It’s been a while since I’ve written about my personal fitness journey. Mostly because I want to use my platform as an outlet to speak about things I’ve learned and give advice to help others, but since I’m coming up on 14 years as a personal trainer, I would share my story.
My personal fitness journey began when I was in my early 20’s. I always cared about my appearance, so the day I looked down and saw cellulite on the front of my thighs, I decided I could no longer live in denial. In refusal to go up a pant size, I had been busting the inseams of my jeans, and this was the last straw. I called my mom for help – she had been on her own weight loss journey and knew I could count on her.
She taught me to consume less calories than I expended, so I joined a gym and did cardio everyday. I was too uncomfortable to weight train. I counted my calories and was careful to only consume about 1000 a day. This worked so easily and I lose 20 pounds in just a few months. Being that I was in my 20’s, just about anything was going to work.
I stuck with doing daily cardio and counting calories for another four years or so. I had gotten really into distance running, and bully myself up to half marathons. But needing to change things up, I hired my first trainer. He made me start lifting weights, and having a trainer was key here because I had no idea what to do, but as I started seeing some muscle tone, I loved it. I started going to my boyfriend’s gym where I was doing a lot of circuit training and I read Tosca Reno’s book, The Eat Clean Diet, which taught me how to pair carbs and protein. Keeping your blood sugar balanced is integral to fat loss, I learned, and lost another 10 pounds I didn’t know I had to lose.
I fell in love with nutrition, working out and decided to become a personal trainer. I felt like I had a secret I needed to share with the world and keeping it to myself was a disservice.
In 2011 I entered my first bikini competition. Over the 12 week process I lost another 10 pounds and believe I got down to about 15% body fat. I LOVED how I looked, but the day I stepped on stage I felt deeply insecure. Competing in this type of atmosphere did not serve me, mentally. I didn’t like being judged on my appearance. The diet was also really bad for me as well. I had eaten really healthy, but there are things you have to do to manipulate your body to look a certain way and to get to that level of leanness, like stop eating bananas. It just messed me up and my relationship with food as well.
Wanting to get that lean again, I competed again the next year. After that I was over it. I hated the experience all together and was ready to do something else. Prior to those shows, I had gotten into olympic weightlifting and was generally tired of always trying to be as skinny as possible, so I joined CrossFit. I got REALLY into it and started competing and even made it to Regionals on a team. When the gyms shut down I had the equipment so I started solely focusing on olympic weightlifting and made my way to States, Nationals and then Worlds!
Since then, it’s been about a year and a half and I’ve just simply been lifting, doing yoga, some olympic weightlifting and CrossFit. My desire to compete just isn’t there anymore for the time being and I’m okay with that. These days my goals are to look good and feel good and focus on helping others do the same. I feel like I’m more balanced than I’ve ever been in my fitness goals.
With that said, and this being my 14th anniversary as a trainer, I want to share 14 tips that will hopefully help you on your fitness journey:
- When you set a goal, identify why you want it. That way when things feel hard, you have something solid to help keep you motivated.
- Ask for help. I started with my mom and since the beginning I’ve hired about a dozen coaches along the way, and I myself am a fitness professional! Others can provide you with the guidance and feedback you need to get where you want to go.
- Do the exercise you enjoy. For a while I loved running, then I loved lifting, then I loved CrossFit.. there’s so many methods to choose from!
- Always continue to eat foods you love. Omitting things all together can make you sad and feel resentful and aren’t good for your relationship with food.
- Your relationship with food is important. Dieting to reach a goal can be done, but then what? If it’s not sustainable long term, it’s not a great idea to do short term either.
- This is not a sprint. I’ve made this a lifestyle for 20 years now. Ultimately you want to be doing this for the rest of your life so you can look and feel good forever, right? Take your time.
- Protein is your best friend. If you pair protein with each meal you eat, your blood sugar will be more balanced and fat loss is far easier.
- Lifting weights is the fountain of youth. Your body will look and feel so much better if you have muscle and the only way to do that is through lifting.
- Poor quality food will wreck your digestion and cause inflammation. It’s stupidly addictive too. Your body deserves the best, so give it the best. Don’t listen to the marketing ploys of the food industry – they just want your money.
- Sleep is crucial to everything. Your mood, energy, hormones, immunity, digestion.. it all comes down to sleep. Don’t skimp there.
- Hydration is important, but people rarely need a gallon a day. Just keep your pee light yellow with water and you will feel and look better.
- Use your calories wisely. Think of it like a budget – if you make $2000 a month and you need to pay for rent, insurance, and groceries, it’s not wise to spend $1000 a month on clothes and make up. If you are consuming 2000 calories a day, using 1000 of them on chips and guac is not wise.
- Slow down. Breathe. Be present. Your nervous system can get all jacked up when you feel stressed out all the time. It makes it challenging to make good decisions for yourself and you can do damage to your metabolism, digestion and hormones.
- Everything is connected. Your mind and your thoughts. Your exercise. Your food. Your digestion. Your hormones. Your nervous system. Making one decision has an impact on many things. Act accordingly.
I truly hope this list helps you, along with reading my journey. I want to help you make your own dreams come true so I offer online coaching. You can learn about that and join at KyraWilliamsFitness.com/signup