My 50lb Weight Loss Journey - Your Questions Answered

 my birth story was only part of the struggle my pregnancy was not anything like I had imagined I struggled with pregnancy sinusitis I literally cried every single day multiple times a day in my third trimester I had never had a major surgery before I felt like that was the worst possible outcome is it my fault that I wasn't able to have the natural birth that I wanted I was like wow okay this is how it feels to be a complete beginner action go crazy let's go are you gonna move okay [Music] it's your birthday it's your birthday so I thought I was gonna have a like all natural birth that is like inevitable or whatever wow that's in progress I could lift my legs up by myself it felt like trauma I know so many women have had more difficult births but for me in my state I felt like that was the worst possible outcome I struggled and struggled and struggled uh during my 30 hour labor I had originally planned to have a natural birth I had it all set up and we were at a birthing center and I even had the tub I had the Ambiance I had everything you would dream for in a birth and yet I was struggling with back labor um and at one point I was like I literally thought to myself like am I gonna die and I heard before in my preparation for birth that like when you feel like that that's probably when you're about to get ready to push but when I was checked I was still only three centimeters dilated so as you can imagine that was very discouraging and I felt like I wasn't able to carry on myself so I had to go to uh the hospital at that point I decided you know what um the baby cousin his heart rate was declining with the contractions and I was like you know what I I don't want to risk anything and I don't want my pride to get in the way of delivering a healthy baby so I signed the papers to get the C-section and and it was scary it was so scary I felt like that was the worst possible outcome until I heard my babies crying and everything and I was like you know what it's all worth it but afterwards I still dealt with that that struggle of you know what if I had done things differently is it my fault that I wasn't able to have the natural birth that I wanted and that was only part of it [Music] I felt some a little bit of shame I would say not only from my birth story but from how much weight I had gained and how far I had let myself go I felt just so sad that I was in this place and I also felt like I was wearing a suit I felt nothing like myself I don't feel like myself inside I don't feel like myself outside my mental health wasn't the best I just really was in a place of struggle I can remember my husband after many days of crying and feeling upset and just mentally not the greatest him telling me you know focus on one thing a day just really focus in on one thing that you can do for yourself and once you've done that great job congratulate yourself feel good about yourself that is what's going to get you one step closer every day to where you want to be I felt like a complete beginner when I did that first lunge I felt my pelvic floor just to give out and I was like oh my goodness I have to relearn re-teach myself how to exercise and for me as a trainer I had been a trainer before I lost all right I went on this pregnancy Journey I was like wow okay this is how it feels to be a complete beginner and that's what sparked my inspiration to help beginners because I know that we're not beginners just once on our life Journey or beginners multiple times because of what life throws at us because of what we put our bodies through I have only over the past little while have started to see the light and started to really feel like myself again and I know that if you're watching this you're probably in that struggle you're looking for answers you're looking for reasons to hold on to hope that you too can achieve what you want to achieve that you can feel like yourself again that you can find yourself again so I'm hoping that this story and that answering these questions are going to help you on your journey and help you feel a little bit more confident and a little less alone I'm just going to pull up some questions that were asked for this q a because I want you to be a part of this so uh somebody asked how long did it take you to lose weight and how long did you wait to start working out post C-section so in the start I worked on my pelvic floor after eight weeks of recovery and did light work exercises and it wasn't until about 10 to 12 weeks where I started to do a little bit more of impact add a little bit more impact in my workouts if there were anything that I would change on my journey it would be that I would give myself a little bit more grace on my journey and I would allow myself to accept myself as soon as possible having going through that those stages of anger shame mental lowness I I'm happy that it all happened the way that it happened because now I'm able to help and share with women how you can bring yourself out of a rut my experience is exactly how my mom said it it's enough it was an opportunity for me to show you that you're not alone and that you can do it and that you know it's there's more to your Wellness Journey than just workouts than just showing up for your workout there's so much more to it what did you do for your stretch marks they vanished and while it may feel like they vanished I do wear a lot of high-waisted leggings it is a trend right now and I'm for it it took me quite a long time for me to become used to my stretch marks and actually now be in a place where I love and I am so thankful for them and I am so much more than what my body looks like I am so much more than the marks on my body and that the marks on my body yes they help me bring life into this world but it is also a reminder that I am forever changed I am not the same woman woman that I was before and that's not a sad thing that's something that I can be happy about because I can work on becoming an even better stronger version of myself both mentally physically spiritually in every aspect of my life I see them as a reminder I look down at them and I'm like you know my body has changed my my health has changed my mind has changed and I'm happy about that the thing that helped me keep the weight off best was routine I found that after I had lost away after eight nine months I was in a place where I was so attached to my workout routine every day I would work out and if I didn't work out I felt like my mind would just be going crazy my body would just be like you know antsy I would want to work out I couldn't go two three days without working out because I had built that consistency and that's why in each and every one of my videos I really heavily focus on consistency if you can show up for yourself even five minutes a day every day that's better than coming and trying to do a one-hour workout once a week how did your sagging lower belly pooch go away this is a great question and it came not just from doing the workouts every day it came from focusing also on healing my diastasis recti diastasis recti for those of you who don't know is where your abs separate almost every woman during pregnancy has AB separation where the center of their abs separate because it's making room for the baby to grow now some women when they give birth it comes right back together if they have that muscle tone and they were working out during pregnancy makes a little bit easier but if they stay separated you're always going to have that that bulge that extra sag in addition to the fat that you gain during your pregnancy so doing pelvic floor exercises doing exercises that bring the ABS back together not apart and being mindful of that when you're doing ab workouts that's what's going to help you bring it back together and get that stomach appearance I also had a really really really big belly with my son and my skin stretched a lot so I had a lot of overhanging skin but I think because of my age and also genetics I was able to bring that back and through exercise so not everyone is able to lose that sagging skin I still have some extra skin that hangs but that's okay with my next pregnancy I'll have that extra room if you're starting your journey and you feel like you are stuck you are unmotivated you are in a place where you feel like you have to start all over again and you feel worthless you feel like you are so far from where you want to be know first that you can do this you can it sounds so cliche to hear but you can first you've got to believe in yourself you got to know that you are worth it you are worth putting in that effort and my second piece of advice is to start very small start as small as you can start with something simple start with five minutes of taking time for yourself just to be in a quiet space to feel your emotions to be where you're at right now and make a routine find a root something small you can do make a routine out of it and build on that as you build on that and as you realize okay I can stay true to my word I can show up for myself even in these small things you'll start to add and do bigger things and show up for yourself even more consistently I feel like a lot of us make the mistake of trying to go in full force to do those one-hour workouts to eat perfectly day one to day six and then day seven we we mess up or we feel like we are falling off and we're like I might as well throw in the towel like I've tried this so many times start small and that's why I always say five minute workouts are effective because you're building a routine you're building a habit you're starting to believe in yourself more and more your confidence is building and you are able to see that okay I can do bigger things I am worth this I can stay true to my word and I will show up for myself and as that builds you will get to where you want to be no questions asked if you're willing to start with the Small Things be humble in your approach you will get where you want to be if you feel like this could help somebody on their journey and encourage maybe a new mom or somebody who is struggling to start again share this video with them you have no idea how it could impact their lives what one small sentence could change the way they think of themselves share it with them and if you're looking for some more guidance on how you can amplify your journey both physically mentally spiritually jump into my growjo app that's the reason I created this app it was for me to take all of these thoughts all of these emotions and put it into a tangible form that you can use daily to reach your goals I love you guys so much and I only hope the best for you if you have more questions reach out to me send me a DM send me an email I am more than happy to connect with you and to help you on your journey