On a quiet Monday morning on the north side of Lethbridge, the sounds of weights clinking, heavy breathing and loud bursts of laughter can be heard coming from one family who loves nothing more than to work up a sweat.
If you would’ve asked Amber Siemens, a business management student from the University of Lethbridge, if this is how she loves spending her free time a few years ago, you likely would have been given a very different answer. Siemens started on a fitness journey in 2011 after she developed numerous aches and pains from working as a server. Stepping on the scales at home, Siemens was given a hard wake up call when the number that appeared at her feet was far larger than she wanted to see.
“I weighed 200 pounds and I was not OK with that. My body was sore all of the time and I knew I needed a change,” said Siemens. According to Statistics Canada, in 2014, 20.2% of Canadians aged 18 and older, roughly 5.3 million adults, reported height and weight that classified them as obese. A statistic that Siemens says she no longer wanted to be a part of.
Since that moment, the accounting major has been grinding away and pushing herself to make healthier life decisions along with inspiring those closest to her. Siemens’ brother Mitchell has witnessed his sister’s progression and says it’s motivated him to think more about how he treats his body.
“When she first started this, she had a lot of work in front of her but she kept going. Now to look at her and see where she is, it’s definitely inspirational,” says Mitchell. Siemens’ father Greg has also joined his children in the fight for better health, working out with them regularly at the gym when he is home from working in the Northwest Territories. Siemens says her father has helped her in so many ways, from gifting personal training sessions to being there to listen. His encouragement is part of what keeps her going.
In September of 2015, Siemens took another step forward in her fitness journey and enlisted the help of a nutrition and training coach, Ashlyn Merriman. Merriman is the owner and nutritionist of #PerfectFit4U, a local nutrition and training company that designs a menu plans and training schedule for its clients. Merriman says one of the common misconceptions people have about diet and exercise is that you need to eat less and exercise more.
“A lot of people come to me and end up eating more and perhaps not exercising less, but exercising smarter. So if you can think ahead and plan your week in a systematic fashion, you may end up finding that you’re eating much more than you were originally and losing weight,” says Merriman.
Five years down the road from her starting point, Siemens proudly says she’s down to 150 pounds and is the fittest she’s ever been. Strong, lean and sculpted muscles are visible through her workout gear which she said has been a challenging and sometimes difficult to achieve. Siemens says while the physical changes have been great, it’s mental and emotional changes that have really impacted how she sees herself.
“Sometimes you still look at yourself as heavier, and at first it was hard to take a compliment, but then you just have to say, yes, I worked hard and you need to embrace that. I had no self esteem four years ago, I had nothing and now I feel so much stronger mentally, physically, emotionally, all of the above,” says Siemens.
Juggling the responsibilities of studies, work and fitness have been something Siemens says she has to consistently work on, but when she steps out on the beach this summer feeling and looking great in a two piece bikini for the first time ever, she says it will all be worth it.
