Meet Amy.
Amy is a faith-filled wife and mother of two boys. Her faith, family, and work as a night nurse are the most important parts of her life. She also enjoys walking, reading, journaling, and going out to breakfast with her friends. Amy strives to positively impact others from the way that she treats other people and practices nursing.
Amy was ALWAYS tired.
She laments, “My first thought when I woke up in the morning was when I could take a nap and how long could my nap be.” She thought she was so tired because she worked nights, but now knows that it was more than that. She could pretend like she wasn’t tired at work, but her personal life was hindered by the constant exhaustion. She recalls, “I had no energy to do anything. I would nap and watch TV. I did nothing.” Amy felt that the constant tiredness was getting worse. She wanted to have more energy but feared that the fatigue would continue to worsen as she got older.
The number on the scale was Amy’s tipping point.
Then, Amy went to the doctor for a check-up. At 170 pounds, she’d gained 10 pounds in 6 months and weighed more than ever before. She thought about what her weight would be in 6 months and in a year if she continued to gain weight at the same rate.
In the past, Amy had tried tons of different diet plans. “You name it… Weight watchers. Low carb. The whole cabbage soup thing. It always centered around eating and how I would eat. It never included exercise. Every little fad that was there, I was willing to try,” she remembers. None of these plans worked. If Amy saw any change at all while following these diets, it was weight gain.
New Hope: The Heidi Czerkes Coaching Difference
Amy knew Heidi before she hired her as a coach. She shares, “I saw Heidi’s journey. She’s a woman of faith. She knows medicine because she’s married to Mike (a doctor). Family is important to me, and she’s a mom. The things that are important to me are important to her… I wanted to feel better, and I trusted her.” For Amy, working with Heidi was the obvious next step.
Amy answered a thorough set of questions about her health, which Heidi used to custom tailor a plan for Amy. Heidi and Amy tweak this plan during Amy’s weekly check-ins.
In the beginning of her journey with Heidi, Amy was afraid of failure; however, Heidi’s support quickly eased Amy’s anxieties. Amy recalls that she’d never been given so many tools that she could use to improve her health. “Heidi was this wealth of knowledge and such a resource. I realized quickly with her that failure wasn’t going to be an option because my success wasn’t going to look like other people’s success.”
When she started working with Heidi, Amy’s initial goals were to lose weight and not be tired. “That’s what I thought I wanted, but I had no idea what I was in for,” Amy says. 3-6 months into hiring Heidi, Amy realized that Heidi’s methods aren’t a diet or a quick fix but a lifestyle. It had changed the way that Amy looked at and thought about food.
Overcoming Inevitable Challenges
With any attempt to improve health comes challenges and hard days. Amy shares that Heidi taught her to believe in herself and helped her believe that failure is not an option.
She describes that Heidi is a constant presence even though they’re not physically together. “If I’m struggling,” she shares, “I think, what would Heidi say to me? How would she get me through this?” In the beginning, Amy didn’t want to feel like she failed Heidi, but now she doesn’t want to fail herself.
Heidi helps Amy to think positively. When she thinks she’s failed, Heidi helps her to realize that her progress simply looks different than she anticipated. “If you aim to lose 5 pounds one month and you only lose 3, you haven’t failed,” Amy says, “You’re just doing it differently. She doesn’t let you think you’re gonna fail. She’s just encouraging.”
Amy describes a particularly hard day when she was feeling frustrated. She told Heidi, “I know that God loves me the way that I am, and I don’t know why it’s hard for me to love myself today. I know he doesn’t love future me any more than he loves the present me.” Heidi told her to put, “God loves you just the way you are,” on her mirror, and it’s still there. Amy loves that she and Heidi share their faith and that Heidi incorporates it in her coaching.
An Amazing Success Story
Upon waking, Amy used to immediately wonder when she could nap. Now, she wonders when she can get her workout in. She no longer naps. Thinking about the tremendous change in her sleep patterns and energy levels, Amy exclaims, “I didn’t know that I could feel like this! ...It’s incredible to me!”
Looking back on that life-changing check-up that inspired Amy to hire Heidi, Amy shows incredible, concrete results.
Amy started at 170 pounds. She lost 20 pounds, or 12% of her initial body weight, to hit her initial goal of 150 pounds. She’s gained a small amount of weight back, but this weight came with the addition of heavy lifting to her routine. Amy has lost 3 inches off her waist and reports that she has muscle tone in her arms and legs for the first time.
Most incredible, though, is Amy’s biometric labs:
Amy’s doctor was so impressed by the changes in her labs that he double-checked the results to make sure he hadn’t misread them! Amy’s energy levels and the numbers only tell part of her success story, though.
Amy clearly remembers the day she truly saw herself. “I just looked at myself in the mirror, and the first thing I saw was me. I didn’t see a round face that’s too fat or a belly that I tried to cover. I just saw me.” Amy had never felt that way before. She describes that moment as an epiphany for her. She realized, “this is what it’s about. It’s about taking care of myself every day.” The number on the scale mattered, but it was no longer the driving force behind Amy’s efforts.
When hearing about weight loss, Amy recalls that it never made sense to her when people talked about losing inches. When Heidi started coaching her, Heidi asked Amy to take measurements of her body, and Amy was embarrassed at the measurements. After being coached for a while, Amy’s clothes felt different and fit her much better. Heidi instructed Amy to measure herself again. Amy was pleasantly surprised to learn that she had lost 3 inches off her waist.
This wasn’t the only surprise. Shortly after hiring Heidi, Amy began taking daily walks. After a while, Amy wanted more. She told Heidi that she wanted strength and muscle definition. Heidi connected Amy to a fitness coach. Amy explains, “I NEVER thought I would be working with weights and things like that, but I am. I love it. I LOVE IT. I love it.”
Amy has learned the importance of self-care and not to compare herself with anybody else, but to just take care of herself. “My body has changed, and I love that my body has changed,” Amy says, “but the way that I look at and feel about my body are probably bigger than the physical changes.”
A Drastically Improved Life
Amy shares, “I never imagined this level of success was possible for me. I thought I was too overweight. I thought I was too old. I thought working nights and working days… it wasn’t possible for me to have success, but she quickly showed me that I could… She has changed my life so much. I’m eternally grateful to her.”
When asked if she would recommend Heidi Czerkes Coaching, Amy expresses, “On a scale of 0 to 10, I’d give her a 20! I trust her integrity, her values, her compassion. It’s like your own private cheerleader.”
Improve your life, too!
Schedule a free, no-obligation discovery call today to learn more about how Heidi can help YOU.