About Me
My name is Jessica Cazes, I started my personal training business in 2017 after graduating the Kinesiology program with my diploma and finishing my personal training certification course through CSEP (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology).
My journey started early on when I discovered my passion for health and fitness during high school. I always found it interesting that people could change the way their body looked and felt through exercise. When I started to exercise, I started to notice I had a strange urge to share that with others and I wanted to show other people how to do it properly. I figured since I wanted to show people how to exercise, the obvious match for a career choice was a personal trainer.
Education
2015-2017
Kinesiology Diploma
CNC
After high school I decided to take a Kinesiology program to equip me with the best certification for my career choice so I could help people be successful and filter out all the misinformation in the industry. Throughout the program, I learned a lot. There were things that really stood out to me, like all the diseases and health complications that were related to poor nutrition and lack of exercise. Learning all that was something that really drove me and it transformed my health and fitness interests into a passion.
2017
CSEP-CPT
Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology
As soon as I graduated, I was then eligible to take the CSEP certification course, which I then did. CSEP is the Gold Standard in Exercise Science and Personal Training so, I made sure to select my education carefully. Although taking a common 2 day personal training certification was tempting, the knowledge and confidence I have in my work and education is an investment my clients can feel confident in.
My Journey
I used to think I needed to suppress my love for food and sacrifice my enjoyment from it if I wanted to be slim. I also believed the only way to be slim was to do intense cardio and burn as many calories as I could. So, for the longest time, I did intense cardio for 1.5 hours a day for 5 days a week, every week.
At the time, I thought It was the only way I could still eat what I wanted and look thin. To an extent, that was true. I burned a lot of calories. I was slim. I was however also obsessed with the amount of calories I consumed, I was cold all the time and I was very weak. This is where my unhealthy relationship with food began. I started to avoid sugar because I thought it would make me fat. Then I avoided fat because I thought it would make me fat and then I was freaked out by carbs because I thought they would make me fat too. I always stressed if I ate something I thought was considered “bad” which was a daily struggle at the time and I was overall very unhappy. That “all or nothing" & “good food/bad food” mindset had me trapped for so long and I dreamed of the day I would never feel like that again.
Throughout my journey to the “perfect body” I started to learn about metabolic adaptation. This truly blew my mind. In short, as we increase our activity level and muscle mass, our metabolism increases. This is the rate our body converts food to energy. This means when we move more and/or have more muscle on our bodies, we can eat more food and maintain our weight, reduce fat, and look slim. I then started looking more at natural female athletes and was surprised to see it was possible for a toned woman to consume over 2000 calories and look incredibly fit (not bulky).
In my own journey, weight lifting has made me realize I’m much stronger, more capable and confident than I ever thought was even possible. I feel happier and more in control of my fitness goals. I can eat the foods I want without feeling guilty, still maintaining a healthy lifestyle while feeling confident in my own skin. I no longer kill myself with cardio and avoid so called “bad” foods. I strive to maintain a healthy lifestyle and sometimes that includes binge watching my favorite Netflix show and enjoying some ice cream.
I want to reach as many people as I can because I want people to realize that you don’t have to give up joy to live a healthy, maintainable lifestyle. Eat foods you enjoy, move in ways that make you happy, live the life you want and get results that last. If you want this to be your reality, I can help you get there. With a balance of cardio, weight lifting & flexible dieting methods you can accomplish amazing strength and aesthetic goals. If you want to get stronger, lose fat, maintain bone density or live a healthier life, weight lifting is scientifically proven to help you accomplish that. With weight lifting, you even have the power to shape your body and I think that’s amazing. Exercise is something that should be celebrated and not used as a punishment for something you ate.