Man it’s cool to hear about awesome people doing awesome things! Today I’d like to introduce you to Adrienne and her awesome (ok, way to many uses of the word awesome in such a short period of time) success story.

Adrienne emailed me a few months back and told me about her amazing transformation. I’m so happy that she has allowed me to share her story with you today.

In this interview Adrienne teaches us:

• Just how important creating time for your health is, especially if you have a busy and hectic schedule.
• The importance of preparation and how to commit to a healthy schedule.
• Why simplification is a key component of success and how you can do it.
• How you can make a dramatic physical transformation even if exercise is NOT an option.
• Why the way you talk to yourself is highly underrated.

So without further ado I give you Adrienne and her wonderful (not awesome) success story.

Limitless365: To start, tell the L365 community a little about yourself. What’s your story?

Adrienne: I am a 22 year old girl, who was not happy with who I was. I had low self-confidence and was pretty shy, not wanting to be out in public much and only hanging out with close friends.  I was always a quiet, timid person. Towed the line, always polite, always put everyone else before myself.

I work 8 – 10 hours a day in an office, in a very stressful job. However, the colleagues I work with are like family and we have a lot of fun.

I decided to change my outlook on life and improve my life where I could. I have always been a larger girl and decided to take control of my life and change the way I live my life. I started a 30-day Paleo detox last year (2013) April, I enjoyed it so much that I stuck to it, and lost 22kg (48.5lbs) in 8 months.

Limitless365: What was a typical day like for you before losing the 48.5 pounds?

Adrienne: My alarm would go off at 5, and I would snooze it as long as I could. I would have to drag myself out of bed and get ready for work. I would either grab some left overs, an instant meal or nothing for lunch and go to work. If I didn’t take lunch, I would go down to the local café and pick up some unhealthy meal.

I would work late, then on the way home would pick up some form of fast food for dinner. I would get home and lay on the couch and watch TV, then head for bed, just to repeat the same process the next day.

I was always tired, not motivated and chased the weekends.

Limitless365: What is a typical day like now?

Adrienne: Now, I wake up before my alarm and get ready for work. Head for out on the train and walk the 1.6km to the office from the station. At lunch, I walk to the health bar about a block from the office and pick up a custom salad and walk back to the office.

After work I walk back to the station and head home. Once I’m back home, I prepare dinner and usually either read or do research for work. Then head for bed.

I now feel motivated to get up in the morning and to have the energy to be my bubbly fun self. 🙂

I have made it my goal in life to put a smile on at least one person’s face every day. I have a smile on my face always, even when I am having a bad day.

Limitless365: Was there a specific moment that slapped you in the face and made you say I need to change now?

Adrienne: At one stage, I was so tired and fatigued, that I blacked out and almost ended up in the hospital. I then decided I had to change and improve my health, because the next time I may not be that lucky.

Limitless365: What was your exercise strategy while losing the weight?

Adrienne: Funny story that! A month and a half into my change, there was an incident and I tore all the tendons in my left shoulder. It had to be immobilized in a sling for 10 weeks then heavily strapped for a further 6 weeks. I only received clearance from the physiotherapist and doctor recently to return to training.

Limitless365: What was your nutrition strategy?

Adrienne: My nutrition strategy through the 8 months was as follows: NO sugars, NO starches, NO dairy and NO coffee.

At that stage I was still living at home with my parents, so I took over cooking duties, much to the disgust of my sister. I made a meal plan for myself using whole, fresh foods. It included a lot of chicken, salmon, tuna and lean beef for protein, and a variety of fruits and vegetables.

I cut out all sweets and baked goods, when I got a craving for these I would either have a hand full of cherries or biltong (beef jerky).

Limitless365: What sort of difficulties did you face with both and how did you handle them?

Adrienne: The difficulties with my exercise strategy was that I was not physically able to train or exercise properly. So I decided to change the things that I could. Instead of taking the bus from the train station to the office, I walked the 1.6km. I always took the stairs instead of the elevator  or escalator wherever I went. This meant that every morning and afternoon I would walk up/down 250 stairs from my desk to the house.

With regards to the nutrition, I never really faced many difficulties because I was constantly looking for new recipes and ways to flavour the food in such a way that I would enjoy eating the healthy food than I did previous foods… And this worked!!

Limitless365: Also, what kept you motivated along the way?

Adrienne: My motivation for enforcing these habits along the process, was the way that I felt. I had more energy, I was becoming more comfortable with myself and more confident within myself.

Another motivating factor was the fact that I was enjoying creating new food combinations that were exciting and that friends and family were enjoying and asking for recipes.

Limitless365: How did you track your progress along the way? 

