Niki Webber: A Love Story

          N I C K I  M I N A J ?  T R Y   N I K I   M A S S A G E....

 I was born with a desire to be needed and to nurture. This has come with a lot of consequences, but leaving college and abandoning my journalism studies to pursue a career as a massage therapist was not a bad one. Now, I've been in the wellness industry for over five years. I am a licensed massage therapist, a certified personal trainer and I'm studying to obtain a certification in fitness nutrition. But my favorite title is Beachbody coach. It's the way I help the most people become healthy and increase their quality of life in an affordable way.

   First came the massage license. My plan was to work and save enough money to get liposuction. I had a brutally honest friend in massage school tell me that if I were to start spouting out information on how to live a healthy life, people probably wouldn't take me all that seriously, ESPECIALLY if I got liposuction. He said, "We are going to do a triathlon next year."

  Well, we didn't. But that doesn't mean I dismissed what he said. In six months, I was down from a size 12 pant to size 6 by eating well and doing a DVD workout called Turbo Jam on rainy days. On nice days, I was riding my bike or running, which were things I used to hate to do. I became passionate about exercise in those six months. Not as much about food, but I can say I haven't had a bowl of Cocoa Puffs since that time, so it was a start. 

  After a year of being licensed, massage therapy started to wear me out. I was being worked to the bone, literally on the verge of carpal tunnel, by a corporate spa. A majority of the people who came in didn't come in because they were stressed or had anything wrong with them. I was unfulfilled. My heart was in fitness.

I   L I F T   T H I N G S   U P   A N D   P U T   T H E M   D O W N.

  I cut my hours at the spa and went to school to become a personal trainer. I was also drinking Shakeology and for the first time, I could see some definition in my arms and legs. I started reading more about nutrition, too. When I was done with school, I started doing Insanity (since I'd learned about the benefits of HIIT) and I got my first training job at a beautiful fitness center at a golf club.

  I LOVED working at the fitness center. I even got to work out there, which was amazing. I adored my clients. I felt great. My parents saw how I was feeling and joined the gym near our house. They even started drinking Shakeology with me and benefitted from the energy. After two years, I decided to move to a big city in another state and get a job at a bigger gym... a corporate gym. 

  The gym was wonderful. It was pristine, the equipment was brand new and there were even A-list celebrities working out there regularly. But even as a trainer, I was intimidated. The clients were in better shape than I was. The other trainers had run marathons and Ironman races. I had the highest body fat percentage of all the girls there. One kid repeatedly called me "meatball." I know he was trying to be cute, but it made me feel extremely self conscious and it hindered my confidence, which made it difficult for me to talk to clients. I was losing money, fast. The commute to work was running me into the ground because train tickets were gone fast and parking was absurdly expensive. I had to eventually realize that I failed and I went back home.

S T A R T I N G   O V E R

   For a month, I stayed at home to figure out what I wanted my life to look like instead of crawling back to the places I'd left. I felt humiliated. I deactivated my Facebook because I couldn't play pretend with the world. Until that time in my life, my happiness never felt faked or forced so I didn't want it to start then. In that month, I realized that big gyms and spas and fancy clients were not ever going to truly make me happy because all along, the common denominator was that I didn't feel like I was actually helping anyone. So, I got a job at a smaller spa where I work with paralyzed clients, cancer patients, survivors, dancers, and athletes. I started teaching group fitness classes and I went back to working on myself using the products that had given me success in the past- Shakeology and Insanity. Then I did the 21 Day Fix and it brought my fitness and self-esteem to a level I never knew I could achieve. I used the meal plan from the fix and exercises from Insanity to train for and kick ass in a triathlon. I missed training people in a gym so much, but none of the jobs seemed like they would make sense in my life. Working in a gym is fun, but you can only see about 10 people a day and that's only if you don't have other jobs (and I like my jobs too much to give them up). And ten people a day seemed exhausting. How can I eat my six meals a day and get my own work out in? I want to help people, but I want to live by example myself.

