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Beth is a Bay Area native and owner of a successful police dog training business, who after having gone through a really tough depression that caused her to gain a lot of weight, decided she was tired of feeling down and wanted to make a change.
Keep reading to learn more about what she went through and how Trifecta helped get her back on her feet.
Beth's Transformation Story
"I’m 30 years old. Although I specialize in police dog training, I utilize that elite style of training and modify it as needed to train people’s house dogs. I also love teaching in the classroom. I have been a substitute teacher for years and am currently getting my master’s degree in education to obtain my teaching credential for a full-time teaching position. Part of my daily routine is going to CrossFit.
Due to a series of very unfortunate events, I fell into a massive suicidal depression. I didn’t eat well for a while. However, when I started to change my life around, I noticed the healthier I ate, the happier I became, and the more willing I was to try and succeed not only in grad school but also with my dog-training clients (and even in my performance at the gym). Eating healthy has ultimately helped me do better in every aspect of my day and my life, but it wasn't always like this.
Hitting Rock Bottom
I have always been an incredibly athletic person. A few years ago, I was hired by the local Sheriff’s Office as a Deputy Sheriff. On top of reporting to a physically demanding job, I was always on my feet training police dogs, running my business training pet/house dogs, and doing CrossFit.
I’ve always intended to follow the Paleo nutrition plan, but I never took it too seriously. I loved my muscular physique and I had been maintaining it, so following a specialized nutrition plan did not seem important to me.
One fateful day, I was involved in an accident at work. The result was a back injury that included disc herniation, stenosis, and a few other issues. I tried to push through my injury, but when my back started to give me too much pain, it caused me to lose my job. I was devastated. This was my dream job, and I lost it.
Losing my job forced me to move back into my parents’ house, and on top of that, all the medical bills were a significant problem.
Everything piled up and to deal with the stress; I stopped caring. I stopped caring about CrossFit. I stopped caring about exercising. I stopped caring about my nutrition. I stopped caring about finding a new job. I stopped caring about my dogs. I stopped caring about my clients and their dogs. I stopped caring about trying to fix my back. I stopped caring about living.
I fell into a nasty, extreme depression. I became suicidal. I told someone I was about to commit suicide which lead to being taken away by police, handcuffed and all, to a psychiatric hospital. I had fallen into one of the deepest, scariest pits of my life.
As I was going through this depression, I started drinking a lot. Slowly, I started gaining weight. Once I realized how much weight I was gaining, I was shocked; I never thought any of this would happen to me. I realized I needed to do something, but I didn’t care enough at the time.
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Making a Change
When I realized I needed to get myself out of this depression, I joined the local CrossFit gym, South Fremont CrossFit. I was not serious about it. I was averaging twice a month. I knew I had to get into shape, and I thought joining the gym would help motivate me, but it did not.
In January of this year, my coach facilitated a gym-wide 60-day body transformation challenge. I immediately jumped on board. Winning was always in the back of my mind, but I wanted to take advantage of this challenge and get my ass back into shape and my mind out of the depression. I thought to myself,
'I’m incredibly tired of being depressed and not caring about life. I am angry. I am over everything. I desperately want to get out this hole I’m in. I’m going to jump in 100% and see what happens.'
The challenge started in January and ended in March. Honestly, I wanted to win the challenge. I knew if I tried to win and held onto that mentality, I was going to work even harder than I thought I could. The desire to win fueled my fire. I made huge decisions regarding how often I went to the gym and what I was going to be eating.
That’s when I decided I needed to start eating clean and healthy. I didn’t care what anybody said or how it happened. I knew I wanted to eat healthier, but I didn’t know how.
I would go to the grocery store and see how organic food is way more expensive than regular food, but I wanted to try doing the Paleo diet.
I needed clean eating to aid my CrossFit workouts. My former CrossFit coach taught me about the Paleo nutrition plan when I first started CrossFit in 2013 but when I tried to follow it, it was a lot harder than I thought.
Making sure the veggies were proportioned correctly and the meat was perfect (and also getting creative with the meals) was difficult for me. Instead, I researched ten different meal delivery companies and learned different ways of meal prepping at home.
Where Trifecta Came In
One day, I ran into Brooke Ence (who trained at my former CrossFit gym, CrossFit HQ) and saw her eating Trifecta. It was Brooke who made me think to myself,
I’m going to try that one. I know her, and if she is partnering with them, they must be good. She must honestly believe in their product and trust them, especially regarding the level of seriousness she takes her health and fitness. If she does it, I will try it too.
Once I started to learn about Trifecta, I saw that I could choose between several meal options. Paleo was one of them! I could select the Paleo meal plan as an option and literally have all my meals delivered to my doorstep.
Use this simple meal plan quiz to determine what meal plan will work best for you!
Between grad school and juggling two jobs as a dog trainer and a substitute teacher, having the meals delivered to my door (all prepped and ready to go) sealed the deal between Trifecta and me.
