In this week’s blog/podcast, we will talk with a fascinating young lady about her remarkable fitness journey. Angela Riley opens up about being down and out, and giving up on herself. Then something changed in her mindset, and she built herself into an overall machine! Angela runs, does yoga, and strength trained her way to major transformation!
It has been said: “Noone works harder than her!”

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Coach: What do you do for a living?

Angela: I am a Photographer 

Coach: How long have you been in your profession? 

Angela: started fresh out of college in 2001. Trained under a photographer, my mentor for a couple of years then began shooting weddings on my own.

Coach: What moved you to get into this field?

Angela:  always loved and was obsessed with photographs. To me, they are a beautiful way to remember our special moments and people in our lives. Life flies by and we lose people and suddenly these snapshots we have, have become some of our prized possessions. Being able to give those to people is amazing. 

Coach: Angela you have a favorite quote that you live by, tell everyone what that quote is and why it resonates with you! 

Angela: “Don’t ever let anyone work harder than you do” and there are multiple reasons why. Growing up, I had to study hard to get good grades and I did.  My Mom would always tell me, as long as you worked hard and did your best then I can’t be mad at you. I knew that if I wanted to get into the college I had to work hard. We didn’t have money. I started working young and always held down 3 jobs while in college and high school sometimes and even after college for many years.

Then during my weight loss journey I signed up for multiple weight-loss competitions and my trainer, Ben Galloway, would yell through the gym to me every day while we were training: “NO ONE WORKS HARDER THAN YOU DO!” It clicked then, that had been my motto in life and I never even realized it! I’d rather work hard and earn everything I get. Whether it be material things or fitness goals...I’m always going to do my best to never let anyone work harder than I do! 

Coach: That’s awesome, who would not like to be told that they are the hardest working person in the room. Were you athletic growing up? 

Angela: Not at all! I was never obese always at a healthy weight and in high school, I of course would worry about my weight and wake up and do Denise Austin and Gilad workouts on lifetime tv before school but that’s the extent of it. I wasn’t a runner, I didn’t play sports and I didn’t have the desire to either. Athletics wasn’t something that was important in our household so it just never was clear to me the importance until a little later.

Coach: Wow, so you did not have old memories to draw off of. Take us back to the start of your journey, how were you feeling?

Angela: Oddly enough as heavy as I was, I always worked out for the majority of my adult life. I did two half marathons, so many 5k’s, weight training you name it. Now mind you I was the slowest person in the first half marathon. Well put it this way out of over 3300 participants I beat 30 something. So I wasn’t good, but I tried. I don’t think I realized how hard it was for me then until now when I see how much easier my body moves. And how much faster I can improve my speed and endurance and strength etc. 

Coach: What was your wake up call? 

Like what made you get up one day and say I need to change my habits?

Angela: it’s pretty sad actually. And it’s such a strange thing for me to share because I don’t know how I got to where I was but I got involved in a very abusive relationship. Not necessarily physically although there were a couple of incidences that were, but very verbally and emotionally abusive. I never thought I’d be the girl who would allow that, but yet there I was. Afraid to leave. Being told I was fat and compared to his skinny girlfriend he used to have in front of his family on holidays, called fat at gatherings with friends. Afraid to leave because he made me fearful of what he’d do to my friends or family. So I kept getting bigger and bigger because I knew he wouldn’t let me leave easily, but he was disgusted by fat people. I even said once when he said why do you keep getting so fat and I said, so you go away! It didn’t work and one day it just hit me, I was stronger than this. I would never imagine ever accepting being treated like this and why am I? I called my best friend up when he was out, asked her to borrow her dad's truck and we packed all I could and I got out of there and lived on a couch at my work until I could find something I could afford. I was essentially homeless and yet happy...because I was free. It took a while longer to officially remove him from my life. He didn’t make it easy but it eventually happened. Then the real work started. I now had to take my broken spirit and extremely overweight body and try to fix it. Little by little my self-esteem improved and the weight came off. But it took me a few years before I even really was ready to try wholeheartedly. 

Coach: That is an incredible story and I’m so galad that you began to wake up and seen your own worth. Why dig yourself an early grave just because of someone else’s insecurities? We are not trees, we have the ability to get up and move. I’m glad you did just that.

Noone is an overnight success….. This is a process….. What were you doing initially to start your journey? 

Angela: I got a personal trainer and started just lifting and doing cardio and following meal plans. I wasn’t perfect in the beginning. I didn’t always listen. Food is my addiction. My go-to no matter what emotions I’m feeling, good or bad. I had to make little changes daily until it became a lifestyle. 

Coach: What At The Moment Are Your Healthy Habits?

As a busy photographer, what is your 

Exercise Routine?

Angela: I first try to eat as healthy and clean of a diet as I possibly can. For me, the biggest battle has always been diet. I have no problem doing the work in the gym. I consistently lift weights, usually 6 days a week. I run, sometimes distance, sometimes sprints, sometimes short runs mixed in with my weight sets. I try to work out 6-7 days a week. I have found that with diet as well as exercise you really need to become a very regimented person. You can’t wake up and plan to eat healthy and work out without actually having a plan. I get up between 4 am and 5:30 daily, there’s something powerful about feeling like you’re awake before everyone working on your goals. I plan my meals out for the day, like literally type them out on my phone and add calories and protein etc. to be sure I’m fueling my body with what it needs. I have my workout figured out the night before with the help of my workout partner. When we don’t plan that’s when we just say oh I’ll work out tomorrow, or we are starving and don’t know what to eat so we just grab anything. Planning and preparation has been a huge key to my success. 

Coach: Do you practice Intermittent Fasting? 

If so, what does that look like for you? 

