SUCCESS STORY- CRYSTAL

Posted February 25, 2014

Meet Crystal, one of the “Spring Cleaning” 2013 Graduates! In 45 days, she lost 10 pounds and 6.25 inches from her chest, waist and hips! The Challenge helped Crystal go even deeper in her pathway to health, and helped her learn to enjoy cooking and preparing meals!

BRING ON THE VEGGIES!!

My whole life I was extremely fit, but never ate healthy, let alone my vegetables. After my junior year of college I started to pack on the pounds from stress. When I graduated I was working 80 hour weeks for a major accounting firm and was unable to work out let alone eat a home cooked meal. Two years out of college I was 189 pounds. Because I am taller, I was still able fit into all my clothes and looked just a little heavier although I had gained almost 50 pounds over the course of four years. I felt ugly, slow, tired and got sick all the time, the stress gave me an anxiety disorder and I couldn’t go a few hours without a meal and getting nauseous. That’s when I decided to change. I left the firm; I left my fiancé, moved to a new city and began to think about myself more closely.

Slowly the pounds started to melt away. Then I started to exercise and eat less sweets and even more weight came off. Two years ago I began eating my vegetables and noticed a huge difference in how I felt and my health but yet I still staggered around 170lbs.

A little over a year ago I moved here to Oahu and got married. The preparations made me want to look my best for our wedding so I joined Crossfit Oahu. Here I regained my enjoyment of working out on a more regular schedule which in turn motivated me to take on activities throughout the weekend. This is where I had heard about the challenge. I was frightened by it, but after hearing Diane and Matthew’s story I decided to let go of my inhibitions and give it a shot.

The beginning of the challenge was very rough. Not only did I have intense cravings, but my knee was also injured limiting my exercises. As time progressed I was slowly able to work my way back into classes. I can now see my arms and legs getting more toned. I still have heavy cravings for sweets, but if I can go this long without them I know I will learn to control these urges as time goes on. As far as cooking goes, I now know how to cook multiple vegetables in different ways and can incorporate them in our meals more easily. I also learned that I have a whole new appreciation for food preparation and that it is fun to experiment in the kitchen and not to be frightened by vegetables.

This challenge has also motivated my loved ones to eat healthier. My husband has lost a lot of weight and now my co-worker is beginning to read up on the paleo diet and is even thinking of doing the next challenge! My goal for the challenge was to get down to my sophomore year of college weight and learn how to eat healthier. I know I surpassed both goals and feel great. I am confident that I now have the proper tools to succeed and will never live the same way again. Thank you Courtney.

-Crystal