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People love a before and after weight loss story. Magazine covers screaming about, “Half Her Size!” or “Big Bride Loses It All For Big Day” inevitably accompanied by a picture of the smiling subject standing in one leg of the tent-like elastic waist Mom jeans she used to call home. This is not one of those stories.

My story is the story of a globo-gym regular that was told they were not CrossFit material. I was overweight, but more than that, I couldn’t move anymore after babying a knee injury for years per doctor’s advice. Because I stopped moving, I couldn’t really breathe well. Luckily, this is also the story of a girl too stubborn to care what people say. I wanted something challenging. I wanted something hard. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, and I knew I needed help. So I gathered all the courage I could muster and called CFA. Boone did not miss a beat when I told him I was fat and injured. He said come in. I have never looked back.

The two weeks of On Ramp classes were the hardest two weeks of my life. Rob and Walker encouraged me constantly and answered all of my many questions, while calling me on my questionable form. It was early, it was cold, and it took every ounce of strength I could muster to get through those 3 hours a week. I couldn’t bend my knees to parallel. I couldn’t do a push-up. I was like a deer in headlights during Oly lifting lessons. But as soon as my two weeks were up, I signed up for unlimited classes. On Ramp ended on Thursday and I was back on Monday. I didn’t give myself a single reason to lose momentum. My 3 days a week became 4, and then 5 as I got back in shape.

And I just kept coming back. I was always the slowest time on the board. I had to mod nearly every WOD. But I never finished alone. Someone would come over and encourage me every single time I struggled. It was amazing. And I got better. I got stronger. Lots stronger. The key was deciding to believe the coaches. When Tristy told me I was stronger than I realized, I believed her. When Wes said I could do more weight, I put it on the bar. I take the cues and advice and really try to get better with every WOD. CrossFit Austin is the leap of faith I finally took.

And now, 10 months later, I’m a CrossFitter. While I will never be a super-fast runner or a super-high jumper, I can lift. I remember looking up at the Quarter Ton Board many times and thinking, “How is that even possible? How can I ever get from here to there?” And now my name is on it. I no longer look at the WOD on the board and think that I can’t do it. Now it’s a challenge. I know I will do it. Every time. Even if I’m last, and even if I mod, I will finish the WOD. And if anyone is still working at it when I do, I cheer them on and pay it forward. No matter how strong we are as individuals, we are stronger together. I feel that every time I walk in the doors.

So my “after” picture doesn’t have inspirational fat pants. My picture would be my husband who has a more relaxed wife, my son who has a happier mom. It would include my whole CFA family and all of the coaches. My muscles are bigger for sure, but so is my confidence, my pride, and my heart. I’m excited about my future, not afraid of my limitations. There is no greater inspiration than that.

I reluctantly went to my first workout at CrossFit Austin in May 2011 after my co-worker nagged me for months to try it out. She had great success with their programming and frequently talked about her workouts. As she described them to me, they sounded very intimidating so for months, I sat in silence wanting to go but coming up with an excuse to wait one more month. I finally realized that it wasn’t the workouts that were holding me back, it was me.

A little apprehensive but determined, I arrived at my first workout not really knowing what to expect. The class before mine was finishing up their WOD which consisted of lifting some heavy weights, running, pull ups, and box jumps. I sat in the car wondering what I had gotten myself into but then I heard someone in the class cheer on another person who was struggling to finish their last run and shortly after, the whole class was joining in. I decided at that moment that while this gym definitely had a lot of brawn, it also had a lot of heart and I wasn’t going to get the results I wanted by sitting on the couch wishing myself fit. The workout that day was hard (for me) but I finished it and never once felt inferior or weak. The coaches gave me great instructions and encouragement that left me leaving with a great sense of accomplishment.

I have now been crossfitting for just over 9 months and CrossFit is the only workout/gym/fitness routine I have ever followed consistently. The great thing about CrossFit is that it can be scaled to any fitness level from beginners to advanced and everyone gets a great workout. All the coaches really care about you and want you to succeed. They give you the tools, training, and encouragement you need to meet your goals.

Since working out at CrossFit Austin, I have lost 35lbs but have gained strength, endurance, flexibility, confidence, and friendships that will last a lifetime.

