This is a huge request. To start - well you just need to start somewhere and it is more on you than anyone else. In terms of wanting to get into fitness modeling - that's sort of like acting - there are a million girls who want to do it, very limited money in it, and lots of people who will take advantage of you while you try to do it. It will most likely cost you money to get started vs. getting someone to sponsor you. Definitely work your local contacts and neighborhood to promote yourself and find sponsors. But again, most of us pay for most of everything we do. I would venture that I make very good money in a real day job towards which I spent 10 years putting myself thru college and 2 masters degrees - most of my discretionary spending goes towards this "hobby". The people who work in the industry - the trainers, the prep coaches, etc. are all there trying to make their own money and not handing out freebies all over the place. Make contacts, show people you are interested and also show them that you are a self-motivator yourself. Don't wait around for someone to sponsor you. Its a lifestyle that you need to establish for yourself just to see if you even like it. Same for modeling and same for competition. If you've never even been to a competition - go see a few and just see if you even enjoy it. Its a very expensive pursuit (posing suit, shoes, entry fees, federation dues, tanning, makeup / hair, travel and hotel - and that's all just to stand on stage for 3 minutes that day. THere's also gym membership, food, time spent training, etc. It just ain't cheap. It also requires 100% of your concentration for 4 months at a time- for competition you either do it or dont' bother. You can't do it half way or while you have something else that is critical or when you have obligations. It is a very selfish sport.
I would suggest you start by just googling "fitness modeling how to". Get on Facebook and search for 'fitness model' - you'll find many girls promote themselves on Facebook. You can also get on modeling sites like modelmayham.com. For diet & training - that's a very large category - if you don' thave any specific goals right now it is hard to recommend any particular approach. I would tell you to get a copy of Body for Life by Bill Phillips even if you don't need to "lose weight" - I like that book because it lays out the foundation of what is most bodybuilding diets - 5-6 small meals / day approach. It doesn't just give you a strict meal plan, but rather gives you a framework to build your own meal plan w/ suggested food choices. It is important to get familiar w/ building a meal plan and getting a sense of proportion of servings. E.g. do you know immediately how much 4 oz of chicken is? A good rule of thumb is that it is roughly the size of your fist. Most people start out getting a food scale so they can get measure their portions accurately. Eyeballing w/o any check that your eyeballed portions are actually accurate is a great way to fool yourself into thinking you're eating the right amount but you might actually be eating way too much or not enough at all. It also describes the "how" of how nutrition works. People frequently choose their meal plans based on myths the media promotes like "all fat makes you fat" or " you should only eat low carb" or "red meat is bad for you". Stupid shit like that. Nutrition isn't rocket science, but it isn't necessarily intuitively obvious either. But if you don't get it right, all the training in the world is wasted because your body can only respond based on how you fuel it. If you fuel incorrectly, and then make energy demands on your body that it isn't fueled for - you're just simply not going to get the results you want and may end up in worse place than when you started, and still not be sure why. The book also lays out a good upper body / lower body training split and promotes interval cardio for the most efficient way of burning fat w/o spending half a day in the gym. Its a reasonably quick read, explains a lot and is not an expensive book. IMO it lays out the foundation of everything we do in a very readable , concise manner.
Also for competition, I would tell you to check out competition photos online to see what body type / category you might be interested in pursuing and also the details of 'the look" / presentation on stage, the appropriate suits and the required poses. Some good sites: (you may need to create a login acct)
http://pics.musculardevelopment.com/
http://gallery.rxmuscle.com/
www.siouxcountry.com is a good site that specifically focuses on the women in the industry - great place for info and just talking to women in the sport, getting started, comeptition suits, makeup, modeling, the issues women deal with in the sport, whatever. (Most sites are more focused on the male contingent)
That should give you a bunch of places to start. As you start researching I'm sure you'll start coming across more stuff that will lead you closer to the bigger picture of all of this. No one can just tell you how to do it. The fitness industry is extremely free-form and unregulated. There are lots of people looking to take advantage of anyone. There are lots of people trying to make a living in an industry w/ very limited money opportunity. It might look glamorous but there are very low barriers to entry - i.e. everyone wants to do it, but very high barriers to success. Very important that you have a solid source of income to start with - you'll probably need something to support you before you can be in a position to be supported by the industry. If you're interested in training or something, get the right certifications and you'll need to sell yourself as a business to build up a solid clientele and keep it going. Same w/ the fitness modeling industry - you will have to always work to sell yourself and run your whole experience like a business. People are not going to hand you jobs and opportunities. They'll offer to do all sorts of services for money tho. And just always continue researching and learning. The internet is available to you. Get to know people in your local gym. When you show interest and bring something to the table, people are more likely to take you seriously. I know many women who get into the gym for like 4 months and will go on and on about how they LOVE IT and they'll LIVE THE LIFESTYLE FOREVER and want to compete and all that. It is still a lifestyle. It is a commitment and it doens't happen on a short schedule. I've been lifting for 32 years and competing for 12. You can't talk to someone who says " you need more muscle to compete" and then go run around looking for a quicky solution (guys will usually recommend steroids) because you want to get on stage in the next 2 months. It takes time. It takes time to learn how your body operates. It is very shocking and stressful to the body to do a first competition and exist on a restricted diet for 3-4 months. If you go at it too hard and too fast, a not uncommon result, even for something as non-extreme as bikini competition, end up w/ metabolic issues that might take months or years to rectify. Spend your time learning, reading, researching. Ask lots of questions and be consistent and persistent w/ your own goals. Network yourself. Look at what you're doing as a business. Set realistic expectations on realistic timelines. Talk to competitors. Talk to trainers. Go to competitions. Make sure you like it. Its a huge amount of time & money & opportunity cost to get into - we always compare it to a marathon and not a sprint. And keep balance in your life. Make sure you're not pursuing all of this to the detriment of your existing 'hard requirements' - your obligations, your finances, your health.
