Marys story is such an amazing one.  She overcame so much adversity and stuck to the plan all the way through.  I remember her coming in day one and it took nearly 10 minutes for her to take her shirt off to take the before pics.  She was not happy with where she was at and inside was just as bad.  She wanted change and I was 100% confident that change was going to happen.  I take different approaches with different clients.  With Mary I was very straight forward and told her that the choices she had made over the past 2-3 years had caused her to become FAT.  Even though her scale weight was not overweight in most peoples mind 35% of her body was Fat which put her in the obese category.  Too many people focus on scale weight to determine success and health, bodyfat is what is important.  So 1 I tell her YOUR FAT but i knew it was the fire she needed to prove me wrong and change that.  Through her transformation she dropped 25 lbs of fat, almost 16% bodyfat, 5 1/4″ off her belly and 4″ off her hips.  Mary is only 5’2″ and finished at 112 lbs from 135lbs.

Mary Im so proud of your hard work.  everything that I told you about how i felt about your transformation and what you did was 100% truth, its inspiring what you did and when you left i knew that you would continue living this lifestyle forever.. Your the best!!!!!

Marys Transformation Video-

“You’re fat, but I will make you fit”-Micah LaCerte

These are the words that echo in my mind every time I think about how my journey began at Hitchfit. There I was, the heaviest I had ever been and at one of the lowest points of my life when I heard these words from a perfect stranger. I hope my story encourages, motivates and allows for no more excuses to those contemplating transforming their bodies and lifestyle. To those of you whose lives consist of literally doing things for everyone else around you…stop…and take care of you!! And although it was a gift to myself…it is truly the best gift I have ever given.

So, day one, I walked into the gym, conservatively dressed and with every piece of skin covered. Micah, whom I’ve known for all of…hmmm…5 mintues, tells me to take my shirt off so he could take my before pictures. “You have got to be out of your mind,” was seriously my first thought. I didn’t want to take my clothes off for anyone I knew, let alone someone I didn’t know. And in all seriousness and as calm as he could, Micah said, “This is the first step in completely trusting me.” So, I listened to him, dropped my t-shirt, but quickly picked up my sweatshirt to cover myself just one more time before being completely vulnerable to the fact that I was fat and needed help getting fit.

My transformation is different from recent stories in that, I am not a mother trying to get my pre-baby body back. I do not have a husband or a busy/hectic lifestyle. It is just me and so I really have no good excuses as to why I allowed myself to become so unhealthy. I promise you, I wish I had something I could blame it on. But, my unhealthy habits began, 2 ½ years ago with the choice to quit smoking. Ironic I know, but while managing to kick one nasty, visible to everyone, type habit, I had unknowingly picked up another one not as easily recognizable as cigarettes…food!  In the past, I  had not attributed smoking a cigarette to dealing with a stressful situation in my life, but when I didn’t have one light up and something stressful happened, I went for food…of any kind… to make me feel better or to ease my anxiety. So, my food-comforting habits spiraled out of control when my father passed, I had a broken engagement, and suffered a miscarriage in a very short amount of time. Emotionally, I was a mess and the inner turmoil was so much more than what I allowed people to see. Food and soda always put a smile on my face and rarely let me down.

Then, I saw my girlfriend Gwen, who had recently had a baby in June 2009. She looked fabulous before baby and looked fabulous while pregnant. But when I saw her at her birthday party in November, I thought she looked amazing…”not for just having a baby” as is customarily said to women who give birth…but plain and simple she looked amazing! After she gave me her transformation explanation,  my hesitation didn’t come from what I had listened to about the dieting or the working out…it was committing to doing something for myself because as I said earlier, I had never made me a priority in life. So, we partied and drank at the birthday party and I put out of my mind what my friend Gwen had said and for that matter what she looked like…right?

Then Thanksgiving rolled around and my nephew said to me…”Aunt Mary, you are pleasantly plump.” And as I stared at him, my cold as ice stare, my mother followed up his comment with, “Well, sis, it’s not like you’re ugly fat…”

Still, my “ah-ha” moment didn’t come until right after Christmas time when I decided that 2010 was going to be my year…because I was going to make it my year. I contacted my girlfriend Gwen again, who said, “Don’t do it if you’re not serious.” And then I called my girlfriend, Ashlie, who had just started the transformation process. She, too, had just had a baby, and raved about how wonderful she felt.

