Transformation Story – Jennifer

Here is Jennifer’s story. She and I started ‘Tweeting’ back and forth a few months ago and like all CrossFitters, she was open to sharing!  (You can tweet her @olivJuice) She claims she is still working on her goals and the best is yet to come… but I think she’s cute as can be and is rocking the CrossFit lifestyle!  I love her openness and that she chose to share her story with us… it takes guts to put it all out there and I have no doubt she will inspire you and give you ideas and motivation with your own journey ahead!

(Before and Afters are at the bottom… but READ the whole interview!!)

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Hello!  My name is Jennifer Satinsky and I live with my hubby of two years in Niantic, CT.  We moved here shortly after getting married from NYC to get a different perspective on life.  Little did we know we’d find anything like Crossfit to completely change how we feel, think and live.

Unlike most Crossfit success stories, I don’t start out with being an athlete when I was younger.  I also don’t begin with a childhood of being skinny up until a recent weight gain.  I have always been overweight and while I may not have been obese, it’s safe to say I was never ever comfortable with myself.  And when I first heard about Crossfit, I never in a million years imagined myself ever trying it.  It looked way too intimidating!  But after a successful two years of joining a local box, my mother treated my husband and I to one month of Crossfit personal training.  It was a gift so we had no excuse to say no!  This was just a little over seven months ago and we haven’t turned back.

How would you describe your diet in the past?  
Growing up, eating healthy wasn’t a fad and it wasn’t a topic of conversation.  Bread, cereal, mayo, sandwiches, pizza, etc.  Those were all staples in my diet.  College came with takeout and terrible TERRIBLE cafeteria meals.  It wasn’t until after I graduated I thought something needed to change.  But I was lazy with planning and convinced myself healthy was boring.  Oh, and way too expensive.  I tried Weight Watchers right after getting engaged and I dropped a healthy amount of weight.  I was so convinced that my body was meant to be curvy (with added cushioning) that I didn’t want to be starving myself for a wedding dress.  I never even considered eating more vegetables, protein and exercising more.  It was all about eating a little of what I liked and subtracting a few WW points here and there for alcohol.  After all, I did work at an Ad Agency at the time where happy hours were a part of work hours.

Shortly after our wedding I gained almost all of the weight back.  While WW teaches you portion sizes, it doesn’t exactly enforce what is really good for you.  So I just went back to eating whatever, whenever.  Again, exercise wasn’t an option.  Maybe a treadmill walk or two, but no running and certainly no lifting.

What make you decide to do it this last time?
I started disliking seeing myself in pictures.  That is the worst feeling EVER.  (Betsy adding it:  Preach it!)   Actually, not fitting comfortably in your clothes may be worse.  And both of those things were happening at the same time.  Something had to change.

Did you challenge yourself alone or with friends/family?
As mentioned before, I began the Crossfit journey with my husband.  We of course have very different goals but it totally helps to have another in your house to motivate the other.  For example:  If for some reason either of us decide the night before that we won’t be going to crossfit the following am, we’ll haunt each other until we change our minds.  That’s love      (Betsy:  I agree!  The couple that sweats together, stays together!)

What behaviors/rituals did you need to change? 
The main thing that needed to change was what went in our shopping cart at the supermarket.  That was not easy to do and that didn’t start until a few months in (to crossfit).  I’m not a huge fan of cooking to begin with.  So meals consisted of 5-ingredients or less and mostly done under 30min.  Vegetables rarely made it in to the cart.  Maybe a bag of salad.  Maybe an apple.  Maybe, if we wanted to get a little crazy, brussel sprouts.
But for the most part cereals, rice, pasta, ice cream, milk, etc went in without hesitation.  Easy to make, cheap to buy.  Now I try my hardest to make a meal plan for at least half of the week, go shopping and only use what is in the kitchen after that.  If we decide to go out for dinner, unless it’s a cheat day (and usually it is), we are careful to choose wisely.  No more french fries or ranch dressing!

What kinds of workouts do you do?  What’s your routine for fitting it all in?  Sounds like you have a busy life!
At the beginning, I started only going to Crossfit twice a week.  And let me tell you, that was enough for me!  Squats alone killed my legs enough to not move for the rest of my time off.  I could only dread going to the bathroom so many times a week   But you work up to what you can do.  Currently I try my best to get to the box four times a week.  Someday soon, I’d like to get to five.  The main idea is to work with what you can.  Listen to your body.  I’ve learned so much about my body these last seven months!  We never ever want to push ourselves just to prove to others you can.  You do it for yourself.
I don’t really have any favorite workouts!  I love seeing what the WOD’s are everyday and then mentally figuring out how to get through them.  I’ve proven to myself enough that I can get through whatever they throw at me, no matter what pace or time I finish.  My one and only true enemy, though, is running.  Like all other goats, I’m trying to get better at it!  I’m forcing myself to run the local St. Paddy’s Day 5k.  I get anxious just thinking about it!

Is there anything new that you discovered with fitness?
Um, everything?  :) Working out in the past for me only included a treadmill.  That left me with zero results.  Maybe a little sweat, but no results.  Now I feel energized.  I’m finally interested in being more active and going on hikes or bike rides.  I even try to park my car a little further away from stores just to walk more.  No longer do I feel forced to do these things just because it’s considered the right thing to do.  I actually WANT to do it.  And on top of all that, I want to spread the word to everyone like me who has made excuses for so long that you can and should begin a better, healthier lifestyle.  Who knew you could discover all of that through fitness?  Not me a year ago!

