The myth that the world tells us is that success in an event. The signing of the contract. The record deal. The actor who suddenly becomes the hottest person in Hollywood. But success in most things is a process. And so is my journey to reaching my fitness goals. I can honestly say my weight loss was because of CrossFit.
I was a regular, normal woman trying to lose weight at LA Fitness Zumba classes and rollerblading on the weekends. If I can be honest, I wasn’t doing very well at it. I ate out a lot. And drank a lot! My job was super stressful and I thought I deserved to go out and enjoy my time off, which usually included drinking and eating out. My schedule was crazy: Work 8:30-5:30ish, immediately followed by networking or client entertainment events that took me until somewhere between 7PM-midnight. If I was lucky, I could squeeze in a Zumba class on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. By the time Friday night came around, it was happy hour cocktails downtown, late night fast food, sleeping in on Saturday only to repeat Friday night’s festivities again on Saturday, and brunch with friends on Sunday before turning in for another long week starting Monday morning.
More calories in and less calories burned meant weight gain for me. I probably weighed 200 lbs at my heaviest, but I cannot be sure because I was afraid to step on the scale. At this point in time, my back was constantly in pain. I couldn’t sleep. I was even considering breast reduction surgery because my breast size was causing my back pain. Things weren’t good.
I met Allen, my husband during this time. He was a gym rat (at least according to his eHarmony profile) and it turns out that was true in real life, too. He heard me talk about my goals in the gym and committed to wake up early and go with me to LA Fitness. But he kept insisting that I try CrossFit. I resisted at first. I thought CrossFit was way too hard. I thought I wasn’t in good enough shape to do CrossFit. I took one CrossFit class on Halloween and didn’t finish. I didn’t like it originally to be honest.
Finally, I decided to make some dramatic changes in my life. With all the love and support of my then boyfriend (who turned out to be my future husband), I quit my stressful job. I decided to put my happiness first, which means I committed to putting my health first.
CrossFit and the Orlando CrossFit community are really amazing and I felt welcomed immediately. I didn’t know how to do any of the things they did in classes, but that was okay. Some girls knew how to do pull ups. I couldn’t even come close. Some girls were lifting crazy amounts of weight, while I started with little bitty baby weights and a training bar. Every workout was just about showing up and working hard to improve my fitness.
After a few weeks, we started incorporating food prep and macro counting. Then, my weight loss really started picking up. I started getting more confident with CrossFit skills and movements. I learned how to do a double under. I learned how to pace myself in workouts. Slowly, I quit worrying about when I could actually finish a workout and instead thought about how quickly I could finish. I met so many amazing people, including strong women on their own fitness journeys. After months of working hard and eating better, I reached my fitness goals.
“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us. If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way.” Jim Rohn
But there’s more to this story … the truth that people never talk about. Life got in the way of my fitness journey. Or more accurately, I chose to prioritize other things over my fitness. Even before Allen and I got married, we were trying to start a family. Things didn’t go as planned. We tried, and ultimately turned to IVF to try and bring kids into our family. Throughout this period, I stopped exercising. In part due to doctors’ orders. In part, because I just didn’t feel like it. We moved to a new house and away from the CrossFit community that did such a great job keeping us accountable to our exercise and food routines. And then … Covid happened. The world shut down. Everything closed.
After two years of too many failed IVF cycles to recount, with hormone treatments causing havoc on my physical and mental health, we began to realize that kids were not in our plans right now. We then ventured down the adoption path, but even that ended in an adoption disruption. When Allen and I both looked at each other, life had taken a toll on us. I was back near my heaviest weight again, and Allen had gained weight this time, too.
We stopped working out together, which was one of our favorite pastimes when we first met. We were living in a new apartment and had achieved some financial goals, but we weren’t happy about where we were physically. We had been through an emotional rollercoaster, and we decided to get off the ride.
One day, sitting at breakfast, we just decided to Google CrossFit Gyms near me. The results told us that CrossFit Mousetrap was the closest, since we now lived near Disney. We drove over right after breakfast and signed up for a 12-month unlimited plan. We were ready to go all in again!
So my fitness journey continues. I told Allen at lunch just the other day that I had lost 11 lbs since we started at CrossFit Mousetrap. The formula is so easy. Burn more calories than you take in. The CrossFit Mousetrap community is full of amazing people who cheer me on during workouts. I’ve found a place that I love going to everyday. At CrossFit Mousetrap, it just feels like a bunch of good people hanging out, doing exercise and working on our fitness. Maybe there is something in the water near Disney that makes people so friendly. It may be the type of people this community attracts. I’m not sure. I just know the coaches and community at CrossFit Mousetrap make it feel ok to be on my own fitness journey. I don’t feel judgment. I feel accepted. And I have a lot of fun going. Allen and I are working out here 5 times a week now. We are sore, thanks to the coach’s amazing programming and classes. But we love every minute of it. And, I look back on these old photos often to keep myself motivated because I know what is possible with hard work and commitment.
If you are looking to start your fitness journey, sign up for a free intro class at CrossFit Mousetrap here.
If you are looking to restart your fitness journey, sign up for a class package that fits your schedule by clicking here.
You won’t regret it.
I’ll see you in class.