12-WEEK TRANSFORMATION: A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE
Written By: Renae Witzaney
Wow, 12 weeks went by so fast! And what a journey it has been. Finding Vicki Royer’s “Fit for Life” group on Facebook has truly been a life changing experience for me.
Last summer, I started a new journey training for my first figure competition. Always being the big‐boned athletic girl growing up, I never thought I could ever be ‘skinny’. I believed and was told my whole life that I was just built that way and that I would never be small. And all my life, I listened. I listened when I was a child and my dad told me to ‘throw my weight around’ on the soccer field. I listened when my mom said, “My daughter looked nothing like me when she was born. She is going to be tall and lean.”
Last summer, when I started dieting and got down to a weight I hadn’t been probably since junior high, everyone told me that I was ‘too skinny, looked sick, and looked old’. Well, it did not matter what I did, I could not satisfy them. They were not supportive and thought that I was a different person who was obsessed and selfish.
Then, of course, I gained all the weight back. After gaining about half of the weight back on, some relatives came over for Christmas and were commenting on how good I looked to which my dad responded, “Oh, she is pretty much back to normal now.” Lovely!
So, this time around, I knew I needed some positive support. So finding this group, full of like-‐minded people has been amazing. And the best part about it, for me, is that the majority of people in it are not competitors. These are the people who inspire me. Yes, it takes a whole lot of determination to do a show and be that strict and committed, but the real heroes and the real people that truly inspire me are those who just do it for just their own satisfaction. They do it because it is how we should all be living, because they love feeling and being fit and healthy. That is the part that has always eluded me.
I am motivated when it comes to working towards a goal, but not so motivated when there are no goals set. When everyone shares their triumphs and challenges, it never fails to inspire me to keep going. Knowing that there are other people out there going through or have gone through exactly what I have is a priceless gift.
My family is still not supportive of my new lifestyle; they still think I am going through a phase and believe that I am being selfish and not the same person, but at the end of the day, this is for me. I am done living for other people.
So, through this journey, I honestly feel like I have turned a page. I now truly believe that this is it for me. I am done with the yo-‐yo diets. I am a changed person and I am going to continue on this path and continue to inspire other people. This is my passion, and I am finally ready to do something with it and about it. I can’t wait for the rest of my life to really begin!
Renae Witzaney, “Fit for Life” Challenge Winner
Age: 35
Height: 5’6
Starting weight: 164.4
Ending weight: 152.0
