xfitnessaustralia

XFITNESS is pleased to have an extremely  motivational story of a total life transformation from the ever inspiring Sharon Spencer. For those that have been lucky enough to have done a crossfit competition or trained with Sharon, you would know what an extremely inspirational lady she is. For those that haven’t here is here story.

A great inspirational journey from Sharon Spencer.

My Health Journey

Its October 2007 – I was 45, 152kg, unfit and unhappy. My knees ached, I got puffed walking up the stairs in my townhouse, I wasn’t sleeping well, and I was, in essence an unhealthy and unhappy woman. I realised that if I continued on this path that I would be crippled with arthritis, develop diabetes, and heart disease or worst case scenario, be dead by 50. It was this realisation that made me make up my mind to change my life and so I joined a gym.

Over the next 3 years I went regularly to the gym, undertaking many 12 week challenges, and PT sessions. I met my good friends Heather and Robyn who, like me were unfit and unhealthy and wanted change. In 2010 I met and started training with Sharif Deen, a 2009 Biggest Loser contestant, who introduced us to Crossfit. Crossfit challenged me and pushed me outside my comfort zone but I kept going back for more, I even started PT with Sharif who wouldn’t let me get away with anything! I remember cursing his name under my breath, hearing the unfit ‘Sharon’ screaming to stop, that I was going to die, but of course I wasn’t and didn’t! That voice is very loud at the start, but I am happy to say that it doesn’t rear its head very often now, but when it does, I am now strong enough to ignore it, push through it and finish it – even those horrible horrible burpees!

2010 was a big year for me I moved house to Collingwood Park, moved to another gym and discovered the only times I really enjoyed my training were in PT and the Saturday Crossfit group sessions. The regular gym just wasn’t doing it for me anymore – I was becoming bored and struggled to go, so I made another big decision –to do Crossfit ‘fulltime’. In
January 2011 I gave Shaune at Crossfit Ipswich (CFI) a call, made an appointment for an introduction session and haven’t looked back.

Today I am 49kg lighter (20kg since starting at CFI), 100% fitter and healthier, and living and loving life to the fullest! I know I still have a few more kilos to lose but know that with crossfit and a healthy diet I will get there. There are probably a few key lessons I have learnt over the last 4 years and they are:

• Getting started is the first biggest and possibly the hardest thing I did
• Don’t rush it – while losing weight fast is very motivating, I have learnt that it is also the fastest way to get off track
• Retraining your brain to recognise what and how much you eat takes time
• Persistence and consistency is the key – keep at it, every step forward, no matter how small is still a step forward
• If you have a bad day, don’t beat yourself up, acknowledge it, recognise what you did, let it go and get back into it
• Train at least 5 days a week. Even if you don’t feel like it, still train – I always felt better after I trained
• Set small goals – if you need to lose 20kg, set smaller mini goals – 5kg, and reward yourself with something other than food (I now reward myself with clothes I used to do it by buying more PT sessions!)
• Be sure to have support – having people encouraging you, cheering you on especially when you have setbacks (and you will have many!) keeps you focused. Without my friends Heather and Robyn I think I would have given up a long time ago!
• Cut out processed foods and minimise your dairy intake. This has been the biggest boost for me, not only has it helped with my weight loss, it has also assisted remove many allergy symptoms
• Ignore that negative voice that tells you you can’t do this, it’s too hard, you’re not worthy etc. Replace it with more positive voices – I can do this, yes it’s hard, but I can do it, I deserve the best!

My final piece of ‘advice’ is this – only you can make the change, no one can do it for you, but once you do you will never regret it! Love yourself, put yourself first, and when you do you will be amazed at how much more you can do for your family and others. There is a no better time to start than now – give your local box a call, get hooked, you’ll love it! : )

Keep on Keeping on – Your friend Sharon Spencer

 The before photo taken in 2008

 After photo taken 2011