“It’s not how much you work out…it’s what you eat…really? October 2014 was my first figure competition and a very different nutritional journey. I met with Bill regularly during the pre-competition process. He said (I’m paraphrasing here, in a Moses at the burning bush voice) “Your diet is 80% of your results.” At that time I was already eating Paleo and thought: exactly how is this going to work? I already eat healthy, what are you going to tell to me to do differently to lean out? Am I going to starve? I can testify that I did not starve, but actually stayed full all day from eating my targeted macros.
To see my results , every week I had to take pictures of myself (360 degrees) every Friday and Saturday. My physical changes were initially in inches. The scale did not move too much, but my body was changing. Then, steadily every week, the scale went lower and lower in pounds; then another loss of inches. At 45 years old, my starting weight was 160lbs and my end weight was 142 on my 5’3” frame. Amazing transformation due to 80% diet – and not diet in the traditional mindset of starvation and salads. Diet in the way of changing eating habits to benefit and fuel your body. Working out is not the hardest part of weight change, it is your memories of foods that have little or no benefits to your body.”
-Diana Stokes
“There have been a lot of goals that I have set in my life. Very few of them were not achieved within an expected or reasonable amount of time. When it came to nutrition, I was doing many things that I really thought were ok, thinking next week I will really get serious. When I started CrossFit, I realized how much my athletic abilities had been hampered by weight gain. I had always felt that I could just become more active and do relatively little else nutritionally and I would see results. And I did, kind of. I started CrossFit at 365 pounds. Through consistent effort in workouts I did see some results, but not exactly what I had expected. I was able to drop about 20 pounds and then I would level out. I would yo-yo with that 20 pounds getting serious for a few weeks about nutrition then slacking off. It took a while, but finally in the spring of 2013 I decided to really sit down and get myself on a plan to lose serious weight.
The initial plan that Bill and I talked about was based solely around weight loss. I was again 360 pounds and frustrated. Setting a goal was the start, the fight really set in with trying to follow the plan with fidelity. Tracking in a book was not working for me and reaching the requirements was difficult while working as a teacher. That is when I turned to My Fitness Pal and my iPhone. Using the benchmarks that Bill and I set, I entered goals for myself into the app and set to work. At first the hunger was a little overwhelming. I would want to go over my limits for a day (not realizing until now how high those limits really were) but I would be able to fight my way to stay under. As time passed, meeting my goals became easier and easier. I was staying within my limits and I was weaning myself off of an almost 3000 calorie/day diet.
The results have really spoken for themselves. As I stated, I started weighing 365 pounds. In addition, I had a 56-inch waist and regularly wore 3XL t-shirts. Today I weigh 235 pounds, I have a 37-inch waist and I wear a large t-shirt. I continue to track my food intake on a daily basis however and I am able to make more sound decisions about food and drink intake. I still have a lot to learn about food and nutrition but I know without a doubt without this initial goal session I would not be where I am today.”
-Ryan Stevens
“I could write a book about how Crossfit has changed my life in so many wonderful and unexpected ways. But to be fair, I started for one simple reason… to lose weight. My personal crossfit “renaissance” began about two months after I had my first child, in mid 2010, and has continued ever since. After the birth of my second child earlier this year (March 2014) I wanted to take hold of my diet as well. While I have worked out with fidelity for the last five years, my attempts at eating healthy were half-hearted at best. That is until I got a front row seat to my husband’s complete transformation ( see Ryan Stevens testimonial) thanks to on-going nutrition counseling from Bill Shiffler. I realized that while consistent exercise is an extremely important aspect to good health, a healthy diet is equally important. I met with Bill in early June and shared my weight loss goals. I felt it was very important to have nutrition counseling to be sure that I was consuming enough calories to be healthy. My main concern was that I not lose too much too quickly. Bill worked out a plan for me and the results have been nothing short of amazing. In the beginning it was difficult to let go; however, once I started to see results it got easier. Next week my daughter will be nine months old (Dec. 2014) and in that time I’ve lost all the weight I gained during my pregnancy plus ten extra pounds! The nutrition counseling has not only helped me achieve my goal but to exceed it! I also notice that my body has not gone back to the same shape I had prior to pregnancy and nutrition counseling. I see a much leaner version of myself. The most important change I’ve experienced is that I have a different relationship with food.”
-MaryEllen Stevens