What do you celebrate when the scale isn't moving?

Starting a weight-loss journey is a scary thing, right?

You don't really know what you're getting yourself into.

What if it doesn't work? Will you feel defeated and give up?
What if it does work?! Can you afford your new wardrobe?
Will it last? What if you reach your goals and then you stop taking all the necessary steps and you find yourself back to square one?

These are all normal fears when you're starting something new in in the realm of weight-loss! So if these are your thoughts, you're not alone. Haha.

Let's fast-forward a bit. Let's say that you take that step and you DO start your weight-loss journey. You pick your fitness program, you change your diet, you announce your goals to your friends and family, and maybe even join a like-minded group of people to keep you accountable along the way. You start off slow, but after a week or two you really find your groove. You are meal prepping and keeping your nutrition in check, you're getting your workout in everyday, you're starting to inspire friends and family around you, you have to go to Ross to start to get new pants and tops and you don't even care about the fact that you just had to spend $200 because the sizes are smaller! Everything is great in your world.

Then this strange thing happens after you've been at this weight-loss thing for a bit. The scale STOPS! The inches you were losing before STOP! What the heck is happening?! You're tempted to throw in the towel. You knew this was too good to be true. The positive results certainly weren't going to last forever!

 Let me tell you something.....hitting a plateau is NORMAL! Sooooo normal. Everyone experiences this at one point or another. Some experience it later than others, but at some point it is bound to happen. (I'll be touching on plateaus and how to overcome them in a later blog post, so stay tuned for that....)

So what do you do in the meantime when this happens? How do you stay positive and motivated when all your hard work seems to be doing nothing all of a sudden?

Let me introduce you to a little term called "Non-Scale Victories"!

The statement above is sooooo true! The scale is only PART of your journey. So here is a short list of things that you can think about when the scale isn't moving:

• You have more energy
• You aren't skipping breakfast anymore
• You are sleeping better
•  You are drinking more water
• You are more regular
• You are inspiring your family and friends to be more thoughtful about how they are treating their bodies
• You are teaching your kids how to cook new, healthy food
• You aren't winded when you go up the stairs anymore
• You are able to comfortably fit into a seat at the movie theater or on an airplane
• You smile more
• Your skin looks better
• You look forward to the next day instead of dreading it
• Your knees don't hurt as bad
• You genuinely feel better from the inside out
• You are adding YEARS to your life by helping yourself get healthy from the inside out
• You actually look forward to your workouts because you like the way it feels to sweat
• You amaze your doctor when you go for your checkup because of the way your stats have dropped
• YOU FEEL BETTER!!

These are all examples of non-scale victories and they're things that you should be proud of while you're busy changing your life. Living a healthy & active lifestyle is about so much more than just getting that scale to move, I promise! So the next time you've hit a plateau and you don't know how to handle it, please come back to this list. Or create your own list! Post it on your fridge! Put it on your desk at work! Remember that you are working hard to make yourself better and the consistency that you give yourself will continue to pay it forward to you LONG after that scale stops moving. 

To get started on your weight-loss journey and have me as your coach along the way, click HERE! Let's do this!

Getting AFAA Certified!

Well, it's official: I am registered and my study materials are on their way for me to get AFAA certified to be able to teach group classes!! If I'm honest, I've felt a pull to do this for quite some time. Like since 2009! I just never took the steps and took that leap of faith to get registered and to finally just do it. I kept asking myself, How will I utilize this when I'm still working my "Big Girl" job full time? What's the point of getting the certification if I'm not going to use it? What if I get it and I find that I don't come into the opportunity to use it? All these questions that I ask myself that ends up filling my brain with self-doubt and makes me question the drive that I have to help people get fit and healthy in a group class setting.

Well, when I got my Insanity Certification back in May it pushed me to do this because most clubs where I would be able to teach require this certification on top of my Insanity Certification. So without this, my Insanity Certification doesn't do a whole lot for me in most facilities. I can still teach on my own in the park or in a private setting, but if I want to be able to teach in an actual fitness center or something similar, in the majority of cases, this is required along with a couple of other pieces. So, it's honestly a good thing that I am finally being pushed to get this done because I've just been thinking about it, talking about it, dreaming about it for too long! I will find a way to utilize this passion and these certificates! Because I honestly LOVE this!