   The answer to my happiness hit me like a ton of bricks one day. I was doing my third round of the 21 Day Fix and my whole family was doing it with me. I was telling people about it and they were interested. People like ME. People I'm friends with. People I went to high school with. People who have been down and couldn't afford a gym membership but really wanted to turn things around. And that's when I decided to give my all to Beachbody. 

    It took me six years to get to where I am now and I'm so glad it took this long because I've learned so much about a lot of things: what works, what doesn't work, what failure feels like, how beautiful it is to rise again, how to fit self-care into a busy schedule and how to fall in LOVE with myself. I can't wait to share that information with the world. 

Oh Hey

A L L O W   M E   T O   R E I N T R O D U C E   M Y S E L F...

I know it's been a while since I've blogged and I'm SURE you're wondering why I think I can just roll back around here like I own the place. Well, firstly because it's my blog. Secondly, because I feel like I've been waiting to reach a "perfect" and "inspiring" weight and physique to be able to help other people. But I'm realizing now that it's where I've come from that gives me credibility, not so much the massage license, the personal training certification or the jobs in group fitness.

I started this blog to try and take the guesswork out of beginning to adopt a healthy lifestyle. When I started, I was in massage school eating salad that had more ranch dressing than lettuce and thought I was being healthy. I was spending hundreds on a gym membership only to go on the treadmill for a bit. I was still friends with people who laughed at my efforts to change and that, I think, was my biggest setback. 

F I N D I N G   S E L F - L O V E   I N   A   H O P E L E S S   P L A C E

Have you ever felt like a you were playing the sidekick in someone else's movie? I totally did. For a really long time I felt like a supporting character. It's not like I didn't know I had value, it's just that I got that feeling from the wrong places. 

I won't say that I was the "fat friend", but I was always the one who guys came over to talk to just to ask what my friend thought about them. I didn't really mind until I realized that it was kind of the ONLY reason guys would talk to me. My leading ladies weren't always helpful, either. I showed one a picture of a guy I liked and she said, "don't introduce him to me." It was so hurtful- and so surprising- to hear a person who I called my best friend say that right to my face

I'm not very good at forgive and forget. I over-forgive and make excuses for people and I NEVER forget. But I kind of consider that a good thing. Because those moments of pain, of being pushed down, made rising up SO much better. 

It's funny what happens when you start to change your lifestyle. I didn't do it so that guys would talk to me just to talk to me. I did it because I found myself to be totally boring and kind of sad. Here I was, in massage school trying to help people with their wellness and health and I wasn't even well myself. I couldn't speak to how to live a healthy life.

You realize who your real friends are and that helps you to realize what is truly valuable about you. When I started being healthier and having goals for myself, like completing Insanity, I had friends try to push me down. They'd ask why I was doing what I was doing. They would make jokes about my new habits or glorify their excuses to me and hurt my feelings. The more pain they'd cause, the more I'd wake up and distance myself from these people.

So yeah, changing your lifestyle may not only change your waist line or your strength. It can change who you consider a friend. And that can be scary. But once you find people who relate to you and celebrate you and WANT to see you be happy, you don't miss the lackey lifestyle anymore.

The reason I continued to be drawn to Team Beachbody and online coaching over the years wasn't just because the challenges and Shakeology worked for me. There is a sense of community. People on Facebook who "liked" what I was up to helped me realize I'm not alone in wanting to better myself. The community of coaches I'm a part of is so supportive and a truly beautiful group of people.

If you find that any of my story sounds like yours, talk to me. I want to know the you behind the smiling Facebook picture. I promise I can help by walking beside you and lifting you up, not breaking you down.

Pawling Triathlon 2014

    O N C E  U P O N  A  T I M E....

