The Fitness Journey - Meet Ashley

Meet Ashley! Ashley started training with me June 11, 2018 and has never looked back. Ashley has lost 22 pounds so far but gained so much more through a consistent meal plan, personal training and workout plan, cardio plan, and supplemental nutrition! She's down 22.5 inches total body, 30 lbs body fat total body, went from 35% to 18% body fat percentage and gained 8 lbs of lean muscle through all her hard work! I put Ashley on a plan to lift heavy to sculpt as she drops body fat. A married, mother of five children, Ashley works a full time job and still finds time to dedicate herself to her fitness journey!

IN HER OWN WORDS: "This wasn't easy. It boiled down to a few things. Determination. Consistency. Willpower. I had to do a lot of things differently until it became a habit. I quickly realized that diet was the most important part of the equation. You can work out all day long if you want but if you aren't eating clean whole foods... it doesn't matter. I will NEVER forget when I went on vacation with my family. Ate what I wanted. Did cardio like once. Never lifted a weight the entire time and came back and did my monthly evaluation with Denise I gained a few pounds and she let me have it! In a very Personal Trainer type of way. But I realized then that you have to remain consistent. Seeing the numbers made it real. The measurements...the body fat changes...all of that. It's real! A week can derail 3 months worth of progress. I never made that mistake again. It just ain't worth the shock. I had to rise early in the morning before the kids and my husband wake up to tend to myself and my goals and then be there for everyone else. I had to make myself a priority to get here. I had to hear a lot of people shaming me for eating the right foods even though my favorite dessert was right there. I had to hear a lot of people tell me not to lose any more weight because I would look sick I had to hear those same people eventually say they wish they could say no to certain foods. Those same people also said they could stand to lose 10 to 20 pounds and wish they had my willpower. I had to plan ahead for everything. Workouts. Meals. Snacks. I even took food with me on our next family trip. Getting here wasn't easy. And I'm not done yet."

To understand Ashley's fitness journey is to understand how the body works to lose fat and gain muscle. Her goal wasn't just weight loss as much as it was sculpting and transforming her physique.Ashley is petite and when she started with me, she had 100 lbs of lean mass that worked to her advantage. Her weight was 154 lbs of which 54 lbs was body fat. As Ashley worked to drop weight she worked even harder to gain lean muscle which is accomplished through weight lifting aka strength training, a regimen she was not accustomed to. In a years time Ashley lost 30 pounds of straight body fat which is an enormous accomplishment. As she lost weight she gained lean muscle. Since muscle weighs more than fat, she's not going to see big weight loss numbers on the scale. This is where body fat analysis comes into play. Every month Ashley had to not only weigh in and take measurements with me, she had to do a 9 point body fat pinch analysis. This analysis told us exactly how much body fat she lost and how much lean mass she gained. So all things considered, her progress photos, measurements and body fat analysis tell the story, not the numbers on the scale.

Are you next? NOW ACCEPTING NEW PERSONAL TRAINING CLIENTS: For rates and personal training specials, visit my Personal Training and Transformations pages or call 513-400-6330 to schedule a 1:1 consultation today. Spots fill up fast.

Denise Bryers, Personal Trainer and Coach www.denisebryers.com www.bootcampcincinnati.com Denise Bryers Body, Mind & Soul