Lynn is 64 years old. She has no children, but gets to torture her 6 grand nieces and finally, her grand nephew. She works at an office on her ass all day long (those are her words, not mine). 😄 She will be retiring when she turns 65 yrs old in October. She plans to travel in an RV, which is why she initially went to LyonStrong. She wants to be strong enough to handle that RV on her own. While flexing, she says, “I need to bulk up!” 💪
While scrolling on Facebook one day, Lynn found an ad from LyonStrong. She made an appointment, but then cancelled it right away because she doesn’t like gyms. She feels that gyms are large, unfriendly, and intimidating. A month later, she sees the ad on her Facebook feed again. She thought to herself, before I make an appointment, let me see if I can find this place. So she scouted it out and found Grit. She sent an e-mail right away, but the e-mail went to Grit instead of LyonStrong. She was finally able to make an appointment. She then started receiving the annoying appointment reminders, as she describes it, and she would reply, “Yes, I’m coming! I’m coming!!” When she received the final reminder, she replied, ” I’ll be there with bells on!!!”
She knew LyonStrong was a legitimate business, because she had scouted it out. So when she arrived to her appointment, she literally showed up with 2 bells. She happened to have bells with her because she’s a cycling official. Lynn gifted Lyonel her white bell to fit his motif. It is now the LyonStrong bell. 🔔
Lynn felt intimidated when she first showed up to her appointment at LyonStrong. Annabelle and Danny had just arrived to the gym and Lynn was sitting on the chairs outside of Lyonel’s office waiting for him. She was watching the class that was already going on, but when she saw Annabelle, she felt intimidated, because she describes that Annabelle came in wearing a tight little workout outfit, put her stuff down, looked at her phone, tucked the phone into her shorts and then just stood there looking around the gym, but never once acknowledged Lynn. So Lynn just sat there and thought, “Shit! She’s gonna hurt me.” After getting to know Annabelle, they developed a relationship where Lynn would help Annabelle stay off her phone while Annabelle would push Lynn during the workouts.
Lynn signed up for the 6-week challenge because she wanted to learn how to eat and she wants to be able to handle an RV, either a 5th wheeler or a travel trailer. So she was determined to do the challenge. She ended up doing really well with the challenge. She lost over 6 pounds and she learned how to eat. Lyonel gave her recipes, and she substituted what she didn’t like with ingredients she did like, with Lyonel’s consent of course. He told her to modify where she needs to.
She has discovered that her favorite vegetable at this point is Butternut Squash. Her favorite recipe is one she calls her “One Pot Wonder”. She changed it up a bit and put everything she likes in it. She puts Butternut Squash, Corn, Black Beans, Green Beans, Turkey, Mushrooms, Onions, Egg, and sometimes when she feel like burying Zucchini in there, she will. She still puts the Salsa in it, but changed the Cheddar Cheese to Feta. She discovered that she likes Feta cheese. She breaks it down with Jasmine rice because that is the only rice she eats now. She no longer eats white or brown rice. Jasmine Rice doesn’t mess with her Glycemic level, like Lyonel taught her. She didn’t believe him at first – she had to look it up.
She no longer orders the salads whens she eats at Rice. She only orders the Chicken Kabob platter with Basmati Rice – that’s the only other rice that doesn’t mess with her Glycemic Level. Lyonel advised her to order the chicken that way because you know exactly how they are making it – they are just grilling it. So that’s the only thing she orders at Rice now and could never finish it. The portion ends up being two meals for herself.
Lynn also learned from Lyonel that she has to eat more. She usually eats breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack. Her favorite snack are Cashews. She’ll have them at mid-morning, then realize it’s 2pm and hasn’t even had lunch yet. So she says she has to get back to eating more because it’s good for her and actually makes her lose weight. But she likes to starve herself or dehydrate herself, she says half-jokingly.
Those are habits that she floats into once in a while and is actually trying to get out of right now. One thing she will never give up is chocolate and alcohol. Although Lyonel has never asked her to give up those things, instead of having two glasses of wine at night, she now has one. And she doesn’t keep chocolate in her desk at the office anymore. She keep cashews in there instead. It’s important to state that you don’t always have to give up everything you love in life to actually lose weight and get in shape. If that was the case, then what’s the point?
