Transformed Herself!

For most of her life, Tomery Stolz’s world revolved around being fit. As a child, she played hockey competitively and even played for the University of St. Thomas. But after college, her competitive hockey career was over and she was left with two degrees—in broadcast journalism and communication studies—for which she no longer was passionate. “I felt completely lost,” she says. “I had a degree that I lost interest in and a strong competitive appetite that was no longer being fed.”

So Stolz did what many career-confused college grads do: She went abroad. “I went backpacking through Australia for six months and had the time of my life,” she says. The time spent away from competitive athletics, however, took its toll. “I came back completely out of shape and several pounds heavier, which, as a formerly fit person, made me very unhappy.”

Stolz joined Life Time Fitness’s twelve-week intensive Boot Camp and lost ten pounds and 6 percent of her body fat. “It changed my life,” Stolz says. “Not only did I learn a lot about how to train my body for desired physical adaptations, I also learned the importance of embracing a lifestyle change. I completely changed my eating habits and started looking internally at what I needed to do to improve my self-esteem and self-worth.”

Though she was working in corporate America at the time, Stolz soon realized that her heart lay in personal training. She started teaching at the Boot Camp part-time before deciding to take a leap of faith and switch careers. “A good trainer is an educator, a coach, and a friend who isn’t afraid to push someone out of their comfort zone in all aspects of life. That is what drew me to the position the most: knowing you can affect people’s lives on so many levels and that they will be more well-rounded because of it.”