Name: Anna Brock
Practitioner: Chris Eskin
Results to date: Down 95lbs and 65 inches!
How long have you been a client with AFS?
I think I started on 4/28/15
What do you look forward to the most when coming to AFS?
I look forward to getting a good workout in that I don’t have to preplan for or think about ahead of time. I make a lot of decisions every day and sometimes planning a workout can seem like one more thing to add to the list. Should I work out at 6AM or 7AM? Should I run or should I lift weights? If I lift weights, should I focus on my upper or lower body? The options make the decision complicated and sometimes easier to walk away from. With AFS, I commit to one of the class times and show up. No other planning is needed which is great for the busy life I live. I know I will get in a balanced workout and the only decision I have to make is showing up, especially when I’m tired throughout the week, the decision to show up is hard enough.
What has been the most rewarding part?
The most rewarding part is all the little changes that you don’t always notice as you go through everyday life. I was out with a new friend the other day and he mentioned my dimple. I thought to myself, he must be confused because I would know if I had a dimple as I have been looking at my face every day for my entire life, so I ignored the comment. The next day I was driving with some coworkers on my way to lunch and I looked up and saw my smile in the rearview mirror. I had a dimple. I was shocked that I could have had a dimple my entire life and if I had stayed overweight I would have never known. For some reason something that small really opened my eyes to the changes I have made in my life. I made little decisions every day for almost a year to be healthier which has led to me losing 95lbs so far. For example, I took the stairs, ate a salad and avoided that big portion of tiramisu. To see the cumulative effects from those decisions is great because one day they were just kind of there. I love not having to worry about getting invited to Cedar Point because I can ride the rides at my weight. I can go out to dinner and not worry about being uncomfortable in the booth. I can do 5ks with my friends. I can go out and not hide in the background. It’s definitely the little things that really remind me of why I wanted to be healthier to begin with.
What keeps you going/keeps you motivated? (What’s your “Why”?)
The thing that keeps me motivated is knowing that I’m on the right track and my only battle is time really. If you abide by your calorie count and workout, you will lose the weight. What makes it hard is the length of time to adjust and stay consistent. Eating healthy for a day is easy. Eating healthy for a year is hard. Eating healthy the rest of your life is a lifestyle and coming to terms with that is a challenge. AFS helped to make it possible for me to commit to a plan. I prepaid for sessions so I didn’t waste money. I was being held accountable. Someone was tracking my diet along with me and asking why I missed sessions. That accountability was critical to me at first. Another reason accountability was so important for me was telling the people in my life what I was doing. This meant they asked me questions about it and I talked about my weight. That was extremely hard for me at first because it wasn’t something I was proud of and something I constantly tried to hide. Well surprise, people could see me the entire time. You cannot actually hide being as unhealthy as I was. I wasn’t talking about it but everyone could see it. Talking about the issue and admitting there was one was huge. I needed the people in my life to know what I wanted so they could help me and so that I knew in the back of my mind failure wasn’t an option. People knew I was trying, so I refused to fail. For me, it was that simple.
What has been the hardest part?
Reprioritizing my life. Committing to working out 6 days a week is hard. Committing to preplanning meals ahead of time to remain within a certain calorie count is hard. The important part to know is that these are not impossible, people actually do it every day. For me, I knew I had to go all in or not at all. I eat 1400 calories a day and workout 6 days a week. Even after a year it’s not easy to do every day without wanting to skip a day. I do not like waking up at 5AM. I hate going to bed before my friends go out for the night. It’s annoying to have to explain to coworkers why I can’t eat the Friday donuts or drink during happy hour. Once, I sat through an entire meeting with my boss as he downed Tim Horton’s donut holes before I told him that he really couldn’t expect me to focus with those in such close proximity to me. It’s all a trade-off and sometimes you just get tired of losing the food and the free time. This feeling is natural. Keeping the big picture in mind and the reason you committed to being healthy to begin with is the most important part. Being healthy won’t fix your problems in life and may actually create some but it does give you an outlet for stress and makes it a little easier to fight life’s battles in the future. And let’s be real here, sometimes I need to get drinks with friends and I’ll skip lunch to have it (sorry Chris). I do the same thing when I crave dessert. It’s not every day, but no one is saint either.
What is your favorite exercise and why?
I enjoy the exercises where you physically move around. For example, jump dots or jump over steps. These exercises get you moving and push up that heart rate but there is a clear goal you are working towards as you do it, which makes it easier for me to keep pushing through them. I always want to push myself to be better at whatever we do. I don’t really see the point to half way committing to an exercise. You pay to be there and you are there for a reason. If you don’t like the exercise, ask for a new one, but always push yourself because you will be surprised what you can accomplish over time. For the life of me, I couldn’t do a girl push up when I started. We are talking the impossible. It was the situation where simply being in the modified push up position and holding myself there was enough to get me sore at times. Sometimes even three reps where I barely bended at the elbow was a major hurdle. I would watch everyone in class go up and down like robots and I was riding the struggle bus around in never ending loops. I hated not being able to do something that seemed so natural for someone else so I pushed really hard and continued to fail for months. After months of questioning if I would ever do it and feeling like what’s the point of even trying if it wasn’t getting any easier. Then one day it happened. I went through a whole station, got up and realized that I had done it, and I didn’t die. In fact, I can do about 20 now before struggling on the way up. Now the challenge is trying to do a normal push up. And it is again seemingly impossible… for now. 😉
What advice can you offer others looking to start?
Make a plan and be realistic about it. Understand that working out twice a week is a good start, but there’s more to it than that. Look at the solution as a whole. Look at your diet, look at your sleep quality and consider the whole picture when you decide to commit to your program. It’s all connected. The last piece is to stop waiting and do it now. I remember convincing myself that I wasn’t quite ready because gyms were expensive or I didn’t have time but those were excuses not things that were impossible to overcome. Invest in yourself and don’t wait, because once you start and see results, you’ll ask yourself why it took that long. In my sorority at school, we had a life coach come to talk with us because a lot of people were having trouble making time with school and other commitments, so our schedules were impossible to plan. No one had time to sleep or have fun, but that was the perception not the fact. They suggested we write down everything we needed to do in a week and the time commitment required. . I did this again for about a month when my schedule for school changed. For me, I work 40 hours, travel about 9 hours, attend class or do homework about 16 hours, sleep about 60 hours, and shower, eat and do life things for about 15 hours. That still leaves me 18 hours each week to do the things that I don’t consider requirements. I go to school and work and I have flexible time. Consider what you really can fit into your schedule if you plan ahead. You’ll find that you do have hours left in the week. Use those hours wisely and take back a little time to invest in yourself.
Thanks for being so down to earth and realistic, Anna! Congrats on your amazing accomplishments and keep up the great work! 🙂
-AFS Team
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