Day 1

Day 1, Day 90, 18 Months

On my day 1 I was 26 years old, a new mom, working full time, 138-140 lbs, soft, and super tired.

I ran a 1-3 mile loop sporadically whenever a jolt of motivation would hit me.

I rarely ate breakfast (because I was usually not hungry from over eating the night before.)

I ate a HUGE lunch thinking that would “tie me over” til dinner.

In all actuality, I’d have a continuous snack from 4-6pm, continue the eating into dinner, and top off the night with 2-3 glasses of wine.

It took about 3 years for my weight and size to creep up to uncomfortable.

That’s because it took about 3 years for my habits to morph.

I lost some good habits after graduating college and started work full time. I gained some bad habits coping with the increasingly fast pace of my life.

I was CLUELESS to the weight gain though because even on a small frame like mine, 3 lbs over a year is rather unnoticeable.

It was when my “fat jeans” became my “skinny jeans” that I’d realized OH, SNAP if I don’t do something about this, these jeans won’t zip up soon.

With my 10 year high school reunion looming, I vividly remember telling myself, “I don’t want to show up frumpy.”

Of all the ways I could have tackled body change… especially with the anxiety I felt about showing up to my high school reunion as “one of the people who had let themselves go” I chose a very BASIC approach:

  1. I hired a personal trainer to write me a program and TEACH me how to do things correctly in the gym.
  2. I asked myself ONE basic question… What am I doing NOW that I was NOT doing when I was happier with my body?
  • The answers came quick:
  • Drinking alcohol every single day.
  • My portion sizes were out of control.

And so I resolved to have a 2 drink limit on Friday and Saturday nights and be dry Sun-Thursday. I read food labels and served myself only what the portion size on the package.

10 chicken fingers turned to 6

Gobs of french fries turned to 13.

While the approach was SIMPLE, it was a true challenge to do consistently.


Ya’ll I would SALIVATE at night CRAVING my daily dose of wine!!!! The urge to go back to habits that didn’t serve me were unexpectedly STRONG.

Looking back, today I know I was able to stay follow through despite my cravings because I was not juggling 1,000 food rules at once.


My commitment was singular. It was clear.


Do this ONE thing.


NAIL this small commitment tonight.

90-ish Days later I can tell you I FELT confident and beautiful in this dress.

Scale weight: I was down to about 132-134.


Maybe many would say 4 lbs is sad but my skinny jeans were my fat jeans again.

My energy was spectacular.


I slept well.


I loved my weight training time.


So… I kept going…

When I’d plateaued at wine and food labels, I added a small set of new basics.

I traded chicken fingers for unprocessed chicken breast. I replaced canned green beans with frozen and fresh veggies.

18 months in I was undeniably athletic and strong. In the pic above I was 123-125 lbs.

Full disclosure for those who don’t my FULL STORY… I did take my fat loss to a very scary place, eventually hitting 105 lbs soaken wet.

I didn’t know how or where to stop.

I kept getting smaller and smaller because I’d never been introduced to the world of adding muscle to an already lean body.

But, those details are for another time and place.

What I wanted to do today was SHOW YOU how impactful it was for me to get help weight training in the gym and change one small thing in the kitchen at a time.

I reduced overwhelm WHILE adding gym time to my life because I invested in expert support.

I also didn’t try to eat perfectly. I put all my energy on behavioral habits that were not providing me a better quality of life.

It’s because of this journey that sweatlocal puts forth so much effort into coaching people through each session. It’s not “just another group training class’ where you pick up weight quickly and set it down.

Our training is centered around coaching proper form, finding weight that will challenge old boundaries, and creating a weekly schedule that keeps you balanced not broken.

Day 1 Day 9018 months

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