I started at Hackettstown CrossFit over two years ago and I was extremely scared because I had never done anything like this before. I cheered for 13 years and with that came broken wrists and fingers, bad back, and crap knees from all the impact on my body. In addition, I suffer from extreme anxiety and doing this was really intimidating. My first year I did the 21-day challenge didn’t lose much weight but DID lose a ton of inches. I wasn’t discouraged by the number of pounds. I felt like, wow, this is actually really fun, and I kept pushing myself because I had made some awesome friends and the community was amazing. I had a few more ups and downs but during a 5 week competition called, “The Open” two years ago, I saw all the hard work my friends and soon to be husband (at the time) were putting in and I had a revelation to push myself to work harder.
I started working harder, but I wasn’t seeing the results as fast as my Husband was. Frank was “athlete of the month” last year and after hearing him use that as an excuse to get out of everyday chores around the house (rolling eyes) I started to get annoyed and wanted to push myself even harder!
One day I was leaving the box and I was passing the TV in the lobby that had a presentation of other members success stories and thought to myself, “I’m going to be on that TV one day!” In the back of my mind I was thinking, “yeah right they’ll never pick me.... but hey, what’s the worst that can happen? I’ll get fit as an outcome!” From that day forward I started pushing myself and focusing on my diet. I got engaged a few months later and knowing I wanted to look my best I started to get into beast mode! After a while my mentality went from only thinking about being skinny to pushing myself to actually try and become stronger! My anxiety started to turn to confidence and that to me was a win in itself! I have lost 40 pounds since joining HCF. I may not be the strongest, or the fittest, but I am proud of how far I have come. It’s not just my physical health, my mental health is in such a better place. The support and love from this place are truly like nothing I have ever been a part of. I’ll always have my knee pads, wrist bands, and hey... maybe a helmet one day (“kidding” coach Mike!) I will keep coming in, make you all laugh from my “Clumsy Cleia” moments, and try my best! The Hackettstown CrossFit community and coaches are my family and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else!
(You made the TV Cleia!!)
