My journey towards a healthy lifestyle started a few years ago - but it was a slow start. Let me back up a bit...
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After I graduated from college, I started my career as a public accountant (fun, right?). I worked really long hours, we ate out for lunch every day - and I'm talking big lunches, ate out for dinner most nights, and went out for drinks way too much. It was one of the most fun times in my life, but also was one of the most unhealthy times in my life. My personal life was a mess, I was really unhappy with my job, and I decided I needed to have a fresh start. I moved to Chicago (from Grand Rapids), started a new job and left my friends and everything that was comfortable to me behind. This was the best thing I ever could have done for myself.
My husband, Chad and I started seriously dating when I was living in Chicago and he lived in Grand Rapids. This was the most healthy relationship I had ever been in and my life started to change. I could sleep at night, I never got migraines anymore, and my negativity was subsiding. Things got really serious with Chad and we knew we had a future together. He had a daughter, Jenna, from his previous marriage so moving was not an option for him. After less than two years in Chicago I moved back to Grand Rapids to be with Chad and to start my life with Chad and Jenna.
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| Just me, Chad, and the sandy beach in Hawaii on our perfect wedding day |
We got engaged, married, and about 6 minutes later (or so it seemed) we were overjoyed to find out we were pregnant! 10 months later we had a baby girl, Stella. This is when my journey towards a healthy lifestyle began. Like any other new mom, I really wanted to focus on losing the baby weight at first. After most of that came off, I wanted to keep going because I finally cared about my body, about having energy, and trying to be at a weight I was comfortable with.
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| Stella's newborn photoshoot. |
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| Stella at 3 Years |
So I started to count calories and I worked out occasionally. I tracked every single thing I put into my body - but I wasn't committed to any workout routine and didn't push myself at all that way. And even though I counted calories - I never was concerned with what those calories consisted of or when I ate....the only thing I cared about was the math and the number on the scale going down. I got down to a weight that was 20 pounds lower than my pre-pregnancy weight and I was really proud of that. Then we were surprised to find out we were pregnant again! Knowing this was going to be my last pregnancy, I figured I had better take advantage of it and eat brownies any chance I could. After counting calories for a while I was really excited to just eat whatever I wanted and not care. So the weight came on pretty fast :)
10 months later, our little girl Vera was born.
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| Vera's newborn photoshoot |
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| Vera at 1 Year |
I knew I would get back on track and lose the weight just like I had before. So I immediately started counting calories again and then eventually decided I was going to try to take up running. I ran every.single.day. I lost all the weight and got back down to the my pre-pregnancy weight. Then I hit a plateau and felt like my body wasn't changing. I had such a desire to change my body. I wanted to be stronger, leaner, toned, and healthier. I wanted to eat clean and stop putting junk into my body. So I started to do some research, talked with several people and eventually decided that I wanted to try a Beachbody program. After talking with my coach about what programs might fit my needs/goals the most I decided I would to start with Focus T25 with Shaun T and also started drinking Shakeology.
I joined a closed Facebook Beachbody Challenge group that was run by awesome coaches who help you on your journey. In this challenge group I was provided with so much motivation, resources, tips, accountability, and incredible inspiration. I quickly became obsessed with T25, followed the workout schedule to a T, drank my Shakeology daily, followed my meal plans, and ate extremely clean. And what do you know - my body began to CHANGE. Hard work, dedication, setting goals, and holding myself extremely accountable was working! Not only was my body changing - but I have more energy than I've ever had in my entire life, I haven't been sick at all, and I feel so positive and uplifted. After being in the challenge group for a little while, I knew that I wanted to be a Beachbody coach so that I could help inspire others like my coaches helped me.
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| 7 weeks into T25 and Shakeology!! Work in Progress! |
After working ALL of my life up to this point, I recently just became a stay at home Mom and finally know that I'm following my passion and am fulfilling my calling by helping others on their journey to achieve their own healthy lifestyle - all while being able to spend this precious time with my little girls. I've been dreaming about being able to start my own blog, be my own boss, be in charge of my own destiny, and all while helping others trying to be as healthy as they can be. I'm so excited about this journey of mine and I hope to help many others along their journeys as well.
We only get one body and one life - why not make both the absolute best we can?
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| Three of the reasons I push myself so hard! Our three beautiful girls. |
