What brings me here?
I didn't have a problem with my weight until I was in high school. I gained weight my senior year when I started dating my future husband. Soon after we graduated, we got engaged. In 2005, we got married. I continued to gain weight. I peaked at 190. I decided then I was unhappy with my weight gain. I began to work out and eat healthy by counting my calories. It seemed easy. I lost 70 pounds and got to my goal weight in the 120s. I was happy!
Soon after that, I got pregnant with my first son. I ended up going back to my bad eating habits and gained about 60-70 pounds before I gave birth. It was a difficult labor and delivery. After he was born, I lost about half the weight I gained. I remember doing the couch to 5k for my main exercise. I would guess I weighed in the 150s.
A few years later, I got pregnant with my second child and I didn't learn my lesson from the first time. I gained the same amount of weight with my second child. He was born in 2011. Again, I lost weight, but not all. Again, I would guess I was in the 170s.
In 2011, the same year my second child was born, I started going back to school for nursing since my current job was having major layoffs. I had a passion for nursing before I went to school for my then job which was medical transcription. My passion for nursing also grew when I gave birth to my first son. Even though it was a difficult delivery, it was an amazing experience. My second experience was just as great especially since it went without any problems.
Anyway, it took a few semesters to get all my generals out of the way and in August of 2012 I started nursing school and I was extremely stressed out. I was working full time and going to school full time. I had to stop breastfeeding my second son because the stress was so bad. I started to gain weight due to stress eating. I graduated from the LPN program the following July and was at my highest weight EVER! I felt ashamed, embarrassed, had no self confidence or self esteem.
In August of 2013, I started the RN program. That first semester I think I gained at least 20-30 pounds. Something had to change and it had to change fast. I weighed 239 pounds! I decided to start counting my calories with myfitnesspal on January 1, 2014. I started to lose weight. I didn't exercise during this time because losing weight was easy by just staying in my calorie range. In late 2014, I started doing the couch to 5k program. I finished the program again and I have ran about 4 5Ks during that time. I ended up losing about 80 pounds by January of the next year. I was in the 160s. Then comes nursing finals in April-May of this year. I stopped working out. I stopped running. I stopped tracking my food intake. For me, tracking my food intake is essential. To succeed, I need to track. I stopped everything. I was beyond stressed.
I graduated from the RN program in May of 2015. I was still in the low 160s or upper 150s. Then I started to study for my boards, have job interviews... and then waiting to hear from those job interviews and then taking boards. I had a vacation planned to Florida in July and I wanted everything to be taken care of by passing boards and landing a job before we went because as soon as we would get back from Florida the residency program would start at my local hospital. I passed boards and landed a job working in the operating room (which was my last choice). I really wanted the labor and delivery job that I interviewed for.
We went on our vacation to Florida and had an amazing time! I had bought all new clothes and was excited! After returning from our trip, I started my new job almost immediately the first week in August. Again, I was stressed out. Learning a new job is rough especially when it is nothing that you get taught in nursing school! Soon, I found myself going to get coffee after work everyday and sometimes twice a day. Sometimes I would get a donut and more often than not, I would get a donut. During this whole time, I had gained back a little over 10 pounds.
I knew I had to make a BIG change and quick. A pair of pants I had just wore like the week before didn't fit anymore!! ENTER BEACHBODY!! I always feel the need to help others (hence nursing career), but I also felt the need to help myself. I had been mulling over the idea of becoming a coach so I could do both! I knew becoming a coach would hold me to be extremely accountable. I took the plunge and joined mid September.
Since becoming a coach, I have lost those 10 pounds in just 6 weeks and lost 2 pants sizes! I have gained an incredible amount of energy. Before starting shakeology, I would come home every day and take a nap. EVERY DAY! After starting shakeology, I have yet to take a nap after coming home from work!! I also have noticed the nonexistence of my cravings for sweets or other foods that are not so healthy. I have also noticed that my skin is now clear of pimples and that is just AMAZING!
Helping others on the same journey is also a huge benefit to coaching. It's what drives me sometimes. I am a people pleaser. If I help someone, it makes me feel great. It is what I love about nursing.
On the other side of coaching, in my first month, I advanced to Emerald rank, earned Success Club 5, and made $180 to cover the cost of my initial investment of my challenge pack!
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