My fitness journey started a few days after my daughter turned one – Feb 8, 2016 to be exact.  I was constantly getting chest pains and had to go to the emergency room several times for emergency medication.  I was assigned a cardiologist at the age of 39.  I was not in a good place health wise.

I was tired and lonely from 12 months of being home alone with a baby and pumping around the clock.  She was born premature and didn’t latch so the result of that was me not giving her enough milk to be interested.  I still wanted to give her some of my milk (some is better than none).  I pumped every 3 hours 30 minutes at a time during the day until I fell asleep for 5 hours to wake up and do the same thing all over again.  I had no time for me and while I was pumping my snacks were candy and chocolate.

I also ate all the things thinking it would help with my milk production.  Little did I know I was slowly but surely degrading my body.  I was eating way to much sugar.  I did start working out a little bit my going back to Barre classes.  I was so weak that I sometimes had to take a break or catch my breath.

On her 1st birthday was the last day I had to pump.  I made it to a year and the heavens cleared and I now had time to take care of myself.  My best friend told me of this program called Fitgirls Guide.  I looked them up on Instagram and downloaded their books.  I started my Instagram account and started following the most inspirational and up lifting women.

I modified my eating according to doctors orders.  I mostly stuck to a low fat paleo food plan using Whole30 as a guide and started working out at home 3 times a week and during the weekends I would go to Barre classes while my husband watched our baby.

I kept at it (consistency is key!)  For me I started feeling and seeing the difference after 3 months.  I lost 10 pounds and started feeling stronger and started looking for new ways to challenge myself physically.  I started a new workout program called BBG.  It was intense, but what I loved about it was that it was just 28 min long no matter what.  I could work it into nap times and even do other light workouts to compliment it without it being to intrusive into my day as a stay at home mom.  I completed 2 rounds of it in a span of 6 months.  I lost another 10 pounds.

It was time to step it up a notch again.  When I turned 40 last November the present I gave to myself was a personal training session. Conveniently right next to my barre studio a private gym opened up and I did my first training session and I got killed and I loved it.  I have now added lifting to my workouts and I have to say out of everything I did that year this is what changed me the most.  I so much stronger in everything I do and have so much more control over my body.

A year after I first saw my cardiologist he gave me the most awesome news that I no longer have to see him. My blood pressure is maintained with the right medication.  Unfortunately I have to still take the medications as my condition is inherited, but the medication is minimal.  I normalized my cholesterol with clean eating.  I now primarily eat plant based with a few paleo days thrown in.  Dairy is not in my diet anymore unless we are out to dinner on a special occasion.

I feel so much better and younger.

In future posts I will talk more in detail about my love of Barre and Lifting and do a comparison of Fit Girls Guide and BBG.  Comment below let me know if there are other things you want me to go in detail about.

p.s.  I am not a certified trainer or nutritionist.  Everything I talked about here was under the supervision of my doctor.  Please talk to yours first before changing your exercise and eating habits.