Name: Lindsay Charlefour
Start Date: October 2015
Fitness Practitioner: Brooke McCartney
Results To Date: 11 lbs of fat mass lost, down 4% body fat
Time. Something many of us wish we had more of. As a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, employee, boss, and teacher; I’ve struggled making time for me. Mornings are rushed getting our 4 ½ year old, Zac, and 19 month old, Lolin, off to school. By 7:30am I’ve shifted from mom to the Director of Recreation Therapy in a clinical setting. Evenings and weekends are consumed with my “other job” as an adjunct lecturer, swimming lessons, grocery shopping, birthday parties, and on and on and on (sound familiar moms?).
Turning 33 earlier this year, I realized and literally felt my body not keeping up with my pace. I’ve had two knee surgeries before college, pregnancies wreaked havoc on my back; as a poster child for PCOS, my cholesterol was high and my A1C was considered pre-diabetic. When at home, time was spent playing with the kids, preparing for lectures, sitting in front of the computer, or watching “The Biggest Loser” while eating a bowl of ice cream (I wish I made that up to be funny…it was reality). It was pretty ironic I was assigned a “Leisure and Aging” class this semester. In preparing the lectures, I felt defeated. Clearly not practicing what I preach in the classroom or to my patients. I was living on a hamster wheel, surviving, not thriving…and at the rate I was going, I wouldn’t be aging so gracefully! One of the keys to successful aging is the environment we surround ourselves with including our social, spiritual, and leisure lifestyles. Over the years I stopped doing all of those things. I didn’t have time for it all! What I would soon learn is that I couldn’t afford NOT to make the time.
Fast forward to my first experience with AFS. Little did I know, when I met with my Fitness Practitioner (Brooke) and started the WLS classes, it would be life changing! My husband and I planned our schedules, with AFS as my priority, so I could make a minimum of 2 classes a week. After the first class, I vividly remember sitting in my car thinking, this hurts so bad yet feels amazing! Yes, I have to get up an hour earlier to make the 6am class, but I look forward to it! This is an environment I’m supposed to surround myself with! Brooke (“Today’s Your Goal”) and Chris (“Get it Girl”) whom frequently lead the WLS classes I attend are a perfect mix of encouragement, enthusiasm, and intensity that motivate me to push harder the entire workout. Brooke’s guidance and encouragement with all the little things (outside the classes) are that extra bit of accountability that I think I was missing when I tried to do this in the past.
The Results: After just 4 weeks at AFS, I happened to have my annual physical/blood-work. My A1C and Triglycerides are the lowest they’ve been in over 4 years! I’m only two tenths of a percent away from not being considered pre-diabetic! One word that encompasses the psychological and physiological changes I’ve experienced is: Strength. I’m stronger in my head, heart, and muscles! All that research is true about the benefits of exercise!
My message to fellow moms who are struggling to find the time for themselves: Life happens. We all have a story. My behavior (or lack thereof), was based on a choice. I chose not to make my health a priority. I was too busy using all those other titles as an excuse. Be honest with yourself. You can make the time. I believe God’s plan isn’t for me to just survive- I choose to make time for me in order to thrive.
Prioritize. Plan. Commit. You’re worth it!
Congrats Lindsay! Thriving mom=Thriving family! Keep up the great work!
-AFS Team
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