fitness

New Year, Same Challenges: The Key to Showing Up for Yourself

As we close out 2024 and head into 2025, it’s natural to feel the pull of a fresh start—the allure of the “new year, new me” mindset. Many set ambitious resolutions, brimming with hope for change, only to see those goals quietly slip away by March. It’s a cycle I’ve seen often, especially as moms approach me with a common plea: “Can you be my trainer? I need you to motivate me!”

The truth is, I’m not a trainer. I’m a mom, just like them, navigating the chaos of life. But what I’ve learned—what truly makes the difference—is this: motivation isn’t a crutch you can lean on. It’s fleeting, inconsistent, and unreliable. What keeps me going isn’t motivation—it’s discipline and a deeply rooted personal “why.”

Luna always getting in the middle of my warmup.

Making Your Goals Non-Negotiable

For me, working out isn’t something I squeeze in when life permits. It’s a non-negotiable, like brushing my teeth or taking a shower. It’s a promise I keep to myself. And let’s be honest: it’s easy to show up for everyone else—for our kids, our partners, our jobs. But if we don’t start with ourselves, there won’t be much left of us to give.

That’s why I plan my workouts like I plan anything else in life. If I know the weekend will be packed or something might derail my usual routine, I work around it. I adjust my day to fit in the workout instead of leaving it to chance.

Grace, Not Guilt

Of course, life happens. There are days when the workout is just impossible. On those days, I give myself grace. I don’t beat myself up or punish myself by overdoing it the next day. I simply start again. The key isn’t perfection—it’s consistency.

This mindset keeps me going, even when things get hard. I’ve let go of the idea that missing a day means failure, and instead, I focus on showing up the next day.

Finding Your Why

When someone asks how I stay disciplined, I ask them this: What’s your why? Why does this matter to you? Your why needs to be bigger than the excuses that inevitably come up. For me, my why is about health, energy, and being the best version of myself for my family and, more importantly, for me.

As we step into the new year, let’s leave behind the pressure of fleeting motivation and embrace the steady strength of discipline and purpose. Show up for yourself. Keep the promises you make to yourself. And when life happens? Give yourself grace and keep going.

What’s your “why” for 2025? I’d love to hear how you’re planning to show up for yourself in the new year. Share in the comments—I’m cheering you on.

Laying the Next Brick

It’s been a while since I last wrote. Life happened, as it always does. And in the whirlwind of “to-dos” and “what ifs,” I let this space collect dust. But today, I’m ready to pick up where I left off—still asking questions about legacy but with a new perspective and a new challenge ahead.

Legacy is a funny thing. Last time, I talked about it in terms of what we leave behind for others. But lately, I’ve been thinking about what we leave behind for ourselves. The stories we tell ourselves. The proof we give ourselves that we did the thing—that we showed up, took a chance, lived intentionally. That we didn’t let fear or time or excuses win.

I’ve set a goal that feels impossible right now: to qualify and run the NYC Marathon the year I turn 50. That’s 26.2 miles of sheer determination. I’ve never run a marathon before, though I came close once. I was training for the Disney Marathon in 2020, but a foot injury stopped me cold after I hit 19 miles. It crushed me at the time. I let it linger as another story of unfinished business.

Not anymore.

This time, I’m writing a new story—and this one ends with me crossing that finish line. I have a plan. In 2025, I’ll tackle 5Ks, 10Ks, and a half marathon. In 2026, I’ll push further, with more half marathons as I continue to focus on strength and mobility. But the goal isn’t just the NYC Marathon in 2027; it’s what this journey will teach me—and my kids—about living with intention.

Because isn’t that what legacy really is? It’s the life we live now, the example we set. It’s deciding, every day, to take one more step, to embrace the struggle, to be scared but go anyway. My kids won’t care about the finish time; they’ll remember that I didn’t give up, even when it was hard.

This blog is part of that journey too. Sharing the wins, the setbacks, the lessons—because legacy isn’t a destination, it’s the path we choose to walk every day.

So here’s to starting again. To laying the next brick. To writing our legacy one bold, messy, beautiful step at a time.

What’s the next brick you’re laying?

The Overlooked Transformation

On November 8th I posted my first video on my public fitness focused IG page called Sneakers.Sweat.Sacrifice. I was so scared. I may have taken about 4, 5 (or 500 but who is counting) videos prior to posting the one I did. I mean what if they saw my fat, was my acne flaring, did the move look too easy, what if no one watches, what if no one follows…so many negative “what if’s”, not one “what if” that sounded like “what if I inspire someone?”.  So despite the voices in my head telling me “you don’t have a story to tell”, “there are so many Beach Body coaches out there better than you”, “you don’t have a following”… Yes despite those voices I put myself out there. Sure my husband was the only one following me at first and no, I don’t have hundreds of people YET…but hell, it’s just been over a month, I am not giving into those voices.

