I was 145 pounds when I graduated high school. I’m 5’7″ and have been told I have a medium-boned body structure. I was heavier than most of my close friends even then, but I actively worked out, including being a cheerleader, in track, and participating in weight training and cardio. I didn’t really watch what I ate because my metabolism took care of that…but honestly I didn’t really eat much at all from what I remember. It wasn’t anorexia, because I did eat, but it was an eating disorder of sorts. I knew I wanted to be as skinny as my friends and sometimes I tried in an unhealthy way to do so.
When I started college, I started hanging out with a lot of different people. I still had friends that were skinny as all get-out, but I also made friends that were comfortable in their own bodies (no matter their size) and I admired that. I spent a lot of time eating convenience food from my meal plan, because we normally had a lot of meals and points left at the end of the week. I remember buying full cakes from the cafe…bad idea. I kept a lot of single-serve cereal and pre-packaged Rice Krispie treats around, as well as drinking lots of beer and chain-smoking like it was my job. It’s not that I was sheltered at home, but college is where you can do what you want with no repercussions, right? Wrong. If I had known then what I know now…I would have made a lot of different decisions! Of course, I’m referring to a lot more than just diet and fitness, but that’s where we’ll leave it. ^_^ I gained a lot of weight…mainly from poor eating decisions, not being active, and eventually ending up in a relationship with an overweight guy where I felt comfortable being an overweight girl. Where I was wearing size 8 pants (which were big) when I started college, by the time my sophomore year started I think I was already wearing size 14. By the time I graduated undergrad, I was in size 16 (tight) and about 200 pounds.
My first summer of graduate school I was living alone and, though no one had called me fat to my face, I knew the truth. I was up to about 212 pounds. I got an Ab Lounge and some Yoga videos, as well as some other workouts for me to do. I fluctuated a lot, mostly because I still wasn’t really watching what I ate (or drank), and didn’t really lose much weight. The apartment I was living in was basically a studio, so there wasn’t even much room for me to move around to give it my all during the work out. The next year I moved into a two bedroom place, which gave me a lot more room to work with. I had seen an infomercial (of course!) about Beachbody and the Power90 program, which combined cardio fitness with muscle sculpting. I decided to order the program and start a strict diet. I used WOWY.com (now Team Beachbody) to keep track of my workouts and used a 1200-calorie diet program that focused mainly on a certain amount of fruits, veggies, proteins, starches, and fat I could get a day. I didn’t even take my workouts into consideration for the calories I ate. Of course I lost weight…got down to 178 actually. It was the smallest I had been in a long time, but it wasn’t in a healthy way. My blood sugar was out of whack, I didn’t sleep, I drank and chain-smoked more than I ever had, so of course most of those calories I consumed were empty ones. I was in a horrible relationship, which didn’t make it any better. Thankfully that was the year I got a teaching job offer in Virginia and decided to make the move nearly 400 miles south, away from everything I was comfortable with.
When I moved to Virginia, I kept the workouts up but the diet still didn’t change. I again got into a comfortable relationship so I didn’t really worry about any of that after awhile. I fluctuated a lot over these last 7 years, getting up to an alarming (for me) 224 pounds about a year ago (a couple months after our wedding). I went through Weight Watchers a couple of times over those years, joined a couple of different gyms, tried “magic pills” and those quick fixes that helped for awhile but I always gained everything right back. My skin was getting loose and lots of places jiggled that I didn’t want to jiggle. I tried all of the videos I had gotten over the years, only to get bored after like 2 weeks and stop. I even ordered more Beachbody programs, but again, it just didn’t stick. I started thinking about what motivates me (my WHY) and knew I needed to take all of that into consideration or I was risking a lot.
My cousin Angie started posting about the 21 Day Fix, Beachbody’s latest program with trainer Autumn. It had 30-minute workouts daily for 21 days, and a diet focused mainly on portion control (that even came with colored-coded containers!). Portions were part of the reason I wasn’t successful in the past, so I decided to give it a go. For one thing, it was only THREE WEEKS…most of the other programs are 90 days, which was just too much dedication for me. Plus, the workouts had moves for one minute then a 20 second rest, so it made it easier to transition into the next thing without dying haha. I stuck with it completely, and it wasn’t really that bad! I loved that the workouts were different each of the seven days and focused on different portions of the body each day, including even Yoga and Pilates! The program even allowed snacks and wine 🙂 It’s all about moderation, of course. I ended up losing 6.2 pounds and 9.5 inches in that three weeks and it ended up being the jump start I needed.
During the 21 Day Fix challenge program, I fell in love with Shakeology as a post-workout recovery. It can be used as a meal replacement, but I love food 🙂 I really wanted a discount, as it’s not the cheapest thing in the world (but sooooo worth it after comparing it to the amount of foods and supplements you’d need to take to mimic the content), so I decided to become a coach. A huge motivator for me was knowing this would keep me accountable. Who wants a coach that hasn’t experienced similar things? Or who’s 60 pounds overweight? I knew I could help people with the knowledge I’ve gained about good and poor choices with diet and fitness over the years, many from personal experience.
I started Focus T25 shortly thereafter and lost a total of 19.1 pounds and 16.5 inches in TEN WEEKS! I wouldn’t have been able to control my eating habits without the 21 Day Fix, and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to have the fitness level I needed to handle the workout. Both programs have a modifier that helps those with a lower fitness level to still see results and be active. I found myself bouncing between the trainers and the modifiers and week by week I got stronger and it got easier. I have recently started Focus T25 Gamma and am already down 2.2 pounds and 1.5 inches the first week! (UPDATE 10/21 – I finished Gamma, did a TurboFire/PiYo hybrid, and trained for my first half marathon!)
I love being an inspiration to others, because it keeps me motivated to do more and see more results! I’m so happy I get to share this journey with all of you and encourage you to start your journeys to success if you haven’t already. Whether you have that last pesky five pounds to lose, fifty, or over one hundred…YOU have to make the first step. Make a choice, give it your all, and if it bores you, switch it up! There’s a lot of choices out there, and of course it doesn’t have to be from Beachbody… But if you’re curious, want more information, or if you’ve already made the choice to give it a shot, let me know! Visit the links above or click here to see what there is that we have to offer. And if you’ve already achieved your goals, please share your journey with someone else that needs the motivation! If you’ve ever thought about coaching and want to learn how it can benefit you and your family, I’d be happy to share some info.