TRAVIS WILLIAMS
“I played baseball until my senior year in high school. In October, 2009, I was in a car accident and fractured my knee cap. I probably could have bounced back and played that season but I decided I wanted to play Yugioh instead. Between that time and September, 2011, I gained 70 lbs. I really had no idea I had gained that much until I had an ear infection and ended up on the doctor’s scale the next morning.
My sister had been doing Crossfit for three months and lost about 30 lbs, so I decided the next day I should give it a shot. Starting the day I set foot in the gym, I lost about 10 lbs a month for 7 months, until I was down to 200 lbs.
I don’t think I noticed my low point until Crossfit pulled me out of my funk. I had dropped out of college and was just working at an arcade, and I had picked up smoking cigarettes about a month before I started Crossfit.
If you want to get to the games or the next level — whatever that is — find someone there who knows how to do it, and do what they do. If you can figure out how to keep up with them or beat them, t you should be able to make it too.”
DANI SPEEGLE
“And just like that…3 years strong of CrossFit. 3 years strong of deciding I want to be better.
The changes I’ve made to my life these past 3 years have been significant. They’ve been challenging. They’ve been hard at times but absolutely worth it. They’ve been life altering, and path changing, and they’ve made me the happiest version of myself that I could’ve created. 
The picture on the left is me right before I started CrossFit. I was still “athletic” but far from healthy. I knew nothing about nutrition or what being healthy really meant. I wasn’t confident or truly happy with myself. However, without that girl and her struggles the WOMAN on the right wouldn’t exist. The woman on the right is strong. She’s happy. She’s healthy. She’s confident with her body. She smiles more and laughs genuinely.
She takes more risks, goes on more adventures; she LIVES. That was the biggest change throughout my transformation. I started living life, really living it and not letting the days go by insignificantly. I enjoy every single day and every single moment. It’s amazing how much clarity and growth you can accomplish when you’re not worried about how your clothes are fitting or how your legs are jiggling or how other people are looking at you. It’s liberating.
This past year has been a huge year for me in terms of nutrition and health and all around happiness. I have enjoyed the journey incredibly and it’s been beyond rewarding. I want to help others feel the way I feel and reach their goals in health, fitness, and life. It takes one day, one decision, one step into a gym, one email asking about nutrition help……one. Take the one. Start today. Change your body, change your life, change your happiness. #itonlytakesone
ALEXIS JOHNSON
“The picture on the left (~88 lbs) represents 3 miserable years of my life- a time that I spent every hour of every day obsessing over food. A time where I deleted almost every picture of myself because I hated how skinny I was. I would choose to stay home over doing things that I loved because I wasn’t eating enough to have the energy, or I wouldn’t be in control over what I ate. Each day, I was pouring all of my energy and focus into something so pointless. I knew that I was losing valuable friends and was all other motivation.
Yet, I woke up every morning and continued down the same, self-destructive path. I was running myself into the ground, and thought that it would never end.
Fast forward 4 years. My arms are now thicker than my thighs used to be, and I’ve qualified for my second trip to the @crossfit games. Initially, Crossfit motivated me to turn my life around. I loved being in the gym, and knew that if I wanted participate, I needed to fuel my body.
I remember convincing myself to eat because I wanted to become strong enough to BACK SQUAT 100#! It took almost 2 years to truly overcome my eating disorder, and for a LONG time, each and every day was a battle. This “better everyday” mentality carried over into general training. My goal has never been to be competitive, but instead to become stronger and faster than yesterday and motivate others to do the same.”
EMILY BRIDGERS
“And here’s transformation #2 for the day… May 2009 vs May 2017.
Tomorrow marks 7 years of doing @crossfit!
This is for anyone who thinks they can’t change their life… it didn’t happen over night. There was no magic pill. It took consistency and hard work. Lots of constantly varied, functional movement done at high intensity. Gradually building muscle over time. I eat far more now than I did in the picture on the left. I drink a lot less alcohol. A lot less!
I’m proud to be much healthier and fit at 29 than I was at 22.”
CARLEEN MATHEWS
“#tbt to college days of being overweight, from all the drinking, to out of college when I was in my eating disorder, still drinking heavily, but not eating,
to today: almost 7 years sober, developing a healthy relationship with food, desire to be strong physically and mentally, and being proud of the woman I have become!!!”
Read Also: Incredible Body Transformations of Female CrossFit Games Athletes
image sources
- stories: Photos courtesy of CrossFit Inc
