About Gina

My name is Gina! As a little background I have had fitness and dieting in my life for as long as I can remember. I have gone through numerous fat loss phases and muscle building phases, but have always struggled with nutrition in the sense of being afraid to eat and what food can do to my body with regards to fat gain.

Habits

Over the last two years I have had numerous intense personal life challenges and my binge eating habits began to take over my life causing me once again to be in a body I was not comfortable in. When I started this challenge, I was 9 months pregnant with my first child and prior to the pregnancy I had already gained a lot of excess weight due to these life events/binge eating. The months leading up to the challenge I started focusing on accepting the additional weight that was coming on and even backing off of my movement overall.

Starting a reverse diet at a body fat (I say body fat because I did loved the baby bump 🙂 ) percentage I was extremely uncomfortable with terrified me for so many reasons. When the challenge rolled around, I found the name to be fitting with my situation, Loving Yourself Fit! While my main priority with fitness was to bring down my overall weight after the pregnancy, I also wanted to do it right this time and actually love who I was on the way down, regardless of the weight reflected on the scale.

It certainly was not easy and at the start of the challenge(post pregnancy) I did NOT want to see the number on the scale so I would step on it backwards and had my fiancé write down the numbers and send them off to Holly in a separate email.

Struggle

As the challenge progressed, I continued utilizing the feedback provided in the weekly coaching check-ins, with affirmations being at the forefront. I knew I had to be kinder to myself and even though I did not know what weight I was at for nearly half of the challenge, I utilized affirmations written around the house to remind myself of who I am and what I’m worth. When the pregnancy weight that fell off quick at first started to slow down, I became nervous that I would end up right where I began in a spot where I was uncomfortable and unkind to my body. I began to think I would need to restrict my calories and increase my cardio more than recommended to get to where I wanted to be.

It seemed hopeless and like I would never get to a comfortable spot. I kept reminding myself that I was doing this for a reason and while I may not like where I’m currently at, I need to keep on the path in order to achieve my goal where fitness could actually enhance my life and not consume it.

This is not to say I didn’t have bad days, but something that may have derailed me in the past (think clothes not fitting right or feeling like there’s no progress in the mirror) and cause me to either miss a workout or not stick to a diet for a few days only last a few moments of unease in the mornings and I would snap out of it to make sure I didn’t derail myself this time around. It certainly took the help of reassurance during the weekly check-ins as well as a strong support system at home to push through the tough days when all felt helpless.

Challenge

As the challenge is coming to an end, I am hyper-focusing on my body positivity and continuing to be kind to myself even though I’m still not where I would like to be with regards to my physique or mentality with dieting/cardio.

I still struggle daily, but I remind myself of the challenges I have overcome and I can even wake up and step on the scale to report my own numbers for the majority of the past few weeks! I will continue to utilize the lessons learned and feedback from this challenge to make sure I can be somebody not only that I’m proud of, but also a mom that my baby girl will be proud of.