Healthy Living Spotlight: Christy Baldwin

Status: Kicking butt in the weight loss phase

Pounds lost: 87 and counting!

Something shifted mentally for Christy in the moment she lost an important family member. Her father-in-law was only 60 years old when he had a massive heart attack on the side walk after lunch one day. After his passing in January 2015, Christy knew it was time for her to get healthy as well as her family.

Christy had already been making small changes in the last 12 years. In fact, she had managed to lose 60 pounds on her own since her heaviest in 2003! A decision to hire a trainer this year was made and it was a turning point for her weight loss. In just 9 weeks of working with a trainer she has dropped 27 pounds!

Two things that I have been impressed with Christy are her desire to become more educated about her health and the accountability she utilizes. She wasn’t afraid to seek the help of professionals in her quest for health and wellness. Christy found the knowledge of a Nutrition Counselor to be crucial to her success. A Nutrition Counselor is a professional who helps clients master a balanced diet. A Nutrition Counselor (also her trainer) helped Christy by offering a personalized program that worked and was specific to her own needs. Christy regularly shares her food logs through MyFitness Pal with her trainer and friends for additional accountability. Now that is keeping things honest!

Like many of us, Christy’s biggest challenge has been tackling her diet. MyFitness Pal helps keep things in check. She measures her food and closely watches portion sizes. Two important things Christy monitors are her water and balancing macro nutrients. Macro nutrients are protein, carbohydrate, or fat. She eats a lot of lean meats, vegetables, and healthy snacks. A typical day is five small meals broken up throughout the day.

Making the decision to hire a trainer was really important for Christy in her weight loss efforts. Matthew Portwood with MP Fitness helped fine tune her workout regime. Matthew has her doing a mix of cardio, yoga, and strength training. Christy shied away from weight lifting and strength training before. However, she has found that the addition of strength training into her workouts has made a bigger difference than just cardio alone. The end result has been a higher calorie burn and faster rate of fat loss with a combination of strength training and cardio. This also means that Christy has seen quicker results in how her body is shaped. Ladies and gents, if you are were looking for encouragement to pick up the dumbbells and do more squats, there you go.

Christy’s workout regime is the definition of cross training and she works hard. She has truly come to love her Crossfit style Warrior Workout twice a week. It includes a wide variety of core work, lifting, cardio, and boxing. In addition, Christy does a mix of cardio that includes running, elliptical, and rowing. She focuses on all major areas with weight lifting. On Friday’s she closes out the week with a yoga class. The stretching and mind body focus through yoga is the perfect way to start the weekend.

Anyone who has lost 87 pounds deserves some accolades. Christy has worked hard this year and the 12 years prior to get where she is today. Her success is a reminder to us all that we CAN reach our goals, one little bit at a time. Bravo Christy, you ROCK!!