   I was a chunky little pre-teen who lived in a village called Pawling, about 2 hours north of New York City. I went through the motions to fit in with the athletic kids, but put in very little effort. I did love swim team in the summer, but that's because it was the only sport where I could work hard and not pour sweat out of my round, bright red face. My brother and I shared a bike... or rather we didn't, because we never rode it. I ran only once a year: 8 times around the bus loop for the Presidential Fitness Test. And sometimes I'd stick it to the man and walk as much of it as I could. My fitness goal was to work in the air conditioned CVS to save money for liposuction.

  More than a decade later, I went back to that same little village to swim, bike and run in the Pawling Triathlon. In the years between then and now, my views of fitness and goals have certainly changed. That in itself was a journey, but this blog post is specifically about the road to becoming a triathlete. (I use the word "triathlete" extremely lightly. I think the REAL triathletes are those sexy beasts who take on the Ironman races. But to someone like pre-teen Niki, I might be their idea of a "real triathlete". And, to my credit, it was no walk around the bus loop.)

  

T R A I N I N G

   These days when I set goals, I like to pick things that scare me; things that I'm not completely sure I can do. Sometimes, I'm right. But even when I fall short of my goals, I end up being better than I was before I started. When I signed up for the triathlon back in March, I was not scared. I'd swam competitively. I'd run competitively. I'd biked...in my life. The distances for the race weren't intimidating individually with a third-of-a-mile swim, an 11.5 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run.

    On one hand, I was consistently in motion. Each of my workouts had the purpose of making me able to push harder during the race. I stopped lifting heavy and focused more on muscle endurance and cardio. My diet was, for the most part, clean. I was lean and strong and ready. On the other hand... I had put a LOT into running, enough into swimming and an embarrassingly small amount of training into the biking. Until the week leading up to the race, I'd never even ridden a road bike. I rented one from a bike shop one week before and went on a bike trail to practice. I found out the hard way that the stirrups on the pedals were not for me. I totally bit it just trying to get off the bike! Luckily I was able to remove them from the pedals to avoid a similar demise on race day.

    My focus was all over the place. Some days, I felt really good and really ready. Some days I felt petrified. I read up on everything; the probability of a flat tire, how to change a flat tire in three minutes (although I assumed with panic and exhaustion it would probably take 5-7 if I didn't throw a hissy fit), what kind of socks I would need (not cotton), what I should wear (body suit? No body suit?), what to expect (dehydration would occur if I didn't drink water for two hours up to the race). I got myself so psyched out, I forgot my own capabilities. One mistake I made was reading articles written by Ironman triathletes. Don't get me wrong- they had very good advice and I have all the respect in the world for them. It's just that an Ironman is 100% more intense than the one I'd be doing and I had to remind myself that my race was more for fun and less like the Hunger Games.

T H E  R A C E

   First of all, if you ever decide to do any kind of race at all, have people either in the race with you or there to support you. I was extremely blessed to have my parents and my boyfriend Mike there to cheer me on. I also posted about the race on Facebook and an old friend and her family came out to support me with a big sign and water. Without them there, I'm not sure I would have finished.

   At the park, everyone was in good spirits. The weather couldn't have been better. My fellow competitors were stretching and gabbing, comparing notes on last year and wishing luck to us newbies. I looked out at the water where the buoy ended. I was relieved at the sight of it. I knew that all of the swimming I'd done in the pool would make this swim a piece of cake. I was one of the few people who didn't wear a wet suit. I figured with the newness of riding a road bike already stressing me out, I didn't need to feel constricted by swimming in a wet suit. Luckily for me, the water was 72 degrees that day. "Oh, you'll be fine," someone said to me as the water temperature was announced.

  After the singing of the National Anthem, we were let into the water 100 people at a time. I was in the fifth wave, in three minutes after the fourth wave. 

A meaty crab in a sea of dolphins

Nothing could have prepared me for that swim.

