Transformation Talk: Ashley and The Value of Change

On the newest episode of The Process of Fat Loss, we welcomed Ashley Martinez onto the show. She has been a member of GCP for almost 2 years now and over that time period, she has had an absolutely amazing transformation. She is a perfect example of someone who overcame her fear of change and stuck to the process, even when it seemed difficult or felt like the wasnt making any progress. I am going to walk you through her journey, including her struggles and soem things that she did to overcome them. Click the button below to listen to our full discussion.

STRUGGLES

Ashley’s journey began when she moved to Illinois. She had just finished a year and a half in rehab/recovery, and she had gained over 40lbs in that time. She used food as a comfort, and the weight gradually came on. The habit of poor nutrition, along with the stress of having a three-year-old son and moving to a new state added up, and the weight started to take its toll.

“I was extremely uncomfortable in my skin and I just knew I needed to do something to lose the weight, or else I would resort back to my old ways.”

There were three big things that caused Ashley to seek a change. First, she noticed that her clothes didn’t fit anymore. This was a big wake-up call for her. The next thing she noticed was that she couldn’t keep up with her son. She wanted to make sure that she would be able to spend time doing things with him but knew that she wouldn’t be able to do that if she kept gaining weight. And the third thing was an overall feeling of tiredness and low energy. This impacted every aspect of her life.

PROCESS

Her first step was joining GCP, but the real change didn’t start until she started our nutrition program. At this point, she started adding in small habits each week and building on the foundation she had created. One thing that was most helpful for her was tracking her food intake and creating awareness of what she was actually eating.

“We did it in baby steps. It was really good because it was one thing at a time. It wasn’t a whole bunch of things all at once.”

One thing that Ashley emphasized was that she struggled with feeling like she wasn’t making any progress. It was hard to be patient, but she was able to shift her mindset to a big-picture view. She looked back at her progress and how far she had already come, and that helped keep her moving forward. During those times, she used things besides the numbers on her scale to measure progress. Some of the things she used were how she felt, how her clothes fit, and the activities she was now able to do (like running a 5K race).

POSITIVE CHANGE

After being on this journey for almost 2 years, she feels happier than she has in a long time. Ashley said she feels a lot more confident than she did when she began her journey. She is also able to be much more active than before, and even has a 10K race coming up.

FINAL WORD

We asked Ashley for her number 1 tip for someone starting a fat loss journey or someone who is looking to make a change. She said, “Don’t be scared.” Throughout our discussion, Ashley said how it was a scary undertaking when she started this process of change. But when she looked back on all the positive things that came from her change, she can now say that there was absolutly nothing to be scared of. She also said that “If you don’t try, you are not gonna get there.” This means that if you don’t try and make a change, you won’t be able to get the results you want. So don’t be scared to take that first step.