About two years ago, I decided to leave my profession as an orchestral musician in Houston in order to pursue a longtime dream of attending law school. I upended my life, deposited my two dogs with my parents in California, and moved to Austin to begin anew. Law school was a jump into an abyss that I had to do on my own (my partner of 7 years is still in Houston), and the consequences were a disastrous lack of sleep, an abundance of stress, and a diet that was almost laughable had it not been so dire. By the end of my first semester, I was a mess. “New Year’s resolution time,” I said to myself, which led to my researching CrossFit gyms in the Austin area. With the thought that hopefully this time I would stick with the workout program (unlike every other one prior), I signed up for my first class.

In my lifetime struggle to attain that elusive state of “being in shape,” I couldn’t seem to make that permanent “lifestyle change” that diet gurus and television personalities spoke of that would lead to the mystical land of fitness and washboard abs. My whole life I had enjoyed being active, and I kept trying my hand at different sports and regimens. In junior high school I played volleyball. In high school I joined the swim team. In college I became a runner and trained for—and completed—the San Francisco Marathon. In grad school, I joined up with a boot camp run by the SWAT team of Houston. Post-grad school I did P90X. The common thread running through my attempts at fitness is that there was no common thread; I would go through a period of fascination with something that would last anywhere between one to two years, followed by a reversion to old lifestyles and habits (which included lots of wine, pizza and television). I had pretty much given up completely on being able to commit to becoming fit, partially because I didn’t really have a real sense what being fit meant.

My first on-ramp (now Level 1) experience at CrossFit Austin was quite a shock to my system. At the apex of my various athletic endeavors, I considered myself in pretty good shape. In this new gym, though, I struggled with a single pushup. I was winded after a 400 m run. I couldn’t get into a full squat position. I had let my fitness go down the tubes in just a few months of law school, and my bruised ego urged me to quit. Thank God I didn’t listen. With the support of the coaches at CFA, I pushed through that initial difficult period, and I started seeing some changes pretty rapidly.

Fast-forward to the South Central CrossFit Regionals in 2010. By that time, I had been CrossFitting for five months and begun to see some significant and positive changes. Watching these athletes, though, was an eye-opening experience and exposed me to the possibilities of CrossFit. Here were some of the fittest people I had ever witnessed, all performing feats of strength and athleticism that would be described by anyone (except maybe other CrossFitters) as either impossible or insane. This was pure fitness in a visceral form, and I knew I had finally found the way (or at least the metric and vocabulary) to define my own fitness level. Even more, I felt the love and respect rippling through the crowd as I cheered not just for the hot-pink awesomeness that was the CrossFit Austin team, but for all the athletes doing things that I knew—from experience—were excruciatingly difficult. On that day, something clicked. I pulled together my diet and upped my workout attendance and forgot about trying to get those washboard abs. I decided that I wanted to be the strongest I could be. That’s when the changes in my body and my attitude kicked into high gear.

Almost akin to the feng shui belief that if you clean and clear your living space, good energy begins to flow, when I cleaned and cleared my body by strengthening and taking care of it, good things began to happen. After just one year, my performance has improved, not just in the gym but also in law school. I have lost about 35 pounds, and I dropped an entire suit size. Jeans that were tight on me (and by tight, I mean I couldn’t fit in them) are now loose. My tailor LOVES me. A year ago, I couldn’t do a single pullup, and I would have laughed at the notion of doing more than two at a given time. Now I can do “Fran” (which requires a series of 21, then 15, then 9 pullups) without any assistance. Now, when I get my butt handed to me by the WOD, instead of letting my ego chatter away, I push forward. Struggle, I have come to realize, is not a talisman of weakness or failure, it is just a reminder that there is plenty of room to grow. I am proud of today, but I will always push for more tomorrow.

I wake up every morning ready and excited for the day because I know CrossFit Austin will be a part of it. All the coaches bring their personalities and expertise to every workout, and I know I can count on them to push me when I need it, to kick my butt when I deserve it, and to be encouraging when I’m down. The members of CrossFit Austin are supportive, friendly, loving, and dang competitive. Most of all, every single person who steps into that gym is a true inspiration. Awesomeness.

I get asked all the time, “is there an endpoint in sight for this? Are you training for anything?” For the first time in my life I can honestly say, “No. I’ve just made a lifestyle change.”