My Story
My name is Brandy Surratt, I’m 31 years old, a wife of 10 ½
years and a mother of two amazing girls, ages 2 (soon to be 3) and 18
months.
I love Jesus. I want
to love like He loved, I want to serve like He served, I want to be more like
Jesus. Because of His example, I am
striving to show love to the “unlovable,” “untouchable,” “unreachable,” and
everyone in between! I am far from
perfect, I’ve been scared of people my whole life, completely afraid to reach
out to strangers, afraid they will hurt me in some way, but with personal
growth comes personal insight and I am working on conquering my fears and
reaching out to people I don’t know, to try to help them in whatever way I
can. It may be just a kind word to help
brighten their day, or giving the homeless man with a sign a $5 Wendy’s gift
card, or helping provide accountability and a place to go without judgment for
people like me trying to get healthier. I
am trying to be better.
Like everyone, our family has seen our fair share of struggles. We have experienced multiple miscarriages,
depression, financial struggles, having to sell our home at a great loss,
etc. These struggles are not what define
us though; they have only helped make us stronger. My husband, Noah, is my best friend in the
entire world, and even though he is not perfect either (you know I love you,
baby) together we put our faith in God and continue to move forward.
In 2012 I left my job of 7 years to become a stay-at-home mom, which was just the right fit for our family.
In late 2013 we sold our house and moved in with family to help get our
financial house in order and take care of some of the financial burdens we had
been carrying. We are now 100% debt free
and ready to set back out on our own again, this time, wiser for the lessons we
have learned and ready to move forward with a plan of action.
In March, 2014 I decided to become a Beachbody coach. I was
drawn to the healthy Beachbody lifestyle, but ultimately, I was getting into it
at first just as a way to assist in supplementing our income. In the last 7 years, I have seen my former
youth minister and his wife, who was a former hairdresser; go from a life on a
tight budget to living a life of amazing family vacations to exotic locations
and living financially free, not to mention they look amazing after years of being in the Beachbody business. They are people I admire and I just think, if
they can do this, I can do this too.
Most importantly, Beachbody is a company of integrity; it’s a successful
company, not only because of the high quality of their products, but because
they truly care about helping people with their health and financial
futures.
When I first started going through Coach training, I thought
I would be going through lessons on how to sell their products, and there is
that aspect of it, but the thing that surprised me the most was their stress
on the importance of Personal Development.
It’s a company that is mainly focused on health and nutrition, so of
course their first stressed point is to get healthy,
stick to their nutrition guide, and use their products that are proven to work to
get you healthy. Their second stressed point was Personal
Development, to get a better understanding of not just their products but how
to grow as a person. Learn that what you
do every day matters, how you apply yourself and your time makes a difference
on your entire life. This seems like such an obvious lesson, but
when you start thinking about how to change every bad decision you typically
make, and how to improve your personal relationships by loving others more, they
are invaluable lessons. And lastly, they
stress caring about your customers. It
makes me think of that quote, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make
it drink.” I can give you the best plan
of action for your life to help you reach every fitness goal you have ever had,
but I can’t make you choose the right foods to help your body, I can’t make you
do the exercise routines; you have to decide to do that. But,
I can be the support and accountability you have been missing to help encourage
you to be your best. That is something I
love about having a Beachbody business. It’s all about showing love and support to everyone who comes through
your door. Your success brings me both
joy and financial success; I just didn’t expect I would be personally growing
so much as I am going to work and losing weight!
Lastly, I have struggled with my weight over the past
decade. My husband and I got married
young, I was 20 and he was 21. We lived off of frozen pizzas and boxed “just
add meat” meals. This was fine for us,
but we both started adding on the pounds quickly. We’ve tried a few different weight-loss
programs over the last decade, a starvation diet (which worked great but as
soon as I started eating again I gained weight fast), we’ve done low carb / no
carb diets, cut out the sugary drinks, and tried to eat more lean protein. All of these attempts were only done halfheartedly because we never really added any exercise into the plan. I use to hate
exercise. I was too self conscience to
go to the gym or even work out in front of my husband, not that Noah would ever
make fun of me or tear me down, but I was embarrassed at the condition of my
body. Then, last spring, I swallowed my
pride and we decided we would do Insanity together. After the first day we exercised together I
was so ashamed of my old fears. The only
thing that was holding me back was me. Noah gave me a “good job” and a high five
after we finished (barely) our first exercise routine, and he has been my
workout buddy ever since. I lost 12
pounds in 8 weeks of Insanity, but we were only borrowing the Insanity DVDs so
we didn’t get any meal plans or start off with any challenge groups to hold us
accountable. After the 8 weeks, we
celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary and dove back into our bad eating
habits and soon stopped exercising altogether. Well, I could give you a dozen excuses as to
why I stopped exercising, but ultimately it was because I was choosing not to
make it or me for that matter, a priority any more. I managed to maintain my weight loss until
the Holidays came around… then I completely let myself go. I knew I was packing on the pounds again. I
was down to just 1 pair of jeans that fit and a handful of shirts, which
brought out my old feelings of inadequacy about my body image. I finally stepped on the scale and was
dumbfounded that I was up to 196 pounds. This is where the 21 Day Fix came in and Saved. The. Day. It has taken ALL of the guesswork out of
what I can and can’t eat. Yet, amazingly, doesn’t take away any of the foods I love! I can still enjoy Pizza and Pasta and Cheeseburgers! I just have to be a little wiser about how
often and in what quantity I enjoy those little treasures. So, I don’t feel deprived. It makes it a lot
easier to stick to the plan. The
exercise routines are just 30 minutes long. Something that we easily squeeze into our crazy busy schedules, and I
don’t feel intimidated by people on the video that look like they could be
professional drill sergeants. There is a
modifier on every single video that looks just like me and she modifies the
exercises to my fitness level and assures me that even though I can’t do things
like people who have been doing them for years, I’m still getting in a quality
exercises that will get me the results I thought I would only ever dream
of.
I cannot say enough positive
things about how my life has changed since I decided to buckle down and change
my attitude and behaviors. Admitting you
have an attitude problem, and are making regular bad choices, is never an easy
thing to do; but I’m so glad I did. Now,
I will continue to pray for God to give me strength and lean on my friends and
family for the continued support I need to reach my goals. In the meantime, I want to help you reach
your goals too! I want to help you find a
program that will actually fit into your busy life and will help you reach your
goals too. If it is to lose a few pounds, a lot of pounds, or bulk up on shiny
muscles, I can help you get there! If
you are interested in the financial possibilities by becoming a Beachbody
Coach, I can help you there too.
Contact me if you would like more information at: Brandysfitnessguide@gmail.com,
check out my Facebook page, for updates on my next
Challenge Groups or visit my Coach site!
Thank you for taking the time to get to know me more!
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