Jillian's Story

I, like many others, have battled with my weight my whole life.  Name any diet or fad and I can almost guarantee that I have tried (and failed) it.  So when a friend of mine came into my classroom one December day and asked if I was interested in going through a month of crossfit with her and some other teachers, I sort of shuddered in my own skin.  I had a big flash-back of me sweating and heaving and seeing a little bit of success and then getting bored with it and going right back to where I was comfortable...which was fat and miserable.  

Looking back now, I realize that I didn’t even know how miserable I really was, or how uncomfortable I really was...or how fat I really was.  Sad, I know.

So, thinking it would be something fun to try with my work-wives, I wrote the check for this so-called “fundamentals” class and signed on the dotted line stating that if/when I die, I won’t hold them responsible because I am too fat to be doing this.

Our first day of Fundies was January 6, 2014.  I had actually started eating “clean” and had been somewhat successful in losing about 30 pounds between March of 2013 and that first fundamentals class.  But just eating clean was not enough.  Walking into the “Box”, as I would soon figure out it was called, was nerve wracking and terrifying and exciting, all wrapped into one fat and well covered package (i.e. long sweat pants and a humongous t-shirt along with three sports bras). The first workout was a bit on the brutal side, but I survived and only screamed a few times getting on the toilet the next day.  

But during those first workouts, hearing total strangers cheering for us, I think we all realized that this was no run-of-the-mill fitness program.  This place was a community.  A family.  A small country of individuals that look out for one another, cheer each other on, and hold each other accountable.  Things that, from the outside looking in, are nice, but from the inside...oh man.  I had never in my life ever really felt like I could move a mountain, and here these people were, showing me that I could.

Being inspired is important, and the people here do that for me on a daily basis.  Now, I hope to be inspiring to others.  I want my kids to be proud of their mom, and to see that hard work and determination can help them achieve even the most difficult of goals.  I want them to know that it’s NOT ok to remain complacent and just how satisfying it is to surpass goals that are hard reached.  And I want this mentality to creep into every aspect of our lives.

Today, I have one competition under my belt, I have now lost a total of 55 pounds, I have a good handful of RX’d workouts, a hundred PR’s, energy, stamina, scars on my shin, calluses on my hands, muscles I’m proud of, and a crossfit family I can’t live without.  And if I have said it once, I have said it a million times:  If I can crossfit, U Can Crossfit!!