Lots of fitness experts didn’t start out as lean, mean, exercising machines. In fact, almost all of the really famous people you see today on the covers of fitness magazines started out as overweight and out-of-shape.
If you want to make a change in your life, or perhaps become a fitness guru yourself, then here are the stories of people who’ve already been there.
Angelique Millis
Millis is a goddess to some, miracle worker for others. The turning point for her was when she was a freshman. After gaining 40 pounds, she became an emotional eater. She would eat when she was stressed, happy, and sad. She was embarrassed to try on clothes because she’d always have to wear the larger sizes.
She felt like if she didn’t make a change, her health would suffer. She ended up losing 40 pounds. Her tip: There is no magic or secret. It takes a lot of hard work. When someone loses this kind of weight, it takes hard work, plain and simple. Changing lifestyles and habits is hard. It’s so hard that most people won’t do it. For those that do, Angelique Millis serves as inspiration it can be done.
Keoni Hudoba
Hudoba is a former opera singer. But, when he was rejected after auditioning for a part, things seemed different somehow. He wasn’t rejected because of his voice. He was rejected because of his weight. It was then that he knew he had to take action and change. His secret? Again, no secret.
He had to work hard to lose 140 pounds. He did give himself rewards along the way, but not the kind of rewards you might expect. His reward on cheat days was a City Cakes salted caramel cupcake. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn’t it? But, it wasn’t. He had to work really hard for that cupcake. The key for him was to allow him to have the foods he used to crave all the time, believing that a cheat day was better than a cheat week.
And, if you’re thinking about using something like Xerofit to open a fitness center of your own, you’ll need to be able to incorporate this kind of lesson in your coaching and training, because not everyone has the same amount of willpower to “stick it out” when things get rough.
Michelle Steinke
Michelle was happily married to a wonderful man and had two kids and a nice job. But, she was miserable. She weighed 206 pounds. She knew she had to make a change so she committed to an intense exercise regimen. But, eight weeks into her training program, her husband and best friend were killed in a plane crash. This is when most people would give up, but not Steinke. Instead, she used exercise as therapy. She ran a half marathon three months after her husband’s death, and then a full San Diego Marathon five months after that.
All told, she lost 70 pounds and is in the best shape of her life. And, she didn’t even need anti-depressants. The endorphins released during her runs gave her the best “upper” she could possibly get.
Helen Ryan
Helen saw her father die from cancer. And, she was overweight herself. She knew if she kept up her lifestyle, she’d travel down the same path. For the longest time, however, she resisted change. She’d hovered between life and death. She felt like she was “just there,” but not really living. Her secret: she stopped “dieting.” Diets create unnatural limitations that you have to live up to. Instead, focus on becoming healthier as a person. How did that work out for Ryan? She lost 80 pounds.
Lisa Anderson
Lisa Anderson’s turning point was 6 years ago when she was nearing her 49th birthday. She realized that if she didn’t make a change in her life, she might never do it. She gave herself year to figure out what to do and what she discovered shocked even her.
Her secret was digging deep and figuring out inner motivations. For her, it was that there was a person inside her that was screaming to be let out. She wanted to feel sexy again. She ended up losing 75 pounds, proving that women of any age can make a change in their health for the better.
Shannon Julia
She was overweight and unhealthy almost her entire life. Her confidence and quality of life suffered severely. But, she eventually realized that she couldn’t live her whole life not knowing what it felt like to be proud of her body. She made a commitment to change. It was difficult. She was intimidated by gyms, but she forced herself to go anyway. Unfortunately, she felt incredible pressure by the gym staff to lose weight by buying expensive memberships and personal training packages.
Her gym membership ended in disaster – she left frustrated and feeling like a failure. But, she didn’t give up. She joined a small, quiet, gym in her neighborhood. And, with encouragement from some of the professionals at that new gym, she lost 80 pounds.
Her secret: The hardest one of all – she refused to make excuses and simply stuck to it until it worked.
Dorian Chase
Dorian Chase is the Co-founder and CEO of Xerofit.com, a cloud based platform designed for personal trainers to better train their clients in person or online. With 17 years of record breaking success in business, sales and marketing with a focus on technology and over 30 years in martial arts and sports – it all just fit together. In alignment with health and growth, Dorian is actively working to make clean water accessible for all humans on Earth.