Finding The Balance of A Healthy Lifestyle

I have shared my story with you in the past but today I was thinking about all the ups and downs that I have had which have gotten me to where I am today.  The most important thing to me right now is finding and keeping the balance of being a stay at home mom, a wife, a personal trainer (online and in person), a healthy living blogger, and still taking the time to workout and eat healthy.  I know if I am eating healthy my family is too, since I am the one doing the shopping and cooking, and it is so important to keep my self, my hubby and our daughter healthy.  We only get once shot to take care of our bodies and I want to make sure we do.  Health is something that you don't think about until it is too late.

So thinking back to my ups and downs in terms of weight gain and loss over the years the one thing that I realized is that I was just trying to lose weight to look better.  Which is fine, it was motivating and it kept me going...at the time.  Then I would reach my goals, get comfortable then start eating what ever I wanted.  I think the last straw for me was after I gained 60 pounds during my pregnancy.  When I look at my pregnancy pictures I really can't believe that me, a personal trainer, let myself get so big.  After having my daughter and working slowly and consistently to lose the weight and get my strength back, I realized that I now had to take care of myself to be able to take care of my daughter and be a good example for her.  This was my why!  My reason for wanting to be healthy, happy and balanced.

 Here is my timeline from 2006- Now:
2006- I was probably about 180 pounds.  We had just gotten married, then tragically my best friend (and one of my bridesmaids passed away).  I was about 140 pounds when we got married.  I wasn't taking care of myself and I felt miserable.  I decided to do something about it and read The Eat Clean Diet, joined a gym and starting working out again.  The weight slowly came off and I felt so much better.  The endorphins from the exercise helped me to better deal with my grief.

2009- I maintained my weight loss and stayed consistent with my workouts and clean eating.  We will going out and enjoying married life and hanging out with friends.  I would drink on the weekends, but I made sure to stay on track about 80% of the time with my eating.  I was happy to be able to maintain my weight loss.  I became a personal trainer this year too and started working at Lifetime Fitness.  I was loving life and loved helping clients learn the benefits of exercise and clean eating.

2011-2012- In April 2011 I found out I was pregnant and I was overjoyed!  I really wanted to have a fit pregnancy.  However I was so tired and nauseous in the first trimester I slept a lot and wasn't getting to the gym before work.  As I progressed through my pregnancy work got harder and I was tired and achy.  In October 2011 I left Lifetime, did some training from home until I had my little one.  I didn't realize how big I had gotten until I saw that pic!  However, I wasn't going to dwell on it.  I knew once my doctor gave me the green light to exercise I would get back into it, which is just what I did.

2012-2013- It took me about a year to lose all the weight.  In the spring of 2013 my brother got married and I was standing up which gave me the motivation to lose a little more.  I finally was about 20 pounds less than when I got pregnant.  I knew that I need to be strong and healthy to take care of my growing little one.  From carrying the car seat and loading and unloading the stroller it was a lot to do on a daily basis and would only get harder the older she got.  I knew I wanted to stay strong.  I was lifting weights, walking, doing some Jillian Michaels workouts and eating healthy and balanced.  I was also breast feeding which helped keep my metabolism going (thanks mother nature!).

Now- I am happily maintaining my weight loss and know that I will never have a huge weight gain again.  I don't really care what the scale says, I just go by how I feel and how my clothes fit!  My goal is to keep building muscle and to do my HIIT workouts so I can keep up with my growing daughter.  She is 34 pounds now and still likes to be carried sometimes.  I want to be able to do that and be able to run, jump and play with her!  I know that taking care of myself and setting a good example is important.  She is used to mommy working out and plays while I workout in my home gym.  I am training some clients from home and working with others online.  I blog and stay active on social media...my hope is to inspire others to live a healthy, happy, balanced life.  I want to be strong, have killer muscles and be all around healthy!  I know when I get pregnant again that I will stay fit and healthy!

We all have our ups and downs in weight loss and weight gain, the important thing is to find your healthy balance with eating whole real foods, exercising regularly, and still enjoying a little of the "treats" too!

If you are wanting to lose weight, add some muscle and learn to live a healthy lifestyle, but don't know where to start...I am now offering a 4 Week Shape Up Plan with or without 1:1 coaching.  If you need something more specific I also offer 1:1 fitness and nutrition coaching.  Check out the Fitness and Nutrition Programs page or shoot me an e-mail.  I would love to help you start living your healthiest life possible!