Did you follow a specific diet?(How did you stay on track?  How did you keep track?)
During the month of December, my husband and I decided to try out the whole Paleo thing.  I can’t even begin to describe how scared we were to change our eating habits that drastically!  To make it easy, we only planned on doing it until Christmas time.  Because really, I had no desire to get picky with food around the holidays!  It only took a few days before noticing a difference.  It was amazing.  We actually felt cleaner.
Before beginning Paleo, I would usually get a bad cough after eating meals every so often.  That cough went away.  Now if my cheat meals include any carbs such as bread, the cough comes back.  My heart used to race after eating foods high in sugar.  That is also gone with Paleo.  After these changes it was clear that this was the right lifestyle for me.  With some exceptions.
I have found with Paleo that you can try it strictly for a few weeks and then figure out what you personally need back in your life.  I’m not talking breads and pasta but items such as beans or a little cheese every now and then.  And it’s okay.  Maybe I can’t call my diet Paleo now but it’s still an excellent beginning to discovering a healthier you .   (Betsy:  I say I am 100% paleo, 90% of the time.  I think you are right on girl- call it paleo!)
What is your favorite ‘on target’ food?
My favorite snack to have is a mix of almonds and dark chocolate chips.  The combination always leaves me satisfied until the next small meal.

What is your favorite cheat food?
Let me just say that going Paleo for those few weeks has completely changed my view on “cheat” foods.  Normally, if I wanted to be bad and eat whatever I wanted, the meal would almost always include french fries.  Now, french fries make me feel so sick I don’t want them!  Of course there are times I just don’t care to mind the aftermath because I miss the taste so much.  :)  But now I choose wisely.  If I want my cheat meal to include pizza, I’m going to get my absolute favorite pizza.   You want to truly appreciate and enjoy it.  Just like any other meal but even more so because it’s your cheat meal!
Lately my cheats have been on the sweeter side.  Last Sunday after breakfast I had the most delicious donut.  Because I can’t have it as often as I used to, I made sure to truly enjoy every single bite.  When it was gone, I didn’t crave more.  And that’s awesome.

How often do you check your progress (weigh in, measurements etc)
Prior to Crossfit and Paleo, I hadn’t weighed myself in forever.  The numbers on the scale are too scary for any girl, especially me.  I only weighed myself during my time doing Paleo strictly to track some progress.  Later on I learned that taking measurements would’ve been the better move.  Muscle weighs more than fat, I know, you’ve all heard that before.  Now I’m only taking measurements and judging by how my clothes fit.

Do you have times where you felt you weren’t making any progress, and if so, how do you work past all that?
Of course!  Specifically at the box.  One thing you have to learn as a Crossfitter is that it’s super hard not to compare yourself to others.  While Crossfit has the most family-oriented atmosphere with crazy support and motivation, it is also very competitive.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember that you should only be competing with yourself and not the other numbers on the board.
There are some weeks I feel completely down and out about working out.  It feels as though I will stay in the same place forever:  same weight, same times.  At the very beginning my trainer had me record all WOD’s with times/weight/progress.  Going back and reviewing old WOD’s is a HUGE wakeup call!  He also somehow knows when to remind me about where I came from and the type of workouts I did compared to what I can accomplish now.  Between the journal, the trainers and the support around you, it gets easy to get past all of negativity that can build up from time to time.

My goals:
I was joking around with a fellow Crossfitter today about PR’s. (Personal Record)  On Facebook we usually mention our PR’s or other accomplishments and I usually find myself responding the same way each time with, “You’re my hero!  I hope I can say that one day!”.  We laughed about it and then she and another reminisced about beginning 95lb push press during WOD’s and leaving behind lower weight forever.  It’s always comforting to hear that everyone, even trainers started where I am today!

With that said, my goals are many and pretty scattered.  I will try my best to keep it as simple as possible!

For my workouts:
Like the girls above, I’d like to finally get to using 95lb for weight during WOD’s.  I’d like to also do kipping pull-ups without a band.  Last but not least I’d like to not let running be my downfall!

Physically:
Since I’m not tracking my weight, I’d like to just say all I want to do is buy a bikini for this summer!  Haha!  Okay maybe not a bikini.  A cute tankini?  :)  All I ask from myself is to look damn good in short shorts and not feel uncomfortable in tank tops.  Too many summers have been spent in jeans and not on a beach!  We specifically chose the shoreline to move to and I can’t even honestly say we’ve been to the beach more than a dozen times in the last 2.5 years.  That’s embarrassing to even admit!
Mentally/Emotionally:
There are plenty of other parts of my life that need some work.  I am human afterall.  So far after gaining some confidence through Crossfit, I’ve managed to muster up a little for life in general.  And that’s very exciting for someone who had zero confidence and self-esteem just last year.

My hope is to share my story with those just like me, in my same situation seven months ago, and prove that they CAN do it.  They CAN easily catch the Crossfit bug with zero athletic or exercise experience.  Is it hard?  Yes.  Do I maybe curse a little too often during workouts, mainly towards the trainer?  Maybe.  But that’s what it’s all about.  It’s an intense struggle between mind and body and it feels f*cking great to own it!

Here’s to new PR’s, 5k’s and bikini’s!  …I mean, tankini’s!

(…. I have no doubt she will be in a bikini before too long!)

Before:

After!