, had to completely revamp her eating habits and fitness to win the coveted title.
The self-confessed chocoholic said she used to eat a chocolate bar a day before she started training.
Now her diet includes plenty of chicken, lots of green vegetables and white fish, which she hates.
Sophie also trains with weights every day for at least an hour and has no cheat days.
She said: “The hardest part is that my husband is in the military and there are a lot of social events.
“It’s hard when I want that cake. It’s mentally challenging.
“There was a time when I was eating white fish for breakfast and I cried into my plate. I thought, ‘I can’t do this.’
“I was so weak and didn’t have much energy. But I needed to prove I could do it. If I’d quit I would have felt like a failure.”
Sophie has competed in pageants since she was 16.
She was runner-up in the Miss Wales pageant in 2011, and has won Miss Grand Wales in 2013 and Miss Supranational Wales in 2012.
But since she got married in March this year, she has been unable to enter pageants because she’s not a Miss any more.
Sophie said she entered the fitness competition because she needed something to look forward to.
It was the thrill of being on stage that first got Sophie interested in pageants.
She said: “My nan told me when I was 15 I should enter Miss Wales.
“So when I realised you could at 16 I entered. Now being on stage is all I know.
“I get excited and love the nerves – I don’t get that anywhere else.”
But the switch to fitness competitions was hard.
Sophie said: “It’s a massive difference being judged on every inch off your body. It felt quite daunting at first.
“Pageants and fitness modelling are very different. There’s more competition in fitness. It requires a stronger mentality and dedication.”
Sophie won the Bikini Tour category of the competition for girls over 5ft 5ins.
She said: “It was just pure shock when I won. I’d always wanted to win when I did pageants, but I had none of those feelings this time. “I was happy to stand at the back. “When they called my number I started clapping not realising it was me.
“The first thing I said is ‘Is this a joke?’ I was gobsmacked.”
Sophie won a Pro card at the competition, which means she will now compete at the Pure Elite World Championships at the O2 Arena in London on November 5.
She said she was going to enjoy the final and she hopes to make Wales proud.
But the beauty queen has one thing she’s not looking forward to – eating more whitehi fi fish.h
She celebrated her win with two Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the trip home, but they made her feel ill after months of not eating sugar.
But she said she will get back to her strict eating plan for the finals next month.
Sophie said it was important for people to be healthy – no mater what their regime was like.
She said: “If I hadn’t competed I wouldn’t have got fit. It set me up for a healthy lifestyle. You need to eat healthy whatever diet that is.
“I feel so much better now. You just need to be yourself and be happy doing it because otherwise it’s not worth it.”