KM: What did the hardest thing actually turn out to be?
AS: Well, there are 2 things that were really hard for me: The food. Everything you do has to be in line with the goals I have created for myself. There were times when I would go out to eat with friends and they would give me crap about the things I ordered, especially when I was ordering things cooked a certain way. But at the end of the day, they were the ones that were asking me for advice.
And staying off the scale. It is a liar. Everyone I work with (including myself in the beginning) obsess over the scale. I have to tell them that the scale doesn’t really matter. If you are continually seeing results in your strength, measurements and progress pictures, then you are successful.
KM: Have you ever honestly considered quitting the whole fitness thing? If so, why and how did you get through it?
AS: No. There are days I just don’t want to go, but I’ve never wanted to give it up. If I miss consecutive workouts, my body starts to ache, I don’t sleep well and I feel more anxious which are all 100 times worse than going to the gym, right?!? I have learned to listen to my body. If I’m overly exhausted, I’ll skip the workout. If I’m just being lame, I’ll go.
KM: Tell me about your least fit moment that led you to starting your fitness journey.
AS: My least fit moment was after I had my daughter. She was about a year old and I knew things needed to change. Before I had my daughter, I was a smoker and would just eat really low calorie (I didn’t know the damage I was doing to my metabolism at that point, I thought you just had to cut calories. Every time I just gained it back because it was so hard to maintain) I also did some shakes and other things that clearly weren’t working. I still had quite a bit to lose (I gained over 60 lbs with my pregnancy). It was also a time in my life where I was going from being in college with an active job to a more sedentary job, so it was a double whammy.
I remember sitting on the floor with my daughter on my day off with my baggy mom clothes on and wondering if this was going to be me for the rest of my life. I was so tired and felt awful, let alone attractive. That’s when I knew that I had to make some changes.