I’m happy, I’m faster, I’m stronger and I get to eat a lot! Life is so good thanks to the things I’ve learned so far from FitMania.
- What were your reasons for accepting the Lean for Life Challenge?
I first came to Fitmania because of Haley Hunter. She always talked about how much she loved it, and after she came to a Hot Yoga class with me I thought it would only be fair if I went with her to her gym. I was already running and doing hot yoga regularly but I felt like I had plateaued. After trying out the HIRT classes for a week I decided it would be fun to see what progress I could make by doing the challenge.
- What were your successes, obstacles, life changes, etc. during the challenge?
When I started this challenge I told myself, “no more candy for 13 weeks,” and then I then spent the entire first week of the challenge eating candy! I realized that that wasn’t going to work so I changed my mindset from negative to positive. Instead of saying to myself, “no candy” I told myself, “be healthy and see what happens if you don’t give up.”
Four days into “being healthy” and the oldest of my three kids became ill and I was up all night with her. The tired days have always been the hardest for me to eat clean. The empty calories somehow seem like they will be so satisfying, which is pretty ironic since they actually make me more tired! While scrolling through Instagram that morning I came across this quote, “If it’s important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.” I realized that this really was important to me so I stayed strong and ate clean even though I was tired.
A month into the challenge I had to go to Peru for a family emergency. I was there for a week and was busy from early in the morning until late at night but I worked out as often possible and when I ate I focused on meals that would be high in protein and vegetables and tried to have little if any white flour. I feel like that made a huge difference for me! I had plenty of energy even while running on little sleep and was able to focus on the things that I needed to take care of while I was there.
I regularly attended the 6pm State street class and loved being with the people there. I was having fun and getting stronger at the same time. I had more energy and my “necessary” afternoon nap kept getting shorter and shorter. I found that in all of my summer activities that I was stronger and had more stamina.
I’ve tried for years to get definition in my stomach but never was able to and I told myself that I never would because it wasn’t my body type… but then I started seeing definition in my stomach! And the Craziest part of the whole thing was that I was never hungry, and my workouts didn’t last forever, and I had fun and I was happy! My yoga practice is stronger than it’s ever been even though I started going fewer times a week. And my running, oh my gosh, my running! I have NEVER in my life run a mile in under 8 minutes and my mile after doing this challenge was 7:06! I’ve been getting compliments from my family and friends but also from random strangers.
I’m happy, I’m faster, I’m stronger and I get to eat a lot! Life is so good thanks to the things I’ve learned so far from FitMania. I can’t wait for the next challenge!
Before:
After:
