Sometimes you have friends that become clients and sometimes clients become friends. Then there are ghosts that come from your past to surprise you. Judy Hill is one of those ghosts…
I actually went to Junior High and High School with Judy and we were in the same circle of friends for years. Imagine my surprise when comments started coming up on my blog and it turns out to be the one and only Judy Hill from way back.
The most surprising thing I found about Judy when we recently had lunch together was that she looked BETTER THAN SHE EVER DID IN HIGH SCHOOL. I need to mention that Judy never was overweight, I just know that she didn’t feel great in her own skin. Often it’s those last 10 lbs that are the worst and hardest to lose. I’m so proud of her and how she’s incorporated fitness and wellness into her every day lifestyle. She’s not a gym rat and she doesn’t have a personal trainer barking in her ear. She’s a disciplined lady that just gets her workout done first thing in the morning before she starts her day. She’s proof positive that anyone with motivation can improve their health and appearance AT HOME.
I asked her to tell her inspirational story and here it is. Take it away Judy..
Well, this week was a special week for me because on Tuesday May 31, 2011 I celebrated my first anniversary of a regular fitness program. I have always been active (I play volleyball twice a week from Sept – Apr and we love to hike and cross-country ski) and tried to stay in shape, but it always seemed that I would be doing just ok. I never seemed to gain much – fitness or weight – but I never really felt good about how I looked. It was also very easy to allow things like work, errands, or other stuff get in the way of making my fitness a routine. And because I don’t live in the city, I didn’t have the option of going to boot camp 3 or 5 times a week. I needed to exercise on my own. Motivation was always a struggle.
Our oldest daughter was getting married last August and because the ceremony was to be held in our backyard we had a big landscape project to do. I guess this may have been the start of it as I felt I needed to get into some kind of shape so I looked good in my dress. So, May 31st I started with Shawna’s 21 Day Rapid Fat Loss Program. I did the video workouts every other day and in July we really hit the yard big time with landscaping, sod laying and planting so by August 14th I was down 5 pounds. I was very proud of my accomplishments and felt so great in my dress that day that I knew this was the start of something terrific. Also, I became very aware of my nutrition and what I was eating. I didn’t follow the diet program that came with the 21 day fat loss, but I did make a real effort to follow Shawna’s tips on eating well, how to eat and what to eat and started to eliminate all the junk from my life.
I kept doing the program and in the fall my husband and I both read the book “Younger Next Year” by Dr. Harry Lodge and Chris Crowley. I read the women’s version and Cal the men’s – which are basically the same except for the hormone/menopause part – and I really think this was the turning point for me to really get fitness into my life and how important it is to do it every day. The book just made everything Shawna had already said in her programs, emails and blogs make so much sense. I found I couldn’t get enough information on exercise and nutrition and I even felt at some points I was obsessing about it. But that’s ok, I needed to change stuff in my life and this helped.
By Christmas I was down 8 pounds and I had family and friends say how great I looked and my husband was so excited for me. It made me feel so good about my self.
In the new year, I kept doing the different programs from the 21 day fat loss and then in February I did the 14 day Fat Furnace workout. It was great to know everyday what program I was doing and all the daily emails with the tips were great motivators. I had success with this program as well and again, was feeling great.
On April 18th I started John Romaniello’s Extreme Fat Loss 6 week program. I enjoyed this program as well because I just needed to commit to the time and do it according to a schedule and it was different than what I was doing. Again, I didn’t follow the diet portion of the program as I am not a big supplement person – not that it has a lot in it, but I just wanted to do the exercises. Success was met at any rate, so that was the main goal. I completed this program just 2 days before my anniversary date.
So, here are my results from the last year of my new fitness life.
| May 31, 2110 | May 31, 2111 | ||
| Weight | 141 lbs | 129 lbs | Loss – 12 lbs |
| Arm | 10 ¾ in | 11 in | Gain – ¼ in |
| Chest | 35 ¼ in | 34 in | Loss – 1 ¼ in =( |
| Waist | 29 ½ in | 27 in | Loss 2 ½ in |
| abdomen | 31 in | 29 in | Loss – 2 in |
| hips | 38 in | 26 in | Loss – 2 in |
| thighs | L 23 ¼ R 23 1/4 | L 21 ½ R 22 | Loss – L 1 ¾ R 1 ¼ |
| Total inches = 10 ½ |
I am so proud of my accomplishments and feel so good about how my body looks at 48 years old, that I can honestly say its better than when I was 28. My husband says I am sexier than ever and he has been a huge supporter in all of this. He is very active as well and it is fun to share my programs and exercises with him. He enjoys doing them with me on weekends and he is always impressed how hard they are. In fact, some of them I can do more weight than he can – and that makes me work harder.
We love to hike and last weekend we went on our first one of the year. There was 4-6″ of snow the entire way up and back (about 8-9km we did) and it was like walking in sand or uphill the whole way. We had to cross a creek several times and there were places I had to leap that I know last year I wouldn’t have made it. This year, no problem! It made the day even more enjoyable to be able to keep up to Cal and not be tired. Must be all those squats!
Shawna, I just want to thank you for all of your support, your motivation, your nutrition and exercise tips and programs and for being my “guru” whenever I had questions. It means the world to me to know you are there “in my back pocket” and I am very excited about my middle years and all it has to offer because of my new found lifestyle. It just goes to show that if a person really wants to do something, really puts the effort in, things will happen and success will be there. Making fitness a very important part of my day – when I don’t do it I feel tired and have no energy – is just mind over matter. Make up your mind to do it and it does matter! Its a “for me” time now and that’s how its going to be for the rest of my life.
Hope to see you again soon and get in on one of your boot camps!
Judy Hill