She’s Half the Woman She Used to Be…

From The Beachbody Challenge Success Stories

The “old me” weighed 284 pounds, was always tired, really depressed, and thought it was my destiny to be fat, teased, and discriminated against for the rest of my life. For a long time I just accepted who I was and didn’t think I had the ability to change. It wasn’t until I was donating blood and found out that my blood pressure was in the prehypertension range that it hit me: Pretty soon I’d be very sick and it would be 100% MY FAULT! It finally clicked that food and physical activity were directly related to whether I’d live a long healthy life or a short sick one. And for the first time, I realized that I could actually be in control of my weight it was not pre-written in my cards to be fat. If I wanted to change my future, I needed to change my present! So I did.

I’ve always had a huge fear of exercising publicly. I’d been laughed at and made fun of so many times for trying to jog or play sports that I was terrified to do it as an adult. So I did INSANITY in my living room where no one could watch me. Because I weighed close to 300 pounds I really had to modify the program a lot, but the fact that I could kind of do what Shaun T. was doing was so incredibly empowering.

One thing I loved about INSANITY was that Shaun T. would tell me that MY goal was to do as many reps as I could, not “Do 50 jumping jacks!” And that really made me feel like I could go at my own pace. I never felt like I didn’t do enough as long as I was pushing myself during every workout. That also made it so no matter how many times I’d do the workouts (it’s been a year now and I’ve done them a trillion times) they never got easier.

In addition to doing INSANITY, I also started drinking Shakeology, which totally improved my life. I’ve always been SO TIRED and Shakeology gives me so much energy to get through my day and my workouts. Plus, Shakeology really helps me stay on track when I go out of town. Any time a healthy meal is NOT available, “I shake!”

One night after working out I got the courage to jog. It was dark out, no one would see me, and I did it. Now I run on the beach, in a sports bra, in the middle of the day, and I don’t care if anyone makes comments or doesn’t like my body. My confidence is so high that I can overlook weird glances and stares because I know how far I’ve come and that I deserve a high-5, not a dirty look.

“The new me” has lost 121 lbs. and 5 feet of flab off my body. My entire life is different not because I’m skinny, but because I feel so empowered. Finally, I feel in control. I feel like a whole new person. I feel like I can do anything. Not only am I proud of the body I built, I’m MOST proud of all the people I’ve inspired. I’m now a Coach and have motivated more than 1,000 lbs. off of friends and family. I’m relishing in all my ex-fat girl glory!

You can change your life, too. Take The Beachbody Challengeâ„¢, for the ultimate motivation to get fit! Select any Beachbody ® program and once you complete it, share your results for your chance to win cash and prizes.

Meet Ashley! She participated in The Beachbody Challenge and won the $500 Daily Prize for August 26th!