My name is Jessica Ridenour and I am 27 years old, married with an almost 2 year old daughter. I live in Glen Burnie, MD and work as an Equipment Specialist for the USCG. (i draft and manage the blue print drawings of the coast guard ships and shore forces both electronically (AutoCAD, 3D Models, etc.) and old hard copy hand drawings.
I gained 70+lbs when I was pregnant with my daughter and just couldn’t get the weight off. I tried dieting and exercising on my own but couldn’t stay motivated and struggled to push myself. I told my husband that I needed to join something, like an aerobics or kickboxing class or something because I don’t like touching sweaty people to do MMA like he does.. Lol then the next day I saw your the for the New You program and decided to look into it. The fact that it was so close to my house really sealed the deal.
My first impression of CrossFit in general was that it had a bunch of annoying self-centered people that bragged almost as much as vegetarians about what they do and make sure they check in on Facebook so everyone knows they are at the gym. Haha. Also, I was nervous about how the women looked, having massive arms and muscles and I really didn’t want that.
My impression changed to pretty much the opposite when I experienced how friendly everyone has been and with it being a group environment how everyone really pushes one another. The massive armed women aspect still worry me, but I was assured by a couple of the coaches that I could always do lighter weight/ more reps or customize the program toward whatever my goals were.
I’ve always been an athlete, so I knew I could handle most of the workouts. My first goal I guess I hit was losing the weight that I hoped to when I signed up.
Now I am looking to lose another 30 lbs or so to go to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I guess my top priority would be lowering my body fat percentage. Other than that, I would like to be able to do some push-ups without my knees and maybe a pull up. All in all I definitely feel stronger and more confident than I did before.
My diet has been my biggest change. I’m not sure if I could go back eating like I used to. Yeah, I am sure I will cheat every now and then. I think I will keep dairy in my diet but limit it, but I am definitely avoiding grains, beans and as sugar best as I can from now on. I recently found out that I am gluten intolerant and have dermatitis herpetiformis, so I should be avoiding most grains anyway. I was just too lazy to actually change.
My favorite thing so far is how the little sit up mat transformed my sit ups completely for me. I love that little thing. I always had back and hip pain when doing any kind of ab exercises and now I can do them all day without any pain. Besides that, I feel like I get the most out of a burpee. I hate them, but I like doing them because they always get me exhausted.
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