We've often said the thin line between before and after pictures contains a big story. While these two may say something like, "we decided to make a change" when asked about their transformations, what they are leaving out for ease of conversation is that they made a decision and then put in a TON of work to achieve their goals.
They are leaving out the fact that most weekdays we get a notification of the gym door opening at 3:30am so they can get their exercise in before work.
They are leaving out what many others have discovered but few have been able to maintain.
Making a transformation takes HARD, CONSISTENT work. Here is Jenni and Jeremy's story in their words:
Started Drop-In for Bootcamp and Transition to CrossFit Oct 2021
Compelled members since June 2022 (CrossFit)
3/2017 Jenni and I decided to take weight loss seriously after several failed attempts over the years using different diets. At the same time, we made the decision to add exercise or at a minimum more physical activity (Walking) to our daily routine, both of us had desk jobs requiring no real movement. Having been members of the Y for years and never using it we started our workout using cardio equipment, mainly elliptical and treadmill, at this point any workout we did couldn’t go any longer than around 15 Min. with no resistance and we would be exhausted and must stop. It took a few weeks to realize our schedule didn’t work with the Y and the fact we just couldn’t force ourselves to complete workouts after work (all mental but still have it today) we added a PF membership and started doing workouts before work approximately 3:30 AM this workout routine still last today with slight time change as workouts ran longer. We continued with PF until early 2019 by this time our cardio workouts would last anywhere from 45 Min. to 2 Hrs. with varying resistance and incline, we both had achieved weight loss of 100 Lbs. or more and started realizing we had lost a lot of weight but a portion of it had been muscle (started getting comments/questions about being sick) so we started adding light weight training with no guidance.
Early 2019 the decision was made to change again to get some help with our workouts and additional equipment, we had grown bored with PF, so we went to Genesis and started working with a personal trainer to try and learn more about what we needed to do to “fix” the muscle loss we had sustained from the weight loss. This didn’t work out as planned the trainer we had selected had a different vision than ours and wanted to have us doing full weight lifting wanting us to be sitting new max and wanted me (Jeremy Schulte) lifting crazy weights even though I had said from the beginning I had no desire to be a bodybuilder (constantly saying you want to look like this guy or that guy when you are 50) it was to the point when we quit working with him I said would never touch weight equipment again, about the same time a family friend started telling us we need to look into Crossfit and specifically Compelled we went back to the Cardio heavy workouts for the next 3 years the whole time Thomas continued saying we need to try Crossfit and we continued to say we do not want to hurt ourselves and that is all Crossfit will do.
10/2021 after having talked with Thomas one weekend we decided to give the Transition to Crossfit a try since it seemed a little less intense (We had only seen competition videos and similar online) we completed it 3 times and when the second class was going Compelled started a bootcamp class we tried and really liked the format since we still had dislike for weight training from the previous experience. One Saturday in May or June of 2022 we completed Bootcamp class Tiffany coached and when we started talking after she said why don’t you stay and at least give a Crossfit class a try, so we did and it was the hardest thing we had done, found out later it was programmed to be a difficult class, but we enjoyed it. Jenni and I have since completed personal training with Allen and we both now enjoy weight training and the Crossfit style workouts, due to our schedule we do not get to participate in class very often, but we take pieces of the programmed classes and use them in the mornings when we work out and try to make to every class our schedule will allow still participate in Bootcamp most Saturdays.
This is Jeremy,
"The hardest thing I have since starting this entire journey is getting over the overwhelming obsession with weight the number became all I lived for and getting to the next lower weight and BMI number. I was watching them daily. Since June 2022 I have had to make a conscious effort to not care about the scale (as much) and I started watching my body fat as a gauge since the lifting and less extreme cardio machine workouts has added weight but hopefully a healthier weight."
This is Jenni,
"The hardest thing that I had to overcome during this whole weight loss journey is realizing that the gym is not the bad guy. I was never afraid of working out, I was afraid of people making fun of me being the bigger girl in the gym. I went into it trying to think that everyone must start somewhere, and this is where I was starting. Once I first started losing weight, I realized that this was the key thing that I needed to do to get the weight off that I was struggling with it. Moving from PF to Genesis we started going to the gym while more people were there and that made me a little nervous again even though I had lost some weight there was still plenty I needed to lose, the thought only crossed my mind a couple times thinking that someone would have a negative remark about me being the fat girl in the gym. Coming to Compelled was a whole different level of being uncomfortable in the gym, but walking into the first transition to Crossfit class by myself since Jeremy was out of town was probably one of the best decisions we made. Fast forward a little over a year later when I walk into the gym early in the morning or into a class, I am not nervous at all even though I may not be able to do every movement in the class the coaches are great at modifying the workout for my level and giving me tips on improving my abilities. The other members are even a great support and offer plenty of help and encouragement for you to try something new and when you do it, they are just as happy for you as you are."
