May Member of the Month

Michell Landry

In her words…

I started working out with friends and ClassPass in 2018. Around that time, I saw my friend, Trey’s, posts about this gym he was going to. At first I just glanced at the posts but after a while I started paying more attention to his progress and it seems like he was doing really well. One day when I was with my friend, I wanted to check out the gym so I roped her into the free 3 day pass. The three day pass turned into the Launch program and I’ve been hooked ob Vitality ever since. 

I feel like I’ve had an interesting journey when it comes to fitness. When I started at Vitality, I had just lost 75lbs doing a “nutrition program” and wanted to focus on gaining strength while losing the last few nagging pounds. I didn’t realize that my program was probably the worst thing I could’ve done to my body. I restricted my calories to the barest of bare minimums, sometimes only eating 600 calories in a day, and my mental health was starting to suffer. When the pandemic hit, it hit hard. I gained back all 75 lbs and then some due to the stress of being a healthcare worker and the anxiety of the pandemic. I had a really rough time and didn’t get back to the gym for a little while. When I started to recover and really focus on my mental health, I found Vitality again and found the most supportive community I could’ve ever asked for. If I didn’t make it to a few workouts, no one judged me for it, no one commented about it, and I felt like I could be myself. Slowly but surely I recommitted myself to my weight loss journey and started working on my relationship with food, but in a much healthier mindset than before. Now I’ve found that I’ve made friends that push me and I’ve found a safe community I can support.

My current goal is to continue losing more weight, but I’d also like to start a family soon. I’m working really hard to change my relationship with food so my kids hopefully won’t struggle as much as I did. I’d also like to be able to do pull ups on the bar and increase my weight for my deadlifts. 

I’m so proud of myself for refusing to give up. I’m stubborn to a fault at times, but I’m not a quitter. I never ever gave up on myself even when I really wanted to. I’ve got that fighting spirit that really shines through adversity and I don’t let anything stop me.

When I first started at vitality, I jokingly called it “Diet CrossFit” because some of the movements are so similar. But it truly is the gym for non-gym people. It’s my place to go when I’m sad, or angry, or stressed, or happy. A place where you can find your people and absolutely nail a workout together. When you’re on your last leg and not even close to finishing a workout and someone high fives you and tells you “just do one more”. Vitality isn’t a place; it’s people. People who push you to do your best, whatever that looks like for the day. And that’s something that’s truly special.

In Coach Kristin’s words…

Meeting Michelle for the first time is powerful because you can see exactly who she is immediately. She’s as determined as they come has a fire inside of her that radiates. She started VCF through our first "Launch Program" and thrived from start to finish. She was willing to work hard, set goals, and crush them. She was by far, the most powerful member of the "Launch" group - being a positive light and constantly uplifting her peers. She’s a shining example of the ideal VCF member, she comes to workout and continues to be a positive and hardworking person at all other moments as well.

As most people did during quaratine, Michelle had fallen out of her routine and we lost connection over the grueling few months. Michelle persevered, she bounced back. No easy feat in these days, and understandably so. Life has been so wild and weird for all of us. But, Michelle got back on her routine with the strength of 1000 sounds and back into our lives at VCF. She started off with some personal training to get her mind back in the game. During our one-one-one time, Michelle started to re-learn her strengths and finding how to pace herself in a sustainable way so workouts didn't burn her out.

Over months of hard work through today, Michelle is a stronger athlete than she has ever been. Seeing what Michelle has been through during the past year and a half, I can only say how proud I am of her by overcoming life's hurdles and breaking through walls that stood in front of her. She is our very own "Nurse Glitter" but in my eyes she is a "Glitter Warrior."

Congrats, Michelle. This spotlight is well deserved.