How I Started

It's 2014  I'm 26 years old and I feel like life is finally beginning for me! A lot of people always think why is that. I mean I've had 26 years on the earth and 7 of those years I've been from under my parent's wing living life by my rules so you would think. What I have come to realize is I wasn't living life by my rules. I was living life by society's rules. For most people it is programmed in our heads at a young age that once you graduate High School you go to college, then find a nice paying Monday-Friday office job that you will work at until retirement. During that time you are suppose to find a significant other, marry, have and raise children, then spend your older years hopefully retired enjoying your grandchildren. Why does life need to be that way for everyone? It AMAZES me to think how different the last 4 years of my life could have been if I would've found Beach Body earlier and started thinking about what I want and not what others want. I didn't finish college and I have felt like a failure for not doing so. I've had a countless number of jobs that I hated, but I stuck with because that's what we are suppose to do after all is to work and make money.

Me before life became this negative thing and Me on my wedding day.

Now you may be asking yourself how does that rant connect to her fitness journey? Well my decline in my physical and mental appearances started when I was no longer going to school and I landed a job working at Subway. At first I was just happy I had a job and I was paying my bills and could start to make mom and dad proud, but as time progressed I dreaded working there. I loved the people I worked with and by the time I was 22 I was an assistant manager and within a year of doing that I become manager of a brand new store opening up right next to Central Washington campus. Don't get me wrong for a second, those are amazing achievements especially at that age in my life, but did they make me happy? No they actually made life miserable for me. I was working 50+ hours a week trying to deal with a system that wasn't working. I had amazing co workers and employees and we all sympathized with how awful our job was. By the time I quit and decided to move back to the Seattle area I was 20 pounds heavier and had these dark negative glasses shielding my eyes from how amazing life can actually be. When I moved back to the West Side of the pass I hadn't realized how much higher the cost of living would be especially since my boyfriend was gone for six months for an internship and I was to be trying to build a new life on my own for a while. I moved back in with my mother and niece who lived in a two bedroom apartment. What this meant was the couch was my new bed and all of my stuff was now in storage. Luckily before I moved I found a new job working at Ivar's Fish and Chips at the airport. When I was job hunting I promised myself I would not work at Subway again, but I'm sure you can already see where working at another fast food restaurant wasn't the best choice either. For a while I was starting work at 5 AM and then I switched to closing which meant being at work anywhere from 11:45-1 AM!!! Basically I was either working to early to really do much with my loved ones or working to late to do anything. Not to mention I was butting heads with my mother living in such confined space together after having lived on my own for 4 years. My boyfriend's parents said it was alright for me to move in with them and then that way when he was back home we would be together again. I was nervous, but I took the opportunity because I would have my own room and space and live just a little closer to my friends. In this new living situation I was eating out a lot because they had a kitchen full of appliances (I was use to a kitchen with a lot of counter space and very organized cabinets) and I didn't want to cook a whole bunch of food and take up much fridge space. So now I'm hating my job and eating out a lot which can only mean one thing. More weight gain and those negativity glasses are just getting thicker and thicker. I did start working out a little bit during this time because I wanted to look somewhat nice for when my boyfriend was done with his internship. I definitely didn't want him coming back to a fat unhappy me. But once he was back we settled back into that comfy relationship state and I stopped trying to get healthier. I finally quit Ivars after a year of working there and started working at a bakery doing walking catering. So now I'm getting exercise at work, but once again I'm doing something I hate (you think by now I would've figured out me and the food business don't match) and have put myself in a negative environment again. Now I was walking on daily basis all around downtown Bellevue, but I was also getting to eat delicious pastries everyday. There wasn't much weight gain, but there wasn't any weight loss either. I got a little bit of a break the summer of '12 when my sister who works at Big Brothers Big Sister needed someone to fill in part time while a women was away on maternity leave. I had my afternoons available and could always use the extra money so I accepted the position and I LOVED it there! For the first time in my working career I found something that made me feel like I had a purpose and made life seem positive. After my temporary position was up my boss offered me a full time position with benefits because they didn't want to see me go. My boyfriend proposed to me and life was looking up. I was smiling again and happy with work even when it was stressful. I started eating healthier and actually paying attention to myself and the happier side of life. I got a gym membership and was trying to get back into shape. Unfortunately I was laid off six months later due to budget cuts and lack of a degree. Once again I felt like a "failure" because that is what society would say. At the same time we were getting ready to move into a state park. That sounded wonderful and one of those rare life experiences, but once we did I sunk a little deeper into the depression. The state park is an hour away from all of our friends and family, we are 15 mins outside of the nearest town, and I was jobless getting $150 a week from unemployment having to depend on my fiance to financially support us. Luckily the housing is heavily discounted because it is ranger housing and he is one of the Park Rangers, but I had never had to rely on someone to pay my bills. This was the point that  I gained the rest of my weight putting me up to a grand total of 200 pounds!!! That is a frightening number to see pop up on a scale, especially when family starts pointing out how you've gained weight etc. The icing on the cake was when I looked at our wedding pictures and instead of thinking they were amazing all I could focus on was how big I looked.

The progress I have made so far on my journey.

Fast forward to January of this year. I joined a clean eating group being ran by my friend. I figured it's five days I can give it a go. I lost 8 pounds just eating clean and drinking more water. My friend Alexa who was running the group had already been on her fitness journey and was getting great results. The workout program she had been using T25 was on sale with Shakeology for the month and she was going to be doing a challenge group for that. I thought great more accountability, people I have known for years were going to be doing it, and I needed to get my butt into gear. This was the moment that life really started to change. I was surrounded by people with similar stories and seeing and feeling results. Alexa had asked me if I thought about becoming a coach and I was to scared to leap outside of my comfort zone for that, after all I was just trying to work on myself. I did several more challenge groups and tried another program and I was still seeing results not only in appearance, but in the way I saw the world. I started looking at other Beach Body Coaches stories and everyone had something in common since becoming a coach. They were happy with life and the community they had chosen to surround themselves with. How did they get that way? They took a leap of faith outside of their comfort zone and tried something that most people would say is crazy or a scam. Well here I am taking that same leap of faith. Not only do I now have accountability for my own health and happiness, but I get to pay it forward to others who may still be in that unhappy dark place in their lives. Do people agree with my choice, probably not because I am still a college drop out living on minimal pay, but you know what I don't care. Who are these random people to get to decide what is right for me? I am my own person and I am becoming the best version of me physically and mentally. There's no secret pill or diet that I am on, there's no 9-5 M-F desk job that I am sitting at in my pencil skirt and blouse. If I could go back and change my decisions this year would I? Definitely not!! I do not regret the investments I have made into my health and happiness. And I most definitely do not regret the choice to help others who want the help. The world can be a lonely place when you are in the position of trying to do something completely on your own so why not seek out people with common goals and build your community from them? It may be the beginning of my journey, but I am beyond excited and ready to see where it takes me and couldn't be happier with the positive outlook I now have on life.

Have any questions or want to know a little bit more about what I'm doing email me and lets chat! healthylatanya@gmail.com