I have always been more of a curvy type figure. In high school, I played volleyball, basketball and softball, so I was pretty active, but never what you would have called "skinny".
My real weight loss problems started after I had my daughter. I gained 55+ pounds with her and ate nothing but Taco Bell (don't judge! If I knew then what I know now...) I seriously thought something might be wrong with her at birth, but thank all holy goodness, she was perfect! I was really sick during my pregnancy and tacos were the only thing I could keep down (go figure!) I had dropped about half of that weight but not all of it.
4 years later, I gained about 40 pounds when I was pregnant with my son, I definitely ate better, not great, but better. I had about 30 pounds to lose, so I joined Weight Watchers and got a membership to a gym. I lost those 30 pounds and was the skinniest I had EVER been. There was a class at the gym called "Turbo Kick" and I LOVED IT! It was kickboxing with a little bit of dancing and it was AWESOME! I went 5 or 6 days a week and lost about 2-3 pounds every week. Weight Watchers is a great program, however, I ate mostly skinny cow ice cream sandwiches and popcorn! NOT a healthy way to go. I ate a lot of sugar free and low calorie foods. It helped me to lose weight back then, but it definitely didn't give me energy or make me healthier inside. Try that at my age now, no way it would have worked! Oh...to be 25 again!
My husband's job moved us to a new city about an hour away. I no longer went to the gym and stopped counting points, and the weight slowly crept back up, and then some...
Fast forward a couple of years...I was watching an infomercial with P90X. I immediately ordered it and thought I was going to have the best, bangin body ever! Within about 10 minutes into the "Assessment Test" I realized it wasn't for me. I almost DIED! Funny, but not funny...I was so discouraged! My first introduction to Beachbody was not a good one. I felt terrible about myself, like how could I have lost all that weight just to let it creep back up! I started to incorporate the Weight Watchers plan a few times, a day here, a day there, maybe string a couple of weeks together, but nothing stuck because I wasn't losing weight like I did a few years back when it seemed to just fall off. I'm not a rah-rah, meeting type person so I didn't go to meetings consistently. I basically went only to buy the Mint Cookies - true story.
I yo-yo'd with my weight for a while, tried Slim Fast (which works by the way because it makes you feel sick to your stomach and you don't want to eat anything else!), I tried diet pills, stuff you sprinkle on your food to "take away" the calories. I did cleanses, juice diets, LA weight loss and NOTHING stuck for more than a month or two.
One night I was watching TV and an infomercial for TurboJam came on. I WAS SO EXCITED! This was EXACTLY the program I did at the gym several years back when I had lost a bunch of weight! I ordered the program and fell in love with Chalene Johnson! It was like this is what I had been waiting for! I did the program for the first 30 days. I lost alittle bit of weight, but honestly life just got busy. I was building a business from scratch, my kids were in every activity under the sun and I was stretched thin. I didn't have time to meal prep or cook every single night. Not to mention, I really didn't know how to eat healthy, because Weight Watchers lets you eat anything for the most part and I definitely didn't have time to measure out and calculate recipes with points values and servings. I would pop a workout video in every once in a while and go back to watching what I was eating, but nothing ever stuck for more than a couple of weeks. Every once in a while I would lose 10-15 pounds before a vacation, but I always gained it back after, and usually alittle more.
My life for the past several years was what I would consider chaotic. Between my daughter dancing and cheering year round and my son playing one sport right after the other, we were an extremely busy family. It was a lot of pizza and fast food for us. Whatever was easiest and quickest is what we ate. When I did cook, it was going to be something I really enjoyed! I mean if I'm going to take the time, it better damn well taste awesome too!
Over the years, I've had back issues galore and the tendons in my feet were always inflamed. I had carpal tunnel, tennis elbow and got headaches ALL THE time. I was a mess but you just deal with it and keep going. I'm a mom, that's just what we do!
We moved to Texas from California about 3 years ago. I promptly gained about 20 pounds (on top of the 30 I already had to lose) within about 3 months of moving here. I was seriously depressed. Outwardly, you probably couldn't really tell. I'm a pretty positive person by nature, but I felt terrible about myself behind closed doors. I was so unhappy and it was absolutely affecting my marriage as well. My husband is my best friend, but I was in a dark place and didn't want to talk to him about anything. I chalked it up to being too busy, too much on my plate, too stressed out. I was an emotional wreck behind closed doors, but my husband has always been my rock. He has always been there for me and even when I pushed him away, he stayed true. He is the best man ever and has never said anything about losing weight to me. I cannot even imagine feeling terrible about yourself and having your loved ones point out the obvious.
The doctors assesed that my weight gain was due to stress, my hormones were out of whack and I needed to start hormone therapy. She wanted me to do hormone injections and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. All I could picture was a hairy chest and deep voice! LOL In my heart, I knew it was my diet and lack of exercise. I thought I can't workout because of my back. I can't do push ups because of my arm. I can't jump because my feet hurt. All were excuses.
At some point you have to look yourself in the mirror and say..."Cut the sh*t already! Get off your a$$ and start moving!"