  It was like we were Black Friday shoppers being let in to the store. My game plan was to be in the front and swim ahead of all these people, who surely weren't as fishlike as I. It turns out that none of us are fish, but big, graceless, flailing humans. We were all limbs. I kicked someone in the face. I got kicked in the face. Instead of inhaling, we were constantly using our breath-stroke to huff out "sorry!" and "s'ok!"

  My mind was in a state of panic. "I can't do this," I told myself as I caught sight of the lifeguards in their boats. "I am going to die if I don't quit." In a bout of dark humor, I imagined we were all Titanic victims trying to swim to safety. Negative thoughts like that suck the energy out of you and replace it with fear.

  "GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF," my mind scolded. "You CAN SWIM." I started to remind myself of my form, thought of a good song to pace myself and repeated, "I am strong" over and over again in my mind. Having swam around the big red buoy, I started to believe in myself again.

All aboard the struggle bus

   I ran into the transition area, put on my bike shorts and a tank top, my acrylic/nylon/magic socks, my helmet, my fanny pack (with a pump, tube and patch kit) and got on the bike. I was really nervous about spending too much time in transition so I didn't take in much water at this time. That was dumb.

   As I started biking, I realized my fanny pack was too tight. Not having worn one since the 90's, it wasn't something I thought to check on beforehand. I loosened it up as best I could without losing balance, but I remained in a state of slight discomfort throughout the ride. Not fun when you're huffing and puffing for air.

   The biking was hard, but it was also kind of fun. Kind of. Everyone was extremely supportive and yelled out uplifting things to one another. When passing another biker, a polite "on your left" was said. The first half was mostly a constant uphill, and it was nice to know that coming back would be the opposite. However, just before the turn-around, there was a glorious downhill that I dreaded climbing back up.

   I was surprised by how beat my legs were after swimming. I kept repeating my "I'm strong" mantra as I rode uphill. I whooped and called out "you can do it!"  with the others as we struggled through the 11.5 mile ride. Memories of riding in my brother's car on that beautiful country road kept my spirit light while my legs felt like lead. I couldn't wait for the run.

   But then I started running. My legs, my poor legs, now felt like cinder blocks. My goal had been to finish the run in 26 minutes, but that seemed unrealistic at this point. My parents cheered for me as I entered and left the park. My boyfriend cheered me on by the transition point. Then at the starting point. Then out on the street.

  "How are you everywhere?" I panted wearily, wishing I could just stop and walk for a minute, but not daring to let him or my parents see me give up.

   "You're doing great!" He told me. "Keep it up!"

Dave (left), Colin (right) and Joan (Not pictured) cheered me on!

   I ran as hard as I could, which really didn't feel like much. But I never walked. I kept a constant pace. I took water from all of the check points. I smiled at my friends who had their sign by the best bakery in town. I told the guy with the "Inhale. Exhale. Repeat" shirt that I loved his shirt. I made it back to the park.

  Getting to the finish line was an uphill battle, literally. "Oh God," I said to myself. "I'm going to throw up." Then I saw Mike and reconsidered. I ran as hard as I could and made it to the finish line. I did the run in 27 minutes. My time, overall, was 1:29:52. I accomplished my goal of finishing before 90 minutes by 8 seconds. 

    During the race, I wasn't sure if I'd do another triathlon. But the sense of accomplishment I felt that day, and feel now in reflection, makes me want to try again. This time I know not to try to be the first one in the water. I know to check my fanny pack, hydrate before and during the bike and run, and bike a lot more when I'm in training. I think I owe it to myself to put that knowledge to good use next year. In the meantime, I have new goals I'm focusing on and as I crush them, you'll be the first to know.

Stay Well!!!

The Accident Forgiveness Plan

Today's bloggery is about forgiveness. No, I'm not about to preach the healing ways of the Lord or how you should convert from Geico to All-State; I'm talking about forgiving YOURSELF when you sabotage your goals toward a healthier you. 

Just think- if you knocked over your mother's favorite lamp, you would feel absolutely terrible. But would you tell her the truth or would you break all the rest of her lamps??

