Melissa C

Losing weight is hard. Just when you think you have it all figured out, bam, your body says, “Nope, not this time.” At least this was the case for me. About two years ago, I gained around 20 pounds. I didn’t change my workout routine and still counted calories so I was dumbfounded as to what going on. I was so desperate to lose weight that I finally gave in to my husband’s plea of joining Crossfit, which I had definitively said no to everytime he asked. During my first few classes, I cried. A lot. I couldn’t finish the workouts, I couldn’t remember the lifts. Even though I was so overwhelmed, I still showed up  three times a week. I scheduled my life around the gym. I was also driving to school, daycare and soccer practice, but I was on mission to prove something to myself, so I just did it- no excuses.

I won’t say that I lost weight in the first six months, because I didn’t. I didn’t even lose that much in the first year. I was still counting calories and was so frustrated because I did not understand how I was not losing weight if I was drenched in sweat after every workout. What I did notice was how much much stronger I became. I even signed up for the Crossfit Open and completed a Spartan Super, which were things I never would have done before. I kept crushing personal records whenever we had a test week, and to me that was something to be proud of. 

You know how sometimes someone takes a picture, and you’re in the background, but you don’t know you’re in the background until you see the picture? That’s what happened to me, except I didn’t recognize myself. I only knew it was me because of my signature pocketbook. With summer looming and a big vacation coming up, I knew I had to do something different, again. Here is where Coach Jess quite literally changed everything for me. Before a workout, I mentioned to her my weight loss frustrations and how my husband kept nudging me to see a nutritionist. She said, “I literally can help you with that. It’s what I do.” Now I hate asking people for help. I avoid it at all costs, which is the reason it took me almost a month to finally schedule a time to meet with her. She was the only person who knew how much I weighed, which was terrifying. She asked me what my goals were, what my diet was like and developed a nutrition plan for me. This was a game changer. Everything I thought I knew about the “right” foods to eat went right out the window. I followed the plan religiously. There were days that I really struggled, especially when I was so used to grabbing certain foods for a snack. I would talk with Jess, follow her advice and be back on track. After my first weigh in, I lost 3 pounds, which left me stunned since I hadn’t been able to lose three pounds in forever. 

The rest is history. It wasn’t until I started to notice how my clothes were baggier that I finally realized that I was doing it. On my final weigh in before vacation, I lost 11 pounds. When I returned from vacation, I found out that I didn’t gain any weight in the 3 weeks I was away, but lost weight, which left me stunned. Once I got back to the gym, Coach Jess modified my nutrition plan for my new goals. And, I’ll say it again, losing weight  is hard. I am back to work, still have soccer practice and school pickups and the gym all rolled into one. And even while exercising and following my nutrition plan, I’ve been stuck at my current weight for a few weeks. However, the support system I have at HCF helps me realize that I am doing all the right things and I just have to stay the course. Here I am, almost four months later and down almost 16 pounds. The process has been overwhelmingly hard. I had some injuries that left me devastated but Coach Jess insisted that all the workouts could be modified for me and she kept true to her word. Even when I would go to a different class, the coaches always made changes for me. I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for them. Throughout this journey, I learned it isn’t so much about losing weight anymore as it is to be healthier and stronger, especially for my kids. All it took was for me to get outside my comfort zone and trust them and the process. And in the end, it was definitely worth it.