[warning: tear-jerker zone ahead.]

while i love all my fab fitbookers, i'm especially honored to share cristal's story with you. she's like the OG fab fitbooker....like she created the term. her belief in fitlosophy, oftentimes inspired me when i didn't know if what i was doing even mattered. i'll share sappy closing comments, but first - meet cristal.

it was six years ago that the stars aligned to bring cristal + fitbook together. forever. (eva eva!)  after a promotion spurred her into action, cristal was working hard to lose weight that had gradually accumulated in her mid-twenties, and lose she did, using a calendar to meticulously plan and track each and every workout. then she hit the dreaded plateau. while her diet was relatively healthy, she wasn’t keeping track of her food intake with the same precision she exercised (pun, totally intended) for her workout habits. that’s when she happened upon our freshly-hatched little fitbook in an online fitness forum. the rest, as they say, is history. a love story, if you will.

fitbook opened cristal’s eyes to a kind of love she never dreamed possible, changing her outlook on life, on her health and well-being. fitbook made her want to be a better person. she started setting goals for the future. she practiced self-reflection. bad habits began to fall by the wayside, replaced with a new 'live life fit' approach to living. it wasn't just a love for fitbook that was developing - it was her discovering how to love herself.

as the romance developed, cristal shed 5% body fat and adopted a healthier approach to fitness and nutrition. so what is it that she loves so much about fitbook (and the fitlosophy family)? here's the love story in her words: 

I cannot give enough praise to this handy little fitness tool. 

six years in, cristal and fitbook are still inseparable.  in fact, she's been an integral part of little tweaks to fitbook over the years, even being part of our fitbook lite beta project where a select group of peeps got a sneak peek at the latest addition to the fitbook family. what customer comes to a fitness expo to just hang out with the booth just for fun? who emails you right after a new product launches to see if they were the first one to place an order? who lovingly sends an email outlining a few typos in your ebook? how adorable is this:

"I love the e-book so far!  For such a bossy person sometimes I like to be told what to do so I'm looking forward to following the 3 day Kickstart menu and workouts! Awesome job like always! Ok not to be an annoying little teachers' pet but I take my fab fitbooker job very seriously. :-) As I perused it I found an error on page 23...although only us OCD people would likely notice it!"

(author's note: oh cristal, it takes a bossy, OCD chica to know one...we are two (fitbooker) peas in a pod!)

from sending bottles of pinot noir in celebration of fitbook's birthday to emailing soliloquies of love for a new product right at the very moment i needed it, she has shown a belief in our products that reminds me why i do what i do.  but what made my heart overfloweth with joy was when she pounded 13.1 miles of pavement with team fitbook at the nike women's half-marathon to raise $26,000 for leukemia research in memory of my momma. she is truly a fitbooker-turned-friend, to say the least.

thank you cristal for believing in fitlosophy...for loving fitbook...and for touching my life in such a very real way. i am humbled that you credit fitbook for any of your success and am grateful that this love affair (and friendship) is one that will last a lifetime. keep it up girl - keep inspiring others to live life fit.

**with love**