I never intended to share so many posts on my health and fitness journey on this blog. However, it’s been therapeutic to type things out. It’s been a way to actually document things other than what I ate for breakfast and what I wore for said breakfast. That content is great and all, but I’ve been hyper focused on inner work which has translated to outer work results.
The picture on the right was taken August of 2024. The picture on the left was taken February of 2025. This is my first time taking progress pics. In the past, I only used the scale as my tracker. Now I realize that was a horrible idea. The scale is not an accurate measurement of progress, especially if your goal is to tone and build muscle. I had to accept that there are other ways to track progress that don’t include the scale. Taking pictures and videos is one way. Monitoring how I feel physically and mentally is another. Observing how my clothes fit are even better ways to measure progress. It was hard for me to accept that tracking progress through pics was necessary. I lacked confidence in even share pics like the one above. I didn’t want people to see how much I had “let myself go” and then a light bulb went off. I gave myself some grace. I acknowledged that the body in the right picture gave life to two beautiful humans. I think as women we often forget the emotional, physical, and mental toll carrying and birthing human life can be. We become obsessed with losing the weight fast or as my friends would call it “snapback” culture. This time, I don’t care about “snapping back.” I want to be happy. My happiest self is someone who is well rested. She is confident enough to love both bodies in the pic above. She makes better food choices but doesn’t sacrifice the foods she loves. I want to be able to fit my clothes, the clothes I own, the clothes that have meaning to me and allow me to express myself because buying new ones seems too much of burden right now. I want to be able to keep up with my two toddlers. I want to fight against my pre-diabetes diagnosis. I want to be a good example to my children when it comes to self love. To do that ultimately means doing what feels good and right for me. I want to challenge my body to feel strong and be strong. I do not want to be skinny. In this season, my focus is on strength training. I am making efforts to ignore the scale and all its false readings. I want be an example of realistic progress, slow progress, sustainable progress because that too is progress. Getting from the right to the left pic wasn’t easy. Losing my mom made it even more challenging. I was diagnosed with prediabetes and Diastasis recti which made it pretty clear to me that I had to take it slow. It was obvious I needed to focus on my health as a whole. This time, I’ve taken a holistic approach that provides me a healthy mix of flexibility and discipline. I’ve changed habits. I’ve reframed my thinking about my body. I’m intentional about what I want and what I need to do to get there.
There is still work to be done, but I’ve come so far, not just physically but mentally. I’ve created space for error, because we are human, but I’ve also created space to celebrate small wins, to celebrate slow progress because even that deserves recognition. Slow progress is still progress.
I’ve learned so much on my health and fitness journey. After my mom passed away in December of 2023, I spiraled a bit. My weight increased, and it didn’t take long to feel the effects of weight gain from postpartum and grief. This combination of life events really took a toll on me. I was mentally unwell and physically exhausted. I was unable to fit into any of my clothes. I experienced extreme shortness of breath and body aches. Needless to say, my health was declining fast. When I started working out, I wasn’t seeing the results I had experienced after having my first kiddo. I had to face some hard truths. This was necessary to get back on track and healthy. It was important for myself and my family. If you’re still reading up to this point, I hope what I share is helpful for you and I hope my experience provides you with encouragement and support no matter your health and fitness journey.
REAL RESULTS START WITH NUTRITION
I use to prioritize working out over nutrition. I believed I ate fairly clean. Therefore, tracking my food intake and being intentional about what I consumed wasn’t necessary. For a time, I could eat what I wanted. I was able to maintain what I considered a healthy weight for my height and genetic build. That just doesn’t work anymore. I’m getting older and have less time to devote to going to the gym. To be truly honest, this mindset of prioritizing fitness over food was backwards now that I look back at it. My body didn’t really start changing for the better until after I accepted that my nutrition was more important. What I put in my mouth matters more than the workouts I do. It matters more than anything I’ve ever done on this journey. Once I truly accepted this, my relationship with food became more intentional. It became more purposeful and much healthier. That’s when I started seeing actual sustainable results.
WAKING UP EARLY
I have two kids now. I noticed that if I didn’t wake up early in the morning, I wouldn’t get my workout in. It would NEVER happen. On top of that, I would almost always end up making bad decisions around my meals for the day. Now I wake up at 5am, 4 days a week to workout. This routine works for me, I have 1 solid hour of alone time to focus on me. Early morning workouts used to be hard. I’m not a morning person. After a few days of waking up early, my body got used to it. Now I naturally wake up at 5am every morning. The hardest part was getting started, but now I’m in a groove that works for me.