Angela: I was when working in the gym with my trainer but almost by accident. I don’t know. My body has lost a lot of weight (100 lbs as of like two weeks ago) and it seems I’m hungry every couple hours no matter how much or little I eat, so I wake up pretty hungry. I usually have my first meal within an hour or two of waking up. 

Coach: Any special diet that you are currently following?

Angela: Very high protein, I’m currently trying to build more muscle and definition in my muscles. I try not to have many carbs but do have sweet potatoes, blueberries, oranges, cottage cheese, egg whites, turkey burgers, salmon, chicken, protein bars and shakes, oh and broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts. Obviously, I have other things and I allow myself to have a cheat meal a week, which I think I want to start referring to as a reward meal because cheat has such a negative tone to it. 

Coach: I love it. When thinking about the words we choose to describe a satifying meal…. let’s say it’s a “Food Freedom” meal or day. As you say, the word cheat has a negative vibe. On the other hand “Reward” meal leads to some thinking that because they followed a certain plan for a certain amount of days, they deserve a reward. We were taught this at a early age, as parents said: “If you are good, I’m going buy you some ice cream/candy/McDonalds, etc.” Do you know what’s a better reward, and I’m sure you’ll agree: Buying the next size down in jeans. Reward your hard work with new piece of clothing for your wardrobe.

How do you feel now since adopting this healthier lifestyle? 

Angela: I feel amazing. Honestly in the beginning I felt selfish. I’m used to doing everything I can to make everyone around my life better and at the expense of my happiness and health. I’ve changed completely and it took time and it still takes some getting used to. I have realized that in order for me to be the best friend, girlfriend, coworker, or employee, etc, I need to be the best me first. I will be there to help people though because I want to be. I honestly need to be! It is my calling, I’m almost sure of it now. However, I can’t do the work for you. You need to want it and when you do, I’ll be there however I can. I am the healthiest I have ever been physically mentally and emotionally and it’s beautiful because I am now attracting the right people in my life. Positive amazing supportive people who want to lift me up not bring me down. People who have similar mindset and goals and drive as I do.  I’m just so happy and I have goals, so many goals and I’m excited to achieve them and find new ones! If I can inspire or help others along the way, then I’ll be even happier. 

Coach: Wow, how much have you lost? 

Angela with trainer Ben Galloway

Angela: I am down 100 pounds and basically number wise I’m where I need to be give or take a few pounds. Now it’s more about sculpting my body to look exactly how I want to. Becoming an extremely well-rounded athlete which means I want to be strong and amazing at weight lifting, I want to be faster when it comes to running, I want to achieve new goals in yoga, and I would love to box more. I want to just look back and say wow, I achieved so much and came so far. 

Coach: Oh my goodness, Angela, that is amazing. So proud of you. How do your family and friends enjoy this version of you?  

Angela: The ones who truly love me are happy for me. They want me to succeed and honestly are as amazed as I am at what I have been able to achieve. I lost the bulk of my weight within a year.   

Coach: Oh, is there anything that you are doing now that you could not do before losing the weight?  

Angela: I had a goal in March to run a mile in under 9 minutes. I crushed that and ran 4 consecutive miles, one in under 8 (7:57 to be exact) and the other 3 miles in under 9 minutes. Never in my life have I ever ran a mile in less than 10 minutes. That’s just one solo mile. When I ran my first half marathon my pace was like 15 minutes per mile. The half marathon I did in April of 2019 (the beginning of my weight loss journey) I was around 12 minutes per mile. I was supposed to run that same half again in April 2020 and I wanted to do it in under 10 min pace. I didn’t get to see if I would have reached that due to COVID but I’m excited to see how well I do when I can run one. 

I can do yoga, never was good at it because when you are obese it’s hard to bend and stretch and get your limbs in positions needed for yoga. 

Push-ups, I can do push-ups, a really good respectable push-up, not just 1 but 100 in a day and at least 25 straight through. There’s a lot more I’m sure but those are the ones that come to mind immediately. (see picture above)

Coach: What are you excited about today, any special goals that you are working on at that moment?

Angela: Life has me excited, and my future, and sharing my life and future and goals with special people who have been a huge part of my journey some since day one like my trainer which I honestly owe so much to, down to some who have been a hugely positive force since the beginning of the new year (2020). I’m super excited to start a new diet which is going to be an extremely challenging one but one that I need to achieve in order to get to where I want to be for a fitness competition. I'm starting that diet today. I would love to compete in a fitness competition. I want to crush a half marathon. I want to compete in a spartan race, I want to inspire others who are where I was a year ago. And people have been messaging me asking me how I did it. I was at a local restaurant and two women at different times came up and said they are following my journey and how I’m inspiring them. One said she didn’t even know how she became my Facebook friend but I inspire her. What all of these people who message me or speak to me and say I inspire them to need to know is they help give me the fuel I need on a day when I just am tired or just don’t want to do it,  to keep going! 

Coach: How can people connect with you, Angela? 

Angela: I have a new fitness Instagram because I have recently been getting a lot of questions about what I eat, supplements I take, workouts I do etc so I thought that might be a better way to reach people who are interested in my journey. That is @arfitness78 I can also be found on Facebook, just look for Angela Riley but that’s definitely more for my photography. The best place to connect for fitness would be Instagram first ! 

Coach: Angela, again we are so proud of you for dropping 100lbs, sharing your story with us all! We are all routing for you and all your goals and endeavors

Thank you for being on the blog & podcast.

(Listen to Angela Tell Her Story:

Episode #58 - Hard Work Pays Off)

Before we let you go........

WHAT can you say to our listeners who may be ready to start their journey tomorrow? 

Angela:

Change is scary. It’s hard.

If it was easy we would all do it. I did it, so can you!

And whatever you’re doing, don’t let anyone work harder than you do! 

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