Client Story: Staying Focused Through Injury – Jill N.

I am 35 years old and from the time I hit puberty until about a year and a half ago I was fat – in my head, I always cushioned the term and would use “heavy” or “overweight,” but never fat.  But when I look back at my before pictures, it literally looks like I am wearing a “fat suit” so I am now able to say that I WAS fat.  In 2006, my Mom started her Genesis Transformation process and I spent that year watching her as she engaged in her lifestyle transformation.  For the entire year, in my head, I thought: “no way” – “there is NO WAY I will be able to do that.”  However, at the end of that year, I was amazed by the changes that I saw in her.  She looked so healthy, young, and had transformed her body!  So, I decided that I HAD to complete Genesis and contacted Sheri

Jill, before

Lynn.  At that time, following some wonderful advice, I took my before pictures and when I gave them over to my coach, I divorced myself from my worries about my body, and fixing it became Sheri’s problem and not mine.  I knew that as long as I followed her recommendations, I would heal my metabolism, lose fat and become the lean person I always envisioned in my head.  I hit the ground running, and did not look back.

I started in May, 2007 and was well into my process on January 9, 2008.  I had just completed a holiday a season in which I had LOST 10 pounds between Thanskgiving and New Year’s and was rocking and rolling in my rotation.  Up to this point, I was almost 40 pounds down since starting Genesis (from my starting weight of 197# – you should know that I am 5 feet tall) and was starting to feel like I actually liked to exercise!

Imagine my frustration when I found myself propped up next to a tree in the North Bowl on Big Mountain waiting for the ski patrol to help me down the ski hill – as I had torn my ACL skiing and could not even stand on my leg without falling to the ground in pain.  I remember thinking – “not now, I am really on a roll” and then I remember thinking: “well, my cardio is already in – so I’m definitely finishing out my day picture perfect – because who knows WHEN I’ll be able to rotate again?”  I decided at that point that I would not let my knee injury change things – that I would stay clean and tight and that I would not lose the ground that I had gained in the past 8 months.

Jill with leg brace

With help and support from my Coach – we made a plan and I was able to work through my injury.  My orthopedic surgeon gave me a full leg brace, with instructions to wear it 24 hours/day for 6 weeks.  He told me that I could exercise within those confines as long as I could tolerate weight-bearing and was wearing my brace.  Within a couple of days, I was able to be back in the gym lifting weights and within 10 days I was back to rotation and cardio workouts!  From the time of my initial injury to the time I scheduled my surgery (in June of 2008) I lost an additional 25 pounds. Despite my knee injury I lost over 60 pounds in my first 13 months as a Genesis Transformer and went from a size 16-18 to a size 2.

In addition to working through my initial injury, my coach helped me with planning to make it through my surgery and subsequent recovery – which I was able to do while maintaining my original weight-loss.  Now, as I look at my life and reflect on the changes that Genesis Transformation has brought to me, I am truly thankful and feel blessed.  In what I find a remarkable turn of events, I am now a personal trainer (REALLY – I was the girl who HATED exercise) and am now a Genesis Transformation coach as well!

So it’s that time of year again, when people often set new goals for themselves and chief among them

Happy and Healed

are the old favorites: 1. Lose Weight, 2. Get in shape and 3. Get healthy – I challenge all of you out there to stick to your plan and to trust yourself and your coach as you make your own Genesis Transformation journey – know that if you are already in process that you have made that important first step in committing to yourself and your health, and understand that those unexpected things that come up do not need to derail you – keep your focus and you will reach your goals! If you are considering Genesis Transformation– and are truly ready to make amazing changes in your life (many of which you may not even be able to imagine right now) – I say GO FOR IT!