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Ashley Schutz - Body Transformation

Ashley Schutz Vital Stats:

BEFORE:			AFTER:
Age:	27		Age:	27
Height:	5'9"		Height:	5'9"
Weight:	183 lbs		Weight:	148 lbs
Bodyfat %:	33%		Bodyfat %:	18%

What You Change Your Lifestyle?

I reached a point in my life where I realized I had lost control. The controlling relationship I had forged with food had put me at the most I've ever weighed. I was digging a deeper hole day by day.

I lost most of any confidence I had and hid behind my black, baggy clothes. I remember at one point I could not find one shirt in my closet that was big enough to hide the fat rolling over my pants. I was starting to get farther away from who I thought I was and who I wanted to be.

One night in January, 2009, my boyfriend and I went to Chicago with our friends. I remember being down because I could not find an outfit and realized how each day letting go had accumulated to today.

This feeling negatively influenced my entire evening out. I was inside my own head thinking about how unhappy I was and how out of control I truly let myself get. I felt like I was living someone else's life. I was not living the life I wanted to live.

Looking at those pictures and New Year's Eve pictures of myself later that week I thought to myself, I can either keep doing the same thing I have always done; keep gaining weight, or I can decide to change. Something clicked.

It was different this time from any of the other times I told myself I would change. Maybe I had gotten to the biggest I would let myself get, or maybe I just couldn't recognize myself in my own thoughts anymore. From there, I began to take control. That is when everything changed.

How Did You turn Your Life Around?

I started by changing my mind. I put pictures up on my bathroom mirror and refrigerator of women's body's I admired. I got a lot of advice from my boyfriend who has always been very health conscious and fit. One day he sent me a link to Tiffany Forni's Transformation.

This was my first visit to a bodybuilding which became a huge resource for me in the following months and to this day. Her transformation totally inspired me and from there I began looking at more and more transformations and how they did it. The release date every other Friday of a new transformation gave me new motivation.

In one simple sentence, I consumed my mind with thoughts of exercise, nutrition, and the image of what I wanted my body and life to look like and I lived those thoughts.

For the next year, I would research anything and everything that I could wrap my mind around in the areas of health, fitness, weight-loss and muscle development, and I was happy to do it. It became a passion. Slowly but surely I began seeing small changes. This is when I realized how easy and selfish it is to put weight on and how challenging and self-respecting it is to treat your body right.

It is tough. My boyfriend once said to me as I was going through a tough point, "Ash, you gotta crawl your way back up. Life is tough and you have to be too." I literally equated that with digging my fingernails into the dirt, digging and pulling myself out of the hole.

After all, isn't that when you truly appreciate something; when you fall hard and then sacrifice and struggle until you've mastered what it was that made you fall in the first place? We rarely appreciate the things that come easily to us, and I believe it's that way for a reason.

what Supplements Did You Use?

BSN NO-Xplode

Whey Protein

Casein Protein

What Nutrition Plan Worked Well for you?

Meal 1:

- 1 scoop of whey protein

- 2 tbs of flax seed oil

- 1 banana

- 1 cup of grapefruit juice

Meal 2:

- 1/2 protein bar

Meal 3:

- 1 whole-wheat tortilla

- 4 oz of chicken breast

- 2 tbs of hummus

- 1 tbs of garlic

- Vegetables

Meal 4:

- 1 tomato

- 1 cup of low-fat cottage cheese

Meal 5:

- 4 oz of chicken breast

- 1/2 cup of brown rice

Meal 6:

- 1 scoop of casein protein

 

Ashley's Training Program

I change my workout around every other week, including muscles paired in one workout, weights, reps and sets to keep my body guessing.  These are some of my favorite exercises to perform.

Monday:
- Dumbbell Step Ups	3 sets x 30 reps
- Smith Machine Squats	3 sets x 8 reps
- Dumbbell Rear Lunges	3 sets x 8 reps
- Wide Stance Squat	3 sets x 15 reps
- Dumbbell Lungess	3 sets x 25 reps
- Cardio: 30 minutes on stairmaster	30 Minutes
Tuesday:
- Cardio: 1 hour of HIIT on treadmill	1 Hour
Wednesday:
- Hyperextensions	3 Sets x Failure
- Side Bends	3 sets x 15 Reps
- Barbell Deadlifts	3 Sets x 30 Reps
- Hanging Leg Raises	3 Sets x Failure
- Butt-Ups	3 Sets x 1 Minute
- Crunches	3 Sets x 12 Reps
- Bent Over Barbell Rows	3 Sets x 8 Reps
- Oblique Crunches	3 Sets x 20 Reps
Thursday:
- Cable Curls	3 Sets x 30 Reps
- Bench Dips	3 Sets x 12 reps
- Hammer Curls	3 Sets x 8 Reps
- Barbell Curls	3 Sets x 8 Reps
- Triceps Pushdowns	3 Sets x 8 Reps
- Cross Body Hammer Curls	3 Sets x 8 Reps
- Cardio: 40 minutes of low-intensity running	40 Minutes
Friday:
- Reverse Flyes	3 Sets x 12 reps
- Rear Delt Raises	3 Sets x 12 reps
- Lateral Raises	3 Sets x Failure
- Arnold Dumbbell Press	3 Sets x 8 reps
- Front Dumbbell Raises	3 Sets x 8 reps
- Dumbbell Shoulder Press	3 Sets x 12 reps
- Cardio: 45 minutes of HIIT on treadmill	45 Minutes

Any Suggestions For Others?

There is a quote I think about a lot in every area of my life: "Keep doing what you've always done and you will get what you've always gotten." Take charge of your life! There are not too many places in our daily life we are able to have full control over. This is one powerful exception.

Ask yourself what you want. Challenge yourself to do the thing you never thought you could do. When you find out you can do the thing you thought you could not, your confidence in yourself will take off. Nothing is unattainable if you set your mind to it and decide to do it! It takes time, like anything learned and conquered.

I took an Eastern Civilization class in college where I held on to this Taoist Proverb: "No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see." Life is constantly moving and we're all small little beings in it, trying to live.

It's easy to get caught up in what's easy, in what we know and in what everyone else is doing. You have to take a long, hard look at this part of your life and really decide what it is you want. You'll have to step outside of the box you know, and when you do, embrace all the feelings you're feeling, positive and negative.

Once you decide to do something, you are the only person that can stop you or take you to where you want to go. This is a life altering experience. It is a way of life you have to choose for yourself. It is hard, but when you choose that you want it, you have to keep moving forward.

You will sacrifice much; it will be uncomfortable and difficult at first but you will learn patience and discipline in the process. You will feel feelings of empowerment, self-pride, respect for oneself and accomplishment.

When you pass the negative feelings and begin to create those positive feelings for yourself, it will give you more than just a better body, it will create something much deeper. It will give you the confidence and the pride in yourself that we all deserve to own.

There will be ups and downs, losses, possible gains and plateaus, but just remember that hard work and unfaltering determination yield extraordinary results. Consume your thoughts with big, healthy thoughts.

Keep that vision of what you are going to look like in the forefront of your mind and live it. Wake up every day as though you already have the body you want, because you are training your mind, and that's what it's all about.

Only negative thoughts hold us back and keep us from living to our highest potential. Learning to control those thoughts and substitute them for positive os will be an integral part of your transformation.

In life, you are the only person who will always be with yourself. Choose a healthy lifestyle for her, work hard at progressing, never stop getting better and you will give yourself the greatest gift you are able to: love for oneself. Life is short. Start being who you want to be now!