The Story

When it comes to losing weight, everyone has a story. A story about how they came to be at the point they are at, the weight they are at and the level of happiness they are at. I also have a story, but you know what? It doesn’t matter. Let’s just fast forward to the beginning of March 2016. I weighed 86kg. I was miserable and unhappy, worse, I was ashamed of myself. So I joined the 8 Week Primal Challenge run by Naomi Deaves at CrossFit Southern Highlands, because let’s face it, I couldn’t keep going the way I was (not fitting into clothes and crying every day) and clearly whatever I was doing solo (eating, eating and more eating), wasn’t working.

The Challenge

Week by week Naomi provided us (a group of 10) with information and advised us slowly to cut out foods that even in preschool they know are ‘sometimes’ foods, yet had become ‘everyday’ foods for most of us. Simple things like sugar and processed foods, then helping us (with recipes and meal ideas) to replace them with real food that nourishes and actually helps your body rather than hinder it. Considering most of us were also CrossFitting between 3-5 times weekly, this was massive, because, duh, our bodies were finally starting to perform as we wanted them to and recover like we had never experienced. Or maybe that was just me, because I went into the Challenge with chronic hip bursitis, seeing a physio and chiro bi-weekly with a recovery estimated at a year and suffering massive amounts of pain pre, during and post WOD (that’s all the time for those of you that can’t math). To combat the ‘doing it solo’, we had a private facebook group, a place to share information and encouragement, results, recipes, stresses, questions and most importantly (for me anyway) a place to be an example for others and to have accountability. And as a way to track our progress Naomi organised In Body Scans for us, these scans scare show you where your body stores fat, how much of it, how healthy you are and how healthy you should be. Pretty confronting stuff.

The Result

So I’ve already told you that I weighed 86kg when I started, I now weigh 79kg. I lost 4kg of pure fat (if you want to see what that looks like size wise, go to the supermarket and stack up 16 of those 250g butter blocks, then try to walk away nonchalantly as people will be looking at you like you are a weirdo), and my physio and chiro are both stunned at the improvement in my hip and sad because they only get to see me every 2 months now. It’s still there and still painful, but only sometimes and I can run again, I can jump again, I can pretty much do anything I want, except squat but I’m fairly certain that’s just a matter of time. Before the challenge I had to scale nearly everything, every WOD (making me an enormous pain in the ass to my Coach) and now I only have to scale a movement maybe once a week, that in itself is a huge win for me. The biggest win though, is how I eat. I still have stress in my life but I don’t react to it by eating everything in my path (I used to make sure my path led to the candy aisle, oooh, look, some chocolate), now I react by dealing with the stress, reducing it or eliminating it. My after In Body Scan also showed me precisely  how much visceral fat I had lost (that’s the bad fat, the one around your gut that can lead to all sorts of nasty health complications and diseases), to me, that shows me how many extra years I hopefully get with my kids and it showed me how much healthier my body is now. Yes I still have a long way to go, but I’m certain I’m on the right track, thanks to Naomi.

To join us on the next Primal Challenge, read more about it here and contact us to book a place. There a limited positions available to ensure maximum personal attention. You DO NOT need to be a member here at CrossFit Southern Highlands. You can join in wherever you are located and still have access to at home workouts from our Head Coach here at CFSoHi.