It's Never Too Late for Health and Fitness!

Meet Christa, our local success story and glowing example of overcoming life's challenges while making health and fitness a priority!

I grew up as a multi-sport athlete, and eventually chose soccer as my full-time focus. From the age of 12 years old on, that meant soccer 7 days a week, about 360 days a year. There was always a practice, training camp, tournament, different leagues, travel ball, development programs, clinics, games, you name it. I loved it, but now 3 knee surgeries later, I wish I knew then what I knew now about balance, recovery, and nutrition.

Being an athlete back then, I never worried about food intake. But once adulthood hit, and I was no longer running what felt like hundreds of miles per week, then getting married, and then having a baby, my body went through quite a shock and my weight teeter-tottered constantly. Which was tough to balance internally between hormone fluctuation, sleepless nights, and self-esteem. But like most new moms, I was on the back burner because being a mother and a wife came first.

When my daughter got a little older, I started working out again, but this time I didn’t know how to workout anymore and used running as a “punishment” for any “bad” food I felt like I was eating. I loved the “runners high” and adrenaline rush, but I still did not have the knowledge I should have about recovery and nutrition, and that took its toll on me.

Years later, a friend asked me to join her for a new kind of fitness class. We ran, jumped on boxes, climbed ropes, swung from rings, and lifted barbells. It was intimidating at first, but the trainers were so great and reminded me that I mattered and belonged, and they would help me every step of the way. I was hooked. It was like a fire had been lit in my soul. Eventually, I fell so deep in love with the process and what it was doing to repair the damage I had done to my body over years of overtraining and under nourishing, I knew I needed to get more involved. I went back to school to get certified as a trainer and nutrition coach, with a focus on exercise nutrition and women’s health. I knew that I couldn’t be the only one with these struggles and feelings of being lost.

I want to reach as far and wide as I can to make it known that health and fitness is attainable for everyone, that it’s never too late, that the process works, it’s really for everyone, and that feeling good, comfortable, and confident is available and worth the time and dedication. Watching women rediscover their self, develop a positive relationship with food, get out of a diet and all or nothing mentality, and be proud of their accomplishments is everything to me. Everyone is on their own path, everyone has a different starting point, but everyone deserves to be happy and healthy!