“I Think I Can, I Think I Can! – Crushing Your Fitness Journey, Part 1”

Do you know that you can do anything that you set your mind to?

I shared this photo with you all on Instagram and Facebook. I lost nearly 20 pounds in less than 3 months! That’s not even the best part. I lost the weight in a fun and healthy way! So how did I do that? Well first, let me start with a little back story…

I grew up always being active. I was running around playing tag or riding bikes with my older brothers. In school, I played basketball, softball, and volleyball, and I was on the track team and was one of the girls twirling the flags during halftime at the high school football games. But after high school, I had a love-hate relationship with fitness. I would join a gym, be dedicated for about 3 months, then find some excuse to allow the gym to process that automatic payment without ever seeing my face up in that place. But then my life changed forever and I embarked on a real, genuine fitness journey.

I was first introduced to CrossFit in 2017 and my very first CrossFit workout was on October 31, 2017. If I were to give a definition for CrossFit it would be: a form of functional fitness that combines cardio with strength training by incorporating movements such as rowing, pull-ups, burpees, and Olympic barbell lifts (like in the video below) all in one workout. The workouts are meant to be intense and challenging, but they usually do not last longer than 20 minutes. (But those are the longest 20 minutes of your life!) CrossFit is also definitely a financial investment; my first 3 months were free, but then monthly memberships were $150. (Yeah, I couldn’t believe the price either!) I went from 0 to 150 real quick! *Drake voice* But to me, that price was worth it. My time with CrossFit was the most consistent I have ever been with my workouts!

During my time with CrossFit, I met some amazing people, learned a lot about myself, and identified my fitness strengths and weaknesses. I grew stronger physically and mentally. (Even though there were a lot of times where I told myself I wasn’t capable of finishing a workout or was on the brink of quitting halfway through, but with the support of the coaches, and my friends yelling at me and encouraging me to empty the tank and have a strong finish, I was able to make it through). The community aspect was unreal. No wonder I stuck with it for so long! This month would have marked my 3-year anniversary with my beloved CrossFit, but a few months ago, we had to part ways.

Making the decision to leave CrossFit and my gym was probably one of the hardest decisions I had to make in a really long time. Some people might think, “sis, it’s just a gym, go to the other one right down the street.” But it was more than that to me. I spent A LOT of time at that gym and made a bunch of memories. It changed my perception of fitness. And not to mention, I spent a ton of money there too haha. But on June 8, 2020, I had to end my 2 year, 7 month, and 8 day relationship with CrossFit (yeah I know that’s the longest relationship I ever been in. Go check out Living Single if you missed it). My reason for leaving is too much to include in this blog post, but just know it wasn’t what I wanted, and if you want to know more, drop a comment or send me a DM. But like any strong person should do after a breakup, I took the lessons I learned, kept it moving, and made sure that I looked good while doing it! Lol!

I admit, CrossFit probably got me the strongest I have ever been in my adult life. Throwing 150 lbs around on a barbell was like cake (major exaggeration). But it did not get me my fittest. I was building so much muscle but I was not burning any fat. So, the fat was sitting on top of the muscle and I was chunky and wide. People said I carried the weight extremely well, but looking at those Before and After photos I know they were lying lol. As my friend put it “we were as big as 2 houses thinking we were skinny!” I still cringe looking at some of my old photos lol. I maintained my weight around 165/170 lbs (you know, that relationship weight). I carried that weight mostly in my face, chest, and stomach. Today, 4 months and 14 days after that emotional breakup, I am maintaining my weight around 151 lbs. And you can totally see the change in my face! I am not yet at my weight goal, but I feel so much lighter and more comfortable in my clothing. I’m over here looking and feeling gooood!

So how did I lose this weight without CrossFit?

If you buy any of the Amazon items through the provided links, I may get a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Well at first, I turned to creating HIIT workouts at home. I forced myself to run around my neighborhood, do burpees (I know, yuck!), and crush tons of sit-ups daily. But after a while, doing all of that by myself was not fun. So then I found me a little community. I began meeting up at the UGA track at 7:00am with a few women from my church. I do NOT like running, so I would walk 5 miles with them about 3 days a week. I tracked my miles with the Nike Run Club app, and my awesome smartwatch I got from Amazon. Yall, this watch was only $40! It tracks your steps, heart rate, calories, and sleep. It allows you to view text messages and phone calls (but you can’t answer the phone or respond to messages from it, which I don’t need anyway), and it has an easily accessible “Sports” function where it tracks your calories burned during that specific workout. It’s simple and I loved seeing my 10,000 steps light up at just 8:30am. Click that link to check it out! But after a while, UGA wanted to reopen and get stingy with its parking and public track hours. So I had to take my walking back to my neighborhood, and once again, doing that by myself was not fun.

But thank God for “regular” gyms! I got a membership at a local gym (for like the 28th time of my life) and tried to find my niche there. I started out with tons of rowing circuits (I LOVE the rower), then some dumbbell workouts, and now spin classes! I really enjoy my spin classes, and guess what? Google says you burn more calories cycling than you do running, so I am ALL IN! Haha. I go to 4 spin classes a week; Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. The classes last 45 minutes and I am sweating the entire time! One thing that makes me really like spin classes is that it allows you to compete with and challenge yourself at your own pace. There isn’t a lot of chatting and relationship building going on in these spin classes, but going to a group session holds me more accountable than doing something by myself.

So how did I lose that weight without CrossFit? The short answer is: I kept moving. The long answer is: I took time to figure out what workout would make me happy yet still challenged me. As I said, CrossFit changed my perception of fitness. I now use what I learned from that relationship to help cultivate a new relationship on my fitness journey. I may not have lifted a weight nor did a sit-up in the past 3 months (because I simply didn’t want to), but I was still able to see some awesome results. My journey was also not straightforward or immediate; it took me a minute to find my happy place, but that’s the beautiful part about journeys. We never know exactly how they will look, but if we focus on why we’re traveling, then the destination will always be worth it. No matter where you are on your fitness journey, just know that you CAN achieve your goals if you stay motivated and just keep moving.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13 NKJV.

Moni Jay, Off the Record