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Success Stories
See how these men and women changed their bodies and minds, plus discover their nutrition and exercise tips.
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Jill Augello: Jill to the Rescue
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Jill Augello, the 34-year-old Body-for-LIFE 2002 Grand Master Champion who now lives in Los Angeles, rescued herself from utter despair and gained a new outlook on life by following a moment of inspiration with definitive action.
Hitting rock bottom
On March 25, 2002, Jill’s years of struggling with depression and apathy about her life culminated into one defining moment. "I remember sitting in my kitchen and actually hitting rock bottom," she says. "I couldn’t have felt any worse. My relationship was suffering. My husband was miserable. I was miserable. We were both overweight. And instead of trying to find solutions, we were hovering over all the things holding us back. We were in an absolute rut and couldn’t see a way out. It was just awful." Jill didn’t know where else to turn and asked for help from a higher power. "I prayed for inspiration to come into my life."
When Jill stood up from her prayer she immediately walked over to her computer and went to the Body-for-LIFE Web site (www.bodyforlife.com). Jill knew of the 12-week training, nutrition and supplementation program but says it wasn’t consciously in her mind at the time. "I don’t know what made me go those steps from the kitchen to the computer in that short space of time … I just did it. I didn’t think about it. And I know it was God answering my prayer." Jill downloaded information, called to order an entry packet and called her husband to inform him they were going on a "new plan." They bought the Body-for-LIFE book and studied it the following weekend. And on Monday, April 1, 2002, they started their Challenge.
Jill says taking that first step was the reason she finally succeeded at turning her life around. "In the past I’ve always had a fear of change. I was the world’s worst procrastinator. That’s why I instantly felt better after making those phone calls because I made the decision I was not going to live my life like this anymore. I was sick of being depressed. I was sick of being tired."
Beyond obstacles to solutions
Originally from Scotland, Jill says one of her dreams since the age of 15 was to achieve great fitness and even be in a fitness magazine. "I just didn’t have a program. I didn’t know how to exercise right. Where I came from, we had no gyms in our area, no sports teams. No one teaches you how to eat properly."
When Jill came to the U.S. in 1993, she joined a gym, but stopped after not seeing any results. "I was working out six days a week, up to two hours, sometimes two and a half hours, and getting absolutely nowhere, but nobody was telling me at the time that I was overtraining."
Then in 1998 Jill heard about the Challenge and talked with a trainer about it. He told her it would take her two years to transform her body like the people in the brochure she showed him. "Since he was all cut-up and in such phenomenal shape, I figured he knew." Still, Jill was undeterred and got the application forms for the Challenge—only to discover she couldn’t enter because she wasn’t a U.S. citizen at the time. "Of course, then my accountability was gone," she says.
Finally entering the Challenge in 2002 provided the accountability Jill felt she’d always needed to make a lasting commitment. And shifting her focus from obstacles to solutions was the key to coming through on that commitment. "I used to think I didn’t have enough hours in the day to work out. And it was just really dealing with finding solutions and not dwelling on all the obstacles. If people focused more on working out a plan of how to execute something, and not on the things that hold them back, they’d be in much better shape, and that’s what I try to do."
One of Jill’s stumbling blocks to fitness in the past was not wanting to go through the whole rigmarole of packing a bag, driving to the gym, working out, packing the bag back up and driving home. So she decided to work out at home. And she got creative about it. Since she and her husband only owned a few weights when they started the Challenge, she would use things around the house—paint cans from the garage, 33-pound buckets of kitty litter, laundry detergent tubs, ect. She’d use the steps to her basement for lunges and bench dips. She did push-ups in the doorway. And she dusted off the cobwebs and removed the towels hanging over their treadmill and used that for her cardio, although she says you don’t need a treadmill. "It’s just an excuse to say you can’t work out at home, go outside and run. If you want to do it, you’ll find a way."
Eventually she and her husband added more equipment using the money they saved by not eating out all the time. And she stayed on track with the food program by preparing everything she’d need for the next day the night before.
