Shelene's Transformation Feature!

I’m going to start with the moral of this story: Every person deserves to love the body they are in. 

I have struggled with sugar cravings and binge eating for all of my life, and spent too much time stressing over how I looked physically. I even recall using my babysitting money in 8th grade to buy tummy slimming undergarments to hide my non-flat belly in my cheerleading uniform. That shouldn’t be normal! 

In an effort to change my appearance, I have tried diet pills, drinks, cleanses, dry chicken and sweet potatoes – I have tried it all until I wanted to puke, but nothing seemed to work. Then my life changed. 

Nine years ago, I gave birth to a stillborn at 22 weeks. As tragic as that was, there I was, still looking pregnant but with no baby to show for it. I had to do something to brace me up after something so horrible. I needed something for ME. So, I went to a local gym and met with a trainer the following week. He taught me about weight training, and I learned to love exercise and weight training and seeing the difference it made in my body physically and mentally! 

Fast forward to when I learned that I also needed to incorporate better nutrition into my life to make any serious changes in my physical appearance. I stripped myself down to 1200 calories per day, most days not even making it to 1200 because I just couldn’t stomach another tasteless piece of chicken. However, I still wasn’t seeing the progress I wanted, and making one dinner for me and one for my family every night was exhausting. 

Enter Clean Simple Eats. I was terrified to take in the 1650 calories that were recommended for my goals, and I was surprised that something healthy could taste THAT good. I made myself a promise that I would stick to this program for 7 weeks. My health was worth the effort. In that time, not only did I see pounds lost, I saw inches lost, I saw muscle gained, I found myself able to do more push-ups, more burpees, squats and snatches with heavier weights. This year, I did one armed burpees. ONE.ARMED.BURPEES! 

After a year and a half as part of the CSE Squad, I am still here and still loving it! When I post my workouts, food I eat, and tips that have helped me to be more successful with my journey, I always have at least one message thanking me for being inspiring to them. I have friends thanking me for reminding them to get in their workout that day. During each challenge I have participated in, I have friends asking about Clean Simple Eats. 

To say that this way of life has changed my life would be an understatement. This way of life has saved my physical and emotional health. I am truly grateful for what I have learned and continue to learn about myself in this process. I wish I had had a good role model of physical health growing up, and though I can’t change the past, I can be that role model for my own children. With the right tools and knowledge, you CAN love the body you are in.