A few weeks ago you heard from Teal on her lifestyle changes that got her to the weight she is right now.  So I guess it would be my turn. 🙂  Probably like any girl I have my own body image issues, but I tend to blame the private school I attend on that to some degree.  It seemed like all the girls in my grade were skinny little stick figures and well there’s really no way my body can/will resemble that.  I have hips! Ha, they aren’t going anywhere and I’m still learning to love them.  With that said I had weight gains in typical points of my life.  I started college – hello ten pounds!

I spent two summers (2002 & 2003) in college working at a family camp as a counselor and a life guard.  We were SO active that the pounds just melted off.  Then I had a year in college which where I *think* I attempted to be apart of as many organizations as possible, hold positions in some of them and still be a full time student.  I look back at that year and still don’t understand how I survived it. Ha, but with that busyness came absolutely NO time where I was working out.  The pounds came creeping back.

Left: August 2004 Right: May 2006

My last year in college I had a lighter load than my previous years as I spent the majority of each week in a class room observing and/or teaching.  Because of that I spent little time in an actual classroom where I was the student and had homework to turn in.  The beginning of that last year I had a break up with my boyfriend and in about a week lost 10 pounds which was about what I’d put on in that previous busy, busy year.  Once I dropped those 10 pounds I didn’t want to put them back on, so I picked back up with my running.  Most days you could find me up on the 3rd floor of the Rec Center putting in 3 miles on the track and depending on the weather out running the streets of College Station.

Cancun Girls Trip in 2006 (with Teal) and this is literally the only swimsuit picture I have no qualms showing to anyone

When I moved back to Dallas the summer of 2006 I was determined to stay fit, so I joined a gym.  And just as quickly as I signed up for a 3 year contract I’d stopped going. 🙂  I hated that gym.  I won’t discuss what gym it is but this particular location I hated going in there after awhile I just realized the gym itself  was dark and dingy and just didn’t make me want to be in there.  I managed to stay at my ideal weight for quite awhile and it wasn’t until some of my friends and I had the brilliant idea in early 2007 of starting a weekly happy hour that the pounds started coming back.  In reality I had a combination of weekly happy hour and new relationship weight coming on. Well, in December 2006, a new gym had just opened up RIGHT by my house.  I went and toured it, liked what I saw and signed up with them!

So for 2.5 years I’d be paying for two gym memberships until my contract ran up with the first one.  Am I made of money? No, but I thought my health was important enough to sign up at a gym where I would actually go and be active even if it meant sacrificing somewhere else each month to cover the cost of the gym I did not go to.  I can still hear my cousin, who owns a few gyms, saying “You signed a contract with a gym? What were you thinking?”

One day I decided I’d try a spin class – I’d been to one in college taught by a friend, but before I knew it I was going to spin class every time Angie was teaching! I loved her personality, her music selection and enthusiasm to get us all working hard!  Angie’s husband singing and dancing around on the spin bike was just an added bonus to the hour workout.

After a class somewhere in late August or early September of 2007 Angie approached me and offered me a chance to go workout with her husband for free in one of his group training classes.  I was still in a rut with the weight I’d gained that year from happy hour and the new relationship that I was happy to take the opportunity.  So off I went that week either on a Tuesday or Thursday morning to workout with a group of ladies I’d never met before at 6:00 a.m.

Oh my gosh, we did so many lunges that morning – lunges with weights, now switch weights with the person behind you and lunge, walking lunges….lunges, lunges, lunges!  I am not sure I have ever been so sore from a workout in my life!

Then I was sold on working out with Johnny and I have been ever since that day!  See I was working out with other women doing weights with some cardio mixed in, and because it’s group you aren’t paying $75+ for a personal trainer although he does do personal training as well. 🙂  For the first year of working out with Johnny he was renting space from a gymnastic center and then he got his very own place just down the street in August of 2008.

Have you ever been to the Coppell location of Run On!, well, if you have then you’ve been next door to Johnny’s…more specifically Johnny’s Health & Fitness!  Actually right before Christmas JHF moved to the bigger space next door to help with their growing needs as a gym, so you can now find them two doors down from Run on! You can see me there pretty much every Tuesday and Thursday morning from 6:00 – 7:00 a.m.

Johnny & Angie really came into my life RIGHT when I was needing someone to help me get the extra pounds off.  Johnny discussed my eating habits and nutrition with me.  Ultimately I started drinking Premier Nutrition protein shakes on his recommendation, and I also incorporated a digestive enzyme pill into my everyday life based off of one of his recommendations.  What I can appreciate about Johnny’s recommendations is that if he wouldn’t do it, he’s not going to try and convince you to do it!  He gives it to you straight.  That’s also the approach he takes with his clients when he sees them slacking on their diet or not getting in the cardio outside of working out with him.  He gives it to you straight in this nice balance of here is the truth but not being a jerk about it.

(read more about Digest Plus here and Premier Nutrition Protein shakes here)

At this point I don’t remember how long into my training with Johnny it was that I had taken 12 pounds off.  Not only has he helped me keep my weight under control, but he’s also been a great resource to me as well with all of my running!  Because I know that he really wants to see each of his clients be the best that they can be!

I would be completely devastated if I were to move and/or no longer be able to workout with Johnny.  In my opinion truly good, dedicated trainers are hard to come by!  It’s also my opinion that the majority of trainers at big chain gyms are rarely going to push you the way Johnny pushes me and every single one of his clients.  I feel like I can say this based on trying out a workout with one of the trainers at my big chain gym I go to for spin class and other cardio machines.  Plus I know that for me having a personal trainer is just not in my budget so having a place where I can do group training is doable!

Johnny & me

I’ve made some great friends from my workout group and couldn’t even imagine where I would be right now if I did not have Johnny in my life!  If you live in the Coppell/Lewisville/Flower Mound area and are looking for a trainer check out Johnny’s Health & Fitness! I drive 15 minutes from Plano to workout with him.  I know other clients of his that drive from Dallas proper, Sasche and other places I don’t even know about to workout with Johnny. If you are interested in trying out a training class with Johnny get in touch with me!

Or you can check out his website here.

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