5 minute read
Figuring It Out
PHOTO COURTESY OF CRISTY NICKEL
Former pro boxer and Code Red founder Cristy Nickel pushes past limitations
BY JODIE NICOTRA
Given her decade-plus career as a professional boxer, Cristy Nickel doesn't have the best memory. But she clearly remembers the moment she got her drive.
"I was really little, and for some reason I would always be saying, 'I can’t, I can't.' One day, my mom turned to me, and she said, ‘Stop saying 'I can't.' You're Cristy I CAN!'"
From that day, Nickel said, it was like a switch flipped. Her sense of feeling limited by circumstances vanished for good.
Growing up poor on a 100-acre farm outside Orofino introduced Nickel to hard work. It also instilled a resilience that carried through to the rest of her life: from college to bodybuilding competitions to a distinguished boxing career to her current work as weight loss coach.
"We were broke, we were poor, but I just figured it out,” she said. “I bought my first horse at ten years old because I just figured it out. I figured out a way to pay my way through nursing school. I figured out a way to get to New York and train celebrities. I figured things out because 'I can't' is just not in my mind."
Nickel’s ferocious drive is on evidence in “Code Red: Diaries of Madness,” a documentary released this year by the bodybuilding-focused production company Generation Iron. The film, the only one from the company to feature a woman, follows Nickel through an intense process of preparing for a bodybuilding bikini competition.
Nickel had competed once as a young adult, but was unhappy with her preparation and the results. Returning to the stage at 46 presented an intriguing challenge. Not only did she want to prepare for the competition, itself a grueling process—she wanted to do it in six months.
Though the competition was a success (Nickel won third place), it came at a steep cost. The intense timeline took a toll on Nickel's health, and by the time of the competition, she was on the verge of multiple organ failure.
"I don't suggest anybody do that," she said. "I was sick because I had to lose so much weight so quickly, and I had to push so hard. My body was under tremendous stress."
Nickel still trains and competes, but now she does it more for the enjoyment of pushing herself, and for the social aspects.
"I don't really care about a trophy or a crown or a sparkly medal—I already have those, I don't need more. It's just the whole experience of being with the girls, of traveling, of getting on stage. It's the whole package that makes it fun," she said.
Nickel is the founder and CEO of the multi-million dollar Boise-based weight loss company Code Red, a venture started in 2014 after she realized that a healthy body requires more than exercise. Despite riding 300 miles per week at the time as an elite-level cyclist, Nickel described herself as having skin and gut issues. She also wasn’t happy with her weight, so she took a step back and looked at her diet.
“I realized that I was mainlining sugar. And I was eating stuff like the Costco M&Ms with the zip lock at the top because, well, I'd be getting ready to ride 100 miles, and I figured that I could have what I want,” she said. “Finally, I said to myself, 'well, you can't do that, Cristy!'”
Code Red offers customized health and weight loss plans with different levels of coaching assistance. The premise is simple.
“We like to say we’re spreading the message of hope and healing through real food, water, and sleep. You don’t have to buy anything. You don’t even have to buy my coaching. It’s just the proper human diet,” Nickel said.
Along with public speaking, Nickel’s favorite part of coaching is seeing clients have “lightbulb moments” about their health.
“They have this horrible guilt about not making it to BodyPump, or not going to CrossFit five times this week. We’ve been sold a bill of goods, we’ve been sold a story from the government, by the education system, and it’s driven by the food industry, who wants you to eat more food,” she said.
“And so when I can say ‘No, not true, and here’s the proof, I can watch that guilt and shame be lifted off of them. And it’s the best feeling.’”
“Code Red: Diaries of Madness” is available for rent on Amazon Prime.
