Meet Heather, our I AM BSHEmoth for the month of February! Heather has always been a consistent hard worker and a staple to the Behemoth community. Over the past year she has made some serious lifestyle changes and her performance and goal attainment both in and out of the gym has been remarkable to see. We are so excited to share her story with you!Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself or something that would surprise us.I am a born & raised Houstonian! I love to have fun & will try anything once! I was raised by my grandparents so I am a bit of an old soul :) I was really overweight growing up & always struggled with my weight. I was made fun of & called all kinds of “fat kid” names growing up which lead me to turn to food for comfort. I only got worse over the years and was at a record high my senior year of high school. I had played soccer for years so I never really gained too much weight until I moved to a high school where there was no soccer team anymore. :( The pounds just piled on & it wasn’t until I took a trip with my mom to Hawaii after graduation & saw pictures of myself in a bathing suit that I had the “AH HAH” moment and knew that I had to really do something to change my way of life. I was gaining at a steady pace & I just didn’t realize until then how bad it had gotten. Diabetes runs in my family & I was definitely on my way to that destruction. I promised myself that day to make a change & with some struggles, at 19 years old, I started working out & have never looked back! It changed my life AND saved it! Now, something fun! I was a bit of a choir geek growing up, singing in 2 choirs, playing in the hand bell choir & joining a jazz band in High School!
How and when were you introduced to Behemoth?
By the Grace of God :) I had been in my first 6 months of CrossFit back in 2013 when I lost my job. I was training with Leah (best coach ever) at Cannon CrossFit in town, but had to quit due to losing my job. After landing another job, I reached out to Leah for some boxes around my home & she was so excited to tell me that her awesome boyfriend owned a box close to my new job! So thankful for Cannon Crossfit & Leah because if not, I would have never come to Behemoth :)
What are you most proud of, physically, mentally or both since beginning with us?
Physically, definitely that I am much stronger than I thought I’d ever be!
Mentally is the fact that I can make better conscious decisions on food & humbling myself on days that I do not feel my best to know that I can do more weight, but knowing I shouldn’t at times is very important, so I am proud of myself for this!
Why Behemoth?
Behemoth is more than just a Box. The coaches do care about our journey here and always willing to help along the way. I have visited & been to other boxes in the past, and when I had moved back home to where I grew up for a year I still drove 45 minutes to Behemoth daily because the coaching elsewhere is not even close to the quality we receive here at Behemoth! I am also very grateful for the friendships that Behemoth has brought into my life! Two of my very good friends I have now in life I met right here at Behemoth! <3
What next? What are you excited about pursuing here in the future?
I am SUPER stoked for 2017! I have decided to give up alcohol (except for any very special occasions). Anyone that knows me knows this is HUGE because I love my whiskey! This year my focus will be on my nutrition & giving it 100% to see where this road may lead me. For those who don’t know, I have Hashimotos (an auto-immune disease) & if I would have never found Behemoth I wouldn’t have learned so much about my auto-immune disease and all the things that can affect me in the process. I learned in the last year that if I clean up my diet I can actually feel pretty darn normal after years of feeling like crap, even though the doctor says “everything is fine”. So with the help of this awesome community & coaches, who knows.. I may feel like a totally new person by the end of the year!! It truly is ALL IN YOUR DIET & this is truly THE BEST CROSSFIT COMMUNITY IN THE WORLD! I have so much to be thankful for here.
“3, 2, 1…Go” Mad Lib section
My favorite lift is… Power Clean (makes me feel like Superwoman!) lol and believe it or not, I secretly love burpees!
My most frequent class I come to is… 5 PM
I have always wanted to… Play the fiddle (don’t laugh)
When I’m not crushing weights, my favorite thing to do is… spending time with my daughter, & depending on season; attending Texans games with friends, fishing, or frequenting the Frio Rio (favorite place on earth!)
Favorite “application of fitness” outside of the gym is… playing soccer & lake sports (kayaking & hydrobiking) when I get the chance to escape to Austin!
Favorite Pandora station… hmmm, I love all kinds of music, so #1 is George Strait, then Frank Sinatra, & Drake
Beast mode engaged when this song comes on… hahaha “Booty Wurk”