So you ate poorly and you chose to not exercise for a day. Or two days. Or a week. Or for as long as you can remember. Do you give up and think, "Well, some people just aren't supposed to breathe comfortably"? I hope not!

Let's say you've been trying to lose weight for a while and then you did! But then you went out for ladies' night with your friends and drank all the margaritas and ate all the chips. You had a great time! Good for you. But then you felt so bad about it that you gave up for the rest of the weekend and you're thinking, "what's the use?" Well, I still say you should FORGIVE yourself.

But don't FORGET this feeling. As you pick up the pieces and carry on toward your goal weight, keep a journal to track your progress and how you're feeling- physically and emotionally. Write down how badly you feel for over-indulging and before you close the journal, write a plan for NEXT TIME you're in that situation and a plan for the next few days. Pick your favorite work out and declare to yourself that you will do it. Imagining yourself doing the work and seeing the results will inspire you to keep at it. 

Now, if you're starting from scratch and you are looking for an easy way to learn the habits that make up a healthy lifestyle, please see my last blog post or send me an email: nicolewebberlmt@gmail.com   I would be GLAD to help you out. 

And with that, I leave you with this song about forgiveness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13mUFEXnB54

21 Day Fix - My Review

8lbs down in 21 Days!

Twenty-one days ago, my parents and I decided to accept the newest challenge that Beachbody presented to the world: The 21 Day Fix. It is a diet/exercise program created by bikini competitor Autumn Calabrese and it lasts, surprise, for 21 Days.

The Work-Outs:

The program comes with a different workout for each day. There is upper body, lower body, full body, cardio, pilates, ab work... everything you need to work toward toning your body in only 30 minutes.

This isn't like the Insanity Program. You WILL sweat but you won't feel like a crazy person at the end of it. The only equipment you need are two pairs of weights (heavy and light. I used 10lbs and 5lbs) OR resistance bands and a yoga/pilates mat for floor work. Autumn is a joy to workout with. She's not fake, she's got a great sense of humor, she's stern, and SHE TALKS TO THE OTHER PEOPLE IN HER VIDEO! There was a lot of laughter throughout the three weeks,...and also a TON of sweat.

The Meal Plan:

"On other diets, I've found it took my body 5 days for my stomach to shrink. On this meal plan, it only took two days." -Keith Webber

This is the part that separates this program from EVERY OTHER program out there. Nutrition is the key to successfully trimming down. Keith (my dad) lost nearly 20 pounds by sticking to the meal plan and working out on the treadmill/at the gym. The secret? Portion control in a way that isn't confusing! In the 21 Day Fix package, you'll receive six containers of different sizes and colors. In the literature provided, you'll learn which foods go into which container, as well as recipe ideas. Based on your caloric needs, you will calculate how many times a day you can eat from each container.

In my experience, I ate just as much as I ever have, but I ate differently. In the last few years I've been trying to figure out how to eat in a more healthy way. This program helped me to realize that while I was eating healthy things, I still had some foods in excess. Particularly, fats (ie. avocados, nuts, feta cheese). By learning how much I SHOULD be eating, I can continue to use that knowledge past the 21 days and continue to shed weight!

The first couple of days were the hardest. First of all, you're supposed to eat as much as you're allowed to. Every day. I'd finish dinner and find I still had a few more containers left. I also found that in order to stay full and energized for a longer amount of time, I needed to start my day with a protein rather than just fruit. Now I know exactly when in the day I start to wind down, when I need to eat and what kind of snacks to pack for work to reenergize.

The purpose of the program is not to lose weight really fast and then go back to how you used to be. The purpose is to educate yourself on how to take care of your body and then continue to do so throughout your life. It takes 21 days to form a habit. Using this program can get you to the body you never even knew you could have. It could help you shed those last stubborn pounds that just won't come off. Regardless of your goal, it WILL change YOUR LIFE. 