At the end of the 12-week program, Jill, at 5 feet 4 inches, had dropped from a size 8/10 to a size 0/2, from 138 pounds to 112 pounds and had slashed her body fat by more than half from 32 percent to 12 percent.
One dream begets another
Jill says it’s the inner transformation that ultimately meant the most. "If I had to choose between the physical and inner change, I’d definitely go with the inner change because that’s what changed my attitude and that’s why I’m doing the things I’m doing now, because it gave me the confidence to change my life."
After completing the Challenge, Jill decided to follow through on another lifelong dream—rescuing animals. She now runs an animal shelter from her home. "It’s the most rewarding job I’ve ever had in my life," she says. "For years, I’d been doing other jobs, but always dreamed of rescuing animals, but I always had a fear that I wasn’t strong enough to handle injured or sick animals. Finishing the Challenge gave me the confidence to go ahead and do it."
Jill says anyone is capable of transforming their life with the right attitude and focus. "If you’re not happy in the way you’re living your life—you’re not happy with your job, you’re not happy in your relationship, anything—you can change your life. You just have to consciously make that decision. Block out this negativity of `you can’t’ or `it will take too long.’ We spend too much time focusing on the obstacles. Focus on the solutions and how to get to where you want to be."
"We don’t realize how powerful we are or how close our dreams can be," she continues. "I was told it would take two years to make my body look this way. I was 12 weeks away from having the best body I’ve ever had. Can you imagine how close someone else’s dream might be? It could be just right at their fingertips and they don’t even know it."
Jill’s workout plan
Weight training
•Upper body on Monday and Friday and lower body on Wednesday one week. Lower body on Monday and Friday, and upper body on Wednesday the next week.
•Reps of 12, 10, 8, 6, and 12 and then one set of 12 reps of a different exercise for the same muscle group at the end.
Upper body:
Dumbbell bench presses
Dumbbell flyes
Seated dumbbell presses
Bent-over raises
Reverse-grip pulldowns
Dumbbell pullovers
Lying dumbbell extensions
Bench dips
Hammer curls
Incline dumbbell curls
Lower body:
Leg presses
Leg extensions
Dumbbell lunges
Lying leg curls
Standing calf raises
One leg calf raises
Leg adduction: Stability ball (kneeling ball squeeze—three sets of 15 reps),(inner thigh ball squeeze— three sets of 15 reps)
Leg abduction: Floor hip raises (three sets of 15 reps)
Cardio and abs
20 minutes high intensity cardio on treadmill or outdoor track five times a week.
•After her cardio session on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, Jill does 15 reps of the following exercises and repeats the circuit three times.
Lower ab crunches
Leg raise/hip-ups
Side crunches (each side)
Knee-ups
Lying crunches
Back hyperextensions
Active rest ( two to three minutes stretching)
Basic ab stretches
Side bends
Stomach vacuums
•On Tuesday and Saturday, Jill also does the following oblique exercises:
Three sets of 15 reps (each side) of:
Vertical hip raises
Twist crunches
Side crunches on ab bench
Three sets of 25 reps (each side) of:
Elbow to knee side crunches
Bicycle with last set to failure
A day of Jill’s nutrition plan
Meal 1:
6-egg-white omelet with ½ tomato
½ cup oatmeal, ½ scoop chocolate protein powder, 1 teaspoon natural peanut butter
Coffee with skim milk
2 glasses water
Meal 2:
Nutrition shake with ½ banana, raw ginger
1 glass water
Meal 3:
Grilled chicken in a honey wheat tortilla with cayenne pepper, lemon juice, tomato,
broccoli, cucumber, onions, carrots, lettuce, celery, 2 tablespoons salsa, 1 tablespoon
apple cider vinegar, and 1 teaspoon hempseed oil
1 glass water
Meal 4:
Nutrition bar
½ banana
Coffee with skim milk
2 glasses water
Meal 5:
Grilled salmon with spices and lemon juice
Steamed kale with 1 teaspoon hempseed oil
Sweet potato
1 glass water
Meal 6:
Nutrition shake
Apple
1 glass water
Meal 7:
½ cup cottage cheese
1 glass water
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