Friday, 22 May 2020 / Published in Testimonials

MONTANA RAE

I am so excited to share Montana’s journey with you! She is such a driven, passionate, adventurous, fun loving, kind and truly beautiful person inside and out. Getting to work with her each week is THE best! To see her get out of her comfort zone, build strength and definition, step into her power and transform is so inspiring! If you feel like you are spinning your wheels with your efforts to change your body and lose weight, take a moment and dive into Montana’s story. I think it will not only resonate with so many of you, but also show you what is possible when healthy changes become your lifestyle!

Here is Montana’s experience in her own words:

I started writing this story a few weeks ago and busy life got in the way. Fast forward to today and I, along with most of the country, am secluded to my house as we ride the collective wave of COVID19.

Before quarantine, my time with Emilee in the gym was the cornerstone of my fitness routine. We met twice weekly first thing in the morning. The combination of consistency and new motivation I felt from the results I’d enjoyed over the past 12 months of this routine showed me that it was possible to change my body for the first time in my life. The wild thing about this new-found experience with my fitness potential is the fact that I taught fitness for 10 years! Everything from yoga, to cycle, barre, cardio, and weight lifting. I found a voice from a young age that was effective in leading others on their path, but I could never figure it out for myself.

For as long as I can remember, I carried extra weight. My diet was inconsistent and irresponsible. The constant workouts prevented me from spiraling to an extreme weight-gain, but I was being so hard on my body “burning the candle at both ends”. Nothing ever really changed for me as I traded back and forth between overeating, drinking, and intense teaching, which caused me to damage my voice and keep a constant 30-40 pounds of extra weight on. When I met Emilee, it was Christmas 2018. I had just ended a toxic relationship and was at the heaviest I had been in my life. I saw a photo of myself the other day from that time and just winced to see my face looking so plump. I remembered cropping the photo so you wouldn’t see my chubby upper arm!

In January, 2019 I started working out with Emilee. All of the things I was dreading most going into it never happened. As someone very familiar with different types of fitness, I was expecting to be forced into some kind of merciless daily burpee challenge, or told I’d need to learn to love running or eat only chicken breasts. None of that happened. Emilee expertly builds workouts for the female body. The structure, style, and content she implements make the workouts incredibly challenging, but also totally bearable. Combine that with the endless vault of knowledge, compassion, guidance, and mentorship she provides, and my visits to the gym quickly became something to look forward to rather than dread.

In concert with the workouts, Emilee and I spent 3 sessions together outside of the gym assessing my diet. We looked at both what and when I was eating. She was able to offer me so many tips, recipes, and suggestions, all in a format that I could wrap my head around and that didn’t require severe deprivation to succeed. The hard work in the gym inspired me to get committed to my diet, and by April I was down 18 pounds. I drastically reduced my alcohol consumption, and replaced my sporadic eating habits with structured, meaningful food choices. She helped me every step of the way.

Throughout the process I was amazed to discover that I just never understood how to care for myself in this way. My workouts were not effective before because I was taxing my body in a way that was not sustainable. I made diet and fitness a chore and not a treasured part of my lifestyle.

Over the holidays of 2019 I started doing something I had toyed with but never been any good at before: working out at home on my own. I remember being nervous that the holiday time away from the gym was going to derail my progress. What I discovered was that Emilee hadn’t just trained me for time spent in the gym with her. She had trained me to embrace the fundamental tools required to live a healthy lifestyle anywhere I go. I did workouts from her website in my bedroom at my parents house. I fixed myself arugula and eggs in the mornings. On Christmas, I ate prime rib and potatoes and pie, and it didn’t destroy me! I didn’t tell myself I was already going to have that meal, so I might as well eat like crap the whole 10 days and come out of it 12 pounds heavier and hating myself like I did in years past.

Emilee trained me for life. She taught me a sustainable and evolving new outlook on my relationship with my body that is a gift greater than anyone can understand until they experience it for themselves. She’s both a friend and mentor. She navigates the balance of maintaining the client/trainer relationship while going deeper into who both of us are as women. She listens to her client’s daily struggles and success, and has an incredible ability to care about and remember the details of our lives. She’s the type of person I want to be — the greatest gift I ever gave myself.

Fast forward to March 2020 when the Coronavirus pandemic brought life as we knew it to a screeching halt. I was in the gym with Emilee when we heard that the facility had to be closed. The thought of having this part of my life torn away from me scared me more than I can say, but her attitude about the transition never faltered and I told myself to trust in the process because I had always been able to count on her before. I ordered some basic equipment from Amazon and got busy cleaning out my garage to make space for a new home gym setup. We transitioned our weekly in-person workouts to sessions held over Zoom. Unbelievably, I got deeply committed to working out on my own 5 days a week! I know this is only possible because Emilee set me up for success before this happened.

Without the 14 months of consistent work together, I don’t know where I would be now. Being isolated to home alone is incredibly hard, no matter who you are. The gift she, and I, gave to me of being trained to maintain my fitness during this time is the most valuable thing I have right now. It would be so easy to cave to depression around these circumstances, or to spend my days and nights snacking on the couch. Instead, I am 2 pounds away from weighing less than I have in my entire adult life. It takes time, effort, commitment, and intention to succeed at a healthy lifestyle. For me, it was something I had to learn, again and again. Is my funky garage gym the same as being together in person downtown? No. But if it weren’t for that foundation, I know my experience in quarantine would be vastly different.

Over the past few weeks I have been blown away by Emilee’s ability to adapt to the “new-normal”, not skipping a beat as she pours out new offerings and ideas. She has created so much amazing content and inspiration! She records multiple workouts each week that I love doing on YouTube. I have a special spot in the garage for my computer to sit while we Zoom for our one-on-one workouts. She has created online guided meditations and has her ladies connected by having us read the same book together so we can have a virtual discussion next month. She continues to offer recipes, product recommendations, and advice with an unflinching willingness to evolve and improve.

Here is a person who always shows up, no matter what is going on for her. Being around someone like that, even if it’s on a screen, makes dealing with the current situation bearable. Part of me wants to keep her to myself, but she has capacity to be what she is to me to many. So, I’m happy to share all of this. I can’t wait to get back in the gym with Emilee! But if you’re someone reading this who is where I was in 2018, all I can tell you is to start. Whether you’re working out in your bedroom with roommates in the other room, or you have a fancy home gym, you can change your experience with guidance and consistency. It’s wonderful to not be alone in your goals!