I’d had enough. I knew I needed to start a journey to weight-loss. So I did.
I looked in the mirror tugging at the extra skin left over from two emergency cesarean sections. Looking at my body that housed my children not with respect, but with disgust. This body used to be strong, and now I wake up everyday in chronic pain. I cringe as I get out of bed each morning and slowly get my son up for school. After a old back injury of a bulging disk five years, ago mornings are the worst for me.
My youngest is up and breakfast is served and we eat together I set him up with a cartoon. I get my yoga mat and settle in to do my yoga routine. I do this so I can move throughout the day. I wish this was relaxing and zen but the pain doesn’t allow me to feel that until I loosen up. I don’t talk about my chronic pain it’s just something I’ve lived with.
This was me a year ago not in love with who I saw in the mirror and suffering with chronic pain. I decided after years of surviving I wanted to be thriving so the quest of becoming fit challenge began.
[bctt tweet=”After years of surviving I wanted to be thriving. #fitmom #health”]
I have a history/background with fitness since I was thirteen. I remember doing my first Jane Fonda workout in the 80’s with my older sister and I loved it. Compared to what they teach now it was contraindicated scary aerobics but no one knew the difference back then. I embarked on a fitness career after high school when I took my training to teach general choreography aerobics, step aerobics, weight training, and personal training. I ended up teaching for seventeen years as well as yoga for ten years.
I was always really active playing sports in and out of school. Fitness and weight gain didn’t become a problem for me until I was sixteen. When I moved a long ways away from my family to live with other family members. I was very homesick and depressed so I gained the “freshman fifteen.” I ended up losing it all with the Fit for Life plan written by Sam Garcia. Then I moved back home to my former province and became serious about working out regularly at the gym. Fast Forward a few years in time after marriage, career, kids, sleep deprived days and nights struggling
My inspiration is my children. I want to be fit and healthy so I can keep up with their activities. I’m classified as an “older parent” with two young children in my early forties. I want to teach them healthier ways to eat, think, and live. My husband and I will be those parents that are keeping are children’s minds and bodies fit and active with physical literacy.
[bctt tweet=”It was always about #health, feeling comfortable in my skin. #fitmom”]
I personally don’t own a scale so I weigh myself once a year at my Dr’s office or a friends house. My clothes are my deciding factor of whether I’ve put on weight. I had a health scare back last year and I had to get a complete blood panel to rule out diabetes. I’m happy to say that I’m healthy and my Dr told me to keep doing what I’m doing. My pain level had increased and I needed to address that as well. I don’t sleep a lot with my youngest son’s severe sleep apnea. I very rarely feel rested so my body doesn’t feel refreshed or healed. I needed to do more than have stress and anxiety be my chosen weigh to shed pounds. I finally have a great balance right now after feeling the adverse affects of late nights, poor eating choices, and sleep deprivation. I’ve been researching for the last while about the affects of losing sleep and it scares me. I don’t want to be a statistic!!!!
What worked for me:
*Disclaimer* this is my personal journey and method of losing 30 lbs. This may or not work for everyone as this is my own personal account and opinion for weight-loss.
I did the Beachbody program complete with workout, meal plans, shakeology, and a fitness challenge group. With these methods and my coach they kept me motivated, supported, and accountable for my daily check in’s. After six months of accountability and daily shakeology I signed up as a coach. Now I get to help change lives and bodies one person at a time.
My pain level I had been experiencing had increased so that became my deciding factor on getting back into fitness. I was tired of failing, living life as a depleted special needs parent, and hiding behind something or someone when my picture was being taken. I wanted to be a Mom who could keep up with my children’s active lifestyles and not have to push through the pain. It’s very humbling to know and feel my age and poor choices that were affecting my health back then. I needed to be that fit, active Mom and a better example to my kids. Also for being in their future teaching them healthy ways to eat, grow, and live. I also love the convenience of Beach Body on demand program with workouts.
My ultimate goal was to gain strength and cardio endurance and not have to be in pain whenever I had to move from a seated or prone position. I grew lighter, leaner, and stronger. It was never about becoming a new size of what we see in the magazines. It was about health, feeling comfortable in my skin, and to like who I see in the mirror again. Although it was a long journey from stuffing my feelings with cake and wine I’m happy to say I do love me and I’m a better Mom, wife, and friend after taking back me!