Welcome Schaeffer!

We are so excited to welcome Schaeffer to our trainer team here at Wilcox Wellness & Fitness. ​Schaeffer is originally from Texas but fell in love with Maine a few years ago. For the last 2 years, Schaeffer has been on her own health and fitness journey and has successfully lost 80 pounds.  Throughout this journey, she fell in love with fitness and nutrition and wants to share that gift with the world.  This is why in January of 2016, she became certified as a personal trainer.  We are so excited to have Schaeffer join our team – we are confident that she has the talent, the knowledge, and the experience to share the gift of healthy living with our community.   

Below is Schaeffer's Story...

“What you practice today you become tomorrow.” This quote has been how I try to live my life since I first heard it in the fifth grade. We all know practice makes perfect and that is truly something I aim to live by. As a personal trainer I believe it is crucial to always be learning to further expand my knowledge and to continue practicing, even the basics.

         When I first heard about Wilcox Wellness and Fitness and explored the website I immediately felt a sense of excitement that my career could possibly land me somewhere that took so much pride in what they do. Throughout my interview I was nervous as whether or not I should share my personal story to Paige and Mike but as we continued to talk they easily made my feel like it was okay. I was then able to share my struggles which I can now say they have become my strengths without feeling any judgment from Paige or Mike. I definitely see my past as a tool I can use during my career.
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         The mission of Wilcox Wellness and Fitness is to “help people enhance their lives by forming healthful habits that are sustainable for a lifetime” is really something I can relate to. Throughout my weight loss there was a long struggle of living a life with habits that were most definitely unsustainable for a lifetime. From the time I woke up to the time I went to bed my thoughts were consumed by the calories in every item entering my mouth and whether or not I would be happy about the number that appeared on the scale throughout the entire day. The anxiety, the stress and the feeling of being absolutely alone is something I would never wish upon anyone. As I look back at my struggle I can definitely say it has become a sort of strength.
 
         During my time with Wilcox Wellness and Fitness I hope to be able to share the importance of the 80/20 lifestyle and how huge it can be. For over a year I deprived myself of treats, nights out with friends, and even the simple things such as how much milk could go into my coffee. If there was a moment with food involved I had my measuring cups ready and was not going to eat anything until I knew the caloric information. Friends quickly stopped inviting me out knowing I would just say no. I was alone, I was internally battling demons and was not living a happy life.
 
As a trainer I see my past as a great tool that I can use with clients at Wilcox Wellness and Fitness. I can put myself in their shoes, I have been out of shape, I have been overweight, I have struggled with my relationship to food, and I have been the person who truly did not understand what “clean eating” meant. My first time stepping into a workout facility I was clueless I did not know what I was doing. Quickly into my journey I fell in love with the process and was constantly reading anything I could get my hands onto about the fitness world I went from just stationary biking to building my own routines to follow. I spent hours learning about nutrition and what the best way to fuel my body would be, I ate vegetables! Which is a huge deal for me because I spent 23 years saying “I hate green foods”. When my love for my own fitness journey became a passion I knew I wanted to become a personal trainer.
 
I became a personal trainer because I want to be the person I never had for someone else. I wanted to know as much as I could so that anyone seeking a healthy lifestyle would not have to spend the hours researching and reading conflicting articles. I have been where you are as a client and if I can say one thing it would be to not give up, believe in yourself, listen to your body, your trainers and the results truly will come, you will be able to live a happy life with habits that you can carry on throughout your life and share with everyone around you.
 
I definitely believe in and 100% support the atmosphere Wilcox has to offer, a place where your weight doesn’t matter but how you feel is the most important factor. I loved being able to see a consultation go from “I want to lose weight” to “I want to feel free to be active with my kids” all because Paige had the right words to say to really get the client to say what they truly wanted all along and that was to be able to move freely without pain and to keep up with their children.
 
At the end of the day everyone’s personal best is only temporary and I cannot wait to be apart of the team to see all the client’s journeys unfold. I am eager and ready to continue learning and practicing so that tomorrow I can be a trainer who exemplifies what is is to have habits that can be sustained for a lifetime. 

Schaeffer is currently in our new trainer onboarding program, learning about all of our systems, methods and processes and she will be all trained up and ready to accept clients in early October.  ​

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