Testimonial Tuesday - Jenna

Today we feature Jenna B.  Jenna's journey began with Ashley back in May, about 5 months ago.  

Jenna decided that she wanted to lose a little weight and work through some stress management as well.  Here is Ashley's recap of Jenna's progress:  

When I first met with Jenna, I wasn't really sure if I would ever see her again.  Jenna seemed to be a very driven, hardworking lady, and I kind of assumed that with as hard working she was, that she would be way too busy to take on such a huge lifestyle change.  To my surprise, she signed up for a 3-month plan and she never missed an appointment.  She was dedicated and committed from day 1.  Every appointment that we had she seemed more and more at ease with clean eating.  It was a struggle in the beginning, but after a few weeks, she picked it right up, and has not turned back.  

Within a few months, Jenna was down 20 pounds, not by starving herself, or buying a weight loss product, but just by changing the quality of the foods she was eating.

After 3 months of working together, exclusively on nutrition, Jenna began adding Yoga in twice a week to her new lifestyle routine to help with stress management, relaxation, and exercise.  Then after a month of doing yoga, she began strength training with Gabby.  Since she has started doing yoga and strength training, she has dropped another 5 pounds, and lost just over 4 inches.  In addition, she has improved her cardiorespiratory fitness by 30% truly demonstrating a full lifestyle change!

To this day, Jenna is one of the most consistent clients I have ever worked with.  I still review her food logs weekly, and every week she continues to blow me away with her dedication to her health and wellness goals.  

I have loved being a part of Jenna's transformation, not just on the scale, but also in her personality.  Jenna has a hard time relaxing, in every yoga class when we get to the end and drop in for our "resting pose" (or savasana/corpse pose), Jenna was always tapping her hands and looking around the room, patiently just waiting for this torture to be over.  However, the last few classes that she has come to, I have caught her closing her eyes, and finding some calm and stillness.  

Jenna is learning the perfect mix of how exercise, a little calm/rest and nutrition can transform your body and mind, and we at FITness Into A Lifestyle could not be more proud of her hard work.  Keep it up Jenna!  You are such an inspiration and we are so honored to get to work with you on your goals!

In health,

Ashley Ward 

Nutritionist and Group Class Instructor

1900 E Military Ave, Suite 218

Fremont, NE 68025

402.317.0391

Testimonial Tuesday - Jake

Good Morning All!

This testimonial hits a little closer to home, as I wanted to do a special feature on my husband, Jake. (Disclaimer: he does not know this is being done, so all of this is coming from my point of view and own heart!). All of our relationship, since September of 2011, Jake has struggled with proper/nutritious eating habits. In addition, a exercise routine was far and in between. He would occasionally do a pick up game of basketball or racquetball with his then roommates, but nothing ever regular. As our relationship became a bit more involved and some of my personal time was devoted to the gym, he as a supportive boyfriend/fiance/husband, began to join me.

Jake 2011:

Jake has always struggled with up and down weight, but it was the year of 2015 to now that I want to talk about today. The year of 2015 was one to write home about, beginning in May/June we suffered the miscarriage of our now forever rainbow Skinner baby. In October, Jake's brother was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and his sister was also diagnosed with breast cancer. In December, his brother lost his battle and that completed the year of 2015. With all of this diet and exercise was the last thing on anyone's mind which took a tole on the entire family.  As for Jake, it was a few months into 2016 that he found himself feeling miserable day to day as he was nearing 300 pounds!

 Jake 2015/2016:

At this point, he decided that something needed to be done and this time was different. He began with assessing nutrition! By using a smartphone app to log his food intake he tracked it daily and started to see success within a month. As he started to feel better, he began running once again, signing up for his first half marathon as of September in 2016. Here he found a real passion and trained on a daily basis while still logging his food. In July, he was already down 30 pounds and had the momentum to continue!

This momentum only brought more success! As of today Jake has ran three half marathons, has meet with Ashley Ward - Nutritionist on how to improve his eating habits, has completed two juice cleanses and a 21 day clean eating challenge. He is now down to 225 pounds and inches lost can be clearly seen in the before and after pictures. Personally, I am most proud in his success in nutrition. Being a picky eater from a small age, adding greens and vegetables to his diet was a huge stretch. Now you will find him adding spinach to his scrambled eggs in the morning, as a small example!

Jake 2017:

Lastly, Jake has truly made it a lifestyle change and that is what is most impressive! You can now find him running at least three days a week, strength training two days a week, eating breakfast and  adding a fresh juice containing vegetables and fruit on a daily basis. On our last trip to Denver, CO you could find Jake eating Eat Fit Go meals on our travel days to and from CO, while also participating in his third half marathon. Overall, I am so proud of his hard work, even if every day is not perfect, he continues to get back on the wagon picking up where he left off! Cannot wait for him to share his passion for running with our son come November. Great job Jake/honey, so excited to continue this happy and healthy life with you!!

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

Personal Trainer & Owner

1900 E Military Ave, Suite 218

Fremont, NE 68025

402-459-1541

gabby@fitnessintoalifestyle.com

Testimonial Tuesday - Mike and Paula

At FITness Into A Lifestyle, we love when we get families or couples as clients! Watching the growth of not just one person, but TWO makes what we do so rewarding.

Meet Mike and Paula Johannes Conrad.

One of our favorite parts of this story is the very first time Mike and Paula met with Ashley.  Mike just came along with Paula for the consultation and sat with his arms crossed and was just listening.  He didn't say much at first, then chimed in and said "Okay so I'm here to see what product you are going to try to sell my wife. We've done the shakes and I don't want to do that again." We think Ashley shocked him when she said, "We don't sell any weight loss products. And we won't teach you calorie counting or a fad diet.  We just want to teach you how to eat.  If we could sell you broccoli, we would do that.”  We think he was convinced at that point, that Ashley’s services were different. Here is Mike and Paula's Story:

"My husband and I went in for a nutrition consultation two years ago. We began to follow Ashley's advice with our daily food choices. My husband has rheumatoid arthritis and when we learned that certain foods can spark inflammation, he was very open to trying a new approach to eliminating these foods for a year to see how he felt.  The two biggest things he eliminated from his diet were Pepsi and milk.  It didn’t take long and he was feeling much better and not only that, he lost 25 pounds in the process and has kept if off for a year already.  He also was able to decrease his arthritis medications.  I, Paula, lost around 10 pounds and noticed that my eczema was much improved after just a couple of days without the sugar, gluten and dairy. Not only that, we both have a lot more energy and just feel better overall! We no longer crave the foods that we have eliminated and have noticed when we do have something not in line with our eating plan. As a matter of fact, when we had dinner at a friend’s house one time and had dairy, gluten and sugar in that meal, it literally made us feel physically sick. Our bodies are just not used to that anymore. This is our lifestyle now and we love it! It has made a huge impact in our overall health. We would definitely recommend working with Ashley at FITness Into A Lifestyle to anyone that is ready to take their health back into their own hands." 

- Mike and Paula Conrad

In Health,

Ashley Ward

Nutritionist & Group Instructor

1900 E Military Ave, Suite 218

Fremont, NE 68025

402.317.0391

ashley@fitnessintoalifestyle.com