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Sam’s One Year Reflection
A year ago this week, I signed up for a class at CrossFit Cleveland. During my last couple years of college and first year back home, I had gained over 100 pounds through a combination of stress, lack of exercise, and eating a whole lot of crap. Then Covid hit.
In the early stages of the lockdown my diet turned into frozen pizza, peanut butter & jelly, and whatever looked good on Door Dash. Before I knew it, I was well on my way to 400 pounds. I had no energy and was quickly losing motivation. By the time May rolled around I was at rock bottom.
Two of my friends, Fergus Gallagher and Mike Matthews (shoutout) happened to be CrossFit Cleveland members. They had both tried to convince me to try out the gym on multiple occasions, insisting it was a friendly place and that no matter what shape I was in they would make it work. After months of hearing their pitch, I decided to sign up for information on the CFC website having no idea what I was in for.
Before I knew it, I was on a Zoom call with Bill and Staci (the owners). We went over my situation and my goals, then Bill asked me when I wanted to get started. Still scared to death at the thought of coming into a gym, I asked if we could start the week after the call. I still think Bill’s response is what set the tone for my success at CrossFit Cleveland – “what about tomorrow?” I was officially out of excuses.
I’ll never forget the first couple sessions. The first thing I asked Courtney (one of the coaches) was “is running part of CrossFit” which, in hindsight, was a ridiculous question. Naturally, we were running that day. I could barely go 200 meters without stopping. And that was just the warmup.
I kept showing up and putting the work in. Little by little my performance improved, and my weight went down – three pounds, ten pounds, 14 pounds. It was promising, but it wasn’t enough to just work out. I needed to clean up my eating too.
Growing up, we never really learned how to eat, or at least how to eat well. Food was more about happiness than health. We would always get Wendy’s as a reward for going to church on Sunday, my grandma made sure there was never a shortage of homemade desserts around the house, and the only thing we had to drink was pop. This was our normal, and these bad habits that I learned growing up evolved into a bad lifestyle.
Courtney and Staci took me on as a nutrition client in July and after being stuck at the same weight for weeks, I dropped another 13 pounds in less than a month by molding my eating around their coaching. It wasn’t a diet; it was a way to reverse the bad lifestyle that I had developed over the previous 24 years. I wasn’t starving myself; I was eating (most of) the foods I wanted, and I felt better than I had in years.
In one year with CrossFit Cleveland, I’ve lost 74 pounds. More importantly, I sleep better, am more relaxed, and can have fun and enjoy life again. My favorite part has been seeing my sister Maggie join CrossFit and competing with her on the day’s WOD. Even our mom is starting to work on her nutrition now as she’s seen our results. I never saw myself being in this spot and I know what it’s like to be stuck in that rut. It’s a cliché – but if I can do it anyone can.
In short, joining this community was one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made. The coaches and members are some of the most supportive individuals I’ve ever been around. I truly look forward to waking up early and coming in every morning.
I couldn’t have ever gotten where I am now without Bill, Staci, Courtney, Shana, Fergus, Mike, the 7am crew (best class of the day), and all the other coaches and members. There’s still plenty of work to do and I can’t wait to see where I am a year from now.
• Sam
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