The GIT Girl Magazine Volume I: July/August 2014 | Page 6

FITNESS By Danielle Stewart Danielle was once a girl on the go. She went from country hopping in the Coast Guard to being a suburban soccer mom in Oklahoma. Although she is no longer defending our coast she is one busy woman. She has garnered two degrees from Liberty University, a bachelors in Education and one in Business with a minor in accounting, and is now working on her third bachelors in Nursing. Not only has she worked hard on her education, but she has also carved out a little spot on the web for herself. She is the creator of the website and Youtube channel Fitness Fashionista. Through all of the transitions in her life, she got a bit off track and picked up some extra weight. Danielle was determined to shed the pounds and document the experience to help motivate and inspire other women. And so, Fitness Fashionista was born. I remember it like it was yesterday. I woke up, went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and realized that I had no clue who was looking back at me. Have you ever been so wrapped up in the ups and downs of life that you have lost yourself? That’s what happened to me. I had lost my very essence. I was just a shell; a much bigger shell of the woman I had been before birth of my son, the divorce, and getting out of the military had all hit me. I began to feel myself sink farther into depression and the weight on the scale was steadily creeping up. On March 6, 2013, I decided that it was time to make a change in my life and get things back on track. I didn’t just want things to go back to way they were before, I wanted them to be better. I wanted to be a bette ȁ