By Stacey Garcia
The Shred is over. 30 days of striving for your personal best, of eating well and exercising your booty off. This time around everything was different. Maybe by keeping a food journal, you became aware of your eating habits and how to better manage them. Maybe you pushed yourself to the physical limit of each and every workout. Maybe you had that Holy Shit moment more times than you care to remember. Whatever the reason, you all rocked it! 89 pounds were lost in the last 30 days and hopefully much insight and motivation was gained. You realized, you can do this! You too can live a healthy, happy life! Your success stories are the reason why I am a trainer. You all motivate me with your drive. Without further ado.. here are our winners of my End of Summer Shred:
For the Ladies: 1st Place: Ruweida Bloomquist! 2nd Place: Edita Fikhman! 3rd Place: Rachel Speed!
For the Men: 1st Place: Dave O’Connell! With honorable mention to Glenn Freeman and William Garcia!
I couldn’t be more proud of ALL my Shredders! Please keep up the good work. It’s all about the journey, not the destination.
I asked my brother-in-law, William Garcia (Shredder and Workout Warrior), if he could share his story of personal success. He began his journey a mere 4 months ago and has lost over 30 pounds and 12% body fat during that time and 14.4 pounds during the shred!! I couldn’t be more proud of him as his sister, as his trainer and as his friend. Here is what he said:
“The Desire! The Want! The fact that I no longer wanted to make excuses for why I wasn’t healthy or in shape. Patience! Understanding that change would take time and would require hard work. Sacrifice! Knowing things would no longer be the same and being OK with it. That some adjustments to my life needed to be made for the better. Motivation! The thirst to want to do things physically I wouldn’t normally think my body could do. Making it fun! Setting challenge able yet realistic goals for myself on a day to day basis. No longer accepting that moment of weakness to grab that candy bar or eat that slice of pizza. Knowing I have that “cheat day” but also understating that I don’t have to use it. That I enjoy eating healthier and making the time to be active because it makes me a happier person! It makes me feel good! My comfort is no longer in junk food or sitting on the couch but in treating my body with respect and appreciation. Trying to push my body physically to its limits rather than wasting its potential. All these things helped me because I just did them. I no longer said “tomorrow”. There no longer was a “tomorrow” for me.
So do I personally think I’ve succeeded? I’ve succeeded only in starting the journey but still have a long way to go before I consider myself successful in being a healthy/active person.”
Weight-loss is a journey, not a destination.? It requires a change in life style.? Always set goals for yourself.? Always train for something.? You’ve got one life to live.? Live it wisely.