Michelle Lost 70 Pounds, Gained Muscle, and Transformed Her Body With Diet and CrossFit

Michelle told POPSUGAR, "I was a bigger adolescent for sure," but she was into sports like baseball, softball, soccer, and basketball, so she was always active. In high school, she played softball and did track and field. She added, "I was also a smoker from my early teens until five years ago."

When she was in sixth grade, during a doctor's office visit, Michelle found out she had high cholesterol. She was shocked; she was 113 pounds and had to go on a diet.

Michelle began drinking alcohol a lot more when she turned 18. She was in college and had a waitressing job, and that's what the crowd she was around did. This went on for several years; then her father passed away suddenly when Michelle was 22.

"I literally took my last final as a college student, and the next day he passed. I took over the family business and began a downward spiral of just eating garbage, drinking heavily, smoking half a pack to a pack of cigarettes a day, and not exercising," she said. "I led a sedentary lifestyle, I was beyond stressed, I drank alcohol to cover the mess of life and ate to comfort everything else."

Here and there, Michelle would get on a kick and try to diet, drinking light beer thinking that would do the trick or switching to Jack Daniel's and diet soda because it was healthier (she said this makes her roll her eyes at herself thinking about that now!).

Michelle started her weight-loss journey at 198 pounds. She was introduced to CrossFit in 2014 but smoked and drank for the first year. In August 2015, she tried Paleo and got bloodwork done. "I was two months smoke-free, a month or so into Paleo, and I wanted a baseline of where I was at. Well, I was way worse than I anticipated." She found out she had high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and a high fasting glucose and was prediabetic.

"I was on the brink of 30; this could not be happening," she said. "This got my ass in gear, and it has led me down one of the greatest journeys of my life to date." Diabetes, heart disease, and other diseases run in her family, and Michelle didn't want to end up with the same health issues.

"When I hung up the phone with my doctor after he gave me my bloodwork results a few years ago, I burst into tears, and I knew then and there I had to make a change," Michelle said. She was uneducated at that point but researched, tried new things, created new habits, and stuck with it. "I put a belief into myself and started to work on me," Michelle said.

It's hard for Michelle to measure how much weight she's lost now since she's gained quite a bit of muscle. But she said, "I'm 70 pounds down on the scale since I began, which may not seem like a whole hell of a lot considering it has been about five years, but pics say it all. It still blows my mind to see where I was not so long ago."

Michelle added, "This process has been long and difficult at times, but it has shown me what it takes to love myself and to be my best me for me."

Michelle has been doing CrossFit for the past five and a half years, dabbles in weightlifting, and is also an avid rower and certified rowing coach through Concept2.

She went to CrossFit about four to six days a week. Then she upped her training and began lifting a lot more before or after classes. For about a year, she'd have three-hour sessions, four days per week. "That put a lot of stress on my body, and I had to back off a little bit," Michelle said.

Michelle said it became easier to maintain her weight as she got leaner and didn't need to exercise as much. She also incorporated a lot more rowing into her regimen and even bought an indoor rower and some other equipment so she could work out at home when she didn't feel like going to the gym.

"Rowing really helped me get superstrong and maintain strength when in a cutting phase as I was able to still get a great workout in, utilizing key muscle groups, especially legs, so I was able to keep my numbers up for squats and deadlifts," Michelle said.

"I began to see how much easier it became to love myself from my dedication and hard work. A shift in my mindset, through a shift in my approach to how to fuel my body, changed my life," Michelle shared. Quitting smoking five years ago in June and not drinking for 18 months have been huge.

Michelle learned that she has a real passion for helping people, so she's earned several certifications over the past few years, and she's now a personal training and nutrition coach. "When we help ourselves, we in turn help others be better, too," she said.

Michelle said to love your journey. Never give up on yourself since you are all you have forever in this life. Make yourself the best you can be, and life will be amazing.

"I want people to know that anything is possible at any point in life," Michelle said. She believes that once people stop making excuses and start accepting their actions, changes will be easier to make and love for themselves and life will be easier to achieve.

She added, "Our mindset shapes our lives. If you are always negative and cannot see the good in anything, you are setting yourself up for a tough life. It's not an easy road. There will be struggles and points where you ask, 'Why?,' and I hope you find the strength to say, 'Because I have come this far and I love me.' Keep going."