We’re extremely proud of our members. Over the years their work out agendas and sporting endeavors serve as healthy examples of how it feels to be “Elite,” and how exercise not only adds years to your life, but life to your years! Today we’d like to highlight another member’s experience:
Meet Alexandra Bruckner, a member of Elite-North Shore and a lifetime North Shore area resident. This is her story of how she lost weight, not just once, but TWICE! Healthy lifestyles can be difficult to maintain, but Alex found motivation both times to reach her goals.
Meet Alexandra Bruckner
My name is Alexandra Bruckner and I am a 31-year-old Whitefish Bay resident. I have lived in the North Shore area my whole life, graduating from UWM with a degree in Marketing and more recently from Cardinal Stritch with a MBA. I currently work as a marketing manager at The Mark Travel Corporation in Bayside.
Time for a Change
Let me start by saying that I was NEVER an active or fit child. Yes, I rode bikes and rollerbladed around my neighborhood, but I was always struggling in gym class and on the chubbier side of the spectrum for my age. Plus, I am the least athletic person you will ever meet. Now don’t get me wrong, most people would not have considered me “overweight” while growing up, but by the time I graduated college I had gained 30 lbs and that was zero muscle! I knew I had to do something to change.
In fall of 2010, I joined a gym near my house on the East Side and started working out with a personal trainer. I saw a little bit of success at first, but quickly plateaued and started to get discouraged. At the time I worked at an Italian restaurant at Bayshore (remember Bravo! anyone? YUM) and was constantly eating bread and butter/oil, pasta, pizza, cheese, tiramisu etc. No wonder I couldn’t lose weight! I started to control my portions, drink water instead of soda, add veggies to every meal, and eat more protein. After about 18 months of hard work and discipline, I was down almost 30 pounds!
If I Can Do it Once, I Can Do it Again!
Fast forward a few years to 2015 when I was working full-time, in grad school full-time, and working out maybe twice per month. You guessed it… the pounds started creeping back. By the time I graduated with my MBA, I had gained back 20 pounds without even realizing it. My clothes no longer fit correctly and I was frustrated and depressed. I decided that I was done feeling bad about myself. If I lost the weight once, I could do it again!
In fall of 2016, I started going back to Elite more regularly and was able to convince a friend/coworker to join as well. Having a workout buddy was a game changer! We worked out EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. at 5:30am and held each other accountable to ensure we stayed on track. We took BodyPump and BTS with Amy on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and did our own workouts Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Although we were busting our butts five days per week, I was seeing minimal results on the scale and how my clothes were fitting.
In fall 2017, my boyfriend and I booked a Southern Caribbean cruise and I used that as my motivation to get bikini body ready. I started watching what I was eating (no sugar, carbs, peanut butter, dairy, or grains) and almost completely cut out alcohol for 30 days. By doing so, I lost 7 pounds! I was feeling a lot more confident on our cruise and even came away with the best souvenir of all time… a fiancé! Since we got back from our vacation in December, I have increased my workouts to roughly 90 minutes per day, Monday through Friday, and take advantage of the morning classes at Elite. There are a handful of us that take similar classes and we started to encourage each other to try some different ones, too! In addition to working out, I continue to keep an eye on my diet and alcohol intake. I am happy to say that I am down 20 lbs total and feel healthier and stronger than I ever have!
I owe a lot of my success to the trainers at Elite for being there rain or shine and making exercise challenging, yet enjoyable.
Share your own story! Whether it be of weight loss, conquering that first race, improving your tennis rating, accomplishing a goal, or some other unique aspect of your life that makes you ELITE!
Share Your Story!
2 Comments
AWESOME JOB ALEX!!! It’s great seeing my regulars every morning. Makes the morning so much more enjoyable. Keep up the good work.
That is my daughter and I am proud. But more important to me she is beautiful inside. Committed and dedicated in all things. Love ya kiddo!