Once meals started arriving at my door, individually packaged and ready to pop in the microwave, I started to get ideas regarding how to prepare Paleo meals in the future. I learned so much about how to create Paleo meals, and I began to get excited about it. It’s not just lean meats and boring vegetables; in my head, I am thinking 'Wow, here’s a Mediterranean flavored dish!" and “Look at this Mexican-inspired dish with an awesome cilantro sauce!.'
I started to focus on eating healthy again, and I loved it!
I think if I would’ve tried to meal prep on my own, I would’ve failed. Based on the mindset I was trying to ditch (being in a depression), I would’ve stopped caring after a day or two because it’s so difficult. Trifecta just made it so easy.
Stay On Track!
Creating Healthy Habits
I kept my gym’s 60-day body transformation challenge at the forefront of my mind every day. That challenge influenced everyday decisions. I needed to get myself out of my suicidal rut.
I turned alcoholic beverage choices into water or other healthy options. I stopped snacking late at night and turned the snacks I had during the day from chips into vegetables. I started to go to the gym up to three (sometimes four) times a week, instead of just twice a month.
I threw my heart and soul into it. I started to get my life back in order. I also stopped thinking about ending my life. I fell into a depression because I felt I had failed everything (jobs, friendships, hell, even my dad stopped loving me! He stopped caring about me because I can’t be successful at anything I do, and I am his biggest disappointment). My God, even when I tried suicide, I failed!
So, as I started to turn my life around, I stopped thinking about suicide. I wanted to stop failing at everything. I made a decision that I was going to succeed at this 60-day challenge. I wanted to win so badly because I knew my desire to win was going to fuel my fire. Even if I didn’t win, I was going to succeed at transforming myself and becoming healthy again.
So that’s what I did. I was shaking when I took the “before” picture. In that photo, I had not started the challenge. I had always been muscular and thin, and my body in the first photo was a physical reflection of the emotional pain and suffering I had been going through in the past year and a half. I never intended ANYONE to see this photo (and here it is on a blog now for everyone to see), and I was mortified because I have never been overweight in my entire life. I felt like I looked like a freakin’ blueberry – round and shapeless.
Seeing myself in that photo sent me into a huge emotional mess. I cried because everything that had made me depressed piled up in my head all at once, and then I got angry that it all happened in the first place. I got so mad that I was FAT. I made my decision right then and there that I was going to smash this challenge.
With the help of Trifecta, the gym, and time, I have started to feel happy again. For the first time since I lost my job in 2017, I started to feel legitimately happy again. I have started to feel like myself again. I started to feel confident.
Now I’m smashing my personal records (PRs)! I just did a 55-pound PR for an overhead squat the other day, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh! So I’m continuing this.'
In May alone, I PR’d my clean and jerk by 25 pounds, my push jerk by 25 pounds, my overhead squat by 55 pounds, my strict press by 15 pounds, and my back squat by 35 pounds. I also did the Murph workout (1-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 pushups, 300 squats, 1-mile run) in its entirety. I have never been able to do the whole Murph workout before, and now I have.
Eating healthy and committing to going to the gym has brought me out of a very serious depression. I feel better, and after I eat a meal, I feel accomplished and full.
It is funny- I never felt full after eating cookies & ice cream. However, I felt full and satiated after eating vegetables, lentils, lean meat, and other healthy choices. It’s opened my eyes in terms of healthy eating.
With Trifecta, I have learned a huge lesson: healthy eating doesn’t have to be plain or boring. Generally speaking, kids have to be forced to eat their vegetables. 'No dessert until you eat all of your vegetables!' I remember my mom saying that to me. The word “forced” is very powerful, and I sometimes think that negative association with vegetables still sticks with adults. They say, "If something is healthy, then it can’t taste that good!"
Eating healthy and enjoying it is a learning experience. I am happy to explain to people that Trifecta has taught me an incredible amount regarding nutrition and an enjoyable meal plan. I am excited to correct someone with a negative association with healthy eating and say, 'Actually, eating healthy options can be pretty darn tasty!'
I am hesitant to say that Trifecta saved my life, simply because of how dramatic it sounds. But let’s be real. Trifecta saved my life.
As you know, I tried to kill myself twice. I was in the deepest depression I had ever felt and I wanted to be done with life. When I jumped into the 60-day challenge and made the decision to eat healthier, Trifecta entered my life. The meals were incredibly good.
I was excited to eat again and I realized something – one meal of healthy eating filled me up. I realized I could eat healthier, and eat less in general. My body shape started changing immediately, which only encouraged me more. My transformation made me happier, and I started noticing I was stronger and better at my CrossFit workouts.
I’m not in a depression rut anymore and I am no longer thinking about ending my life. The combination of Trifecta (eating clean and healthy) and staying committed to CrossFit (jump-started by my coach’s body transformation challenge) changed my life around.
It literally saved my life. Trifecta helped me find happiness. Trifecta’s food fueled every aspect of my life. For the first time in almost 2 years, I feel really, really good. For the first time in almost 2 years, I am happy."
Ready to change your life but don't know how to start? Find a meal plan that works for you to get you one step closer to becoming the best version of yourself.
