When I was 22 years old, in 2003, I was a crazy party girl. I was vegetarian who ate french fries, entire calzones I weighed 160 - 165 at 5'4". I hated exercise. Embarrassed and self conscious, I finally hit rock bottom and decided I didn't want to be fat anymore!
I was totally clueless about how to lose weight, except I knew that if my calories out were greater than my calories in, I would lose weight. So I only consumed 1000 calories a day and I would do cardio for hours at a time.
Twenty pounds lighter, I moved to Tampa and I stuck with doing my 4 - 6 days a week of cardio and I even began running. I remember my very first mile. This is when I fell in love with running - I would see how far I could go, always pushing myself in the heat and humidity.
In June of 2007 I got tired of doing so much cardio and running all the time and eating what I thought was healthy, but not seeing results, so I hired a trainer and began strength training. Still doing lots of running, the scale wouldn't budge. I thought I was eating healthy, but it didn't matter because I was still drinking 4+ nights a week.
In September of 2007 I moved back to Boston. At that point my party lifestyle was scaled back to only a couple nights a week. I joined a gym with my boyfriend and began circuit training with lots of intervals with high intensity cardio. Between January 2008 and June 2008 I had lost another 15 pounds, and I didn't think I had 15 pounds to lose!
I began a regular yoga practice as well as completed the Disney World Half marathon. I also read Tosca Reno's Clean Eating book so my nutrition changed greatly. I did count calories, fat, carbs and protein but the most important thing was to eat every 3 hours and always be sure to eat a lean protein and complex carb at each meal.
Because of this change I fell so in love with fitness and I felt like I had learned some crazy secret that the world needed to know so I dedicated myself to getting my personal trainer certification through NASM. I got a job right away at a big globo gym and helped tons of women lose fat, build muscle and gain confidence.
I took my fitness to the next level in May 2011 as well as April and May of 2012 when I competed in two FAP and one WBFF Bikini Competitions. Both times I found the nutrition aspect to be too restrictive and while I loved the outcome of my body, I wasn't impressed with the overall experience.
After giving it a go that second year, I realized I needed to go where my heart was leading me - to Crossfit. Since I began Crossfit in July 2012 I have competed in 3 competitions and every day I show up to train, my heart is filled with joy and excitement to get stronger and see what I can accomplish.
It feels so great to be proud of myself about how much I can squat rather than how few calories I ate.
At 160 pounds when I was eating fries and ripping jeans I never once thought that I would ever get on stage in an itsy bitsy bikini and show off my flat stomach, nor did I think I would love to sweat so much I would be training OTHERS to do it to lose weight and make a better & healthier life for themselves.