Dear Friend,

My name is Kristen, I am 29 years old and I want to tell you something personal about myself.  I know what it feels like to lack self-confidence and feel completely unmotivated to get myself and my health back on track.

About 8 years ago I was in bad shape physically and emotionally. It all began when I started doing LASIK sales for a company run by an extremely controlling woman. She pulled me and the rest of her employees in to her office weekly to tell us all the work we had done for her that she was dissatisfied with.

There was rarely any positive news or feedback that came out of her mouth. I became so depressed working for her, I worked so hard day in and day out but could never do anything she felt was right.Maybe this doesn’t sound like a big deal to you but my self esteem and confidence levels went below zero. I would come home from work but didn’t want to move. I had no energy, my body was constantly aching and I felt no motivation to get my life back in balance.

I had even began salsa dancing a few months prior to starting this job but was missing classes because my energy levels were just shot from sitting at a desk all day and being so stressed at work.

A few months went by and my body started changing even more for the worse. I was steadily gaining weight and realized after stepping on a scale that I had put on 17 lbs.   This was due to the fact that I found myself constantly snacking on sugar products – chocolates, cookies, candy, you name it- thinking this would help me get my energy levels up but it did not. I had never put that much weight on before and had no idea how to change my situation.

I would go out with my friends sometimes on the weekends, but would change my outfit at least 3 times before I could find something that hid my stomach which was rolling out over my jeans. Everything I owned made me feel fat and awkward. When I couldn’t fit into more than half my wardrobe, I started thinking, is this worth it? I wanted so badly to go out with my friends and meet people with confidence like they did. All my friends were in great shape and got all the attention when we went out. I wanted to wear my skinny jeans with a tank top and not have my stomach rolling over my pants.

On July 13th 2002, I went to my dance class that I had been avoiding because I did not want anyone to see how much I had let myself go. Sure enough one of my instructors actually pulled me aside and asked me where I had been. She went on to tell me she did not think I would feel comfortable performing in the costumes she was going to order if I didn’t try to lose some weight… I looked at myself in the mirror and it was then that something snapped inside me.

My instructor was right! How could I have let myself go so much? How did I choose to let myself become so miserable? I knew then that I would really have to dedicate myself to getting back in shape. With no guidance about how to make these significant changes in my body, this turned out to be way more difficult then I ever imagined…

I tried everything!

I tried working out at the gym after my long and stressful hours in the office but had no idea what workout routine to do, what exercises burned the most fat, or how to do a full body workout. At first I made all these common mistakes:

- I tried to do weight training on assisted machines but I was afraid I would get big and bulky if I lifted weights.
- I tried doing one workout routine over and over again but all I did was fatigue the same muscle groups all the time and I got so bored.
- I found myself getting on random cardio machines for an hour and a half at a time trying not to let my heart rate get to high so I could keep it in the “fat burning zone.”
- I started becoming obsessed with every little thing I put in my mouth and still found it hard to drop weight! I would eat only low carb bread, non-fat yogurt, lean cuisines. But all the non-fat food just made me feel bloated and irritated. I never felt satisfied with what I was eating and I avoided having fun and going out with friends for dinner in fear that I’d never lose all the weight I put on. All these foods I was eating left me horrible unsatisfied and constantly hungry. I became so miserable and moody.

After months of trying all these things with little return as far as results went, I was still feeling bad about myself and decided I needed a different approach to my fitness goals. I needed to make a life change…

The thing that was really dragging me down was my current job. In trying to get my health back on track, I realized that what was making me the most sad and unmotivated was that I felt like I had no way to get out of working at this job without taking a major pay cut. My employer kept me there late hours making it hard to go the gym and once I got there, I had no energy from being so emotionally stressed at work. My boss was still making me feel so bad about myself and all other employees there were miserable as well. Our moral as a whole was at an all time low. I knew I couldn’t let this go on if I wanted to maintain some dignity with myself.

On November 15th 2002 I decided enough was enough and I walked out of the office and decided not to ever go back again but I needed a new job fast. I picked up a retail sales position at a fitness clothing company to tide me over during the holidays. This gave me some time to figure out what I really wanted out of life and helped me to start getting my body back on track.

I then lucked out and landed a great job doing outside sales for a travel company. It was a job that didn’t make me sit at a desk all day and I could spend my lunch times at the gym working out and figuring out the best, most efficient work out strategies to burn all the fat I had put on. I had also received a lot of great weight loss tips from my past co-workers at the fitness clothing store.

I did this job for a few years and I was happy but did not fully satisfied with my career just yet. I found myself doing tons of reading about fitness, circuit training, boot camp training techniques, how to do the best and most efficient full body workouts. I then started developing my own circuit training workouts which were giving me outstanding results!

I would stay up late programming great workouts for myself and enjoyed it very much. I also did a lot of reading on nutrition and ended up dropping all the weight I had gained, toning my arms and legs, flattening my stomach, and creating lean muscle mass throughout my body. I felt alive, healthy, and balanced in life and soon realized that I had a real passion for the health and fitness industry. After this realization I decided to get my certification for personal training through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Now I know how to bring my outstanding results to others!

The funny part is that fitness has always been a part of my life through my dancing. I have been dancing since age 3 so I feel like I have been in the fitness industry for years. Through all my research of different exercise variations and techniques, I have created fast and efficient ways for my to get myself and my clients incredible results and I can’t wait to share them with you all!