CrossFit South Bend

The official January 2019 Whole30 starts in less than 6 days! Over the past few weeks we’ve been highlighting some of our best stories from 2018 of people who’ve had success with the Whole30 doing our one-on-one nutrition coaching program.

Interested in doing a Whole30 in January? Want to work with a certified Whole30 Coach? Our one-on-one coaching programs can help you make the most of your Whole30 in 2019. Click the link below to schedule a free 30min consult to get your program started.

https://crossfitsouthbend.as.me/initialnutritionconsultation

In this video we sit down with Carolyn and discuss her journey back to optimal health and weight. Carolyn is one the most committed people I’ve ever worked with. I can’t say enough good things about how well she did. She was nice enough to type up her reflections on her time doing one-on-one coaching, and we’ve shared them below.

In terms of Carolyn’s weight and inches lost she accomplished the following:
-She lost 40lbs in 4 months
-She lost 9 inches off her waist
-She lost 6 inches off her hips
-Now her hip measurement is the same as her original waist measurement.

In addition to these amazing scale-based victories he also had a bunch of non-scale victories, which I’ll let her tell you in her own words.

-Biggest Revelations:
1.) Winter / Spring don’t always have to mean illness. For the past decade or so, I have accepted that in the winter and spring months, I will battle sinus infections, pneumonia, the flu, etc. I simply expected it, blaming the circumstance on the time of year rather than the dozens of decisions I was making. I started working with Robby in February and have yet (hope I’m not jinxing it here) to be sick with anything. This is unbelievable to me. Robby gave me permission to prioritize my health, which sounds silly, but I needed that. It was the combination of getting my sleep up from 5 hours a night to 7 1⁄2 or 8, eating clean, consistently working out and meditation which helped my immune system. I had to work a bit to find a schedule and structure that would support my health goals — for example, I couldn’t do the CrossFit workout at 7:15pm because I needed to be in bed at 8:30pm if I wanted to get up at 4am. This meant I had to leave work at a certain time to make the 5:15pm class. It was a hard boundary that I set with co-workers and the demands of my job in order to make it work. — I have been walking around with this untrue story that I have a bad immune system — and in a sense feeling defective and weak — believing that during certain times of the year I will struggle for weeks on end; yet, how freeing to rewrite the ending to that story.

2.)Food is not a punishment or reward or stress management tool. My relationship with food has shifted entirely. After a hard day at work, I would reward myself with a diet dr. pepper and a bag of chips from the gas station or a McDonald’s vanilla cone. At work, I would break into the birthday candy stash I had for my students and treat myself to a box. This would all happen without too much thought; it felt natural. I can remember going out to eat with a colleague and I ordered a diet coke and she said, “What a treat!” and I thought she was nuts. What do you mean pop is a treat? If I attended an early meeting, which happened a couple times a month, and there were donuts, of course I would get one. If I had a long day ahead of me, then I’d get that frappacino and pair with a slice of warm banana bread. I told myself I deserved and needed it. I interpreted the sugar rushes as signals of happiness. In actuality though, the sugar never helped me feel more full or satisfied and usually set me up for increased sugar cravings throughout the day. These patterns of thought and actions were very difficult for me to reverse, especially since the impulses are still there. The whole 30 rules set strong parameters however, and I told myself, “I can’t do that anymore…it’s not an option.” I quit those addictive habits cold turkey. Because I also had a set schedule, I had to leave work and head straight to the CrossFit gym; this didn’t leave time for stopping off and “treating myself.” I started packing my car with almonds or an epic bar instead. Changing these habits forced me to get more intune with the feeling of hunger versus cravings. Eating better helped me feel like I had more energy throughout the day too, mostly because I avoided those crashes that come along with the sugar.

3.) Workouts, while still very difficult, ultimately feel better. For the past few years, my mile time has been around 11:30/12:00 mark – especially for 8K or Half Marathons. My recovery time after these runs would be significant too and the runs themselves never felt good. This past May I ran a 5K in just under 30 minutes and felt strong throughout the race. It’s exciting to hit new PRs and watch my goals shift a bit. I have come to realize that I cannot workout in order to eat whatever I want…that in fact it will feel better if I eat certain foods in order to workout more effectively.

Carolyn, we’re so proud of you and we wish you all the best in the future!
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