The Truth about being a Fitness Professional

coach, fit, fitness, food, instagram, life, personaltrainer, professional, struggle, trainer, wellness, workout

I’m a fitness coach but I am not the healthiest and fittest out there.

Working in the fitness industry, everyone expects us to look absolutely ripped (2% body fat and 8-pack abs and all), and have so much time in our hands (freelance coaches like myself, especially). Not that it’s an unfair or impossible expectation – we should practice what we preach, after all.

As with most expectations, it’s not all it’s perceived to be. After 8 years in the industry, here are a couple of things I’d like to share.

We have the same 24 hours as everyone else.

When you work in a gym, everyone (including yourself in the beginning, probably) expects you to be working out all day. Hey, gym use is free all day, every day. However, our time is highly dependent on client schedules. When we have a lot of clients in a day, we’ll…

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Setting Realistic Goals

Beachbody, Failure, Goal attainment, Goal setting, habit forming, new year’s resolutions, success

Chronically Fabulous

Did you know that approximately 80% of New Year’s Resolutions fail by February? (U.S. News & World Report) Why do you think that is? I don’t know about you, but I know it’s really difficult to force myself to get up and go to the gym when the temperatures are sub-freezing!

For me, the biggest indicator of success is how I structure my goals. Almost all of the theories about learning and skill building emphasize how important it is to set attainable goals and to chunk your overall goal down into smaller more manageable tasks that you can use to scaffold and build upon.

Unfortunately, that’s not how we are naturally wired! We live in a society where instant gratification is so prevalent. There has been a billion dollar weight-loss industry built upon the customer’s desire to get quick results without having to actually do a whole lot…

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Everything in moderation…including exercise!

health , moderation , planning , progress , training

Life...Take 2!

Ok so I’ve talked about consistency, accountability, patience & persistence and how each have played major roles in my own health and wellness journey. I thought it was also important to talk about another piece of the puzzle which is moderation. At this point in my journey, almost exactly a year in, moderation is proving to be a lot harder than I ever could have imagined in the beginning! I have fallen in love with this lifestyle, with lifting, with getting stronger and I am now at a point where I have to actually tell myself “you need to take a day off” even though most weeks I don’t want to! I know, who woulda thought?!?! I went from barely exercising at all to being a fitness addict in a very short amount of time!

I realize I probably sound like a bit of a weirdo for what I am…

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Focus on What Matters

focus, happiness, Lifestyle, mindfulness, nutrition, physical fitness

Vanity metrics. They’re everywhere. Followers, likes, comments, friends, retweets. Those are just the ones on social media. Trust me, there are hundreds more.

How often do you think we find ourselves caring about something that is actually detrimental? Detrimental to our health, self esteem, self worth, self value, happiness, courage, confidence, you name it. I would say that we do this every day.

How often do you find yourself checking your Instagram post to see how many likes you’ve gotten? Did you hit triple digits yet? Did you get more than last time? Did your crush like it? Did anyone make a compliment in the comments section?

How about this… Try asking yourself something productive instead. Try asking yourself “why do I care?” Maybe ask “does it make a difference?” Or perhaps ask “what really matters to me?” I guarantee you’ll get a much different and much more positive outcome.

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Motivating Movement

beauty , happy , healthy , motivation , working out

Handling Haley

As I sit at home this morning, enjoying the snow day, I try to motivate myself to go on a run. I’ve been doing pretty good with working out. I have only taken 2 days off since the first of the year, which, I say, is reasonable. But, today I just couldn’t seem to get myself motivated.

Last night, I was looking online at clothes, and found myself avoiding adding some tops I really liked being added to my cart. I would tell myself, “maybe when you’ve lost more weight, you could try something like this.” Or seeing skirts that were my style, but short, saying “maybe when you’ve gotten down to a size 0.” And today motivating myself to run, all I could think about was being fat.

Honestly, I am by NO MEANS fat. I just struggle a lot with body image. I allowed others to determine…

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I Am a Survivor.

acting, fitness, health, nutrition

Actually i Am.

Pictured (left to right): 16-year-old me, my brother Freddy, and my half-sister Kathryn

When I was 17, my older brother Freddy passed away from cancer at the age of 30. This was one of the last photos he and I took together. The day our little sister was born, and about a year before he passed.

I graduated high school and moved on to college where I got lost in depression, drank alcohol at least 3 nights a week, and shoved french fries into my face during my lunch breaks. Unsurprisingly, the number on the scale went up to 165 lbs by age 20 (freshmen 15 was more of a freshmen 40)

I was interested in acting, but did not believe in myself enough to think it would be a career. Being hungover on weekends was a common occurrence. I was satisfied with working in retail for the…

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