Fitness success stories,
As Isabel Medina approached her 25th birthday, she wanted to “hit that milestone” as a transformed person.
During her teenage years and early 20s, she struggled with her weight. In high school, she went from “being overweight to being obese,” her 5-feet, 1-inch frame carrying 218 pounds.
“I had no confidence, I had nothing, I was very insecure,” Medina said, adding she avoided going out because she dreaded meeting new people. “I would be really nervous about what they would think of me, if they would even like me or would they be judging me because of my size.”
She tried restricting calories but quickly regained the weight she’d lost when she stopped counting. She tried exercise DVDs and running but became discouraged when she couldn’t keep up.
In April 2015 — six months away from her birthday — she signed up at Richmond’s Steve Nash Sports Club and hired a trainer. Within eight months she dropped 75 pounds and finally gained the confidence — and strength — she was looking for.
She credits her success to completely overhauling her diet and finding an exercise routine that was not only fun, but something she could stick with.
She didn’t count calories but made sure she wasn’t eating processed food (anything from a wrapper). She cut out fast food, breads, pasta, milk (because of its sugar content) and soda.
She now eats natural, whole foods and preps her meals in advance. She eats more protein, healthy carbs such as brown rice and quinoa, and tons of vegetables. She eats about every two hours.
While nutrition played a big role — “you can’t outrun a bad diet” — it was exercise that gave her the strength and confidence to keep going.
“I got really hooked on feeling powerful,” she said.
“I never was athletic or competitive but now I’m just competing with myself and it just gives me so much drive to keep going and see how far I can take it.”
Her previous workouts — steadystate cardio on the elliptical — gave way to circuit and interval training, which keeps her heart rate up and her body moving.
Her circuits consist of functional, explosive movements focused on speed, such as 20 step-ups onto a box, quickly followed by a set of pushups taken to exhaustion, followed by leg raises, core work and then back to the box for agility, like hopping from side to side.
She rests for about a minute, then does the circuit again, repeating it up to four times. She does circuits a couple of times a week and added cardio sessions on the days between.
While she used to use body weight for most of her training, she’s now added resistance training four times a week.
Her success inspired her to make “a total career change” and enrol at the B.C. Personal Training Institute so she can become a certified trainer and “pay it forward.”