Michelle’s #UNSTOPPABLE Journey
Michelle Gilbert, 50, always had the desire to lose weight, being overweight or obese her entire life, but none of the weight loss programs she tried were successful. In April 2018, Gilbert decided to try Isagenix products and began working out at Xperience Fitness Greenfield. Since then, Gilbert has lost 103 pounds, 98 inches, is down five pant sizes, and has been able to keep her weight off for over a year.
When Gilbert first began her health and fitness journey, she was a life-long asthmatic with exercise and allergy-induced asthma, had joint pain, was pre-diabetic, had high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and was lacking confidence and energy. When Gilbert joined Xperience, she had no idea what was in store for her.
“Xperience Fitness-Greenfield absolutely changed my outlook on fitness,” Gilbert exclaimed. “Before Xperience, I was working out at a different gym, but honestly dreaded going and would happily welcome any excuse to skip it… When I started going to Xperience-Greenfield and found Q classes, I found my tribe! The Q sessions are fun, motivating, and a well-balanced workout. Anyone can do them because they are easily modifiable and the trainers are very high energy and accommodating, but the people are what make it exceptional! I now have a group of people that hold me accountable, motivate and inspire me daily, and that I can laugh with and learn from!”
Soon after, Gilbert had reached a massive milestone: 50 pounds lost. This was more weight than Gilbert had ever lost before, and losing such a large amount of weight solidified her motivation to keep going.
“It made my progress seem real and made me realize I could, after so many years, make this a maintainable lifestyle,” Gilbert expressed. “I still look in a mirror and shock myself sometimes, because in my head I’m still picturing the ‘old me.’”
However, like most, Gilbert’s journey was not linear. There were weeks on end where Gilbert felt as though she had put time and effort into the gym and her nutrition only to see the scale remain stagnant. Instead of focusing on the scale, Gilbert crafted a list of non-scale victories like her clothes fitting better, others noticing her weight loss, being able to fit better in her seat belt.
“I kept that list with me and would take it out and read through it if I needed motivation,” Gilbert said. “I also started taking pictures all the time and would look back at old ones to see how far I’d come. I’ve learned that being healthy is way more than a number on a scale. I don’t even weigh that often anymore!”
Now, to continue reaching her goals, Gilbert tracks her nutrition with MyFitnessPal and goes to Q four to five days a week.
Q is Xperience Fitness’s 45-minute, calorie-torching high-intensity interval training session.
Since April 2018, Gilbert has seen her confidence blossom, her energy rise, has been taken off all of her medications, and no longer suffers from asthma, joint pain, allergies, and repeat sinus infections. Fortunately, she is also no longer pre-diabetic and no longer has high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
“It used to be difficult for me to walk up one flight of stairs, now I can run up multiple flights, run on a treadmill, and am signed up to run my first 5k with our Greenfield Xperience Q family,” Gilbert expressed.
Ensuring that she continues making progress, Gilbert treats Q sessions like appointments she cannot miss.
“I schedule my workouts for the entire week ahead of time, making them more like appointments to encourage consistency,” Gilbert revealed. “I also plan workouts with my Q family members to have someone to be accountable to! This way, I am far less likely to ‘bail’ because I know that they are counting on me to be there.”
Gilbert’s first token of advice is to just start. She says, as the “queen of excuses,” that the longer you wait to start the more excuses you will create. Her second piece of advice is to start where you are comfortable but avoid limiting yourself for too long, as she did with sticking to the treadmill and elliptical.
“Experiment with different things and find some activity you love with a group of people who inspire and motivate you,” Gilbert suggested. “That has made the world of difference for me! A lot of people (including the old me) are resistant to going to the gym because they are worried about what others will think of them there or self-conscious about how they look. I have learned that no one is looking, they are focused on their own thing, but most are also willing to help if you just ask!”