Category Archive Blogs

Jenn: Transforming from Every Excuse into a Fitness Competitor

What Jenn has accomplished over the last 18 months is nothing short of pure awesomeness.

She has become an entirely motivating and dedicated individual; not that she wasn’t before, but in fitness AND nutrition she traversed her earth.

Below is an essay written by Jenn, as she shared co-victory of the Belley Fitness 8-Week Beach Body Challenge back in May of 2011. This was her first acceptance of her THEN current conditioning.

***

Beach Body Challenge 2011
Jennifer Gallant | May 27th, 2011

It was time for a change.  I, however, had every excuse in the world as to why I couldn’t get in shape.

I have always wanted to be fitter and healthier but there was always a reason in my mind why I couldn’t be: I am a single mother, I work full time, I don’t have a babysitter, I don’t have the money, I have too much to do.

I could go on and on and on.

One day I had enough.

I lost 20 pounds when I lost the excuses!

I had been training at Belley Fitness off and on for about 2 years.  Rob always told me exactly what I needed to do to shed the pounds and feel better but I always deviated from the plan.

One slice of pizza won’t kill me I would tell myself, 3 slices later I would feel awful.  Finally I had enough!  I called Rob and said what do I need to do?

This is how I started the MarshFIT Beach Body 8 Week Challenge™.  8 weeks of eating clean and working out with Rob 2 days a week.  No more excuses. Just suck it up and get it done it’s only 8 weeks.

My work outs were fabulous.  Rob was always changing it up so I never got bored.

Eating clean is easier then you think.

I wasn’t dieting I was eating plenty but it was healthy and organic.

There’s also 1 cheat day a week when you can eat whatever you want!

I started feeling results almost immediately.

I was happier, my clothes were more comfortable, after 4 weeks I had lost 10 pounds!

That was enough to keep me motivated for the last 4 weeks.  Eating clean isn’t always easy but as long as I stayed prepared I did great.

One trick I learned is it’s just as easy to swing in the grocery store for something healthy as it is to swing by the fast food chain and grab something gross!

After 8 weeks the MarshFIT Belley Beach Body Challenge™ has become a way of life for me.  I eat clean and cannot get enough gym time in!  I love my workouts and I deserve me time.

I am a better mom, employee and friend because of what I have done for myself!

Thank you Belley Fitness.

Jennifer Gallant

***

Not only did Jenn lose 20 pounds in 8 weeks, afterwards, she decided to lockdown an extra gear and began entering some obstacle races and 5k’s in the summer and throughout the fall of 2011.

After that, Jenn decided to share her abilities and successes with others taking on clients and training smarter and harder than ever!

Fast forward a mild Marshfield winter and dive into spring of 2012, Jenn not only connected our studio to the Diva Dash event, helping hundreds of women experience and element of the Belley Way, she decided to ABSOLUTELY DIAL IN to her eating plan.

[Jenn’s second acceptance of her THEN current conditioning]

She decided she would spend a summer free of processed indulgences and summer favorites like beer, ice cream, mixed drinks, smore’s and pizza!

Clearly she was disturbed, possessed or perhaps knew she was capable of MORE. In any case, I was curious to see how this unfolded.

At the end of her hard work, an entire summer void of beach-town partying, she would enter her first Fitness Competition, on a stage, in a bikini, for everyone to judge her, critique, tell her what could use work, what looked good and how she looked next to other women on stage with equal determination.

If that’s not the classic “Guts” scenario I don’t know what is. I personally do not possess that extra gear.  She has a bit more faith in herself than I do in my own-self physique-focused.

[SIDE NOTE] I once gave Jenn a sensational cool fat kid club present of a Peanut Butter & Company Dark Chocolate Dreams jar that I told her to put in the fridge and eat like ice cream: if you never have it’s delicious so don’t judge us. So imagine my astonishment that she would pull off this incredible feat!

