A frequent comment I get when I mention I am a nutritionist is, wow you must eat SOO healthy or wow, do you ever eat junk food? The answer is yes and yes. Yes, I do eat very healthy MOST of the time. Which means the other times, I can be found potentially eating something not as healthy. Knowing what is best for me to eat, does not always mean that I make those perfect decisions every time. It’s actually what I think makes me an awesome source of motivation and education. I know what it is like to sometimes want that cupcake and I will never pretend that I don’t. The struggle is real.
So you have hopefully read my blog posts about my fitness journey, but this is going to be a bit different because this journey is still in progress and it has changed me in so many positive ways. My journey with Body Conceptions by Mahri all started with attending an event hosted by Beyond Moms and Randi Zinn. I love Randi's events as they are a great way to network and hang with like minded moms who love to work out and find time for things other than being a mom. At this event, I took my first Body Conceptions class and was hooked. It is an excellent combo of a fun dance party with some moves that I can rock out to and some moves that I can only pretend to rock out to and something similar to barre. Or something called toning and sculpting. Not sure what that means. So here is the thing, I hate barre. Or maybe I thought I hated barre and this isn’t exactly barre but it involves pulsing, seat work and small weights so its basically all I know of barre. But somehow I love it.
After taking this class, I decided to go to a Monday morning class taught by Erin West and I was immediately obsessed with her energy and dedication. I worked so hard and sweat so much that I knew this had to be good for me! But with my busy schedule, I found myself only making time for that one class a week because I told myself I should continue prioritizing other fitness classes that I thought were going to get me the best results. However, in the back of my head, I always wished I could just take these BoCo classes. So when a June challenge was announced, it didn’t take me long to decide to jump on board. An email was sent to me with my teammates and some rules of the challenge which basically was just to come to as many classes as week as I could and give it my all. Ok, I can do that.
And that is exactly what I did. I went to around 4 classes a week, tightened up my diet, at times literally following the same spreadsheet I give to my clients to follow. Some of my clients’ successes motivated me more which is an amazing part about my job. I had some immediate success in my measurements and then some plateaus. I needed motivation from instructors just like I give motivation to my clients. Expressing my disappointments or concerns to Mahri Relin, the powerhouse behind Body Conceptions, was always easy. She was always there to tell me how I did succeed in that particular part in class today. Her commitment to my success was always felt. The motivation and help I received along the way from fellow challengers was also immeasurable. Seeing my teammates everyday in class was such an excellent perk. We could discuss how hard it felt today after last night’s class or how much stronger I felt getting on a spin bike after doing all that seat work. And in the end, I kicked ass (excuse my French). I lost inches everywhere. But most importantly, I gained strength and confidence that I can succeed in a barre class, I can dance along with an instructor that is a professional and I am FAR from that. I can follow the diet I give my clients to a T and see excellent results, again.
At the end of the month, I expected to say, yippee, I can relax a bit now or great, now I can head back to those other classes I haven’t been taking but I found myself wanting more of BoCo. So more is what I’m getting as the challenge has been extended through July and I couldn’t be happier. Here is to more success as the possibilities feel endless right now.