GOING TO BED EARLY
I’m a night owl, so this was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I canceled my Audible subscription so I wouldn’t stay up listening to books. I stopped drinking coffee past 2pm. I stopped doom scrolling on my phone before bed. I also stopped eating past 8pm. These were all things stimulating me and keeping me up later. I had to start setting the tone for sleep. My kids are on a bedtime routine so they can wake up refreshed and ready for the day. I had to ask myself an important question. Why wasn’t I on a bedtime routine too? I realized I was rationalizing many reasons for staying up late. I used excuses like “I need time to myself.” The hard truth was that time to myself meant getting a good night’s rest. It required having a mind not full of clutter. Was this easy to come to terms with and implement? Absolutely not. Can it be done? 100%, yes! Do I get it right every night? No, because I’m human and sometimes you do have late nights, but do I still try the next day? YES!
AT HOME WORKOUTS
I use to be a group fitness junkie and I was no stranger to a gym membership. I took all the classes: spin, yoga, HIIT, Cardio Dance, kickboxing and even Pilates. I’m such an extrovert. Group fitness combined two of my favorite things: being active and making friends while doing it. However, the reality is, I don’t have time to go to the gym anymore. My kiddos are up at 6:30am and need to be to school by 7:30am. The time it takes to drive to a gym, workout, shower, and get ready for work makes it too hectic. I also need to help my kids get ready for school. It just ends up being easier to workout at home. I accepted my time would be better spent at home. So, I invested in dumbbells, a workout app, resistance bands, and a treadmill. I then set up camp in the garage. I do walk the neighborhood and just try to stay active during the day too. This is just what works for me right now with my current lifestyle as a mom of two. It was a hard pill to swallow not being able to attend a gym and meet new folks. However, I noticed I am more focused. I am less distracted by small talk. That makes my workouts so much more effective and intentional.
FOOD TRACKING
I had to start tracking my food. Something I never imagined I’d do. I just didn’t understand what my food really consisted of. I also didn’t know how it was helping or damaging my progress. I learned about macronutrients and the importance of tracking them. I learned I just wasn’t getting enough protein and consuming way too much fat and sugar. This minor change really helped me change my diet without having to eliminate my favorite foods. This journey has been about being intentional and doing the necessary research to understand what I need to drive progress.
I HAD TO CONSIDER MY AGE
The hard truth, I’m getting older. I’m in my late 30’s and I’m a mom. Between hormonal changes and genetics, my body was just not working the way it used to. I had to be realistic about my routine. I changed things up to accommodate all the body changes, changes that just happen as a result of aging. It is what it is. Let’s be real for a second, we all age, no surprise there. Unfortunately, society hates aging women. Anytime we talk about aging, the focus is on shaming women for doing so. There is also pressure on women to maintain a youthful appearance despite the inevitable. I intend to continue making the necessary shifts to accommodate my age, so that I can remain healthy and happy. What that means for me is eating right and maintaining an active lifestyle. You can feel great at any age and being intentional about your health and fitness makes it that much better.
SUPPLEMENTS ARE NECESSARY RIGHT NOW
It would be great to eat whatever I want and still meet all my nutrient goals for the day with just food. However, preference and genetics are consistent challenges for me. I’m anemic and I’m a pescatarian. I take a multivitamin to fill in the gaps that my diet is just not filling. I take an iron pill because of heavy menstrual cycles brought on by uterine fibroids. Since I don’t eat meat, except for fish, I have to get my protein from other sources. These include collagen peptides and protein powders. I like supplements because it’s a quick way to fill in the gaps in nutrition. Will I do this always? No. I see supplements as a temporary effort. I am still navigating other meal ideas. I need meals that are protein and iron dense. These meals also need to accommodate my pescatarian lifestyle. I’m new to intentional nutrition efforts. I’ve been discovering new foods. I’m exploring my likes and dislikes. I am learning how to prepare and reimagine meals in a healthier way. I am going through this journey. I’m supplementing along the way. I want to meet my protein, fiber, fat, and sugar goals for the day. This is where I’m at right now and supplements help me along the way while I figure this thing out.
