I had to show you these…. the following are some before and after pictures from my first, 7 consecutive months of boot camp.  WoW!  How amazing?!?!  I look at these and think, I can’t believe I used to look like this!?!?  I still have so far to go, but it’s amazing to me at how far I have come!!  I don’t have my measurements with me right now, but I know I lost over 25 lbs.  The first few pictures are from when I found my wedding dress and tried it on for the first time.  I couldn’t even zip up the size 12 sample dress!!  I remember the first time I tried on “my” actual dress… the boutique couldn’t believe the transformation!  They had to pin my dress with clamps so it wouldn’t fall!!  Each fitting the clamps had to be a little tighter.  I had to have 3 different dress fittings as the seamstress had to take in close to 10 inches!!!  Luckily, the seamstress was so talented and she did a wonderful job in putting the dress back together!  I just can’t believe the difference!

Thank you for all that you do for me and for other members of WoW! Boot Camp!  As I have said many times, I am forever grateful to you, Michael and Natalie!!  I have never been more satisfied with a workout as I am with WoW!.  You push us when you know we can give more and when we feel like giving up, you keep pushing – never letting us give up on ourselves!  Somehow you make us want to come back again and again!  THANK YOU!  Your team is amazing, and I’m so THANKFUL to be a part of such an amazing program.  I found a WoW!  Boot Camp flyer today at lunch…. it has your before and after picture on it.  I took it and have it on my desk to remind me every day of how hard work and dedication pays off!!  And, so I won’t be tempted to eat that candy bar I’ve been craving!   haha!

Thanks for everything!!  You’re the best!!

WoW! Boot Camp – It works!!!!!!!!

Katie Day

BEFORE

AFTER

Before

“At first, my obvious goal was to lose weight – I really wasn’t thinking of being ‘fit’ — yeah, yeah ‘healthy’ was somewhere there in the back of my mind – I just wanted to be thin – little did I realize how goooood it feels to not only be at a healthy weight, but have a healthy mind, acquire an active lifestyle and completely change my attitude and relationship with food and exercise. I’ve acquired a much more positive attitude at home and work—I notice that I let go of the little nuisances of life so much easier now.

Now!

“I am truly thankful for the wonderful comradeship with the WoW! girls – it’s hard to explain how important it’s been to me to have that source of encouragement, motivation and strength. Never would I have thought to participate in a 5k, ‘Fun Run’ or much less a ½ marathon without the support received at WoW! I continue to look forward to my Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning WoW! workouts, I’ll be there for the physical activity but most importantly for my mental and emotional energy dose!” – Jovita

I just had to tell you… I just ran a whole mile at the gym!!!!!!  I’m so excited!!  I’ve been trying to do this for what seems like forever.  Granted it wasn’t a very fast mile.  However, it was a mile without stopping!  I don’t know if you were as excited as I the first time you ran a whole mile, but I’m so proud of myself!!!  I’ve worked really hard this week and will continue to do so!  Now, the goal of wearing a bikini on my honeymoon doesn’t seem to unrealistic!!!!   I have proven to myself that I can do this!!

 Thanks for being our encouragement, supporter and confidant!  I’m so happy with bootcamp and so glad I’m able to be apart of such a great thing!  Thanks for doing what you do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Katie 

I am almost at a year in Boot Camp and have felt that is has helped me in more ways than I had initially figured.  I spent almost all of June in Japan in a very rigorous program learning about their educational system (usually walking 2-3 miles a day going to and from meetings, subways, etc).  I was in great shape for that.  When I returned, I had to have my appendix out and had a very quick recovery and very easy surgery. Again, if it had been a year ago, I would have weighted about 20 lbs more and certainly not been in as good as shape (not that I don’t have lots more to go, but the trend line is certainly in the right direction).

I feel the stress of work less since working out in the morning and even my husband and I run together on Saturdays now.

Thanks for the program, for the great folks like Stephanie and Lisa who inspire and encourage old folks like me and for the special ‘sisterhood’ of women in Athens who swear by WoW! Boot Camp.

Best,

Nancy

Something happened this past Winter– I hit that wall.  I knew I needed and wanted to make a change, but I also knew I couldn’t do it on my own.  That gym membership just wasn’t motivating enough for me.  My friend had been going to Boot Camp for several months—so I thought it sounded like a good idea.  Who wouldn’t think waking up at 4:30 AM three days a week to run and do push-ups isn’t a great idea?  With a bit of apprehension, and not knowing what to expect, I laced up my newly purchased running shoes, threw on some not-so-flattering spandex pants and headed to my first day of class.  It was hard.  The warm up even made me ache, but I did it, and I felt good about myself for doing it.

And here I am two months later and 17.4 pounds lighter—don’t forget that .4!    Not only am I lighter, but less out-of-breath, less self conscious, less envious of those runners on South Milledge Avenue, and just overall more “ME!”  I am in better shape than I was two months ago that’s for sure.

Just exercising alone wasn’t all that helped me get to this point.  I also had to take a good look at my diet and make some changes.   That was the scariest thing for me because I love to eat.  I mean, if you really could include eating as a hobby or talent, I would.  I fancy myself quite a good cook, and I enjoy food and its place in my life—meeting friends for dinner, hosting parties, pizza and beer before a show at the 40 Watt, whole milk mozzarella, half and half—you get the picture.    I didn’t know where to start.   So, I started with the dreaded food diary.

