“Ever since I was a little girl (around 5 years old) I struggled with my weight. I was always chubbier than the rest of the kids in my class or on my teams despite being super active in sports. I remember being in junior high and knocking on the door of my Phys Ed teacher’s office door asking her if she could help me figure out a way to lose weight. I played on every sports team there was in school, ran track, you name it, I did it, and I ate a normal balanced diet. I was doing what everyone “thought” was right. I even took to stealing my older brother’s Muscle and Fitness and Flex magazines in hopes of getting tips, I did endless hours on the Stairmaster (this was a long time ago) and watched fitness competitions on the sports channels, wishing one day I could be like those women. My school years passed and so did endless copies of Shape and Oxygen magazines…..I wore out my membership card to the Y doing every class I could fit into my schedule. With some years of success, in college, when I would skip class to spend hours in the gym and eat very little (dry toast or a small yogurt), but hey, I looked good! Then the real world started and the life of sitting at a desk for work all day, I ate what I wanted to as I was still working out and slowly but surely the pounds crept back on. I read all the clean eating magazines, eating a clean diet, still working out, playing on co-ed sports teams and running 10km races, all while getting bigger and bigger, it was not fair!
In July of 2012 I was changing jobs (after 8 years at the same company) and moving in to a newly built home, I thought to myself…I am changing so many aspects of my life, it’s time to change me too! I picked up the phone and called Endurance on 8th, I had seen and heard of success stories from the school of Kevin and Wendy and had previously met Wendy through a bridal boot camp I had done with a friend at WHC, I thought if those people could be such great success stories, why couldn’t I??? It was worth a try, I had tried everything else.
I made my appointment with Wendy for a nutrition consultation and panicked, I was embarrassed of my size, needless to say I kept the appointment and my journey began. And what a journey it has been!! I have never worked so hard at anything in my life and never wanted anything so bad. I followed my nutrition and workout plans by the book, I was going to do whatever it took. It wasn’t easy, I hit major plateaus that seemed like they’d last forever, I’d keep at it and stuck to my plan but, there’s not much motivation when you get stuck!!! Thankfully I had faith and trusted the process, we endlessly worked together trying what we could and each time broke those plateaus…as stubborn as they were. Along with breaking those plateaus new goals were being reached, competing in FemSport, running my first half marathon, a 50 lb weight loss milestone, now over a 60 lb weight loss, I was doing it and nothing was going to stop me!! In doing so I motivated several people to pick up the phone and book appointments with Wendy to change their lives too, there is nothing more empowering that inspiring or motivating someone else, there is such a sense of pride that goes along with it that is incredible and creates such positive momentum. I am so proud of all of them!!
I had goals of competing but always saw it as dream, a dream that I maybe wasn’t cut out for, that stubborn body of mine!! Friends I had sent to Endurance started the process later than me and were getting on stage earlier than me, I was so very proud of them and so happy for them but, secretly it hurt a little, I wanted that to be me and I was working so hard to make it happen!! Why wasn’t it me?
I made the decision that it was my turn!! I told Wendy I was competing in May. There were times I think that we both had doubts, but I did the most important thing I could so, I believed in myself and told myself I was going to make this happen. Pushing harder than ever and dieting down even further than what I had been doing for over a year, almost a year and a half already, I did whatever it took.
It wasn’t easy, it’s a process, a process not everyone is on board with. You lose friends along the way, you have people doubt you, you have people who are jealous of your success, you have people think that working out all the time and following a meal plan every day is the most ridiculous thing ever! People say “you look great now why are you pushing it?”, “you aren’t doing one of those things where you go on stage all tanned are you?” you bet I am! I absolutely am! The endless comments about what you are eating at what time of day, the comments about how much muscle you have…..all just noise, noise wasn’t going to stop me!
Along the way I have made so many amazing and wonderful new friends. Friends who I will always cherish! The positive energy and support we have amongst each other, amazing!! I truly am a believer that if you surround yourself with positive people positive things will happen.
As I am getting ready to step on stage for my very first fitness competition, I am getting emotional and tearing up as I type this. I am doing it, I am living a dream I never thought was going to come true!! There is nothing more amazing that what I am feeling living these moments!
No matter what happens on that stage, I know I have already won. To have someone come up to you in a gym and tell you that they watch your workouts while they are supposed to be doing class and that your workouts motivate and inspire them to keep coming back….there is no prize bigger than stuff like that! If I can motivate anyone to be able to feel an ounce of what I am feeling these days, I know it has all been worth it!”
– Cindy Saskiw