Alexis Johnson and Emily Bridgers Share CrossFit Transformations

Over the past couple days, both Alexis Johnson and Emily Bridgers shared before and after photos showing how their body has changed since starting CrossFit. While both look dramatically different than they did just a few years ago, they had different starting points.

Johnson weighed 88 pounds and “spent every hour of every day obsessing over food” four years ago. She hated how skinny she was, but would avoid eating enough food to have enough energy to do things with her friends.

That all changed once she found CrossFit four years ago, but her mindset didn’t change immediately. Johnson said, “It took almost 2 years to truly overcome my eating disorder, and for a LONG time, each and every day was a battle.”

The picture on the left (~88 lbs) represents 3 miserable years of my life- a time that I spent every hour of every day obsessing over food. A time where I deleted almost every picture of myself because I hated how skinny I was. I would choose to stay home over doing things that I loved because I wasn’t eating enough to have the energy, or I wouldn’t be in control over what I ate. Each day, I was pouring all of my energy and focus into something so pointless. I knew that I was losing valuable friends and was all other motivation. Yet, I woke up every morning and continued down the same, self-destructive path. I was running myself into the ground, and thought that it would never end. Fast forward 4 years. My arms are now thicker than my thighs used to be, and I’ve qualified for my second trip to the @crossfit games. Initially, Crossfit motivated me to turn my life around. I loved being in the gym, and knew that if I wanted participate, I needed to fuel my body. I remember convincing myself to eat because I wanted to become strong enough to BACK SQUAT 100#! It took almost 2 years to truly overcome my eating disorder, and for a LONG time, each and every day was a battle. This “better everyday” mentality carried over into general training. My goal has never been to be competitive, but instead to become stronger and faster than yesterday and motivate others to do the same. 📸- @prestonsmithphotography @mission6nutrition @fitaid @crossfitgames @misfitathletics @below_parallel @virusintl

A post shared by Alexis Johnson (@mf_mathlete) on Jun 7, 2017 at 10:37am PDT

For Bridgers it was the opposite. Bridgers came from a place eight years ago where she didn’t eat healthy, she drank a lot of alcohol and simply didn’t live a healthy lifestyle. Bridgers started doing CrossFit one year later and after seven years of constantly varied, functional movement done at high intensity, Bridgers looks completely different. As she says, “I’m proud to be much healthier and fit at 29 than I was at 22.”

And here’s transformation #2 for the day… May 2009 vs May 2017. Tomorrow marks 7 years of doing @crossfit! This is for anyone who thinks they can’t change their life… it didn’t happen over night. There was no magic pill. It took consistency and hard work. Lots of constantly varied, functional movement done at high intensity. Gradually building muscle over time. I eat far more now than I did in the picture on the left. I drink a lot less alcohol. A lot less! I’m proud to be much healthier and fit at 29 than I was at 22. Tag a friend who needs to hear this 🙌

A post shared by Emily Bridgers (@emilybridgers) on May 31, 2017 at 10:48am PDT

Both Johnson and Bridgers qualified for the 2017 CrossFit Games. It will be Johnson’s second trip to the Games while it will be the 4th for Bridgers.