Hi! I’m Chrystal. I’m a certified Health Coach and Personal Trainer. Long distance running is my jam and I’ve struggled with a severe gluten allergy for much of my adult life. Fun fact - I live in Belize with my husband and three American Bully pups.

For most of my life I’ve had an unwavering “all or nothing” approach to...well pretty much everything. If I couldn’t run for an hour, why bother. If I wanted a cookie, I might as well have the whole pack or stay away from it altogether. There was very little balance in my life, it was like a pendulum that would swing end to end with each day. I couldn’t see all of the opportunities I was missing out on to improve my health, reduce my stress and just live a fun life.

It wasn’t until my family moved to Belize that I started to realize I HAD to change. While it was exciting, my anxiety skyrocketed, my sleep was affected and quite frankly I was becoming and unpleasant person. I no longer had access to the foods I knew and loved, a gym or even paved roads to run on. My mindset began to shift when a friend talked me in to joining a challenge that they signed up for- log movement every day for a month. Always up for a challenge I wasn’t going to let a day go by without logging SOMETHING, no matter how small, especially knowing that I wasn’t doing this challenge alone! Having an accountability buddy made this challenge more fun but also gave me a voice of reason when I just didn’t feel like it or was letting the day get away from me. Just the simple reminder from a friend to do SOMETHING that day gave me a big push. During that month I didn’t complete the runs I hoped for, I didn’t lift the weights I planned BUT I moved more than I would have previously- and it felt great. My anxiety was a little better, my energy was a little higher and it was the start of a shift in the way I looked at my life. Change takes time and is rarely a straight line from point A to point B. I would love to say from that day forward I didn’t feel like I might as well skip a workout versus do something good for my body with the time I had, or that since then I’ve only had moderate servings of treats but that wouldn’t be real life and that’s OK. I’m in a space now where I know that I operate better in balance and try to remind myself on the days where everything gets crazy, “something is better than nothing” and that moderation allows me to enjoy experiences and still make positive steps forward in my health. I’m also lucky to have someone in my life that holds me accountable when I start to slide back in to habits that used to feel so comfortable. Someone who will point out when I have a few minutes that COULD be used for activity (instead of complaining I don’t have time) or offers to share a treat with me when we both know a taste is all I need. It’s a continuous journey for me but it’s exciting to look back and see the changes I’ve made and feel how much healthier my life is because of them.

WHY MYBODYTUTOR?

What attracted me to MyBodyTutor is the approach to accountability, probably because I’m the type of person who thrives on accountability in my life! Change is hard, it’s uncomfortable and I love that MyBodyTutor creates a program that truly doesn’t let you do it alone. I also wanted to be part of a program that helps clients succeed long term. Living a healthy life isn’t about dropping weight as fast as you can, it’s about making changes in your life for the better and I really feel MyBodyTutor is the program to help you with that!