Tiana Blount-Muscarella
Staff Writer
Paris Karastury, a 19-year-old sophomore from Northwestern, Pennsylvania who is on Florida Southern’s Equestrian team, traded out her riding helmet and boots for heels, diving into the world of competitive body building, achieving successes and awards in the process.
She received second place in Debut, third place in Novice and fourth place in Open in the Battle of the Great Lakes Naturals in Cleveland, Ohio.
In order to achieve her goals to compete in August, Paris hired her coach Erin and joined OCD (The Organization of Competitive Bodylifting) with her other coach Kim, to help her train, diet and stay accountable to control her physical and mental growth throughout this process.
This process consumed her lifestyle because she had to balance and constrain food restrictions, hydration, lifting, number of steps and recovery. While doing all of this, Paris had to bulk up throughout the months of January to the end of March hitting up to a max calorie intake of 2,300 calories and by August cutting all the way down to 1,300 calories a day with the goal of losing half a pound every week to hit peak leanness.
On Aug. 23, a day before travelling back to FSC, Paris stepped on stage to compete in her first bodybuilding competition, in not one, but three different categories. Despite the nerves, anxiety and shakiness she felt backstage, Paris displayed her powerful confidence and skills and placed in all three categories.
She received second place in Debut, third place in Novice, and fourth place in Open.
“It was very rewarding to see all the progress pay off and realize that this could be something serious and official in my future. When I was on stage I felt so much love and care from not only family but from my competition as well,” Karastury said.
According to Karastury, she would not have been able to achieve this amazing victory without her support system.
Her friends and coaches showed her the as much support she could imagine, but the love and sacrifice her family gave her went above and beyond as they helped with her meals, paying for things, dealing with irritable emotions and overall, went out of their way to help her reach her goals.
Paris did not always compete in bodybuilding and horseback riding. Rather, she was originally a gymnast. As she continued the sport as an adolescent, she kept getting irritated and injured, ultimately making her fall out of love with the sport.
She then picked up the interest in horse riding at the age of ten. The sport became an instant passion for Paris. Paris developed that interest in lifting when she picked it up from her dad in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.
In January, she committed to the goal to compete on stage in a bodybuilding competition.
The biggest take away from this whole experience from Paris was, “You can do more than you believe, life is short — go for everything and anything possible”.
She emphasized for anyone who plans on going through this same journey to never get discouraged with any of your downfalls, as most of the experience requires an open and positive mental state.
Karastury said that it’s important to understand that most body builders are also going through the same issues that you are and have also faced setbacks with injuries and instead of being worried, face it head on and keep moving forward.
She also faced challenges mentally, as previously mentioned, becoming irritable at times and sometimes she never felt like enough or doubted herself.
All of this negativity, however, disappeared when she stepped on the stage because she was more than the nerves running through her head.
Paris plans to compete again in the future, but until then she is going to continue her love with equestrian and also work with her coaches to recover from the demanding hormonal changes from the competition and maintain a healthy lifestyle and balance.
At FSC, Karastury is not only an equestrian, but is also an active member in the student body being involved in intramural sports, campus ministries and Director of Sisterhood in Zeta Tau Alpha.
Paris’s journey demonstrates how passion, discipline and resilience can drive powerful transformation. Her story reminds us that growth often comes from challenges we don’t anticipate. In the end, she proved that determination can turn the unexpected into something extraordinary.
If you want to continue to learn more and follow Paris on her journey, you can follow her Instagram handle @lifting.with.paris.
