Bootcamp Success Story: Nedah, Bootcamp, and LeanKitchen- The Real Story

“I don’t have time to work out.”
 
That was my former mentality. 

 

I had just delivered a baby, and the irony lies in the fact that, no, I wasn’t nearly 200 lbs upon delivery- this huge upswell was gained within the 12 weeks afterwards-during my maternity leave.  I was nursing, and the lactation consultant reminded me that I needed to be sure to take in enough calories to keep up my milk supply.  I sure did a good job of that!  I  clearly remember watching daytime television (something I had never done before), and eating whole jars of peanut butter (not even the natural kind- the plastic, sugary kind) with entire packs of graham crackers.  Just sitting on the couch, snacking.  I would drink HUGE hospital-issued-sent-home-with-you-when-you-have-a-baby 1/2 gallon water bottles of orange juice mixed with cranberry juice; again, to make sure I took in plenty of liquids.  Gotta keep that milk up!!  Thrown in there a bit of frigid Vermont early april temperatures and snow and ice storms of 2007 keeping me indoors, coupled with my exclusively nursing, and blatantly inactive lifestyle.. well, that equaled my weight skyrocketing.

 

Here is me (not even at my worst) right after having my daughter:

 

 

I know what you’re thinking: “Well, you JUST had a baby!!”  And to that I say, “So?!”

See, this was my second child.  Ten days after I delivered my first, I was 4 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight.  Just because I’d just had a (6.5 lb) baby was no excuse to leave the hospital weighing only a couple pounds less than I did when I got there still pregnant.  
 
As though the weight gain wasn’t embarassing enough, it gets worse.
 
After realizing that I no longer even recognized my body (I was literally hand-picked by a sponsor, and consequently competed in Miss Vermont just 6 years previous to this) anymore, I had to do something. Things like “8 minute abs” and Carmen Electra workout videos (I know, highly embarassing) were what appealed to me because they were a. quick b. easy c. appeared to be more “fun” than working out.
 
That’s what everyone wants, right?  The easy, fun, carefree solution.  The magic pill, the magic potion to a great body without doing a thing!
 
So, I’d go about my 8-20 minute workouts, swinging around imaginary poles and chairs in my living room in my PJ’s after the kids went to bed, shades drawn, the lights down low, so that, Heaven forbid, no one would see my shadow through the curtains while driving by.   I LITERALLY thought I was actually losing fat with these (more hilarious than effective) workouts.  When that (inevitably) wouldn’t work, I would do drastic things like eat ONLY salad with no dressing, or eat one meal per day, or get on Atkins and eat thousands of calories (and countless fat grams) per day in bacon, eggs, and butter.  I got on appetite suppresants boasting “Natural Green Tea” or “Acai” (which I would automatically equate to natural & healthy), and would go DAYS without eating little more than coffee and a quick bite off my kids plates now and again. 

 

I would say I reached my darkest point when I was perusing the internet one day.  I’d been searching online through tips and tricks of how to go without eating longer (thinking that was the way to lose weight; less calories=more weight gain) when it dawned on me that I was on a pro-anorexic support group webpage.  I’m not talking “support group” as in the people trying to get better or get help for their anorexia…

 

I’m talking, the support group for the practicing anorexics reaching out to one another to assist and support each other in their disease…to get tips and tricks on how to continue starving themselves.  That was a huge wakeup call.  

 

Just to make it clear, it wasn’t an eating disorder I was fighting- now I recognize,  I was acting this way because I wasn’t educated in how else to be!  I literally thought that losing weight came down to halting caloric intake.  Your body would just use it’s reserves (fat).  Of course, writing this now almost makes me laugh- the thought of how naive and silly and ignorant to how my body worked still amazes me!

Moving on with the story, while it was completely done the “wrong way,” I did manage to lose most of the “scale weight.”  Not the fat, but the bulk, the pounds.
 
In February of 2009, my employer enrolled us in a Workplace Wellness Program, and in an attempt to better my personal wellness, have some “me time,” as well as change my post-baby body, I began attending Ben’s Bootcamp in Derby, Vermont.  There I learned that, in addition to the intense, fat blasting workouts, I should also be eating a supportive diet to enhance my results.  I had already lost a lot of my post-baby weight  so I just wanted to “tone up.”  I was at a healthy weight ( 5 feet 1.5 inches tall and 124 pounds on day 1 of bootcamp), a size 8 pant (I could squeeze into a 6, but if I ate or drank I was uncomfortable) and a size medium shirt.   Dropping pounds wasn’t my goal.
 
So how’d I do?  Well, in four months, I had lost 4 pants sizes. My body shape has changed completely, I have lost several inches and body fat percentages, when most people told me I “had barely anything to lose”. As I said, I didn’t even think I needed to lose much to begin with, so my results floored me.  To me, going to a 3 times per week, 45 minute-long class, well, it’s a no brainer; who wouldn’t be incredibly pleased with not having to spend hours in the gym to achieve such results?  I know I was.

 

   

                            Before Bootcamp                 After Bootcamp

 
But here’s the thing:  I wasn’t losing WEIGHT…I was losing FAT.  By eating supportively, and using Ben’s program, I was losing INCHES off of my entire body.  Most noticable?  My belly, arms, and thighs.
 
I wish more than anything that I had asked to be measured when I started bootcamp, but I didn’t. 
 
What I do know is, I went down to a pants size 0..(ZERO!!) when I used to wear a size 8.  I lost 4 sizes in 4 months. 

 

What I do know is, I currently wear a size small or xtra small shirt when I used to wear a size medium or large.
 
What I do know is, I was never what one would consider “strong,” and now, the men in my office ask for help lifting and moving desks and other heavy furniture.  When I’m able to pick up the assorted furniture (and with visible and spoken admiration; shock even), though I make it out to be no big deal, I’m literally beaming from inside.  I may not look it, but I am STRONG!
 
Oh yeah, and for you habitual scale-hoppers?  After losing all those inches and sizes, guess how much I weigh now?    I weighed 125.  So I have lost tons of inches and sizes and GAINED a pound.  Muscle truly weighs more than fat, and I am living proof of that. 

 
But wait- there’s more.

 

My bootcamp success story doesn’t stop there.  What I noticed while being in class with people, we were all wondering the same things.  Ben always says that “nutrition is 80% of your results,” so there was always chatter among bootcampers; asking what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat, how to eat…I realized we ALL have questions.  We ALL want ideas, inspiration in the kitchen.  Cooking and being in the kitchen are my passion…so what started as a facebook group “recipe swap” ended up being the leanKitchen- a supportive nutrition blog that’s gone viral with not only bootcampers, family, and friends, but my local community, and quite literally, worldwide fans.  I am now a leading resource to fitness and nutrition professionals, have been offered recipe development contracts, am about to publish my first cookbook, have a morning radio show, have been given keynote speaking opportunities, and so much more.

 

So what started as a “I think I’ll take a class to have some ‘me’ time” has, quite literally, changed my life.

 

And I couldn’t be more proud of my successes; you see, Ben and his Bootcamps didn’t just change my BODY for the better..

 

it changed my entire LIFE for the better.