My story is one of experiencing extremes and ultimately finding balance. And that is what I want for you.

At a very young age I started a competitive sport. With early practises, swim meets and competition, I quickly learned the benefits of training hard and pushing my body - winning!

And winning felt good. 

As I grew older, hanging out with my friends also felt good. It started to feel better than training and definitely felt better than 5 am wake up calls. 

So.. as a 15 year old girl, I started hanging out with my friends. 

Into my senior years of high school, it quickly took a turn into my first extreme. I was surrounded by parties, drugs, and alcohol. My best friend was high more often than not, I had a party to go to 3 days a week, and this continued into university as well.

As an art school major, drugs, alcohol and late nights were just a part of the scene. It was easy for me live the life of the out-of-control artist. And, living downtown Toronto at 19 didn’t hurt that lifestyle either. 

I gained weight, my hair was thin, my skin was breaking out constantly, and I felt horrible.Then, extreme number two happened…

I joined CrossFit. 

Now, as a ex-swimmer, I knew my way around the gym. And the odd time here and there I would find myself back in the pool or the gym while in Uni to sweat out the hangover. But nothing was ever really consistent. 

When I joined a CrossFit gym, that inner competitive nature was lit again. I stopped hanging out with the friends I once partied with, I stopped drinking alcohol for over a year, and I dedicated 2+ hours each day to working out on top of the 4+ hours a day I was coaching now. 

I hired a nutrition coach, got my weight down to 132lbs (im 5’7) and 14% body fat through restrictive eating, and I still thought I was too heavy. 

I wanted to be the best, the fittest, the leanest, and I wanted people to respect me as a CrossFit coach. I wanted to look “the part”.

And I got it - “You look amazing!” “Wow, taking your class is so awesome, you clearly look like you know what you’re doing!” 

Enter, extreme #3… burnout. I was anxious, tired, underfed, and burnt out all the time.

I decided to take 2 weeks off and go on a solo vacation. So… I ate.

I didn’t workout the entire time, and I ate some more.

When I came back, I left my nutrition coach, started slowly working out again, but left the competitiveness behind. I started drinking alcohol again…but this time it was more food that gave me comfort. 

I went from 132 to 167 - the heaviest I’ve ever been. 

Now, I had gained a significant amount of muscle over the years, so I wasn’t mortified by the weight, but I didn’t like how I felt. I wasn’t eating what made me feel good, I’d over indulge regularly, and not care if I made it outside for a walk that day. 

I really overdid it on the "self-care". 

After 3 extremes, I now find myself in the balance of it all.

Working out consistently, but no more than 5 times a week, eating enough food to support my goals, treating myself occasionally, living the active lifestyle I want and know my body deserves, and doing it all for a totally different reason than I’ve ever had before - because I know health and fitness needs to be a part of my life forever, and I cannot afford another burnout. 

Not because I’m competitive, not because I want to look a certain way - I gave that up long ago.

So, getting lean is hard, being an athlete is hard, achieving your “perfect body” is hard, but nothing is as hard as finding the balance of healthy living and HAPPY living that you can maintain for the rest of your life. Period. 

And so if you’ve found yourself in extremes like myself - maybe you have spurts of dieting followed by over eating, or consistency in the gym followed by not going at all, or getting super “dialled in” followed by falling off the wagon - I hear you. 

The goal isn’t to be perfect; it’s to create a great plan that you can actually feel good about and EXCITED to stick to. 

And that’s exactly what we do. 

We not only create the perfect, periodized plan that you’ll be excited to follow, but we’ll hold you accountable when you’re not so excited. We know those days happen.

Establish healthy habits, get rid of self-sabotage, gain consistency, build muscle, lose body fat, and learn how all of this fits into your unique lifestyle so you can enjoy it all.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we do this, and you’re ready to get off the extreme wagon, check out our program application!

Love,

Robyn