Crissy lost 68 pounds

Transformation of the Day: Crissy lost 68 pounds. Unhappy, tired and dealing with high blood pressure, she decided to join a gym and start changing her eating habits. After feeling like she was spinning her wheel and not get results in the gym, a friend who is a personal trainer taught her how to get the most out of her workouts and her meals. Here is what she shared about her journey…

In February of 2014, I was motivated to change my lifestyle because in addition to becoming unhappy with my appearance, I was literally tired of being tired all the time! Every day after work, I would get home and eat a heavy dinner, sit in the recliner, watch television and fall asleep. Then, it was time to get up and go to bed, only to wake up the next morning exhausted!

I decided to join a gym and attempted to change my eating habits! In the beginning, I would go to the gym daily and walk on the treadmill for an hour and pedal on the stationary bike for half hour, only to realize I was going nowhere fast! I stopped drinking carbonated drinks but at that time I was still consuming highly fatty foods and sweets! My energy levels started to increase but only a little at that time! It wasn’t until I had been spinning my wheels for a couple months that my college friend who just so happen to be a personal trainer saw my efforts on Facebook and offered his help to me!

He taught me how to actually “use” the entire gym and how to use that treadmill to my advantage! I started doing body weight and conditioning exercises, beneficial cardio and weight training! He helped me with my meal choices and basically “prescribed” a no carb diet for me! I immediately started to see the weight come off and my energy level shot through the roof! It was all a struggle in the beginning, but I was determined to prove to myself that I could be a better me! Within 5 months, I had lost 25 pounds! I’ve continued my training and now I actually assist my trainer with training others. We started a Saturday morning Walkers’ Club to get others up and moving, opposed to sleeping in. It’s called the Supreme Fitness Walkers Club. We walk several miles and stop throughout the walk and do different exercises, like jumping jacks, air squats, lunges and if we can, wall sits! It’s intense but it’s worth it!

Now, I do a lot of strength and conditioning training. My daily diet consists of mainly chicken, turkey, lean beef, a lot of fresh green vegetables and very little starchy foods! I drink water and coffee exclusively! I will, however, indulge in a slice of strawberry cake every once in a while!

At 5’7″, my starting weight (in Feb 2014) was 283 pounds and at weigh in this morning I was at 215 pounds (Oct 2015)! I was in a size 20W. My metabolism is so high now and I’m losing fat so rapidly that the last time I went shopping I think I bought was a size 14 and it’s rather loose fitting now! I’m not seeing the muscle definition yet, that’s something I’m working for, but I can certainly tell it’s there so I work hard daily to build and maintain!

My goal was never to be “skinny”, it was to be healthier! Because I changed by lifestyle, it was easy to attain better health. My doctor decreased the dosage of my blood pressure meds and will likely be taking me off of it completely. I would encourage any woman who is struggling with weight loss, not to try and do it alone! There are people out there who can help you, who want to help you and who want to see you succeed in reaching your weight loss goal! They want to see you healthy.

Instagram: @crissyjunel