Testimonials
I started CrossFitting 3 years ago and my Paleo Lifestyle just over a year ago! “In 2008 at age 40 and a very “fluffy” 195lbs, a very good friend of mine, Kevin Penner, began coaxing me to do these crazy workouts on Saturdays in a local park. From the first crazy workout, carrying sand bags, doing push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups and running, I loved it! The high intensity and functional movements were right up my alley. With our local gym frowning on us as we began working through the early stages of implementing CrossFit WODs, in their facility; they finally had seen enough, and booted us out into the street. I never looked back or returned to a regular gym again, landing what would become CrossFit by BodyFit smack dab in the middle of Kevin’s garage. At the time, I really hadn’t realized what I had gotten into, or that Crossfit and the Paleo Diet would help save my life! With my high blood pressure diagnosis, and BP meds a new reality for me, I began a 3 year journey that, in a nut shell, has helped me lower my blood pressure dramatically, lower my body fat to a lean 7.5%, my weight to 155 lbs, my waist from 34” t 29”, while at the same time substantially increasing my stamina, endurance, balance, coordination, strength and power. Thanks to CFBF & Paleo, I am off my BP meds altogether! Hard to believe when I started CFBF in 2008 I was a gym rat doing heavy cardio and some arm curls daily, with nothing to show but the spare tire around my waist. CFBF & the Paleo Lifestyle have stripped that darn spare tire and chiseled a lean and powerful body in its place. I’m 43 and in the best shape of my life” ~ Brent Behringer
Before - 2008, 40, 195#, 28% BF, 34 waist
After - 2011, 43, 155#, 7.5% BF, 29 waist
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#1) I don’t plan on being “finished”. This is a lifestyle. The scale is not going to hit 150 and then I pack up my Innov-8′s and start eating bon-bons. I LIKE living this way, eating this way, feeling this way. 150 is just a personal goal I want to meet. I will reassess when I get there, and will probably not feel finished even then.
#2) Brent has been at it for over 3 years. I have been at it over 3 months. April 27th will complete month 4. That’s just Paleo. I’m only on month 8 of Crossfit. So yeah, part of my testimonial will say “It took me 4 months to succumb to the charms of Paleo, and I wish I would have done it on day one.” I hope people read it and start sooner than I did.
#3) The more time I spend on this journey, the more I realize what a useful tool transparency is. Yes, I will weigh in front of men. I will write my weight in huge numbers on the whiteboard. I will be the first to announce when I fall off the wagon or if I walked when I should have been running. If I try to hide things, I am practicing self-deception, and that will hinder me from meeting my goals. I want to put it all out there, because that makes me stronger. So yes. I am the atypical crossfitter. I started this journey fair-fat-and-forty-three. I was the poster child for the invisible middle aged woman. I was full of self-hatred because I was such a cliche. But I thrust myself out of my comfort zone, surrounded myself with positive, like-minded people, and slowly but surely I can see myself again. I feel less invisible.
So for my testimonial, I will post 2 photos. One is a “before” and one is a “during”. Will there be an “after”? I don’t really want to finish, so I can’t really say. Stay tuned…
Me. Christmas. A few days before I did my first strict 30 days. Thinking I looked pretty darn good because I was down to 182 from 186.
Me. 3 months into Paleo. Thinking I look pretty good because Im down to 168. Posing with big men is such a boost!
