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Burn Boot Camp: A Small Business With Big Benefits

My Journey as a Burn Sister at Burn Boot Camp Las Vegas

By Haley PetersonPublished 4 years ago 9 min read
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Everyone loves to support a small business, right? Although Burn Boot Camp is a nationwide company, each location is a franchise with a different owner. The location I attend, Burn Boot Camp Las Vegas, is owned by Mallory Kanos and employs head trainer, Jenna Stevens. Both of these women symbolize strength and girl power to the members of our gym and have truly made Burn Boot Camp Las Vegas set itself apart from any other gym I have attended. If you are considering trying a new gym, I cannot recommend Burn Boot Camp highly enough.

Most people have big events in their adult lives that make a meaningful impact. Some of these events in my life include getting married, becoming a teacher, having children, and becoming a stay-at-home-mom. I am not exaggerating when I say that aside from those milestones, joining Burn has changed my life more than anything else I have done in my adult life. Continue on to find out what parts of my life have improved due to my experiences with Burn Boot Camp.

My Mental Health

By Imani Clovis on Unsplash

I decided to try Burn about four months after my third child had been born. I was not in a great place mentally, and looking back on it, I probably had undiagnosed postpartum depression. My son was born six weeks early and I had a very traumatic birth experience with him. It was a bit of a slap in the face since my first two birth experiences were so easy compared to the third time around. I had to have an emergency c-section, and to top it off, my son ended up having to spend three weeks in the NICU. My recovery was much more difficult than I had anticipated and running back and forth between home and the NICU was exhausting and stressful. Once my son came home, I kept telling myself that everything was normal, but I couldn’t fight the feeling of emptiness I had. I felt like I had nothing to look forward to and I didn’t feel excited about anything, which was so confusing since I now had three kids and so much going on.

I knew I wanted to lose the baby weight and I knew exercise was a good way to fight depression, so I made a bid on a 20 camp pass for Burn Boot Camp at an auction and won. I figured I’d do the 20 camps, lose a some weight, and maybe feel a bit better about myself. Little did I know that I would end up joining Burn because of the changes I noticed while attending those 20 camps .

By working out every day at Burn, I obviously benefited from the endorphins that come from a great workout. However, I think the bigger impact was the fact that I had something to do and look forward to each day. I was able to bring my kids along with me because they offer free childcare and it created a little gym routine for us. I was given the opportunity to just focus on myself each day which can be so hard to find when you are a mom. After consistently going to Burn for a month, I felt so much more relaxed and was in a considerably better headspace than before. I am so grateful for that.

My Body Image

I think most women can say that they have struggled with their body image at some point in their lives, and many continue to struggle with it on a daily basis. Personally, I have always been obsessed with being skinny. I won’t get into why or when I think that obsession began, but I know I have always had the desire to be skinnier. Since joining Burn, my attitude about what I want my body to look like has changed a great deal. I won’t lie, I still would like to be skinny, but now I am more focused on looking strong and healthy to reflect the way I feel. I feel like a strong woman and when I look in the mirror, that is what I see. I love seeing that I am gaining muscle definition and I accept that those gains take a lot of time and dedication. Now, instead of trying to look skinnier and skinnier, I accept the way I look and appreciate each little improvement I see.

My Eating Habits

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that as a girl who was always focused on being skinny, my eating habits were not great. In fact, I would actually say I had terrible eating habits that were mixed up with my poor body image. I had two modes: eat whatever I want or eat as little as possible. When I was being “good” (or what I thought was good), I would pay attention to every calorie in food and I figured, the less the better. I really didn’t think about the quality of my food or what it was doing for me. I was okay with going hungry and figured that was just what I had to do in order to lose weight. When I was being “bad,” I was really bad. I would eat junk food and sweets and every other unhealthy option I wanted. It was rare for me to be between these two extremes and both modes were unhealthy in different ways.

Now, I know I have a much better understanding of what it means to eat well. I track my calories and limit myself, but I don’t focus on trying to eat as little as possible. I pay attention to macros (protein, carbs, and fat) and try to find high protein options. I try to eat foods that are what I consider to be real foods, like veggies and meat and whole grains, as opposed to processed food with thirty or forty ingredients in them or “diet” foods. I also am much better at not being so hard on myself. At Burn, they teach us that it is just not realistic to eat perfectly all of the time, so when I do eat something that isn’t great, I don't beat myself up about it because I know that most of the time I am eating foods that are good for me. My relationship with food has improved exponentially since joining Burn and following the guidance of trainers.

My Motivation

I can remember talking to a woman at Burn after my first camp and asking how often she came to camp. She said, “Every day!” I was shocked! I had never been one to work out every day. Three days of exercise a week was a lot for me. Now, I am that girl! I work out five to six days a week (Burn is closed on Sunday) and I love it. I look forward to exercising and I am motivated to keep improving.

I’m not only motivated to show up, I am motivated to set and achieve goals. When I started at Burn, I could only do two push ups on my toes, and this year I was able to do 25! I have taken up running and was able to run six miles without stopping last week. If I could go back in time and ask myself if I thought I could do those things a year ago, I know I would say I couldn't. I push myself more when I work out at Burn than I ever have in my past and I have seen huge improvements when it comes to my strength and endurance. I want to do better and I feel like I am capable of doing better. Working out is no longer a chore or something I feel like I should do, it is something I enjoy and see as a challenge.

My Social Life

If you talk to any member of Burn, she will probably tell you that Burn is more than just a gym. As a stay-at-home-mom, I don’t have co-workers, unless you count those tiny, bossy ones. I used to be a teacher, so I had frequent opportunities to talk to friends, but since leaving teaching, those opportunities have become fewer. I am so grateful for the friends I have made at Burn. Sometimes, going to the gym is my only chance to get out of the house and having positive, like-minded people to spend my time with is so valuable. We get socialize at the gym and at different social events that I always look forward to.

My Confidence

As women, I feel like we are given the message over and over again that after having kids we shouldn’t expect to look good anymore. We should feel like our good years are over and we should accept that we are just going to be out of shape. As a member of Burn, I do not feel this way at all. I feel more confident about the way I look and I feel strong. I have lost weight and gained muscle, but I have also gained an appreciation for what my body is able to do. I am actually in better shape now than I have ever been because I know how to eat properly and I am consistent with exercising. I love that through my experiences at Burn I have gained confidence in not only what my body looks like but also what it can do.

As I stated earlier, joining Burn has turned out to be a life-changing decision. Since being a teenager, I had always wanted to be in better shape and have more confidence in myself. It turned out I just needed the help of Burn to get me there. If you are considering supporting a small business and trying out a different type of gym, I urge you to try Burn Boot Camp. It is so much more than just a gym.

If you need more convincing, you can check out my other articles about Burn Boot Camp. The first is 9 Reasons Why You Should Give Burn Boot Camp a Try. Another one describes how Burn has adjusted to the needed changes during the COVID-19 Outbreak and is called At Burn Boot Camp, We Don’t Stop. We Modify.

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About the Creator

Haley Peterson

I am a full-time teacher turned stay at home mom, and I have been loving every minute of it!

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