“I am happily in my mid 40’s living in beautiful New Mexico. It is in the enchanting land that I have raised my children, built my teaching career, hike and spend as much time as possible outdoors. Before I even hit my teenage years, I struggled with body image, never overweight, but definitely on the curvy side of medium. I was in constant comparison and leaking energy thinking I should have smaller butt, thighs, hips………..

There was never anything ever “wrong” with me, except the belief that I had to match some media driven ideal in order to be “good enough” or happy. And I tried many different things: Atkins, Raw, deprivation, etc My interest in different approaches escalated and shifted in 2013, I was diagnosed with 2 separate auto immune conditions (Type 1 Diabetes and Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism) on the same day.

I am peri-menopausal and hormones have been out of whack on that front too (in addition to my insulin and thyroid challenges.)

Since then, my focus has been on learning about the body and nutrition. My quest has been to optimize my health and have my body feel as strong and as vibrant as possible. These became my new priorities over a number on the scale. This quest has taken me down a few different roads. The first is that I received my coaching certification from the Institute for the Psychology of Eating- this empowering approach and has reframed my relationship with food in the sense that challenges with eating, weight and health not as an indication that we’re broken, but as a beautiful opportunity to grow and evolve. Instead of perpetuating negative messages about food, body, weight and diet which cause confusion about what to eat and how to eat, I help others have a happy relationship with food and a healthy metabolism.

I am trained to help others get un-stuck but primarily went through this training so that I would personally reap the benefits. The journey next took me to become certified in Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT/tapping) with specific techniques for addressing cravings and emotional eating, though I have used these techniques successfully with people for a variety of concerns. Finally, I was ready to work on becoming more intentional with my training and workouts. I am already fit and strong and I move everyday (I teach P.E) but wasn’t clear on what was the best type of exercise for my body goals. How can I walk miles a day, teach P.E, move constantly and still have so much jiggle on my lower half? My training and eating were obviously not well aligned to maximizing results and meeting my goals. Enter Warrior Goddess Kettlebell Training! The first 6 weeks, my mantra was “Trust my body, trust the plan” and I am so glad I did. I worried about how the eating would impact my blood sugar levels and the amount of insulin I would need. I worried about it working if I had to eat more than what the plan called for if I had a low blood sugar.

With support from Lisa and Breo, I was able to make tweaks and adaptations appropriate for me and I continued to trust my body, trust the plan. I lost 8 pounds which was great, but what I really am lit up by is that I was even stronger and there have been body shape changes which are way more exciting than anything you see on the scale. My toosh is tighter and am thrilled to be also learning more about body shape change (vs. weight loss) and muscle building. The support has been over the top, the recipes are yum (and I love food- I often joke that food blogs are my porn!) and I am excited to see what body shape changes I will see in the next year!”