When April handed me that thing, I didn’t want to use it.  I thought that I knew what I ate and when.  And to top it off, I was supposed to write down how I felt—come on.  Well, I have to say that there is something to writing down what you eat on a daily basis.  I was never able to keep up with the calories because I cook most all my meals—so it was just a pain.  I was also really bad at writing down how I felt—oh well.  What writing it down made me was more aware of portions, what I was actually eating, and when I was eating.  I started noticing things like if I didn’t eat snacks during the day at work that I would come home ravenous and want to eat a whole plate of spaghetti.  I noticed that I was getting most of my bad calories at lunch from eating out too often.  And, I noticed that I like to have something sweet in the evening—who doesn’t, right?  All of this knowledge helped me come up with my plan which is, 1. Snack,  2. Watch my portions, 3. Eat out lunch only once a week (if possible), and try to make it healthier, and 4. Sweet is not your enemy—just choose the right sweet!  I also have to say, I do treat myself every now and again to something decadent, but now, I am aware that it is really a treat.

What you don’t see in my list is—Don’t eat this, Don’t eat that, Buy lowfat/no-fat, watch every single calorie.  Those were things that I couldn’t/can’t do at the moment.  It doesn’t mean that I won’t make those sorts of decisions as I move along on this road—but for now,  I am sticking to my plan because it is working for me.

I just want you all to know that there really isn’t a magic recipe for this.  It takes a bit of effort and a bit of self discovery to figure out what your plan is; what you need to do to reach your goal.  We are all wired and put together differently.  I will say, though, that is nice knowing that you can teach an old dog new tricks, that it is ok to “fall off the wagon” every now and again, and that, yes, Emmeline—I can be a runner.

I also want to say that I have further to go and that I really appreciate everyone at the 5:30AM YMCA Boot Camp class.  You are funny, motivating, and just plain fun women.

I’ll finish this saga with this little anecdote.  Last week, I went to Target to buy a curtain rod and some dog rawhides–exciting huh.  I decided that I also needed to look at their summer dresses.  I picked out this cute little black dress from the rack.  There wasn’t an XL, so I picked up the L.  I wasn’t too confident that it would fit.  I mean, the arms were those skinny kind.  What do you know, it zipped right up.  My husband told me it fit me like a glove.  I was so happy that I wanted to shout out that it was an “L;” that there was not one single “X” on that label anywhere.    I am now looking forward to hiking trips in the Smokies and sun tanning at the beach this summer.  It is truly amazing what you can accomplish when you set your mind to it.

Thanks everyone, and see you on Friday.

Then I got an email about this crazy WoW! Boot camp coming to my neighborhood, so I forwarded it to one of my friends and asked her if she wanted to join with me.  She actually ended up joining  without me!  During her first month she kept saying, “It’s hard, but I really enjoy it .” So I decide to visit with her on “bring a friend to boot camp day”.  That day I literally thought I would die of a coronary.  Honestly, I didn’t know if I would keel over or vomit first, but I was sure that one of the two would happen.  Run up and down bleachers 4 times, you have to be kidding me! That’s like 260 steps! I am thinking how could my friend enjoy this, what was wrong with her? Did she enjoy torture??? So , I barely make it through day one, miraculously I did not vomit or keel over! My friend told me “you have to tell Katie you will be back to join or I have a feeling you’ll never come back!” (Actually she was right, I wouldn’t have.) So began my journey with WoW! Boot camp.  Well, I did come back and was the 2nd day any easier?  No, probably not.  If I remember right, I don’t even think my first month got any easier. Everyday I would be like “man, that was a rough one!” But I thought if this doesn’t get me in shape, then nothing I do ever will.  So, I kept coming back and believe it or not, it kind of started feeling good to push my body to its limits and being around other women who motivated me. Then comes assessment time.  I lost a couple of pounds and shed some inches.  So I thought …well maybe if I came back another month maybe I could loose another couple of pounds and a few more inches.

Well, here I am 6 months later. I am still not the fastest person, heck half the time I come in dead last.  But during this past 6 months, I have gone from 170 pounds to 153 pounds, lost 7 inches from my hips, 2 inches from my arms, 6 inches from my thighs and 5 inches from my waist! 20 total inches lost- Can a body wrap promise you that???  I also had to go and buy some new pants, those size 10′s and 12′s fall right off now.  Is it worth it? Every minute of it!!  I even have to say that I miss the days I am not at boot  camp and have even added in workouts on non boot camp days.  No matter what people told me before, I didn’t feel comfortable in my own body and boot camp has helped change that.  I still don’t care how fast I can run a mile, but I sure do like the muscles I see emerging underneath all the “chunk” that used to cover my body!  Gone are the days of wishing I could get that dream body and eating a bag of chips. I now reap the results of working hard to achieve the results I want, instead of sitting around wishing for them.  Is my body perfect, Nope, but  that’s OK with me now. WoW! has changed the way I think about food, the way I think about myself and I have so much more energy. Size 6 here I come!  

Thanks Kim for making me come back after that first day and thanks Katie for motivating me to still come 6 months later.  If not for your inspiration, I may still be sitting on the couch.

I’ve tried to exercise before (gym membership), but I am not self-motivated in that department. In fact, I’ve always said I’d rather dig a ditch than go to aerobics. Your program suits my needs perfectly. I need structure. You and your staff are wonderful working with me, and motivating me. I’m really enjoying it. I didn’t think that would happen ever in my life.

So, Kudos to you! See you Monday.