About

I am a fitness enthusiast who has been active for many years now, but with a brief (4 year!) hiatus there in the middle.  I met my husband in an extreme fitness class – he was my instructor (shame shame, ha ha!) – and our relationship revolved around being fit, active, and outside.  We decided to have kids and that didn’t go so well, so I was on lots of weight-gaining hormones for a couple of years which initiated my fitness hiatus and horrendous weight gain.  Then we got lucky and had one baby via IFV, then another, and I felt overwhelmingly exhausted all.the.time.  Once our youngest was finally sleeping through the night (I had to wean him at 19 months to get him to sleep, oh my god!), I decided it was time to get my butt back in shape.

I haven’t looked back, or fallen off the wagon, since June 14, 2014.  I blogged all of this under my happy little family blog, but with my readership expanding to those who care more about fitness than parenthood, I decided it’s time to take my fitness obsession to a new blog address!

Here is a brief synopsis of my fitness history:

• Kicked off my fitness experience with Farrells Extreme Bodyshaping – January 2006 – fertility frustration 2009 (lost 30 pounds in that timeframe)
• I founded a fitness group (Iowa Fitness Network – don’t look it up – we’re not doing it anymore) in January 2007 and it ran through fall of 2009.  We ran, biked, did adventure races, hiked, explored… you name it!
• In the midst of our fertility issues, I wanted to get in shape again and joined a local 10-week fitness program in January 2010.  It’s not worth noting their name.
• Then… crickets.  Well, IVF #1-3 for baby #1, C-section #1, nursing baby #1 with a limited milk supply, IVF #4 for baby #2, C-section #2, nursing baby #2 with a limited milk supply, sheer exhaustion because baby #2 won’t sleep through the night for 19 MONTHS, etc. etc. etc.  (gained my 30 pounds back… plus 5)
• I returned to what I know works – back to Farrells on June 14, 2014 for 10 weeks (lost 25 pounds)
• Attended classes at the local YMCA, became a runner again, did INSAN.ITY in my house, setup a kickboxing bag in the garage, dusted off the treadmill in the basement for multiple runs a week, etc. from August 2014 – present (lost another 15 pounds – so down 40 pounds from June 14, 2014 and weighing less than I ever have in my adult life)
• My latest fitness venture is starting the Beac.hbody PiYo 8-week program on November 7, 2015