For more information, send me a facebook message! www.facebook.com/wellnesswebb

21 Day Fix

Today, my family and I started the 21 Day Fix program. We weighed ourselves, measured ourselves and took before pictures. We ate throughout the day from the color-coordinated containers. We did the Cardio Fix DVD.

Now I'm thinking about my WHY. Do I feel like the amount of food I ate today was enough to sustain my energy? I do. Do I still want to eat cake? I absolutely do. There is always room for cake. But I care more about the reason WHY I am doing the 21 Day Fix than I do for a moment of chocolate.

I want to lose up to 15 pounds because I've been stuck for the last few years hovering around the same weight. In the last two years, I've toned up more than ever and it's been great... but then I got stuck in one spot. I eat pretty well, but I've known that I could absolutely be better if I tried. The problem is when it comes to literature about food, I can only take so much before I either become bored or just plain don't understand.

The beauty of the 21 Day fix is that Autumn Calabrese (the creator of the program) has taken the guess work out of portion control. Everything is kindergarden-simple.

Still, wanting to lose up to 15 pounds just to break through a plateau isn't a good enough reason to hold on. I've WANTED to lose that weight for a long time. So my why is how I'll FEEL when I've reached my goal. I will feel like I can do anything. I'll feel strong, beautiful and worthy of giving other people advice about how to attain their goal weight in a healthy and positive way.

A few months ago, I got a real eye-opener when I worked at a really elite gym. Of the female personal trainers on staff, I was by far the least thin and lean. I wasn't the only one who noticed either; one of the male trainers lightheartedly nicknamed me "Meatball" but I HATED that. I'd like to feel like there is no question as to whether my clothes are hiding fat or muscle. I never want to feel like a pudgy 7th grader again.

So that's MY why. What's yours?

Gymming for Beginners

So you're in the gym for the first time. You've got your spandex, your sneakers, your sweatband, your heart rate monitor, your lifting gloves, your ipod... you feel good. You feel ready. You are about to be in THE ZONE.

But where do you start?

Always always always start with a warm up. I usually run for 5 minutes, roll out my joints (arm circles, leg circles even though they look funny, foam rolling). Then it's time to get moving. Burpees and mountain climbers are a great way to get your whole body involved.

When it's time to start working on specific body parts, avoid burning yourself out too quickly. Start with big muscle groups and multi-joint exercises. If you wear out the muscles that only work with one joint, you won't have the strength you need to work your bigger muscles. I like to begin with the legs. Your femur is the biggest, heaviest bone in your body, so moving it takes a lot more work than any other part. Keep the heart-rate up; include jumping exercises (if you can) throughout the workout. If you have bad knees, talk to a personal trainer in your gym for modifications.

When you work your arms, stick with the same rule as before: multi-joint exercises first. Pull ups work the shoulder and elbow. Front raises only work the shoulder. If you start with front raises, you'll find yourself doing less pull-ups than you're actually able to do (I know, "less pull-ups" sounds awesome because no one likes them... but your back will look way sexier if you do them!) Similarly, do your push-ups before your pec flies.

Finish with your abs. Why? Because you NEED your abs to assist you with the rest of your workout. You should maintain a tight tummy with every single exercise. (*Don't know how? Imagine someone is about to punch you in the stomach. Did you feel your stomach tighten up? If not, put your hand on your gut and cough.*) If you start with your abs, you'll feel low on fuel for the rest of the workout, maybe even less coordinated. 

End the whole thing with a nice stretch from 3-5 minutes. DO NOT SKIP THE STRETCH. Stretch because it feels great, will improve your flexibility and ROM, help prevent knots and finally, because I said so!

Eventually, you'll want to switch it up, maybe work different parts on different days, whatever. This is just a good way to get more work into your workout. If progress is slow, just remember that SLOW progress is STILL PROGRESS. Be patient, be consistent and soon enough you'll reach your goal and beyond!