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Before
After
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Wendy McCoy
This is a story of
my journey over the past two and a half years concerning my
battles with weight loss. I often felt worthless due to
being overweight and being criticized all my life. So I made
a decision to take control of my life in order to become
more confident in myself. I realized my weight was a major
problem in February 2006. My desire to lose weight became
stronger when I was diagnosed with diabetes in June of
2006.The decision to change my life was a big step because I
was uncertain about how to lose the weight effectively. I
had been on several diets, which did not work or were just a
temporary solution. These diets would work over a period of
time, but eventually they would stop working and I always
gained even more weight. I did not know how important
exercising was in order to take the weight off while also
learning the importance of nutrition on a daily basis.
On that first day back in February
2006, I can remember how much it hurt to do just 30 minutes
of walking outside. I can’t recall how many days when it
took everything I had to do a short amount of exercise
without getting any shin splints or cramps that would stop
me in my tracks. As the days passed, I increased my time and
the amount of miles that I would do each day. One thing I
did realize was I needed to do more to achieve the goals I
set for myself. I began to do free weights and resistance
training each morning after doing my cardio. My biggest
obstacle was learning how to change my eating habits. I
decreased my calorie, fat, and sodium intake on a daily
basis at first. When I found out I was diabetic, I had to
figure what I needed to do get my sugar down and to keep
everything else in check. I went to a nutritionist and was
given a diet plan to follow. It took me about a year to get
68lbs off with the exercise and dieting that I was doing.
Unfortunately, I began to plateau and started gaining some
of my weight back in November and December of 2008. So I
made the decision that I needed to do something new to start
losing the weight again. After realizing that I was not
losing weight anymore, I knew I had to change my plan of
action.
As the New Year approached, I decided
it was time to hit the gym and start working out to start
achieving the goals I set for myself. One day at the gym,
one of the trainers mentioned something about a body
challenge that they were doing for 12 weeks. I was very
interested, but I was concerned about the cost and having
the time and dedication in order to be successful. In order
to change what I was doing, I had to push myself more than
ever.
USA Elite Trainers gave me the proper
tools to guide me in the pursuit of my goals. Therefore, I
decided to sign up for the Total Body Challenge.
Participating in the Total Body Challenge was the best thing
I could have done for myself. On the first day it was very
exciting but very scary at the same time, because I didn’t
know what to expect. My diet and exercise program were about
to change drastically. I learned how to eat smaller meals
throughout the day while also obtaining various exercise
routines. We did a Saturday workout every week, which showed
me different ways of doing things that involved exercising.
I received a lot of information regarding the different
vitamins, powders, and supplements you can use to help in
the weight loss program. The one thing that we were reminded
of each day was it is a lifestyle change and you can
maintain it lifelong.
The Total Body
Challenge helped me push myself to new limits I never
thought I could achieve. It did have a lot of ups and downs
but I was able to push through it. I am very grateful to my
personal trainer, Tony, who helped me strive to be the best
I could be and still continues to do so. He was there to
support me through my bumps along the way and was always
there for me when I needed him. I would like to thank all of
USA Elite Trainers, Anytime Fitness, CJ, Loren, Jenn, Tony,
and Stacey for also giving me the knowledge and the will to
be successful throughout this entire process. I have lost a
total of 51lbs while doing the Body challenge and have lost
a total of 103 lbs all together during this weight loss
journey. I want to be an inspiration to other people who
have been struggling with weight loss their entire life and
letting them know they can succeed too.
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