You see, I DO have a story to tell. As I look back on my life, I realize that I have ALWAYS loved fitness. My fitness love began with dance. Play me a beat and my feet start moving, my hips start interpreting the sounds and my heart begins to soar. Growing up I would dance in my room, make up dances, spend hours daydreaming I was on a dance show…just enjoying the moments where I felt in control of my life. Dance kept me in “shape” growing up and as I got older I started going to the gym, but it was rarely consistent (unless I was paying a trainer, lol). As life happened, consistency would happen in spurts, I allowed outside factors to determine my fitness journey and I started making EXCUSES as to why I was not reaching my fitness goals.

As I have mentioned before in a previous blog, 2 years ago I made the decision to STOP making excuses and START moving towards my fitness goals. Fast forward to today…although I am far from the physical goals I wish to achieve, I have transformed something much greater!! My mindset. Yes, those nasty voices still try to take over my thoughts, hopes and desires…but I made the decision to ignore those voices and focus on what I can control…my health journey. I no longer feel guilty taking 30 to 60 minutes to be selfish and take care of myself because ultimately that helps me be a better Mom to my kids and wife to my husband.

My videos are far from perfect and yes you will catch the rolls in my belly, the bags under my eyes and the snap chat filter required morning face BUT that is ME (well, almost all me unless I have the snap chat filters, lol)…I am a 40 year old (almost 41) Mom, wife, full time Corporate Trainer that has chaos and toy cars in every nook and cranny of my home…but if my being real can inspire someone to change their mindset and start their health journey then let the rolls show and the filters flow! SHUT DOWN those voices and realize that YOU CAN achieve what you may deem impossible, because YOU deserve it!

 

No one said it would be easy…

Monday through Friday my alarm is set for 4:10am…yes 4:10AM! However, that has not always been the case. I use to wake up around 5:30am to get the family and me ready for work and school. During the week, the routine was the same; work work work work work (in my Rihanna voice) and maybe once or twice a week I would go to the gym before work. On weekends, I would attempt to go to the gym but that was not always a priority. The problem with this “routine” was that it was NOT a routine. There was NO consistency in my workout and there definitely was no planning around what I ate. I felt very uncomfortable in my skin and frustrated that I would see no results, which led to no motivation, just excuses. People would tell me that I looked fine, ask me why I was complaining, sure I ranged from a size 4 to a size 6, so I was never obese, but I had a different vision of me and no one really got that.

One day I was talking to my mentor, complaining that I had no time to workout, “I get up at 5:30am and usually do not get home until about 6pm, I have my 1year old that doesn’t stop, my teenagers that don’t help, I don’t know how to fit the fitness into my life and be consistent.” And of course he brings me back to reality by reminding me that I am just lining up my excuses. He asked me, “what is a consistent workout routine supposed to look like?” You see, I was thinking about it all as something that needed to fit neatly into this box labeled “LIFE” when in reality I needed to stomp on that box and JUST DO IT (like Nike). Work life was not going anywhere, my kids were not going to change, traffic wasn’t going to give me back time and there was NO magic pill that was going to give me the body I longed for. So I had a decision to make…continue in my “routine” or make shit happen!

A friend of mine had become a Beachbody Coach and she would often approach me about joining her. Of course I knew about the Beachbody programs but I didn’t have the money to do that (another excuse). The reality was, I obviously did not want “IT” enough. Well, after much back and forth, hubby and I decided to take the 21 Day Fix Extreme challenge and do something about our health. We started the journey July 19, 2015 with no excuses! Yep that’s me at the start…

We worked out in the evening after our little guy went to bed (30 minute kick butt workout at home). I prepared all of our meals and snacks according to the meal plan (portion control was key, but we had the containers that helped). We stuck to the plan for 21 days, even though the last 7 days included our family vacation in Orlando with our kids and the amusement parks. For that week we prepared our wraps and snacks on the go instead of eating fast food, we worked out in the hotel and skipped all the indulging food we would have devoured on any other occasion. Those 21 days of commitment were evident on the 22nd day and thus our journey continued…

Though my journey is far from perfect and I am trying to get back to the results I first had, I have accepted that this is a journey. Sometimes it will be fun, other times it will require a big kick in the butt to stay on track, and sometimes I will be run over by the band wagon…BUT I no longer lead with excuses and I became a Beachbody coach (click for My Beachbody site) myself. Sure, I spend a good 3hours during the weekend preparing meals for hubby and I for the week, I workout 5 to 7 days out of the week but it usually does not take more than 40min, and yes I still indulge in my peanut m&m’s when life calls for it. No one said it would be easy…but how bad do you really want “IT”? What ever that “IT” may be for you…STOP WITH THE EXCUSES, enjoy the journey. And yes, even though I am still not working, my alarm still is set for 4:10am so that I can continue motivating my hubby and myself and setting an example for our kids. What excuses have you given up? What results have you gained?