Fortunately for me and this process, I have a “rule-follower” type personality and am very routine based, so when Micah told me to do something, I just did it. The first month went as slow as molasses, however, when I learned that I had lost 4.66% body fat in one month and I was no longer obese…I was pumped!!!!! There was nothing going to get me down. I went from doing the elliptical 30 minutes a day to running 6-7 days a week, 7 miles a day. I found a “high” in challenging myself and accomplishing new goals. I was tooling along, losing weight, losing body fat, feeling in complete control of my achievements. And then, such is life…a couple of bumps occurred during the process. I had an allergic reaction to some medication that caused hives on the bottoms of my feet, I had to be out of town for work for a couple of weeks and I ended yet another relationship. I thought for certain, I would resort back to my old ways of relying on food to make me feel better. But, with encouragement from friends, family and Micah, I focused in on what I had learned thus far in the transformation. I exercised to relieve stress and low and behold…it made me feel better!!!! I was finally at a turning point, where food was no longer the sole source of my happiness.

Then I pulled a muscle…or so I thought week 11. I was at a point, where I could see the end. I had planned for a 16 week transformation and I had five weeks left. I had a “whoo-hoo” attitude and was ready for the transformation process to end and begin the new challenge of being on my own, holding myself accountable. But, the pulled muscle never went away, the pain just continued to get worse. I couldn’t lift my leg without picking it up with my hands, let alone run any more on it. So, long story short, I ended up on crutches with a stress fracture in my femur. I was devastated!!!! The medical instruction was no weight bearing activity for 6 weeks, so I was certain I would have to stop training.  After talking with Gwen and Micah, it was decided…I would change my 16 week transformation goal to 20 weeks and concentrate on arms while my leg healed. I hobbled around the gym on my pink, faux-gem, bedazzled crutches while Micah accommodated the situation with creative workouts. Staying positive was the only way to persevere…and as the saying goes, “Fall seven times and stand up 8.”  I remember one day going into the gym and hearing about the push-up competition between the women. My instinct initially was that there’s no way I could participate. It’s amazing what one can accomplish when you tell yourself “I can” rather than “I can’t.” Maybe I would have been able to do more if I had had two legs, but the achievement wasn’t about the amount of push-ups, it was about not making excuses. You see, I had a temporary disadvantage, but I was not disabled.

The irony of overcoming this leg obstacle was the thing that had control of me when I started the transformation process became the only thing I could control…I had to control what I ate or I would not continue to lose weight. I fully comprehended now what Micah had been telling me all along…diet, diet, diet. So, from week 11 to week 16, I was not able to participate in fat-burning cardio like running or the elliptical. I controlled what I ate and focused on my arm workouts. Then week 16, I began swimming morning and night to get my cardio workouts in because it was low impact on my joints. My misdiagnosed stress fracture turned into having bone deterioration of my ankles, hips and lower lumbar. So, I was cleared from the doctors to do swimming and only tolerable leg workouts. So, the last 3-4 weeks, Micah was creative in the Tabata and the infamous red hill!!!!! Without cardio or leg workouts, I still lost from week 11 to week 20, 15 pounds of fat and 9% body fat. Eating properly is key during any weight loss/fat loss/getting in shape regimen, but it was crucial for me during my transformation.

The benefits of the transformation process are far beyond the outer appearance. Micah equipped me with such a strong educational foundation about food, cardio, and weight lifting that is specific to me that I will never be what I was five months ago. I truly am a more positive person and the word “happy” can’t describe the way I feel. But, I am happy all the time…seriously all the time.

Micah, thank you for believing in me before I did, thank you for inspiring me to be better and for being one of the most genuine people I have known. You have an amazing gift and I will forever be grateful for this experience. It has truly changed me…thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me have a better life.

ARE YOU READY TO CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE, CHANGE YOUR BODY AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE?

IF YOUR ANSWER IS YES, WE ARE READY TO HELP YOU!

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