Happy fitness inspiration Friday! Each week I feature someone who is a fitness inspiration. I love celebrating and sharing fitness inspiration with others with the hopes that it will inspire you too!
Today’s fitspiration is my friend, Rachel. I met Rachel a few months ago in an online fitness community. I was instantly drawn to her for her dedication and drive to continue with her fitness journey on her own. She is a force to be reckoned with.
Tell me a little about yourself and your journey.
Growing up until I got pregnant with our oldest daughter I was always smaller – about a size 2. I could eat anything & would never gain a pound man those days were nice! I was also very active before I got pregnant in sports, so once that stopped it was very easy to pack on the pounds. Five years later & at the time at the heaviest I had been to date I got pregnant with our second daughter. She was six months old when Adam & I were away for our anniversary and found out that they were soon going to be big sisters. I hadn’t really lost much weight from K & then really wasn’t going to have time between H & A. Once A was born life got really busy not that with two kidlets it wasn’t before but we ended up moving out of state. So needless to say fitness was not a priority at the time.
Once we moved here, I felt like I didn’t really know anyone & a good friend of mine had been a part of Mamvation and so I figured it was a win win because I would meet new people even ended up meeting people who lived near me and would also work on my ditching the baby weight. Throughout the almost year that I was a part of the Mamvation community I lost about 25 pounds including the weight I lost during the MILI campaign #9 (15 lb.’s) & also lost 20″ during the 7 week campaign.
I am not where I want to be yet but almost 28 pounds later I am well on my way! My future goals are to get back to a health BMI & to feel comfortable in my own skin regardless of what number pops up on the scale. I am trying really hard to focus on how I am feeling physically and not basing my progress on the number. It is not easy by any means but it has helped me not to want to weigh in all the time. It also really helps when I only weigh every now & then because then it’s a bigger loss! That is always super motivating.
My current fitness goals are: Training for the bridge run (running the bridge at mackinaw island in MI) with my husband & in laws next fall. Also next spring (maybe fall) Adam and I will be running our first half marathon.
Training & working out together has really made our marriage even stronger as well as our family. There is nothing better then knowing that TOGETHER you are doing something so amazing & crossing off goals of the bucket list 🙂
Our kids now participate in what they call “shopping for the good stuff” aka grocery shopping for healthy food & also participate in cooking meals as well. This is not just a change in me or in Adam & I but in our whole family.
What is your fitness love?
I personally love to run. I ran cross country in high school & also have played soccer since I was little. So I loved running & sports. As I am sure you can guess .. running is not something I do everyday now like I used to. I am working on getting back to that place though. I am currently doing C25K aka Couch To 5k running plan. I am also using the EA Sports Active 2 – Love it! One thing that I really love about it is that I do “real world activities” like mountain biking, boxing, sparing (that is a great workout on a stressful day!), soccer, basketball, etc. The thing I love most about those is that it incorporates activities with exercises – mountain biking you have to squat and hold it to gain speed, run to gain speed up the hills, jumping is how you jump the jumps on the trail, etc. Also I know first hand that moms don’t always have time to set aside for working out, but one thing we do a lot is dance parties. Our youngest son is autistic & he loves dance parties, so it gives all of us time to have fun, spend time together & be active. How cool is that that something as simple as a dance party w. kids is such a great workout!
When I need motivation I have two things that keep me going 1. I have a picture of me at my heaviest. I have it up where I see it daily. It is a reminder to me of how far I have come & where I don’t want to go back to. 2. My kids. They look at Adam & I to see what they should do. It’s not just the big stuff but also what they should eat, how much they should eat, etc. We are setting the example. I want them to be healthy and never have to fight to get back to where they once were like Adam & I are doing now. Our decisions and actions now are setting the example for them & one day their own family.
You can find more inspiration from Rachel and follow her journey on her facebook fan page Finding My Abs & Myself Along The Way, twitter, or blog.
Rachel is my FitSpiration!
@PamelaMKramer - A Renaissance Woman says
Great to meet you Rachel!
Steph @fitmomtraining says
I love this feature, always inspiring!
Melissa says
Hey Rachel… Great post. I love the little ideas you gave about getting fit. And reminding me that healthy choices for you also mean healthy choices for your kiddos! Do you still live in Redding?
Rachel says
Hi Melissa. Yes. I do live in REdding. 🙂