Adrienne: Here is the crazy thing, I actually wasn’t specifically tracking the progress.

At the start of the process I weighed myself and wrote it down on a calendar, but after that I occasionally weighed myself, noticing small changes. I was so happy with the way I felt and the way that I was dealing with life better that I didn’t track the physical progress.

I noticed that my clothes started fitting better and that I could fit into the pair of jeans that had been sitting in my closet for the past couple of months. Then started to notice that my clothes were getting too big and had to buy a new suit for work, then a new pair of jeans, a new top here and there. Before I knew it, 8 months had passed and I had a new wardrobe of clothes.

I then weighed myself out of curiosity and checked the calendar where I had written my weight 8 months earlier, and what do you know… I had lost 22kg (48.5lbs). I was so surprised, shocked even.

Limitless365: What was the single most important change you made that you feel led to your success? (mental or physical)

Adrienne: The single most important change… Wow, this is a difficult one.

I would probably say, that this change was the way I looked at myself. I made the conscious decision to stop being negative about the way I looked or who I was. I chose to smile every day, I chose to think of myself as a person strong enough to change the way I felt.

I was given a small gift by a friend with the serenity prayer on it. I changed this into an affirmation that changed my outlook.

Serenity prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”. 

My affirmation: “I have the serenity to accept I there are some things I cannot change, I have the courage and the strength to change the things I am able to and I have to acquire the wisdom to see the difference”.

Limitless365: Did you have a support system along the way or were you on your own throughout this journey?

Adrienne: I had a couple of friends and family members along the way that supported my decision to change my lifestyle. But for the most part I was on my own. Looking back now, this was probably the best thing for me, because then I had to build my own inner strength to change what I wanted to change. I had to find ways to motivate myself to push through, and to improve what I needed to improve.

A support system is a good thing to have, but not really having one, made me work and push myself harder to get the results I wanted.

Limitless365: Aside from your physical appearance what else has changed about you?

Adrienne: Besides my physical appearance, there are a lot of things that changed.

My attitude towards life: I began to look at Life more positively. I was more enthusiastic towards trying new things. I wanted to live my life to the fullest, wanted to get more involved in the community and in work functions.

My attitude towards myself: I looked at myself through different eyes. I saw myself being able to do things I never thought I could.

I am a more positive and happy person.

Limitless365: Now that you have completely re-invented yourself how do you plan on living limitless?

Adrienne: I plan to work harder at my life’s goals. I plan to live to better my life and the lives of the people around me. I am still looking into ways to meet these goals, but I am more open to finding new ways to do this.

Limitless365: Any other tips and tricks you’d like to offer up to the L365 community?

Adrienne: Well, my biggest tip would be to set yourself a couple of smaller goals. It is easier to work towards smaller goals, then once you have reached them set more goals. This is a huge motivating point, as you are always achieving a goal here and another one there, but then having to keep working hard to achieve the next one.

So What Made Adrienne Successful?

1. She changed the things she could: Instead of focusing on outcome based goals Adrienne concentrated on changing her behaviors. There was a period of time she could not exercise but instead of throwing in the towel and giving up Adrienne made preparing healthy meals a priority and stayed active by walking more and taking the stairs instead of using the elevator or escalator.

2. She simplified and then simplified some more: Adrienne made applying Paleo nutritional habits easier on her by simplifying the process. Instead of creating crazy recipes that were time-consuming and overwhelming she stuck to the basics and made meals she feel in love with that included protein, veggies, healthy fat, and the occasional fruit. This is something that is emphasized in the L365 Fitness Program.

3. She found true motivation: Instead of focusing on her weight and the scale, Adrienne is motivated to continue the process because of the way she was feeling everyday. Her energy was sky-high, her confidence was growing, and she noticed that her clothes were fitting a little looser week by week.

4. She feel in love with the process: Personally, I think this is something that is really important. In order to make great change you really do have to fall in love with the process of creating change. Adrienne found joy in creating new healthy meals for herself and moving more on a daily basis.

5. She got conscious: Simply put, Adrienne committed to change her mindset by becoming more positive and optimistic. She came up with her own affirmation and took to it regularly. This empowered her and gave her the confidence to know she was entirely in control of the behaviors that would lead to the outcomes

6. She shrunk the change: Adrienne realized that this wasn’t something she could do over night. She was on a journey to create lasting change that is sustainable over the long-haul. Instead of trying to change everything at once she focused on creating change in one area of her life at a time.

What are you waiting for? If Adrienne can do it so can you.

Have any questions for Adrienne about her journey or for me?

Ready to start creating change today one small step at a time? Give me a shout, maybe I can help or check out the LimitlessBODY Blueprint as a way to empower yourself today.

Live limitless,

Justin

###