Welcome back to another edition of our fitness Spotlight Sunday. Today we’re featuring one of our most awesome evening clients, Kelly Chronley. Kelly has been training at Durbrow Performance since 2010 and has made some of the best transformations that we’ve seen.
Kelly was sedentary, tired and sluggish….now she’s totally revamped her nutrition, eating healthy food that’s actually tasty and not depriving herself and she’s kicking serious ass in the gym as well. In the last 2 months Kelly has lost over 12 pounds of fat and 11 inches. She’s even doing the Tough Mudder in May of this year. Check out Kelly’s story….
Before I joined Durbrow Performance Training, I had just landed my first office job about a year prior (therefore quitting my job as a waitress) and my body was constantly expanding, much like the universe.
I would work long hard days in a cube, grab some takeout, get into bed, and eat until I fell asleep and do it all over the next day. I would go to the gym once a week and walk on the treadmill for an hour, only because I didn’t have cable and was REALLY into Lost! I already needed to buy new clothes for work because the ones I had bought a year before didn’t fit anymore.
I was going through a tough breakup, my sleeping/eating schedule was erratic (I would be up at 3am watching Netflix and eating cold pizza), I was tired all the time, I was unhappy…I would even go as far as to say I was depressed….Then I met Callie.
After the first class I had with Callie, I very literally threw up on the sidewalk on my way back to the T. I had been a tri-sport athlete in high school…how did I get this wickedly out of shape in 6 years?
This was a serious ‘ah-ha’ moment for me.
I needed to start treating my body the way it deserves to be treated, or I could end up in serious trouble very soon! Both my parents are pretty overweight and never exercise and I didn’t want to deal with the health problems or the limitations of life they were dealing with later in life. It was time to change.
I signed up with Callie in May 2010 and haven’t looked back. The change I have felt in my life can only be described as drastic. It’s funny but when you’re depressed, feeling ANYTHING is a such a relief…and as I began going classes and waking up incredibly sore from the workouts, I started to realize ‘this is what it feels like to be alive’. I actually reveled in the fact that it would hurt to go down the steps to the T in the morning.
I stopped eating takeout and started making my meals. I made MYSELF my main priority, not my job, or other people’s happiness. I started actually having MORE energy than before I began Callie’s training classes. I made friends in class that cheered me on, and I did the same. I looked forward to getting out of work and busting my tush in the gym.
On a stressful day, I would look forward to the release I get from working my body-who needs therapy when you can work out your frustrations?
If I had a great day, I couldn’t wait to get to class and use that positive energy for good! Any way I sliced it, I just couldn’t wait for the next class. I couldn’t wait to ‘get up, turkish style’, or swing a kettlebell around.
I can’t imagine my life without the Durbrow Training community-Its like a secondary, albeit super FIT family.
We cheer one another while we are trying to work through our finishers, we encourage the new people and remind them to breathe through the 30 second planks, we share information about upcoming races, the best fitness equipment, protein shake recipes, and personal accomplishments. It was the best decision of my life-Callie and Emily have basically given me my life back!
Then, my body started changing. I could carry about twice as much stuff home from grocery store than before without having to stop and give my arms a rest halfway home. I could run and catch the T if I heard the announcement that it was on its way into the station instead of just deciding to take my time down the stairs and wait for the next one, because I was tired and it was morning and who really wanted to be out of breath so early?
My T shirts began to look huge on me and became nightgown shirts. I started actually sleeping through the night, and waking up feeling refreshed! Then, a few months into taking training classes, I began (by choice) to run.
This shocked many that have known me my whole life. Even when I was an athlete in high school, I always hated running. But I decided that it wasn’t that I hated running…it was that I never knew how to enjoy it. I signed up for 5k’s. I raised money for awesome charities. I stopped eating out and/or drinking alcohol as much as I used to just because I just didn’t want to.
I would think ‘Tomorrow’s run is gonna feel soooo much better if I have one drink instead of 3’. So that’s what I did. I started planning weekends around hikes and hot yoga schedules instead of food and alcohol. The pounds came off, the waistline came in, my mood elevated into giggle-happy almost all the time and by the end of the summer of 2011, I had run 3 5k’s, and climbed 5 mountains.
I cannot tell you how great it feels to hike up a mountain. Your legs are burning, your muscles are exhausted, and there never seems to be an end to the steep slope. Then you get there and see the view and feel such a sense of accomplishment and self-pride. You are able to see a beauty in the world that you had never glimpsed on before. You remember why you started up the mountain in the first place (something you may have started second guessing about three quarters of the way up.) It’s a great metaphor for what Callie and Emily have helped me do for the last 18-ish months.
I could have never dreamed of the challenges I have been able to set up for myself and blast through with Callie, Emily, and the rest of the Durbrow family helping me stay focused and motivated. In about a month, I will be doing the Tough Mudder Challenge-something I thought was only for lunatics not too long ago. Now, I just can’t wait to get my hands on this next physical challenge and blow it out of the water!
