Good Nutrition Is Their Mission

Positive, proactive and progressive — these are words to describe some of CB’s amazing, nutritious Falcons. The Talon found out how they lost weight, eat healthy, and strive for bettering their fitness.

CB Spanish teacher Ms. Tracy Chadbourne she had an early start to her proactive health journey.

“I started exercising in high school and it was always something I just enjoyed doing,” she said. “The eating healthy thing came as I got closer to 40, and I realized ‘oh I need to watch what I eat’.”

Juan Alba (’17) started his unique journey this past summer.

“My weight loss journey actually started right after summer when I came back from my trip to Colombia and because I had eaten a lot there, I needed to stop eating bad and I’m [start] strict dieting.”

“I’ve actually lost around 50 pounds. I was at 240 and now I’m at 196. I know my weight now is not perfect, but I am happy because I would’ve never imagined I could reach this goal.”

People sometimes have a hard transition with change, so they must have a strong will in order to transform their habits. People have many different reasons and ways for changing their lifestyle.

“I want to eat right and exercise so I feel good,” Ms. Chadbourne says. “I love to walk, lift weights, do yoga, ride bikes and hike.”

Juan started his journey for different reasons, however,

“When I was in Columbia I was not eating well, I was eating greasy food and it made me feel gross. I was starting to crave healthier food,” he said. “I felt like I was always bigger than everyone else around me and I just wanted to feel good about myself and be gain more confidence.”

Colin Crawford (’17) had another motivation for his weight loss.

“It revolved around my rowing, because I row and I started in the winter over Christmas break and my brother had me go on a cutting diet which is meant for weight lifters,” he shared. “I did the weight loss to get into top boat for my rowing team and I wanted to go to a race in San Diego and that was my main goal was to lose as much weight so I could get faster. I ended up being an alternate to go, so I accomplished my goal, which is awesome.”

As of now, Colin has lost over 80 pounds since the start of Christmas break last year. He gives his own secrets for how he achieved this amazing transformation so rapidly,

“I do rowing, and sometimes after practice, which is from 4-7, I will go to the gym and I’ll do weightlifting and cardio and all that jazz.”

Juan chuckled as he tells the Talon his secrets to his weight loss,

“I actually don’t exercise whatsoever — I hate exercising. So if you want to loose weight the best thing to do is dieting,” he advised. “I don’t have carbs, I don’t eat sugar and I don’t eat dairy or corn or grains.”

“Once you lose weight by dieting, you start having loose skin so I’m going to have to start working out soon so I can gain that weight back with muscle. But it’s important to be active at least 20 minutes each day.”

Juan also excitedly gave his opinion and tricks to dieting that he believes will be helpful for anyone wanting to start dieting,

“It’s not as hard as you think — once you start seeing the numbers dropping, then you feel encouraged to continue. When you start, commit yourself 100%,” he says. “No cheat meals — you can have cheat bites but don’t break it, because it’s not worth it.”

Colin agreed with Juan, saying it’s important to stay committed to your healthy lifestyle.

“You need to set yourself to a goal and you need to strive to accomplish that goal,” he said. “I think the number one thing that helped me is if your feeling that ‘oh I’m going to cheat on my diet, I’m going to cheat this one time’, you’re not really. If you have that one time, you are going to cheat more and you just have to power through and be committed to it. It really takes commitment.”

Ms. Chadbourne leaves with these final words of encouragement for the CB community,

“I think eating healthy and being in shape is a reflection of how much you care about yourself,” she says. “So take time for yourself, love yourself, give yourself the gift of health.”