My Success with Group Fitness

For the past 3.5 years, I have been a member of The Athletic Club (Guelph), which is, in my opinion, one of the best fitness clubs in Guelph in terms of classes and facilities. The week before I joined this gym, I went for my annual physical, where I was forced to get on the scale...and finally face how much I weighed. My heart sank as I saw the scale. I'm not going to put any numbers out there, but I am happy to say that through working out and eating properly, 3.5 years later I am now down a total of 40lbs. (as of this week) When I joined the gym, one of the things that I was told (which irritated me) was that I would probably not be successful in reaching my weight loss goals without a personal trainer. I said thanks, but no thanks. I took this as a sort of personal challenge to do it on my own. I have never been one to be told I had to do something a certain way or I wouldn't succeed.

Over the course of my journey, I have basically only done fitness classes (spinning, land and occasionally water) and a bit of running on my own. I never set foot in the "men's" weight area or ran on a treadmill for hours. I simply did fitness classes. 45min or 1hr classes 4-5 times a week. I figured it was like free personal training, someone to coach me and motivate me and give me a good workout. The trick is to keep consistent, challenge yourself with heavier weights and get your heart rate up. If you stick with it, you are bound to see results and changes in your body.

Fast forward to today, I am a spinning instructor and am finishing up my certification in group fitness. I feel like group fitness has become such a huge part of my life and I am thankful that I found it. I have seen changes in the bodies of women in my club who are regulars at fitness classes, and one day I actually had a fellow member that I did not know come up to me in class and tell me that she remembered me from when I first started coming to classes and that it was amazing how much my body had changed. I was so proud and happy in that moment.

After doing all of this reflecting, I dug out a couple pictures to show you my success. On the left is a picture of me as a bridesmaid at my friend's wedding a month before I joined the gym and the right is a picture of me last Christmas. (11 months ago - I think I am down 10lbs since then)
Check out my before and after... What a change!!