Welcome and thank you for stopping by my beachbody blog. For those of you that came here by accident let me introduce myself. My name is Lauren. I am a high school teacher living in the D.C. metro area. I was first introduced to beach body in July of 2013 when I committed myself to the insanity program. I didn’t have a coach or really know anything about beach body. I just wanted to get in shape. Without going into too much detail or airing any family drama, I struggled with my weight due to infertility issues. About two years worth of infertility problems.

 

Fast forward to November 2013. A few days short of our 3 year wedding anniversary my husband and I found out we were pregnant! Yaay!!  To say my pregnancy was easy would be a lie. I was sick throughout my entire first trimester. I gained a ton of weight due to the medication I was on for the infertility. I decided I wanted to do what was best for me and my baby so I took to social media and put out a request for a beachbody coach. My awesome coach Melanie Mitro (who happens to be the number one coach in the company) reached out and helped me change my life. 

 

With my doctors okay I replaced my prenatal vitamin with Shakeology and added a folic acid/DHA supplement. I was still using my pregnancy as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted. I lived on kettle chips and ice cream. Then in March my husband came home from work complaining of a pain in his stomach that has been ongoing and becoming almost unbearable. We took him to the emergency room that night where he was diagnosed (incorrectly) with fatty liver disease. We came home from the hospital that night and the first thing I did was contact Melanie and ask her for advice for my husband. She pointed us in the direction of clean eating. I was already drinking Shakeology daily and started my husband on the same regimen. I began menu planning/prepping weekly and through this my husband lost more than 30 pounds. (By the way, he did not have fatty liver disease. The problem was with his gall bladder. The doctor said he had two choices: change his lifestyle and keep the gall bladder, or have it removed. He has been pain free for 8 months on diet alone).

 

Fast forward to April. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I was devastated. Pregnancy is supposed to be an excuse to eat everything in sight. Now I had to watch every little thing I ate, especially carbs and test my blood sugar four to six times a day. The worst part about gestational diabetes is that a meal that would stabilize your blood sugar one day would spike it the next. The only consistent food that NEVER spiked my blood sugar was my Shakeology. I attribute Shakeology to helping me control my diabetes, keep me off insulin, and keep my baby at a healthy weight. On July 14, 2014 at 11:26 am I gave birth to a beautiful 7 pound 1 oz. baby girl. I was induced at 39 weeks due to the diabetes. I weighed 180 pounds the day I gave birth. The first thing I ate after giving birth was a donut. I hadn’t had a donut in years! I was now diabetes free and ate everything in sight for weeks. Diabetes sucked but it was also a blessing. I lost most of my baby weight within two weeks even though I was eating and eating and eating. I then hit a plateau and stopped losing weight. It was then I decided it was time for a lifestyle change to make more a fit mom for my baby. 6 weeks after giving birth I was cleared by my doctor to begin working out. I joined one of Melanie’s challenge groups and the ladies of that group gave me the inspiration to keep on going on the days I wanted to quit the most. I started with PiYo. I loved it but I also felt like I needed some more cardio, so I went on Beachbody and found their PiYo/T25 hybrid. To say I loved it is an understatement! After completing the program I hit another plateau so I got my nutrition in line with the 21-Day Fix.  

 

I decided I wanted to be a coach and inspire people in the way I had been inspired. Three months after my baby was born I was still wearing maternity clothes out of fear. I was heavy before I got pregnant because of the infertility treatments and I had major anxiety about trying on my pre-pregnancy clothes. I sucked it up on October 3rd though and took out my favorite pair of 7 jeans. These jeans were too small on me before I got pregnant. I put them on and ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy moly! Why am I still wearing maternity jeans again? After 30 days in the challenge group I had lost 5 pounds and six inches yet here I was wearing maternity jeans whenever I went out. I couldn’t believe how ridiculous I was being! My progress was slow, but it was steady. Since then I have lost a total of 33 pounds. My goal is to be a fit mom. When Elise is a toddler I want to be able to keep up with her and then some. So here I am on my coaching journey. I want to inspire people the way that Melanie and the people in my challenge group have challenged me so here I am today starting my beach body business.