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE DAY I GOT INSANITY CERTIFIED!!

I've taken several group classes over the years and I have always enjoyed them. But I'll never forget when I found my actual love for them. This love is what sparked this thing inside of me to want to teach them. It was a cardio kickboxing class that I took on base when I was stationed in England. I'm thankful that I've been able to become friends and remain friends with this instructor (even if it's only through Facebook since the military has taken us different places). There was just SOMETHING about her class that made me feel alive! I told myself that if I can help just one person to leave a class that I taught feeling like I did when I left her class, I would consider myself successful. She knows who she is; but I don't think she really knows what her classes did for me! I actually started taking her classes before I experienced my weight-loss journey. But it didn't matter at what stage of my life I was in, she made me feel like I was special in her class. I still remember the one day she took her headset off of her head and put it on mine and pushed me to the front..... It felt RIGHT! Even though I was terrified and totally froze, haha, it felt good and I wanted to be up there like she was!

WHY THE GROUP CLASS SETTING AND NOT ONE-ON-ONE PERSONAL TRAINING?

Although I did think about pursuing being a one-on-one personal trainer, I found myself on a different path as I started thinking about what I really desired to do in the fitness realm. As I was taking this journey in my thoughts, this is what I came to realize: There is just something about a group class.... Everyone is yelling together, sweating together, getting fit together. You form this strange bond with people in your fitness classes. Lol. Sometimes you don't even learn the names of the people that you stand next to in every class. Although you talk to them before class begins and you have the pleasure of catching each other's sweat beads while you're feeling the intensity of the class - all that they are are your group class buddies. That's it! But then you meet people in your fitness classes who end up becoming your friends. The friends that you know you'll stay in touch with long after class is over. I had the pleasure of forming several of those friendships. I'm lucky enough to say that one of those friends is now an amazing coach on my team! But group fitness classes empower you! They give you a sense of camaraderie when you would otherwise feel alone. It gives the fat girl who doesn't know what to do in the gym something to look forward to. It gives her a place to belong - a place where she feels comfortable with working on her journey to better health. The people in this class don't judge her. They won't criticize her form and laugh at her for being out of breath or missing a step. They'll push her, encourage her, help her to slowly build up that self-confidence so that one day she can walk around that gym with her head held high, knowing that she ROCKS! I want to give that experience to someone! That's my motivation for wanting to teach group classes. To get people EXCITED about fitness! To make it fun! Fitness is fun!!

HOW DO THIS TIE IN WITH BEACHBODY COACHING?

As a Beachbody coach, I get the pleasure to help people get fit from the comfort of their own homes. There are many reasons that people choose to workout at home! Maybe they just don't have time to make it to the gym, or they don't like the atmosphere of the gym, or they're intimidated by the gym so they'd rather do it at home.....whatever the case may be! Being a group fitness instructor will be a beautiful compliment to my work as a Beachbody Coach. Obviously I plan on teaching a Beachbody format: Insanity, but even if I decide to teach other formats as well, there is still that same sense of community in these group classes that my challengers get in my online fitness groups in the comfort of their own homes. I hope that some of my Beachbody online challengers will be able to come to my classes once I start teaching! This is also a job that I can take with me wherever I go and continue to spread the joy and fun that comes along with fitness! The life of a military wife can be hard....always picking up, quitting a job, and moving on to something else. With this, I can easily find a new facility to teach in and find more people to love on and share my joy with!

I am excited to complete this dream of mine. I am thrilled to finally say that I stopped talking about it and just did it! I am excited to get the opportunity to share this love with other people. I just hope that one day I'll be able to do for someone what my instructor in England did for me! That one little moment of the exchange of a headset will forever stay with me. That's the moment that I just knew this was something that I could do, something that I wanted to do, and something that I would do!