HOUSTON — My name is Nigel Stokes. I’m a Master trainer and boxing fitness trainer. I am also the owner of Women’s Elite Boxing here in Houston, TX. I was not always a boxing trainer for women. In my former life I was a successful career woman. I was also 400 lbs. Something had to change…

I first started boxing in 2012 for fitness. I wanted to lose the weight, get healthy and feel good. As my personal fitness journey progressed, I knew that not only would my health change but also my life. Not long after I started Women Elite Boxing to share my story, I decided I wanted to help other women get healthy too.

My first experience with a boxing gym was pretty intimidating because it was a co-ed boxing gym and there was no one there that looked like me. And it was pretty tough being almost 400 lbs. but I was on a mission and I believed in myself so it really didn’t matter how uncomfortable I was I knew it was something I had to do.

Boxing changed my health and my life because it’s showed me what my body was capable of doing and it allowed me to push myself in a way that I was never able to push myself and it helped me lose 155 lbs. I also wanted to show other women how to do this through boxing training fitness. My journey became much more important than my former career job.

My journey from there to here has taken me about two years to lose the weight but honestly the journey never stops as this is a lifestyle that I’ve created. It is something that continues today through teaching people how to create this lifestyle passion for themselves.

Although I don’t look at it as work, boxing fitness training became a part of my life full time. In 2012 it happened pretty quickly from the time I started training groups at parks all over Houston. I stepped out on faith and I quit my successful day job in about a month and a half from the time I started training so it was pretty quick. Then I opened my gym in January of 2013 at 330 lbs.

Showing women how to transform themselves and create this amazing fitness lifestyle through boxing fitness training is absolutely my passion and I wouldn’t change what I do for anything. This is what I’m supposed to be doing with my life.

Boxing fitness training has helped me and all of the women that I train stay fit because of the way it challenges your body as well as your mental fitness. It’s something that becomes addicting as you continue to want to challenge yourself each and every day. Making this a lifestyle change is not hard to do when you find something you enjoy doing for fitness, it makes it much easier to follow through.

I would say probably the number one question that women ask me when they first begin is, “do I think this is something they can do?” and it’s so amazing when they ask me that question because they’re not just asking me that because they want to know the answer, they want to know my experience. Experience is always better than just an opinionated response. I’m always happy to tell my students my experience and answer any questions from them coming from experience they feel much more comfortable with the response but the answer to that question is always yes you can absolutely do this! It’s never easy but with the support of these amazing women and myself it can absolutely be done.

My hope is that my journey when communicated will serve as the motivation to help women take control of their health and their life. The process leads to a stronger belief in yourself which can only be a great thing. You Can Do It.

This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.