"Literally, I've canceled social plans to go work out. People are always like, 'What is wrong with you?'"
Photos courtesy of Sarah Colket
Growing up, Corey Furdon was a girl to be envied: slim and athletic. The competitive gymnast could eat what she wanted, when she wanted, and not gain an ounce.
When Furdon left for college, things changed. She was busy with classes and a vibrant social life, and gymnastics were no longer part of her regular schedule. But one thing stayed the same: her eating habits.
“Being a gymnast is awesome, but it doesn’t give you a realistic view of what real people do and eat,” Furdon says. “I had a crazy metabolism. I didn’t have to try, or think about what I was doing. When I quit and went to college — not doing gymnastics, but eating the same — I just put on five pounds every year.”
This trend continued as Furdon settled into a new life filled with school and a long-term relationship.
“Another five pounds, another pants size, another set of clothes to give away,” she says. “It took a toll on my self-esteem and confidence, and it made me a really unhappy person.”
Furdon says she was unmotivated and on a destructive path. She would go to the gym in spurts, even hiring a personal trainer at one point. But every week, she had a different excuse as to why she couldn’t go. At her heaviest, the 5-foot-2 former gymnast weighed 160 pounds and wore a size 12/14.
“I was wasting money and I had no motivation to turn it around,” she says. “It’s a weird place to be … I hated where I was and how I looked and felt, but I was so unmotivated to change.”
The catalyst came in January, when Furdon’s relationship abruptly ended.
"I felt very alone," Furdon says. “It put me in a total tailspin.”
She moved in with her parents, spending her evenings watching TV and drinking wine.
“I got even more unhappy and unsatisfied with what I was doing, and that’s where CrossFit came in and changed everything for me,” Furdon says.
Long before she stepped foot inside CrossFit New England, Furdon knew about CrossFit. Being Facebook friends with CFNE firebreathers, Ali LeBlanc and Mel Ockerby, she became intrigued and slightly jealous of status updates describing what they were doing at their gym. Then her sister and brother-in-law joined; they knew CrossFit could be an answer for Furdon.
“With my athletic background, they thought I’d like CrossFit and they wanted me to get out of the funk I was in,” she says. “They kept bugging me until I started (in April), and I haven’t turned back since.”
It was obvious from her first time at CFNE that it was unlike any other gym or personal trainer she’d seen, Furdon says.
“We have the best frickin’ community in all of CrossFit, I think,” Furdon says. “Everyone is so supportive. It’s about being around a group of people who won’t let you fail — they won’t. Literally, I’ve canceled social plans to go work out. People are always like, ‘What is wrong with you?’”
The 29-year-old says she has set herself up for success.
“I really made a commitment to myself to not miss a night,” she says. “I’m committed to leaving the office at 5 p.m. on the dot to go and work out. I’ve told everyone at work — I won’t miss the WOD for anything.”
Furdon’s commitment has paid off. In the six months since she’s joined CFNE, she’s slimmed down to a size eight and maintained 150 pounds. She fits into her size eight jeans she hasn’t been able to wear in five years.
"I think my weight hasn't changed drastically because I was all fat before and now I've converted a lot of that fat into muscle, which, as we all know, weighs more than fat,” she says. “I don't measure my success in pounds. I know I'm succeeding when I put on jeans that I could barely squeeze into before CrossFit and now they are borderline too big."
And Furdon’s revamped her eating habits from take-out, candy, cookies and wine, to eating mostly paleo.
Most importantly, she says, she’s changed the way she views herself.
“A couple of people have told me that I have this aura — this light — around me that is radiant and can show how happy I am. It’s just cool that CrossFit can bring you from a bad place to a good one. I wake up every day and I’m happy,” Furdon says. “I never thought I’d be here six months ago."
