Friday, June 13, 2014

new phase of fitness and health journey.



As many of you know, for years I have struggled with figuring out the "right" mix of workouts and meals to achieve my goals.  It's genuinely not just about losing weight for me. Sure, I absolutely want to lose weight like most people but I also genuinely want to be a stronger, healthier person, and live as long as I can. Several months ago, I started to see a friend, Kelly, posting transformation pictures about her journey and her incredibly positive experience with Mallory through Edge Fitness.  I told Blake I was considering reaching out to Mallory a few months ago and for different reasons decided to give it more time, certain that what I was currently doing in the gym and in the kitchen would start to pay off soon.  It didn't.  Kelly had continued to tell me, in the nicest way possible, that there's more to it than 1200 calories and cardio. I knew she was right but kept holding back for some stupid reason.  After reading Kelly's blog posts and seeing more and more amazing transformation pictures she had posted, my decision was finally made.  I officially started with Mallory and Edge Fitness this past Monday.  Clearly, I have a LOT of work to do before I can claim to be successful. However, I can already tell how much I'm going to enjoy this.  

Mallory makes the process so easy to understand, efficient, motivating, and fun! As soon as I signed up I was invited to the private Facebook group for Edge Fitness.  Feeling like you are a part of a group, working towards a common goal together really keeps the motivation high.  Everyone checks in and shares how their week is going, posts progress pictures, and even vents when their week/day isn't going so well.  Edge Fitness has an Application (see picture above) where you can check in with your trainer so they know you are on track, see your assigned workouts for the day, watch videos to understand proper form, and things of that nature.  I have only had four days of work outs so far, but I'm loving the variety--it's a mix of lifting, cardio, HIIT, plyometrics, etc  

You can pay/sign up for the work out plan alone, the meal plan alone, or a combo of the two.  Since I signed up for both, I'm also really enjoying the meal plan!  Mallory had me complete a questionnaire which tells her what foods I like, what foods I don't like, what are absolute deal breakers, etc.  From there, she sends you your meal plan which is incredible because you get three options to pick from for the week.  I was expecting the options to be foods I wasn't completely in love with but could stomach--this was not the case at all. I truly look forward to the meals, enjoy every single one of them (including the snacks,) feel full/satisfied, and even get to eat ice cream! This is all done through macros and the science behind it is fascinating!  Over time, you continue to provide Mallory with feedback, progress pictures and measurements which helps her understand how the workouts and meal plan should be tweaked, if necessary.  Either way, she will change things up but possibly in other ways, depending on the progress. 

Below you will find some of my favorite pictures Kelly has posted on her blog and Instagram account.  You will quickly see why she motivated me to sign up with Edge :) 

A HUGE thank you to you, Kelly, for inspiring me to sign up and try something new.  If it wasn't for you, I am certain I would still be a cardio bunny, eating the same foods and not seeing improvement.  Keep up the amazing work-- I can assure you I am not the only one who has been inspired by your amazing journey!


You can check out Kelly's blog here. 

You can check out Kelly's Instagram here. 






Here are some pictures of my amazing trainer, Mallory! She has competed and clearly knows her stuff!!  Another huge thank you goes out to Mallory for sure.  She has already put up with so many questions and simply has the best attitude about everything.  My goal is to, one day, be able to share my "before" pictures because I will be so proud of what we accomplished together to get to my "afters/currents."  If I didn't have you helping me, I wouldn't be so confident.  Thanks to you and Kelly, I have faith in the process and know if I'm consistent, it can happen.  




There are a few other ladies I wanted to mention who have motivated me along the way as well.  I have mentioned Chelsea on the blog before (you can see the interview I did with her here. ) She is still a huge inspiration to me and continues to impress. You can check out Chelsea's Instagram page here. Seeing these pictures makes me want to pursue Yoga/Pilates again!! So cool! 






Not long ago I came across Kelly Kantor through Instagram.  Another Kelly inspiration :) You can see her page here.  Her transformation pictures are unreal.  She even competed recently and put in some serious work to make it happen.  She has busted her butt and had very consistent progress along the way but here lately, whoa! Truly amazing progress. Way to go, Kelly! You look fantastic!



Last, but certainly not least, is Meg.  I initially found her through Instagram (do you see a pattern here?) However, as of recently, I have also spent time on her blog which is awesome!! You can see her Instagram page here. Her blog link can be found here.  She has a hilarious sense of humor and comes across very down to earth.  Her pictures are the epitome of why I want to get stronger.  Go check her out! 




If you are interested in learning more about Edge Fitness, you can check out the website here.  Although I'm a newbie with a lot of growing and learning to do, I can already say I would highly recommend the program and this trainer.