RACHEL'S STORY
When humans are launched into adulthood, their lives are likely moving from being supported by their close family to having to figure out, for the first time in their life, how to be the sole owner of their own life. Their life, that responsibility, rests with them.
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Humans usually start that phase of their life, having fun and realizing you can ‘live the life you’ve always wanted,’ by eating what you want – staying up for however long you can until it all catches up to you. You put on weight, it isn’t easy to always keep your clothes clean, skin care becomes more of a priority, and the grind of maneuvering through a workday, personal and social life all start to compete for your attention and prioritization.
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On top of all of that, which is somewhat within your control, things happen that are out of our control. For me, that was an unexpected random run-in with Thyroid Cancer. Caught by accident, it definitely derailed my life as it became my sole priority to listen to doctors, attend appointments and focus on the next action steps to ensure survival.
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Once I recovered and was proud to be cancer-free, I struggled with going back to the reality of life. What is it all for? When so much is out of your control? While I dealt with my thyroid, my career trajectory was put on hiatus and I lost a lot of friends with learning the hard way that they weren’t there for me when times got tough.
But most importantly,
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was upset with the world. I couldn’t help but constantly live my life, like a victim of the ‘Why me? Why did this unfortunate random thing happen to me.
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Why has my life been derailed? Why do I now have to pick up the pieces?’
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Selfish and self-absorbed thoughts, but real ones.
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And so, I just tried my best to get back on track, but prioritized living a FUN life that was about ‘going all out’, because my motto was ‘life’s too short, not to.’ I reignited being a social butterfly, focused on the fun I could have at work, and loved going out to great restaurants, drinking a lot of alcohol with pure enjoyment, and indulging in Carbonara pasta and wine, many nights on end with my loving partner.
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Till like everything, it catches up to YOU and you ask yourself: Are you happy with YOU. Is this what YOU want for YOU?
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And my answer was no. I fought it for a long time with trying to combat it with incorporating workouts, once every two weeks and healthy and clean lunches approx. 4 days out of 7.
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But the truth was, it wasn’t enough to move the needle. I couldn’t get out of this funk and insecurities started to grow stronger, and my self-esteem and confidence started to grow weaker.
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A lot of people ask me, what triggered me to finally make a change and email Christine?
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Well, I got to a point where I didn’t like seeing myself naked. I hated my body in the mirror, it felt like a foreign object attached to me. I didn’t identify with it and that caused major internal conflict.
I didn’t like when I sat down on a floor with sushi takeout sprawled out in front of me, and I could feel the discomfort of my rolls of stomach fat. You can only ignore that for so long before it seriously starts to change your view of your self-worth and image.
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I remember always quickly going to a blushing state of a red face when talking to anyone because I so quickly got nervous that they were judging ‘my fat face’ or eyeing my baggy pants or flowy top that was trying to hide it all.
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I felt like I’ve always had the personality of a super fit, healthy and positive woman and I was very quickly morphing into a super insecure, low energy, super tired, easily embarrassed and anxious woman. And I hated that because I knew that was NOT me.
So I called up Christine, whom I had a great experience with of losing (-10ish pounds) a few years ago, when I just graduated from university, prior to my run in with Thyroid Cancer.
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I knew she knew my body and with over 43 years of experience – she has a wealth of knowledge that I had hoped would help me turn my life around.
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She was and is my angel in exercise clothes. She very quickly acknowledged my current state, said we were going to just get to work and there we went – private one and one training with one squat, one lunge, one bicep curl at a time.
She knew for me, she had to develop a program focused on weight loss, with my dream of looking lean, flat and tight. All words, I had only ever associated with myself in my dreams.
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Well, just about 5 months later, I have not looked back. Christine has helped me keep that focus with constantly keeping me accountable. Teaching me how to eat the proper foods to fuel vs. slow down my body, constant weigh-ins and detailed assessments with metrics for us to ensure we’re on track. And I’ve now lost 31 pounds, all excess fat and we’re not done yet.
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Before we get to the maintenance phase, it’s now about sculpting to get those stubborn stomach pounds off and achieve a new phase of my body, being in the best shape of my life.
It’s crazy to realize what I have achieved, I’m unsure if this is all just a dream but…
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With Christine, I was able to do it. Her guidance, her workouts that are different every time I see her, her assessments, her motivational words – she has helped me not only transform my body but it’s transcended to all aspects of my life: my career, my romantic relationship, my lifestyle and really my relationship with myself.
I’ve never felt more confident in who I am, what I’m capable of, what I have to offer and I was unaware at the beginning about how all of those strong feelings would come as a result of her helping me look better, feel better, to do and be better.
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I seriously can’t thank her enough.
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And seriously, anyone who reads this – call me – because I can happily confirm, day in and day out how Christine is THE health coach who WILL transform your life, if you want it.
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~ Rachel Leung