All about me, my journey, and how I got here!
Hi everyone! First of all thank you for being here and reading my first ever blog post! Here I hope to help you in any way I can, health, fitness and lifestyle related. In this first post I wanted to introduce myself and hopefully give you a better understanding of me and my background in the health and fitness world!
Growing up, I was always overweight, it was nothing crazy, but I always knew. As I got older, it got harder and harder going into middle and high school and eventually college. I grew up a dancer, so I was used to exercise (even though as a kid/ young adult I didn't really think about it as exercise) which is why my weight was never a HUGE issue health wise, but self-esteem wise, I hated it.
I didn't really know what to do besides deal with it, so thats what I did until I couldn't anymore. After my first year of college I gained more than the "freshman 15" and didn't actually realize it until I went home for the summer and stepped on the scale. I will never forget the feeling I felt when I saw that number. At this point I had 3 months until I moved to Italy for a year for school and I knew I needed to lose weight because I wanted to feel comfortable and confidents in Italy. This is where I technically started my fitness journey, but not really. All summer I barley ate, went to my local planet fitness and ran on the treadmill until I burned 500 calories. Every. Day.
Of course I lost weight and was thrilled, I was down 30lbs in 3 months. What I did not know, was how unhealthy this was. I went to Italy and ate my heart out, only to come back, a year later, another 1olbs down. I walked around 20k steps a day living there, and ate almost nothing processed, which was the key!
Coming back to life in America I definitely did not keep up with my crazy crash diet and cardio sessions like I had before I left and of course we all know what happened, I gained almost all the weight back.
Again, I had no desire to do anything about it, until I went through a breakup and thats really where this all started.
At the time, I was a high school Italian teacher and knew I needed to make a change. I didn't want to do any crazy diets (keto, low fat, low carb, WW etc.) I wanted sustainable healthy results so I hired a personal trainer!
Having never lifted a weight before, I had no idea what I was in for. After my first few sessions I had no idea what was happening to me. I was sore in places I didn't know could be sore but the crazy thing was, I LOVED it.
After 2-3 months of working out and not really changing my diet, my coach, and now boss, sat me down and we went over nutrition. He taught me how to track, what macros were, and how a calorie deficit was the ONLY way to lose fat. The moment I took my diet seriously is when I really started to see changes.
In one year I lost around 30lbs and gained an incredible amount of muscle. I became obsessed with this life. My coach noticed this and encouraged me to get my personal training certification. It took me a few months to build up the courage but I finally did it and it was the best decision I have ever made.
I started coaching part time while I was still teaching full-time until 2021 when I quit teaching to pursue coaching full-time and I don't know if I'll ever look back!
Personal training and the gym changed my life, I don't know what I would do without it.
Moral of the story (if you made it this far) is that I get it. I know what it feels like to be afraid of the gym, to be unmotivated, to feel uncomfortable in your own skin. On the flip side, I know what it feels like to feel strong and powerful and healthy and I promise you the journey to get there is worth it. It is not easy by any means but it will be the BEST decision you will ever make.
And thats my story! Well, most of it. Stay tuned into my blog for all the fitness, lifestyle, and nutrition content that I've learned over my journey!
Do you struggle with finding motivation, or just feel like you don't have the knowledge to help you get to where you want to be?
Or, if you have any questions about me, workouts, food, or anything at all, feel free to email me at bodybyobrienri@gmail.com or DM me on instagram @katieobrienfit!
Until next time!
-Katie