PRIORITIZING STRENGTH TRAINING
I’m no stranger to a HIIT workout. I used to think that workouts like HIIT were the most effective. They were challenging. They left me drenched in sweat and barely moving the next day. However, the reality is that weightlifting and strength training have shown me more results than HIIT ever did for me. I’m stronger now and I’m starting to tone now. I used to think weight training wasn’t effective because the movements were slow and I didn’t sweat. But the reality is that getting stronger increased my metabolism. It helped me fast track my fat loss. As an added bonus, I’ve lost inches. That’s really all I wanted anyways.
DISCIPLINE IS KEY
I’ve been consistent because of discipline, but I haven’t always been disciplined. I’ve learned that discipline is the only way I’m going to see any kind of change. I had to accept that discipline was the key that unlocked everything I wanted out of this journey. I had to learn that discipline is what is needed to make everything else fall into place. It’s easy to stay consistent when you’re disciplined. Discipline breeds routine and a mindset of consistency. Discipline addresses the real root of our habits and when we have discipline, it can fix consistency issues. Discipline is sacrifice, not compromise. Discipline says, I’m willing to wait. It allows you to feel the full human experience of waiting. When you arrive at your destination, you’ll know it was all worth it. You now have a deeper appreciation for the process. Discipline breeds sustainability too. Nothing worth having comes easy or cheap. Working hard for what you want helps you appreciate the process. This also makes you more willing to maintain it. It sounds ludicrous to say we should wait for things we can get so much faster these days. However, fast doesn’t always mean good. This is true despite what society tells you. Discipline can sometimes be the opposite of fast and I’ve learned to dwell in this place. I don’t get it right every time. But on the days I do, it becomes easier to dwell in these uncomfortable waiting spaces.
NEVER ENDING PILES OF LAUNDRY
There’s my kids clothes, my husbands clothes, his workout clothes and my workout clothes and the list goes on and on. When you workout 4-5 days a week, piles of never ending laundry haunt you like a bad ex. Don’t get me started on the water bill to wash said laundry. You pay for it. Nothing in this world is free, not even your health. I’m grateful to have my health and blessed to be able to work out. For that, I won’t complain.
I hope this post resonated with you. Thanks to those who read till the end.
For those who’ve been following along for a while, you know I lost my mom in December. At that time, I was about 6 months postpartum. I had lost just around 10 lbs of the baby weight. After she passed away, I quickly gained that 10 lbs back and then some. My grief sent me spiraling into some extreme stress eating. By March of 2024, I was done settling my mom’s estate. I had figured out her assets. My body began to truly break down. This resulted in chest tightening and low energy. I also experienced fatigue, insomnia, tension in my body, and hair loss (not related to postpartum hair loss). I experienced one of the worst eczema breakouts I’ve ever had. Mind you, I hadn’t had an eczema breakout this bad since I was 16 years old. Grief sent my body into a tailspin. I was working out and trying to stay active. I only realized what was happening after my eczema breakout. I realized I needed to really focus in on my mental health before truly focusing in on the physical. I wanted to use this post to share some strategies I used. These strategies helped me get back on track and heal my body from the inside out.
I Went to Counseling
Full transparency, I didn’t want to do this, but I did. My husband signed us up and said we’d go together. I did 8 sessions stopped for a bit and went back when I realized it was what I needed. I’m still in counseling. It’s not the cure all, but it’s been helping. I’ve been given this opportunity to talk it out and release. I have gained some strategies for navigating my grief. This is better than what I was doing before, which was NOTHING.
I Started Tracking My Macros
This was new for me. Never have I ever tracked macros. In the past, I just ate what I thought was “healthy” and hoped for the best. If I’m being honest, I didn’t even know what macros were until this year. For those wondering, macros is short for macronutrients, which consist of protein, fat and carbs. Knowing your daily intake of each helps you understand what you need. This fuels your body and helps you reach your goals. This was all a foreign language to me, so I kept it simple. I downloaded the MyFitness Pal App (it’s free) and tracked what I was taking in. This really gave me a glimpse into where I was lacking. It also showed where I was over consuming. Although this wasn’t the goal, it helped me understand my relationship to food a little better. Before this, I was focusing solely on workouts. I gradually switched around some meals. Emphasis on gradually. I increased my protein intake and really got creative with how I was meeting my daily food goals. I don’t track as much now. I have a pretty good idea about how much I need to consume to meet my goals. Still, this was a good starting point for changing my relationship with food.
