Our Athlete of the Month for August is Lindsay Shutes! Lindsay’s progress at FitTown has been remarkable. She will tell you there’s no magic pill or diet secret and it’s all simply consistency…repeated over and over again.
In her three and a half years at FitTown, and over 600 workouts, she has lost almost 50 pounds and 14% body fat. It’s been a gradual change as her chart on her blog post will show you, and a lasting change Lindsay intends to keep for the rest of her life.
Lindsay had two big catalysts in her life that sparked her health and fitness journey. The first was years of struggling with infertility, spoiler alert- she has a beautiful little girl who is now 3! The second was her job as a nurse practitioner and constantly aiding people to get healthy, yet finding she wasn’t heeding her own advice. She knew she had to start setting the example for others.
Thank you Dr. Shutes! For being that leader in our community, and a positive force in our gym. You always make us laugh in class and on SugarWOD/social media. Even through injury and hard workouts, you always give your all with a smile on your face. We are grateful to have you in our FitTown Family!
Here is Lindsay to tell her story.
I was born and raised in Florida – moved to Jupiter/Tequesta December 2016 after realizing all our weekends were spent visiting friends here. My husband Matt and I celebrated 11 years married in July. We have 1 beautiful daughter who will be 4 in November and a 4-legged daughter Koda who turned 10 in May.
My fitness journey started a long time ago while trying to navigate the under-spoken-about topic of infertility. My husband and I had been trying to have a child for 4+ years and knew that getting fit would help our chances. I was also a nurse contemplating going back to school for my doctorate. So, that journey began and wouldn’t ya know, I became pregnant in my final year of grad school. I gave birth, presented my doctoral project, and graduated all within a 2 week period. I like my plate full, what can I say?
Speaking of full plate, I had gained so much weight along with my pregnancy and was now having to “preach” to my patients the importance of nutrition and exercise, yet I was overweight and miserably unhealthy myself. Seemed hypocritical to me – so being the stubbornly determined person I am, with the push of my VOT girlfriends, signed up for BeachFit.
Then about 2 months in realized if I didn’t reign in my nutrition, I would be spinning my wheels at the gym. Nutrition and exercise are two of the most underutilized aspects in the medical world – and with the blessing and curse of the internet it has never been more obvious why people are so confused, and I see it every day in primary care. Everyone wants the quick, magic pill fix for their weight loss. Very few understand it all – I admit I was that person at one point, I’ve done all the fad diets and “cleanses.”
That is where Layne Norton who has PhD in nutritional sciences was on the Rogan show debating another nutritional scientist. I then dove into his content and found how simple nutrition is, but that we make it so much more complicated than it needs to be. Slowly, I began to see the scale go down. And by slowly, I mean it has taken me 2 years to get from about 33% body fat to 19% at my lowest. Was I perfect? No. But I was consistent. And consistency over time equals results. After coming across Layne, I found his team of coaches and people he follows and supports – which opened up a treasure chest of nutrition and exercise gold. Having the nutrition dialed in, having the Fittown programming to keep me moving – the only person that was going to prevent my success was me, and I wasn’t going to let that happen.
One of the most positive experiences I have had at FitTown was winning the Better Half Battle last year with Jason. I wasn’t even planning to compete because I did not think I could hang – I hadn’t even been doing Beachfit for a year yet. Coach Tony said I would be fine and encouraged me to compete. We ended up winning and having so much fun along the way. Now we are friends and have a solid BeachFit crew that push each other daily to be a little bit better than the day before. I am very fortunate to have such a great community to groan and laugh our way through workouts.
My motto for as long as I can remember has been, “The journey is the reward.” I can look at pictures today and be happy of my progress, but I look back and see so many reasons I could have failed and it’s in those moments that make today that much sweeter.
Most know by now that I herniated my L5-S1 disc in January of this past year. Through months of physical therapy (thanks Zach Summers!), scaling workouts, spinal injections – it became immediately clear one morning I would need surgery when I woke up and could not walk on my right leg. I ended up having surgery later that week. Took a week off from the gym, and then, with my surgeon’s approval, showed up daily to the gym to do my physical therapy exercises, bike and walk.
I never felt like I was going to the CrossFit Games – but my mentality has changed to longevity. I love lifting heavy – like really love lifting heavy, but I also know I don’t need to lift heavy to be healthy. I need to be able to pick up my daughter, God willing, have another child someday, and I plan to be active for as long as I have in this life. I am now 9 weeks post op, and am back in regular BeachFit classes, scaling where I need to, with plans to go back to FTX once I’m able – Zach will disown me as a patient if I’m not a good patient. I would encourage anyone feeling discomfort during workout – reaching out to a coach and/or Zach – we have so many resources for insight to why we feel certain things. Jump on your imperfections before they jump on you.
People that are on the fence of joining, or those having trouble staying consistent – I am living proof that you have all the tools at your fingertips to be successful – once I got out of my own way, was when I saw changes – the self-accountability was my gamechanger. At the end of the day, there are not enough positive things I can say about this community. I am so fortunate my girlfriends kept on me to join, I’m so fortunate I kept showing up, I’m so fortunate to have had an injury surrounded by some of the most encouraging, positive, loving people. Ideally, I’d not get injured, but coaches and members checked in on me daily, and were such a vital part in my physical and mental recovery. Everyone that played a part in my journey – has been my reward – and I cannot thank you enough.
