Who are we? Well, I’m Brooke or as many of you may know me “One Small Blonde”. To my left with the giant muscles is Jon McDowell owner of VIVE Personal Training.
First off, I’m not a fitness guru or anything like that… Jon is the one with all the knowledge. However, I am a regular person who was struggling with severe daily bloating and not seeing the results I wanted with my workouts.
I started working out with Jon about 2 years ago. I had no idea how much my life was going to change from meeting him.
I was a cheerleader for 10 years growing up, a dancer, played a little tennis, swim team, you name it and my mother made me try it. When I got to college, I didn’t work out a ton because I didn’t really need to. Thank goodness for good genes. However, I was still active and have always loved being active. Part of the cheerleader competitor inside me…
Low and behold, in my late 20s my metabolism said “bye bye” and I really had to start eating “healthy” and working out on a regular basis. In March of 2018, I hit a wall and was so fed up with feeling like sh*t every day from bloating. I had gained more weight than ever and wasn’t seeing any results from my workouts. Yes, I realize I’m a smaller woman but what you don’t see is my main problem area… My stomach. I only gain weight in my stomach. Actually, that’s true for my entire family.
I had reached my breaking point because I felt horrible. After taking a body fat analysis test with Jon he told me I needed a 6-week “body reset”. I’m sorry, say what? Yeah. He told me I wouldn’t see any results I wanted or feel any better until I started this program. WHY? Because my body was in “storage” mode or had plateaued.
Because I was eating “healthy” (very quickly learned my version of healthy was not that healthy) during the week and still eating whatever I wanted on the weekends. My body was “storing” fats and sugars instead of burning them the right way when I ate poorly. Basically think of your body being in panic mode because it doesn’t know what you’re doing to it… Also, I was drinking a lot of wine.
It took me about 2.5 seconds to say “yes” to Jon and start the Body Reset Program. You better believe I was NOT going to get back fat. You know that area around your bra strap… No no no. However, I wasn’t about to give up my wine either. If I was going to do this it had to be a lifestyle change because I have a social life and I’m going to live it.
The workouts weren’t the issue for me since I have been an athlete most of my life. Don’t get me wrong they were still HARD. The biggest hurdle for me was going to be the clean eating or “Whole30” diet. I only cheated twice!
However, knowing that I wouldn’t have to eat this way all the time was what got me through it. Although, after eating that way for a while when I did go back to eating things like pizza, pasta, cheeseburgers, etc. I didn’t feel that great afterwards. *You’ll be shocked to learn how much “extra” stuff goes into your food… Literally, sugar is added to almost everything. The key was even though I did eat those things after the 6-weeks my body could burn the fats and sugars correctly = no weight gain back!
So, in 6-weeks I lost 5 pounds and 2.7% body fat! That was while still drinking alcohol… It freaking worked. Not only did I lose weight and body fat, I felt SO MUCH BETTER!!!
I was sleeping better, didn’t bloat anymore, had wayyyy more energy and a lot more things. But, how did I maintain this while living my normal lifestyle after the program ended. One word… Supplements.
The supplements Jon put me on were key to maintaining. They aren’t really supplements though… They are just vitamins. It’s more about where you are getting the vitamins from and how much you are taking each day. Believe me, I was not on this program during the holidays but because I stuck with my supplements I didn’t gain any weight back.
In January of 2019, I went back on the Body Reset Program for a shorter timeframe because my body could adapt faster. I did 1-month on the program and in just 3 weeks I lost 3% body fat.
*The most body fat a woman can lose per week is 1%… I hit the max!!
Overall, because of this program I’ve never been in better shape or felt better in my life. I’m still learning and adapting to things like my anxiety issues, but without Jon I’d be so much more miserable.