I Changed My WorkoutRoutine
In the past, I would do a few strength training sessions a week and that was it. I realized it just wasn’t enough anymore. It used to be enough when I was in my 20’s. But, in my 30’s, I realize I need more active time. Now, I do about 2-3 strength training sessions per week. I also include 2-3 days of intentional low intensity cardio, like 30 minutes of walking at an incline. I take the stairs in every building I enter. I park far from stores to fit in a quick walk to my destination. I try to drink lots of water. This forces me to get up from my desk and walk to the restroom. I also started doing walking meetings with colleagues at work. This is especially true if they are just brainstorming sessions. I don’t need a computer for those. One thing I’ve learned is that I need to keep moving. What that looks like for me may change each day. I try to include movement in my day somehow.
I Don’t RestrictFoods
If I want a muffin, I eat a muffin. I don’t feel guilty about what I eat these days because I don’t have to. I had to start telling myself that everything is fine in moderation. In the past, restriction led to extreme cravings. This craving was for the very thing I restricted. It then led to bingeing on that very thing I denied myself. Now, I don’t care. I eat it if I’m craving it. I just include it in my food tracking. This way I’m aware of where I stand with my food intake for the day. Restriction led to failure for me. It also became a breeding ground for guilt. I decided that’s not the relationship I want to have with food anymore. Tracking made it easier to come to terms with what I was consuming and how much I was consuming. This has helped me adjust my mindset on food. I’ve become more strategic about how to consume all the different foods I want. This is what’s working for me and the true root of the problem was addressing the guilt around food.
I Changed My Bedtime Routine
In the past, I doom scrolled. I stayed on social media a lot. I also watched a bunch of stuff on YouTube before bed. Now, simply put, once I put the kids to bed, I don’t watch TV. I give myself a few minutes of screen time on my phone. I set a hard stop for myself, putting my phone up and calling it quits for the night. Before, I just wasn’t sleeping. I stayed up late. I kept finding excuses. I felt like there was no time for myself during the day. The reality is, I find time for myself by getting to bed at a decent hour. Sometimes, this just means laying down with nothing else happening. I had to learn to quiet my mind. I had to sit in silence. I needed to step away from all the things that stimulated me and kept me awake. This has been my version of mindfulness. While this time away from the screen hasn’t always quieted my thoughts, it has minimized them. I allow in fewer new thoughts. I notice that I spend less and less time at night on the phone. I am not creating that space and opportunity for new thoughts or stimulation. My body has gotten used to winding down at a decent hour because of this. This results in more sleep. This doesn’t work every night, but most nights it does and to me, that’s a win.
I Finally Addressed My Adult ADD
I knew for awhile that I might have ADD. Yet, I never looked into it or really understood it. So, I went and officially got diagnosed. I wasn’t really surprised, and neither were any of my family and friends. The diagnosis answered a lot of questions. It put things in perspective about how I deal with life, friends, family, and stressors. Now I’m on a treatment plan that makes addressing all of these things a lot easier.
I Blast Music in The House
In the morning and at night, I help the kids wind down for bath and bedtime. I play contemporary Christian music throughout the house. I feed my soul with God’s music and smooth jazz. No matter what mood I’m in, I fill the house with music that feeds my soul. It quiets my mind. It sets the tone for rest and relaxation. This has been a thing for several months now and it’s a game changer for me.
I Ended Some Friendships
After my moms death, I realized that some friends weren’t really friends or they were friends until things got tough. Some people just drained my energy. Quite frankly, they were not worth my time or energy anymore. So, I ended it, and I’m not sad about it. I think friends come and go like seasons sometimes and that’s okay. It’s life and life is going to life whether you like it or not. Letting go of these friendships has been freeing. It helped me understand the level of effort and energy I was putting into folks that wasn’t reciprocated. I lost physical weight, but I also lost the weight of dead friendships and I’m okay with that.
I hope this post helps someone. I most certainly haven’t arrived at my destination. Still, as I always tell my friends and family, I’m better than I was. Some progress is better than nothing at all. Much of my weight loss during this very difficult year has been mental. It’s been a true battle of the mind. I’ve focused on consistency and discipline and celebrating small wins. I’ve learned to grieve and process experiences. I now acknowledge my toxic coping mechanisms and have been learning new, healthy strategies for making it through the day. I’ve changed my mindset and embraced where I was. This change allows me to truly appreciate where I’m going. I’ll continue to share updates as things progress. Thanks to all of those reading and supporting me throughout this year. I hope where ever you are on your journey you’re finding peace and love. I hope you find the light. I hope the light you find shines bright, bright enough that you see your progress as I have seen mine over the last several months. Even the tiniest steps deserve to be acknowledged and celebrated.
Coils Curls & Coffee 