How I Got Started On My Fitness Journey

MY STORY

I get so many questions about how I got started on my fitness journey! I saved an Instagram Story highlight called “My Story” if you want to go back and watch it. But, I wanted to share it here so you can have it to read and save it for later when you need motivation. 

In 2012, I went to a work event and Jinny S. Ditzler, author of Your Best Year Yet, was the speaker at the event. I was 24 years old at the time and I remember her telling us to write down the top 10 accomplishments for the year and the top 10 disappointments for the year. I remember struggling to come up with any accomplishments. I was 24 years old, right out of college, I was the youngest in the room by several years, and I couldn’t think of anything for accomplishments.

When it came time to write down disappointments, I had 15 that I could think of and we only needed 10. I looked up in that moment and realized that I was the only one at the table that was scribbling down disappointments. Everyone else that I was sitting with at the table was running marathons, winning awards at work, getting promotions, getting married, having kids, doing all these things that I knew I wanted to do with my life. I realized that I didn’t have any of those accomplishments and I had nothing to be proud of.

I remember going home super defeated. I remember thinking how embarrassing it was to have written all those disappointments down and I thought to myself “what is wrong with me?” I actually took the piece of paper home and studied the 15 disappointments I wrote down. I realized that they didn’t just stem from the number on the scale but they stemmed from my lack of confidence, my insecurities, and lack of self-worth. I realized that I wasn’t taking care of myself and I felt like crap all the time. I realized that I had 2 choices. I either had to make friends with those disappointments because whatever you are not changing, you are choosing. Or I had a choice that I had to make that I could change. 

I could do the hard thing like going to the gym, make better food choices and actually work to lose weight. I was 215 pounds at 24 years old. I had gained weight rapidly after graduating from college and I didn’t want that to be my story. I didn’t want to wake up at 40, 50 and 60 thinking “gosh I should have done something. I was too lazy, I had too many excuses, I was too busy, too tired, etc.” I realized in that moment that I had a chance to do things differently and have a different outcome and that is what I did! 

On September 28, 2012, I made a promise to myself that I wasn’t going to quit. For the first time in my life, I was actually going to follow-through on a promise I made to myself which was that I was going to get healthy once and for all. I told myself that I was going to figure it out and I wasn’t going to quit. So that meant when I went to the gym for a week and saw no progress, I was still going to go back to the gym the next day. When I was really craving a burger, I still ate healthy and made the right choices. I made choices that were in line with how I wanted to feel and how I wanted my life to go. I made a choice that I wasn’t going to stop.

During my first month of my fitness journey, I gained 6 pounds and you would’ve thought that I would have stopped. But, I made a promise to myself. I knew what it was like to be unhealthy and feel uncomfortable in my own skin and I was ready for a change. So I picked myself up and kept moving forward! I wasn’t perfect and I didn’t have all the answers. You don’t have to have all of the answers to start. You don’t have to know exactly where you are going and your journey doesn’t have to be a straight line. In fact, it’s going to go up, down, sideways and be crazy. It’s going to go all over the place and that is ok. You are human and that is life, but keep moving forward. 

That was where my journey took me. I started from there and started going to the gym and cleaning up my eating habits. I ended up meeting my husband Tom that year and we got married quickly. I ended up becoming a fitness coach with Beachbody and 8 years later I am still here and this is my career. That single choice on September 28, 2012 that I made that for once in my life I wasn’t going to quit on myself. For once in my life I was actually going to choose better and I made a change. That one decision changed my whole life. It’s the reason I have the career I have. It’s the reason I am home with my boys. It’s the reason I feel good in my own skin every single day. It’s the reason I am still healthy 8 years later on my journey. It’s the reason I am still here. It’s because I made a promise and I followed through on that promise.

I had tried and failed many times before. I can’t even count how many times I had tried something and quit because it got hard and I stopped. I decided that I wasn’t willing to choose that for the rest of my life and I wanted better. If you are reading this and you want better for yourself, make today the day you choose differently for yourself. Make today the day you finally believe that you actually can do it because it is better than where you are at right now and things can get better and you can change. Now I get to spend my days helping other women do exactly what I have done. This is why I coach because I know that single decision to say “hey I want to change my life” can change your entire life. Not just your weight, it can change literally your entire future. When you start showing up as a person with confidence and feeling good in your own skin, everything changes. Doors open up for you that you never even thought were doors open up, everything changes. So that is why I do what I do. That is why I run these bootcamps and I want to help you guys. 

VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP

Of course I am going to shamelessly plug my next bootcamp because if you are reading this and you want to make a change, come join me. I’ve been right where you are at. I know how it feels and I also know how it feels like on the other side of making positive choices, changing habits and doing the hard things of how amazing it is. I want to support you as you make those hard choices and be there with you every step of the way!