Growing up I was very active, if there was an activity to be a part of my mom had me in it :) The main sport I played was softball. I also tried out soccer and did jazz, tap, ballet, etc. Softball and tap were my favorites! Our neighbor had a dance studio so I was able to be a part of a lot when it came to dance. I grew up very active and was always playing sports and in something. So as I grew older being active came naturally and I honestly love the rush and feeling I get after a workout. I continued playing softball up until my sophomore year in high school. After that it just got too scary for me lol. My freshman year of high school I also started playing tennis, this was a really fun sport and I played it all the way through high school.
While fitness and being active has come naturally to me nutrition hasn’t. I remember lots of fast food stops throughout my life. McDonald’s chicken nuggets were my favorite for the longest time, even after seeing the movie on how they were made. Looking back at high school and college its crazy how much fast food I ate but it was and still is fast and cheap. I don’t know what it is but the feeling after eating fast food for me is an empty feeling because I don’t get that full feeling but I feel super sluggish. It’s almost a depressing feeling.
I wouldn’t say I was overweight growing up but I always felt pudgy. My self-talk to myself wasn’t so encouraging. In 8th grade I had a growth spurt and grew out of the pudgy stage but still thought I was. I remember feeling not good enough. When I got into high school my food habits weren’t good at all I would either starve or over eat. I had so many rules with myself because I didn’t want to “get fat.” I would typically eat light all day and binge eat in the afternoon when I got home and then I would go back to not eating. It was almost like I was afraid of food. I remember hours of over working out at the gym too.After high school when college started I decided I was sick of being so hard on myself to be perfect. So I began eating more and the freshman 15+ came fast. It was here that I probably started eating when I was bored or lonely. I was still active, I worked on a farm my first 2 years of college so lots of activity there and I would go to the gym a few times a week. My eating habits were pretty poor though and once you throw in drinking I gained about 25 pounds by the time I left college.
Before starting my career post college I had to get a physical, everything turned out fine but my triglycerides came up high. I glanced at the report and moved on not thinking anything of it. After college actually 2 days after I graduated I flew to North Carolina to start my career. At the time food was covered by the company since I was on the road and not at home. So I went from being a poor college student to being able to buy whatever food I wanted for the time being. At first I went a little crazy LOTS of fried food, margaritas, sugary coffee drinks, pastries and desserts.
Soon after my stay in North Carolina I was sent to northern California to work for a while. One of the ladies I worked with had just lost a lot of weight on weight watchers and I had heard good things about it. So I started weight watchers still ate fast food just in smaller portions and lost 10 pounds. I never really felt full when I was doing this so it made it hard to follow. After that I stopped weight watchers and assumed back to “normal” eating. Soon after I was sent back to North Carolina for another work project there, I think I was there for about 3 months. I ended up gaining my 10lbs back going out to lunch and dinner every day.
Fast forward a few years I was working back in California on the road, lots of overnight trips for my job. Still eating out a lot and not making the healthiest choices. Last year I signed up for a gym membership finally home a little bit more to be able to use it, I really wanted to do the spin classes. During my introduction they included a free health assessment and I ended up signing up for a personal trainer. Around this time I had also gotten a new doctor she recommended I do a blood test because she said lots of girls my age have an iron deficiency. Well the blood test came back iron was fine but cholesterol was high! The doctor gave me 3 months to lower it naturally without medications. This was one of the first times I really had to think about my nutrition. I ended up lowering it losing 10lbs but it wasn’t enough. My doctor ended up putting me on medication. I was very determined that having a personal trainer would help me get this in control. They gave me a meal plan which just felt like low carb. So for the next year I was just battling with carbs and the changes weren’t really coming. Having a personal trainer did help me to get into a better workout routine and I learned how important it is to switch workouts up.
Soon after one of my friends was advertising Shakeology on Facebook and I decided to order a little sample pack for 20 bucks to see what it tasted like. I liked it and found a contact on Instagram that was offering a challenge group via Facebook to be accountable each day for workouts and nutrition. This went along with a challenge pack that included shakeology and an at home workout program. I decided that the same price I was paying for my trainer I could stop that and give this a try.
That was in November the first month I worked out 5-6 times a week where before I was only working out 3 times a week. The girls in this group were so motivating it pushed me to get my workouts in. It was so nice to be surrounded by such amazing people going through to same struggle. I began drinking my chocolate shakeology every morning with milk. Shakeology to me is like juicing without the effort and with a much better taste. It stops my sugar cravings and gives me energy. I had felt super sluggish every morning before I started drinking it. I was still making my daily morning and afternoon stop at Starbucks but that’s a whole different blog post lol. I didn’t make too many changes to nutrition just began to see what others were eating and doing. The first month of the group I had more energy and was feeling better about myself. The group also reminded me that I could love myself as I am now and I don’t have to be perfect.
There was another sign up for a challenge group in December and I signed up again. I talked to my coach about my goals and she recommended getting the 21 day fix program this month. It came with a food program that helped dial in my nutrition like no other. It still gave me days I could drink wine which I loved! I didn’t feel restricted. This was the month that I started to see changes and people started noticing. It was nice! I talked to my coach a little more and decided to become a coach because of the 25% discount each month on my shakeology. Above that I can now help others on their journey which I'm so excited about!
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