Lynn recalls the time Lyonel went to a cooking class with her. She said that Lyonel intimidated everyone at the table. She says that Lyonel knew he was intimidating everyone at the table, and he loved doing it. That’s where she discovered that Lyonel doesn’t drink, which makes him a great designated driver. The people there were impressed with how much Lynn and Lyonel ate. But she responded by saying, “yeah, I have to eat. I have to eat.” She remembers Lyonel being impressed with the quality of the food. She had a lot fun. She said it was a hoot! Lyonel intimidated everyone at the table, and she was loving every minute of it.
Lyonel has taught her how to eat and how to work out, so she’s good. She knows that every once in a while she can eat what she wants and go sweat it off the next day. She feels like now that Lyonel has taught her how to eat, she has learned what not to eat. Most of the time she cares, but sometimes she doesn’t care, and knows that she is going to pay for it and she pays for it.. and in taking that approach, she has still managed to make progress on a consistent basis. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about making progress a little bit at a time. Some progress is better than no progress.
The biggest change she has seen in herself since working out at LyonStrong, is that she is not afraid of working out anymore. She went to Myrtle Beach for the weekend to be with family and friends. She ended up going with her sister to the gym over there and she felt confident enough to figure out a routine herself. She walked around the gym and picked out some dumbbells and a kettlebell. She also went over to the pulley machine and did some of the exercises she remembered learning at LyonStrong. Lynn says, “No.. Burpees was not one of them!” and then she laughs. She was able to put together 4 or 5 exercises and did 4-5 rounds of those exercises! Way to go, Lynn! 💪
She thinks it’s great that Lyonel doesn’t rely on so much equipment to get a good workout in because she knows that she can walk into a gym and get a workout done since there a certain things she knows she can do – and she can do them well, so she doesn’t have to be afraid.
Lynn feels fitter now. She can lift heavier things that she couldn’t before. For example, during clean up at a cycling event, the promoter will offer to help Lynn carry the heavy pail that holds the tent down. But she refuses by saying that she can do it. She’s able to pick it up, walk it over, and put it in the truck. She also helps carry the generator. She wouldn’t have been able to do those things before.
Lynn says to anyone that is thinking about joining Lyonstrong, “Get started! Just walk through those doors and get started!” Lynn walked into LyonStrong weighing around 186 pounds. Her General Practitioner was threatening to put her on the diabetic list. She said nope, all she had to do was get her weight down. She thinks she’s in the 160’s at this point. She says she has a lot of fat genes in her family.
Lynn says she was always the “Rhoda Morgenstern”. When she was a teenager, her nickname was Hippy. When hip huggers were in style, her hip measurement was 42″, size 18 in pants. All her weight was on her hips, but not anymore! Sometimes she still runs into things with her hips but says that one day she will stop doing that. She’s wearing size 14 pants now, and feels like they’re getting a little big, so it’s good to know she’s made progress.
LYNN’S FUN FACTS:
Favorite Quote:
Lynn’s Insanity was that if she starved herself, she will lose weight – and she could never figure out why she couldn’t lose weight. She gained it instead.
Favorite Book: The Harry Potter Series. She thinks they are the most creative, intelligent books out there. She’s fanatical over Harry Potter.
Favorite Music: She goes all the way from Beethoven to Pink Floyd. She was on track to becoming a music major in her early days. Her favorite instrument is the piano, but she can’t play. She reluctantly took ballet instead for 9 years.
Favorite Workout Music: The Stones, Floyd, but not Rap. She can go for Reggae, but not rap.
Lynn says, “You meet a lot of great people here. Everybody is very encouraging, It’s like a family.”
Watching Lynn’s transformation has been so incredible for all of us here at LyonStrong!
Her sincerity, consistency, and drive have been a true inspiration to so many of us.
We are so grateful to be a part of her journey.
Lyonel Lumarque
www.GetLyonStrong.com
P.S. IT IS ABSOLUTELY POSSIBLE! You can do this, just like Lynn did. Let us be part of YOUR transformation story …LET’S SET UP A DISCOVERY SESSION TO HELP BREAK DOWN YOUR GOALS AND FIND OUT HOW OUR DNA SPECIFIC, CUSTOMIZED NUTRITION COACHING, TRAINING AND ACCOUNTABILITY PROGRAM WITH GUARANTEED RESULTS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE. CLICK HERE AND SET UP YOUR SCHEDULED CALL TODAY!