Hi Everyone! My name is Erica, and I am from Wisconsin! I am a 5’1” working mom of 3 who is constantly trying to find time to fit everything into each day that needs to be done, a truly impossible task. I’ll start with where I am now because to me that’s more important than where I’ve been. I am currently about half way to where I need to be and feeling stronger every day. With the help of Chalean Extreme & Turbofire I’m working towards,my goals to be the healthiest me possible. In addition to ...

Hi Everyone! My name is Erica, and I am from Wisconsin! I am a 5’1” working mom of 3 who is constantly trying to find time to fit everything into each day that needs to be done, a truly impossible task. I’ll start with where I am now because to me that’s more important than where I’ve been. I am currently about half way to where I need to be and feeling stronger every day. With the help of Chalean Extreme & Turbofire I’m working towards,my goals to be the healthiest me possible. In addition to my chalene workouts I also try to get out and walk with the kids as much as possible I love yoga and also weight lift multiple times a week. Food is where I struggle, I LOVE to eat! I still struggle daily to fight cravings and eat correct portion sizes but I know how good I feel when I eat clean, I love how it makes you feel light and full of energy and that helps motivate me to eating right.

Do I still have those days when I want to skip my work out? Absolutely, do I skip workouts? Sometimes and sometimes I sit around in my sweat pants watching Disney movies and eating really cheesy pizza with my kids. I am not one of those extremist who counts every calorie and works out nonstop, I am a much flawed human being, a work in progress who still enjoys ice cream and pasta as much as yummy smoothies and veggie trays. Why do I tell you this? Because if I have learned nothing else it’s that we sometimes set our expectations for ourselves too high and this will almost always set you up to fail. Will I try to workout daily? Yes! Will I eat clean a majority of the time? Yes! Because I do love eating clean, I just love it 80% of the time, and I do love the feeling I get after a good workout, but I also enjoy occasionally laying in bed all day (well as much of the day as a 3 and 1 yr old will let you stay in bed for) I believe that everything should be in moderation, life is to be enjoyed! I still have a ways to go, ideally I would like to be under 130 but I am not focusing so much on the number as on the feeling. When I feel healthy and happy and fit then I will say I am at my goal weight until then I will keep on rolling and hope that in the process I can set a good example of what healthy is for my two girls and for everyone else out there who needs it!

And now since I’m kind of a backwards person here is my beginning to give you an idea of where I am coming from, I have been riding the rollercoaster of weight gain and loss since middle school, not a fun ride. The ups and downs have wreaked havoc on my body going from 115 in highschool to 158 by 19 back down to 125 at 21 (in a very unhealthy way) and up to an all time pre-baby high of 195 by 23, in short my body is a road map of stretch marks. My first wake up call came when I was pregnant with my first child and the scale was tipping 205 after just a few months. The doctor said you have gestational diabetes, it was scary but not scary enough to make me change too much even after I was forced to start insulin shots. Afterwards I carried around my baby weight for a year before I decided to do something about it I tracked my food and did some low impact workout dvds at home and managed to get down to 175 at which point in time I found myself pregnant with daughter #2. This one was a much healthier pregnancy and I managed to keep the weight gain to 20lbs all of which I lost within a month or two of giving birth. The year after was a blur of trying to find my niche, during that time I tried cleanses, clean eating, the fast diet, basic calorie restriction, weight lifting, joined and quit a gym, tried T25 & Chalean Extreme, a few different kettlebell workouts, some basic walking programs and a few random workout dvds. For all that effort I now sit at 159 and have gone from a size 16 pants to a size 10. The biggest take away from all that experimenting is surprise surprise, I feel best when I eat clean and strength train. I know this is not a new concept but sometimes it doesn’t matter how many times you hear it from other people you have to try and fail yourself (sometimes many times) before you can really grasp it. So that's me in a nut shell I hope that you can find something motivating in that story to take away since I know that there have been so many others here who have motivated me over the years as well and I just really want to do the same for others now!

Read More About EBERKSHIRE86 (Updated December 8)

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