 

But she did it, and she looked amazing, and in the crowd Greg, her fiancé holding roses, Alicia and myself cheered her on and we were extremely proud of her capacity to achieve, and as-of-present best figure forward.

It was a very memorable moment to see someone who you had become more than a trainer to, but a friend and an unofficial brother, change so much, in what relatively is a short period of time.

Jenn has been a part of our Belley Training Family for 3 and half years.

42 months in all: (1,278 days)

24 months getting workouts completed, trying hard and adhering possibly 70-80% of the time.

13 months of a great push and adhering about 80-90% of the time: (400 days)

5 months literally attacking her goal to get on a stage and adhering damn near 100-95%: (150 days)

I’ve never adhered so incredibly and my name is on the door!

Jenn transformed her body!

Just looking at her before pictures of spring 2011, to her stage photos from late-October is proof in the pudding!!

And she has lined up her 2013 for a diversity of challenging events, including obstacle races, short runs and figure.

The end result will leave Jenn, at 34 years of age, in BETTER shape than she ever was pre-pregnancy in her 20’s!

LESSON LEARNED = Getting after your goals consistently with a plan IS WHAT MAKES THE TRUE DIFFERENCE.

Jenn is definitely one of the most dedicated and inspiring individuals I’ve ever been able to be around.

And if you have any questions, Jenn can always be reached via her Facebook page, her email Jenn@rbfit.com and by training at our multiple-award winning studio, Belley Fitness.

Whether coming in to the studio to train after long overnights as a paramedic, in between riding sessions at her Magic Penny Farm, bringing her daughter Kae in tow at the studio, or before and after sessions with clients she’s always getting her workout in! It’s complete dedication.

She doesn’t show up twice or three times a week and lie to herself anymore that she’s making the effort.

She is going after it!

Jenn is creating the difference in her body. Nothing comes easy in life – especially physique goals.

And everyone knows someone who is skinny, smokes like a chimney, drinks like they’re birthright is at the bottom of every bottle and eats nothing but oxygen, desserts and pizza, but that person is weak and unhealthy. That person would be hard pressed to run further than a mile at a respectable pace without wanting to throw up. That person wouldn’t be able to lift more than their body weight or crank out chin-ups on a bad training day.

Have you ever seen Jenn do chin-ups?

I’m not a sexist by any means, but girls do tend to struggle a bit more than men with chin/pull-ups and Jenn’s been able to outperform almost every guy who has ever set foot in the Marshfield studio. And she can pull a bunch of weight too! She’s strong! And lean! And happy! And healthy above all else!

Sure she’s a little colder now but that comes with lower body-fat levels 🙂

Plain and simple life is easier, and streamlined, when you have mentors, or follow people who have been successful before you at the same endeavor. Jenn is one of those people who can be followed, and people can learn from. There are no shortcuts, but there’s definitely a path, and she’s followed it.

I know people who can tell you everything to do with fat loss but have never done it themselves in fitness and eating. People who can spit out every program, every exercise, every meal plan or diet yet they look like shit or have never tested their own abilities after years of study and reading.

Jenn has spent far less time on the study spectrum amongst all the hats she’s worn as a mother, paramedic, equestrian athlete, fiancée, farm operator, trainer, and god only what else, but she’s actually done the work. She’s lived in the trenches. She’s done what 99.9% of people will never be willing to do.

For that she’s far more valuable and resourceful than most trainers from any university or accreditation program who workout, enter events and never prove themselves.

She lives the lifestyle or code shall we say.

IT has become part of her, second nature, as if breathing.

And we all know breathing can be hard from time to time, and that it’s much easier to give into the pain, and collapse, and feel sorry for ourselves, but Jenn has refused to for a long time, and doing so daily is an impressive feat.

I am so proud of Jenn.

And hopefully, one day not too far away, I’ll be writing a before and after post about you.

And how proud I am of you for taking on a challenge and finishing what you started.