My Journey~

Ive been wanting to share my FULL weight loss journey for a while now, but its so hard to put it into words. Ive been asking myself---How did i become so overweight?  How did i start? What keeps me motivated? I guess I've never really thought about those questions before. Well, i think its finally time to dig deep and ANSWER these questions.

I look back at my life to really think about how i got so overweight. No one ever plans on being that big. I didn't say "i don't care about my health, I'm just going to eat like crap". Even when i was larger, i didn't REALIZE I was that large. Crazy right?? 

I don't know if i was in denial or what. I mean, i knew i was overweight.....i just didn't realize HOW overweight i was. I look back at pictures now and say "WOW-how did i let myself get to that point". The picture above, on the left in the white shirt, i remember that picture very clearly. It was at the 4th of July parade just a few years ago. I thought i was looking goooood. *lol* Even when the pictures came back developed, i didn't SEE a larger person. Of course, i knew i was overweight, but it never clicked just how overweight I was. 

What began my journey was not because I got to the point of hating myself and needed to change. It was actually quite the opposite. Our local gym was having a sale, and we thought it would be fun to get a membership. All the machines had t.v.'s and cable. SCORE!!! What's better than working out and watching t.v. We didn't have cable at the time, so it just seemed fun to us. :)
We went everyday to the gym. I didn't really know how to use most of the machines, so you could always find me on the elliptical or the treadmill. I rarely ever ventured off into anything else. I started FEELING how great it was to work out. I started losing a little weight which was crazy to me.
I thought I was "destined" to be overweight. Some people are petite, some are medium, and some are large. I was "supposed" to be the larger one. So that's what i always settled for.

I began trying to cook healthier & watch my portions. With working out, it made me WANT to cook and eat healthier.
My BIGGEST struggle during this was I worked Full time at McDonalds. Free soda all day long, half off anything. It was so easy to not pack a meal and just order food from there on my break. I knew this needed to change. I started packing my food and snacks every.single.day.! I allowed myself one small child cup of soda a day. Soon it became NO soda. Was it hard to see and smell this "yummy" food all day? Of course-But i made the decision to start getting healthy and i wasn't turning back.  I ended up losing 40 pounds WHILE working there and going to the gym/ walking outside with my husband. 

As soon as i lost weight, i got pregnant. This was the biggest blessing ever.
I have a really weird cycle & we were together a while with no luck of pregnancy. I was almost losing hope that it would ever happen. All I have ever wanted to be was a stay at home mom. So when i finally got pregnant, i was thrilled. 
I did not have a super healthy pregnancy. Meaning, almost immediately after getting pregnant, i stopped working out. I used the excuse "oh, im going to get fat anyway". I didn't eat as healthy as I was pre pregnancy. By the end of my pregnancy, i was back up to my starting weight. 

I had Gwen on April 12 by an unplanned C-section. She was only 4lbs, 12 oz. Its still a mystery why my pumpkin was so small. But she was Healthy and happy, and still is.

I REALLY wanted to get back into working out // eating healthy after I had Gwen, but i just couldn't find the motivation. I was adjusting to being a new mom and everything else that came with that. There was no way I could drive to the gym, workout, drive back.  Ugh!! I was nursing her constantly, and didn't want to be gone for 1+ hours.
BUT I HAD TO DO SOMETHING!!! I wanted to be an example to her. I was not taught about anything growing up as far as working out, eating healthy, taking care of ourselves. I did not want to do that to Gwen. 

One day it popped in my head to become a Beachbody Coach. Crazy right??? I was always secretly annoyed by these people, lol, so why would i want to become one??? It was almost like it was God putting this thought into my head. As soon as this thought came to me, i couldn't stop thinking about it so i WENT FOR IT. 

No one ever asked me if i wanted to coach! No one presented the business to me!  I didn't really know many Beachbody coaches on a personal level! But i WENT FOR IT! I KNEW that if i wanted to get healthy and STAY committed and consistent, this was something i had to do.

 I signed up with Focus t25 + Shakeology and was READY to start my workouts, get right with my nutrition, and start helping people along the way.

 That was the PLAN! THE PLAN however became so much more than that. Yes i started working out. Yes i started losing weight. Yes Shakeology gave me so much energy and made me feel amazing.

 BUT what i wasn't expecting was all the women i started helping during my OWN journey. I wasn't expecting a steady paycheck every single week. I wasn't expected to FALL IN LOVE with coaching and have my heart so full from helping others. I wasn't expecting to being able to stay at home with my daughter and never having to go get a part time job. 

I pinch myself everyday. I am doing Exactly what i never knew i wanted to do. Does that make sense?? I worked fast food for almost a decade. I am a college drop out. I never had any plans to have some awesome high paying job. No goals really. No ambitions.
 I just wanted to be a mom. NOW, that's exactly what I'm doing. Being a mom who is present in her daughters life everyday AND doing a job part time-from home-on my own time. 

I have been a coach for almost a year now. My life has changed so much in that time, i cannot imagine where this next year will take me. 

If you are reading this, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read a little bit about my story. I never would have imagine that my weight loss journey would have turned into so much. Its not the easiest thing to share and to talk about. But I do it anyway in hopes I can inspire someone to make that change. 

Until next time, 
NIKKI