Happy Monday once again!

Last week, I started a brand new series on the blog “Fit and Healthy Feature” in hopes to provide you all with a little inspiration and motivation to start out the week.  We started out with Marisa’s amazing transformation to a healthier version of herself, and this week we are going to take look at Sarah’s wonderful transformation.

Fit and Healthy Feature via Treble in the Kitchen

The great thing about the “Fit and Healthy Feature” is that each story is unique to the individual sharing it.  Each person contributing paved his or her own way to create this healthier lifestyle, and I am honored that each person is so willing to share their personal stories with me and all of you.  Every person starts at a different point and takes a different route to get to their true healthy self, so I’m hoping these stories inspire you to continue down your own healthy path.

Sarah and I are friends from Indianapolis, but thanks to the internet, blogging and social media it has been very easy to stay connected 🙂

Sarah has a wonderful perspective when it comes to balance and realizing what her priorities are in life.  I love that she realizes that she (and really all of us!) are on a constant journey of improvement.  There is always a goal to work towards.  She has truly made great strides in these past few years, and I think she is definitely achieving the goal of sending a healthy message to her baby twin boys 🙂

Sarah’s Story…

Fit and Healthy Feature-Sarah

  • Tell Treble in the Kitchen readers a little bit about yourself and your background.
Hello everyone! My name is Sarah and I’m a twin mom blogging over at Creating Better Tomorrow, a blog that focuses on what my life is all about – faith, family, fitness, and food!  I began my blog just over 2 years ago more for my own accountability more than anything else but it has blossomed into a true passion project that I love working on each day.
Unlike many healthy living bloggers I haven’t always had a healthy relationship with food but not in the way you may be thinking!  I suffered from an eating disorder throughout college.  After undergoing treatment I have officially ‘recovered’ but the battle to maintain a healthy balance with food and exercise is an ongoing fight for me.  The blog has helped me keep it all in check AND share my experiences (the good, bad, and the ugly) with others in hopes of encouraging them.  Through my blog work and my work as a Beachbody coach, I have come to LOVE my body and LOVE foods that fuel it.  I focus on wholesome ingredients and forget about the calories.
  • What lifestyle changes have you made to become a healthier version of you that you think are here to stay?
I am making changes all the time to keep challenging myself mentally and physically.  I used to track EACH AND EVERY calorie and morsel or crumb that met my lips.  But about 6 months ago, I stopped cold turkey!  I can’t say that I eat totally intuitively yet or that I ever will, but the major lifestyle changes I’ve made as I come to love my body are just keeping food and fitness in moderation and focusing on enjoying them both.
These days I don’t workout to burn X amount of calories, I don’t eat a salad because it only has X amount of carbs…I eat a salad because I like the way my body feels when I eat healthy foods.  I teach my fitness class at the gym because I LOVE getting others inspired to be healthier.  I hit the ground for a run in the morning because I love the message it sends to my twins that I want to be healthy for them.  I’d say the major lifestyle change has just been a change in FOCUS…focus on any numbers, not calories, not carbs, not minutes run, not any number – just on feeling good and loving life!
  • What were some of the biggest challenges you encountered along the way?  How did you overcome them?
Oh I face challenges all the time!!!  And I try to make sure and share those with my readers too…I think bloggers and blog readers can quickly get caught up in the perfection mind set and think we bloggers have ourselves all together (maybe you do, but I sure don’t!).  For me I can quickly want to hop back onto counting calories or working out to burn off a brownie the best way for me to fight these?  Getting accountability team on my side!  My biggest partner is my husband. Mostly because I can be totally honest and open with him.  If I start to want to log into myfitnesspal (Like I did about a month ago) I shoot him a quick or text and I asked him to change my username and password.  Now I can’t log in! I encourage people with any type of challenge to get someone on their team to keep them accountable but you have to be 100% honest with them and let them in on the raw, nasty details of any habits or challenges you are facing!
Fit and Healthy Feature-Sarah
Another great way to keep my fitness in check is to stick to 30 minute workout DVDs (currently in love with Max30)…sometimes I find I will workout for WAY too long!  30 minute programs are self control for me in disguise!
  • What differences do you notice in how you feel now verses when you started your journey?
I could go on and on about this!  But as a mom I think the change in my mental health is the most important.  I no longer spend hours logging my food and calories…I spend that time on the floor helping them as the start to crawl.
I no longer spend 2 hours a day in the gym…I spend that time on the couch with my husband after the boys are down, we just catch up.
I no longer dread every meal and trying to make it ‘fit’…I spend time making a fun new recipe or shopping at a new to me grocery store for a fun new food.
I can’t say that everyday is sunshine and roses, but I feel so much happier when I just ‘live’ and not ‘track’ my every move and bite.
  • What are the next steps?!
I have sooo many goals!  Right now I am focusing on my faith and family while sharing my love for fitness and food through my coaching work.  I enjoy teaching my fitness classes oh so much and I find I relate with many of my class members.
Fit and Healthy Feature-Sarah
For myself I want to keep on working towards that goal of more intuitive style eating and if I never totally get there, I’m actually OK with that!  I know I’m a constant work in progress and that as long as my focus is on whole foods, daily exercise, and self love I’m going to be on a never ending journey of next steps!
  • What tips do you have for other people who may want to embark on a journey to healthy living or just want to add some healthy habits into their life?
Don’t go out on the journey alone!
Whether it is through an online accountability group, your family, a close friend…don’t tackle it alone!  It is much more fun to work on healthy habits (really any habits) with a friend or a supporter by your side.  I couldn’t have made the strides I’ve made today without a WHOLE lot of help and motivation.
If I had to give you three tips – #1 Eat whole foods #2 Move your body daily #3 Get a team of supporters
  • Anything else you want to share?
I want to thank Tara so much for spotlighting me and others from all healthy living backgrounds!  The best part about this crazy thing we call life is we can ALL learn from each other, if we all share our struggles, our triumphs, our journey we can ALL come out stronger!
Make sure you stop over to my little corner of the blog world and perhaps I can help you find the right support group for your health and fitness goals!  If you need support along the way with eating disorders, being a fit mom, or just life feel free to contact me contact@creatingbettertomorrow.com
If you would like to share your story as part of the “Fit and Healthy Feature” series, please send me an e-mail!  You don’t need to have a blog in order to participate in this series.  Thank you so much for your motivating contributions!
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  1. I loved your intro, Tara, and reading about Sarah. It’s so true that we all come from different spaces and have different philosophies about what health and wellness mean. I love that for Sarah, it means having time to spend with her kids and feeling relaxed about it!

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