Being a personal trainer, it's literally my job to help people through their struggles in their journey's to achieve their weight loss and health goals. Sometimes when I talk to my clients, they are under the assumption that I was always fit and have never struggled with my own fitness journey. I've had the assumptions of "well it must be nice to not have struggled and just always be fit" Which couldn't be farther from the truth! The truth is, it wasn’t easy, my journey was full of ups and downs, as well as a lot of trial and error. I didn’t know what I was doing. I had some major struggles and things that I had to work on in my fitness journey. I thought I would share some of the biggest struggles I’ve had because I realize everyone can probably relate to them at some point or another. Struggle #1- I sucked at committing and consistency Yes, it's true. It took me a loonnnggg time to figure out how to actually commit to the process and stay consistent...

When I found out I was pregnant, I wanted to make sure that I stayed as active as I possibly could during those 9 months.  As a personal trainer, maintaining my fitness and health are of utmost importance to me. I also wanted to show my clients, the majority of them being women, that it is possible to stay active and have a healthy pregnancy.   Women who are active and continue to workout during pregnancy have been shown to experience many benefits.  A healthy weight gain during pregnancy ensures the baby grows at a proper rate. Gaining too much weight during pregnancy can lead to larger babies as well as more difficult deliveries and longer recovery after birth as well as other complications. Being active during pregnancy helps women maintain their core muscles better, as well as helps to keep their endurance and stamina, which aids in delivery as well as recovery post-birth.   There are also several other benefits such as reduced nausea and mood ...

Motivation to stick to your workout regime is one of the biggest reasons why people fail.  It's not that the workouts are ineffective, its that people have a hard time sticking to their program long term. Maybe this is/was you; you decide it's time, you’re going to workout and get fit.  You get the home equipment or gym membership. You get cute clothes for the gym and you make it your mission! You are all excited and hit the gym for 2, maybe 3 weeks of hard working out. You feel great, tell all your friends about your new workout plan and how you’re working on a “new you”. Then, after a couple weeks, you think, man this is hard.  Maybe you feel overtired from work and decide, I’ll skip for today, but I’ll go tomorrow!  Tomorrow comes and going for drinks with the girls sounds WAY more appealing than the gym!  Then the next day you just don’t feel like it, so you skip then too. Before you know it, two weeks have gone by since you’ve worked out and you t...

The big questions, "How do I lose weight?  How do I lose this body fat?" Fitness professionals have literally made a career out of this big question.  Some stick to science and facts and some decide that they'd rather promote horrible weight loss tactics targeting a vulnerable group of people who are trusting these "coaches" with their time, efforts and wallets. It really isn't so complicated; in terms of weight loss/body fat loss, etc. let's stick to facts and science.  Why?  Because it's what actually works! When it comes to weight loss or fat loss, there is only one way to do it. Caloric Deficit! Yes for weight loss or fat loss, maintenance or weight gain, it is about calories!  #sorrynotsorry.  Energy balance is key to lose, gain or maintain weight. Let's go over WHY calories matter to weight loss. First, what is a calorie?  Calories are not evil things that sew your clothes tighter every night, making your jeans impossible to f...

Oh, the scale! That dreaded device that sits in our bathroom and haunts us!   Is this familiar to you? You get up in the morning, stumble into the bathroom, and start your daily routine; just before you hop in the shower, you strip down to your skivvies, cross your fingers, close your eyes and hop on that plastic device that blinks 2-4 times then comes up with a number.   You sigh, maybe even feel sad and frustrated. The number is SUPPOSED to go down, why isn't it changing? Maybe it was that piece of pizza on the weekend, maybe it was the glass or two (or bottle!) of Pino on Friday after work. You’ve been working out and trying to watch what you eat, feeling energetic, sleeping better but still, no budging on the scale!  You swear to yourself you’ll do better today, maybe go for an extra-long workout or only have salads and celery, but in the back of your mind, your frustration is playing tricks on you. Who here has experienced what I just described above...