So I joined a cross fit gym. And I started drinking protein shakes. The gym was next to the shake shop...so that was convenient. My girlfriends were also taking classes with me so it was really good for a couple of months! I felt like I was getting my mojo back. My trainer showed me exercises that helped stretch the tendons in my arm. Because my core was getting stronger, I had less back pain. My feet still hurt but I pushed through that because running was just a small part of cross fit training. I lost almost 20 pounds and was starting to feel really good again. I think my competitive streak helped there because I HATED being last to finish class - note...I was ALWAYS last to finish class.
Then BAM...strained my back. And what did I do you ask? ...sit up contest with my 13 year old son. So dumb. The next day I was meeting a couple of my friends at the gym, to do ab work no less, and BOOM...completely pulled my back out. I was down and out for several weeks. And slowly, the weight starting creeping back up.
I did not go back to the gym. I had fought so hard for how far I had gotten with cross fit that I didn't even want to know how many steps I had fallen back. Then once again, life got busy, working out wasn't a priority anymore, and having to start over was too daunting a task to consider...
Fast foward to August of 2014. I'm watching TV and a PIYO infomercial comes on. I love Chalene Johnson but I really do NOT like yoga. But the program looked so cool. I started mentally preparing because I know in my heart I need to make some changes. I start looking for motivation and inspiration. I find it all on Instagram. If you're looking for fitness anything...you'll find it on IG! And that's where I found my coach, Brittany. I was watching her do her workouts, posting everyday and making real changes. I reached out to her to find out what it was she was doing exactly. We started talking about Chalene Johnson and how much I loved her Turbo workouts, and how I was thinking about ordering PIYO. Here's the thing about Brittany, she never pushed me. She would nudge but never push. It took a good couple of weeks for me to pull the trigger and buy it. While waiting for my package to arrive, I started researching PIYO results online and was blown away by the transformations. These were everyday, busy moms like me and they were making it work. They were ladies who didn't enjoy yoga, but loved the program. They were women who liked to sleep in, but were getting up early to get in their workouts. I started to get really excited, because if they could do it, so could I. I started connecting with others like me and was mentally ready to start my journey.
My package finally arrived on a Thursday. I popped it in that night and never looked back. I started waking up earlier every morning. And trust me...it was TOUGH, but you push through because I had goals and had made the commitment to myself. I was also really tired of starting over. It's sooooooo difficult to start in the beginning. The first two weeks were really hard, but it got easier. I eventually started to enjoy the sweat, the soreness and looked forward to the "workout high". All in all, I lost about 16 pounds in 60 days. I started noticing changes in my body, but I knew I needed to get my nutrition under control if I wanted real noticable results.
Then I started thinking about the 21 Day Fix program. It was on sale for only $10 if I bought a bag of Shakeology. I was hesitant about Shakeology because 1) it was expensive 2) I probably wouldn't like it because I am super picky and 3) it was expensive. I already had a few cannisters left of my previous protein shakes so spending the money for something I didn't "need" was hard to do. Brittany suggested the option to become a "discount coach" for FREE if I ordered the challenge pack, which would save me 25% off my monthly Shakeology shipment. Win-win right?
YES! Win-win! This fitness program, this meal guide, participating in my first Challenge Group and drinking Shakeology each day changed EVERYTHING! It was that light bulb moment when everything just clicks. I loved the support of the challenge groups. Shakeology was delicious and what I looked forward to every day. Trust me when I say that it is so worth the $4 a day! I have never felt healthier in all my life. Even when I had lost weight in the past, I wasn't internally "healthy"... I can say that I no longer have coffee in the morning, I don't drink diet coke anymore, and I have more energy than ever!
I am currently doing the Insanity Max 30 program. I am doing the MODIFIED version because of my previous back and feet issues, but so far, I am loving it! I cannot wait to see my results!
Here is what I've learned: If you put your mind to something and you work really hard every day, you can do this. I am still learning and I still have my hiccups, but you have to cut yourself a little bit of slack. We are all human, we will make mistakes, we will have set backs, but we have to forgive ourselves and move forward. Dropping those extra pounds for good is not just about working out, its not even just about eating better. It's an emotional journey as well. It's all of those together. We can master each one of those individually, but when you do all 3 at the same time, you'll have succeeded in changing things for a lifetime.
I have the most amazing support system. My team gives me motivation and inspiration to keep pushing through every day. The truth is, I still struggle to get out of bed each morning and work out. I have aches and pains and have to fight my own mind sometimes to push out those negative thoughts and excuses. This journey is not easy and it is not meant to be taken alone. I have no doubt that if I didn't have this amazing support system of others also on this journey, I would have given up by now. I am so thankful I took that leap of faith and jumped back onto the Beachbody bandwagon. It scares me to think it could have been just a fleeting thought. I am thankful to my coach for not giving up on me when I was hesitant. I hope I can do that for you as well!
This healthier way of life has become my passion, my inspiration and my motivation to keep pushing through every day. I am so proud of how far I've come and how many people have started their journey to get healthy because they see me pushing through mine.
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