About Me



I'm a wife, a mother, a fitness coach, & an at heart rebel kind of gal.
There have been so many changes in my life in the past two years of my life that I feel like I need to share it with people.  I want to inspire someone out there who might be where I was or might be where I am right now to kick their butt into action and to actually DO what it is that they want to do.
Where do I start?
Well, I'm not quite sure about that. There are many places that I could start, but I feel like I should start at the simplest point so that I don't overload with information, but at the same time give you a good enough chunk to be able to know a little bit about myself.
I'm 24 years old. I enlisted in the Air Force 6 days after I turned 20. I became pregnant 4 months after that. I gave birth 34 days after I turned 21. I gained 39 pounds during my pregnancy. The scale MIGHT have read 189 pounds by the end of it. (So not exaggerating!)
I didn't think much of it at the time because I had just been blessed with the most precious thing in the entire world, my son Brody Zayn. However COMMA as the weeks went by after his birth I couldn't stand looking at myself in the mirror & when I did all I could do was stare at my stretch marks that raced across my flabby stomach, my flabby thighs, my flabby butt, my flabby everything...
I cried a lot over the way I looked. I asked a lot of "Why me?" kind of questions. "I'm only 21 years old & I should be at my prime with how my body looks.. Why me?" "I've never had stretch marks like these... Why me?" "Other women didn't gain stretch marks while they were pregnant... Why me?" I was pointing the finger at everything and everyone except for myself.  I didn't know it then, but I sunk into postpartum depression.  At first I thought it was the pressure I felt going back to work 8 weeks after I gave birth to my son.  I had battled with depression on and off since I was a teenager and when the negative self-talk and thoughts started to resurface I chalked it up to STRESS.  Having to leave my precious baby, having to be away from him for 45-60 hours a week, being put in for taskers to deploy to foreign countries, etc. but one day I feel like I "woke up" and looked around at my family -- at myself -- and couldn't believe where we were. 
It took a long time, but I realized that nothing was going to change if I kept blaming my pregnancy weight gain and stretch marks on things that I couldn't control. Yes, I had gained weight. Yes, I had stretch marks now. So, what could I do to make myself feel better about myself?
How did I lose the baby weight plus ten more pounds and get past my postpartum depression?
I'm not going to lie it was a very EXPENSIVE and tiring ride before I found what worked for me.
  • First, I paid an "online coach" who specialized in bikini competitions to set me up with a meal plan and a workout schedule routine. This lasted around 5 weeks. The lady would NEVER talk to me. She was very short and not informative when she would reply to my emails. I paid for a 8 week program and she was suppose to change the program up every 2-3 weeks, but didn't until I told her I was going to recommend to people not to work with her and how it was a scam. She had my calories so low that I almost ended up not being able to breastfeed my son. So, this ended after 5 weeks of a lot of disappointment and a lot of money.
  • Next, my husband and I would go to the gym 5-6 days a week and spend around a hour and a half doing cardio and weight lifting. Our son would stay in daycare during this time. I got home and we would go straight to the gym and then straight home to put our son to sleep. I NEVER felt like I spent any time with him. This lasted a few weeks.
  • Lastly, my husband started to do a workout program from home called Insanity, which I started to do with him since they only lasted 45ish minutes and our son was right there in the living room with us the entire time. It was the perfect solution to everything I wanted. In just 2 & a half weeks I lost the rest of my baby weight. 
  • My postpartum depression took a little longer -- I started reading uplifting personal development books that made me realize that I was better, stronger, and braver than I had told myself that I was. Secondly, the daily time I took to myself to work on myself with my workouts significantly helped me to de-stress and to clear my mind for 30 minutes every day. Thirdly, the love and encouragement of my husband.  He saw the depression way before I even recognized it.  He didn't completely understand it and didn't know what to DO, but he loved me.  He supported me in my goals, my dreams, my aspirations -- he was my constant cheerleader.  I hands down wouldn't have been able to pull myself out of it if I didn't have his strong arms holding onto me, not allowing myself to sink deeper into it.
Why did I become a fitness coach?
After my experience with the "online coach" I thought about what I would do differently if I was helping people try and lose weight. I wanted someone who would talk to me, encourage me, motivate me when the going got tough, and just support me all around in the goals that I wanted to reach. I finally thought, "Why NOT me?" I want to help people reach their fitness & health goals. I want people to know they don't need to pay hundreds & hundreds of dollars on personal trainers. I want to help change people's thought process on diets and losing weight. I also want to set a great example for other new mom's out there that you CAN get your body back after a baby & I'm living proof that you can!  Finally, I feel like with everything that I went through with being pregnant in the military to having to leave my son at 8 weeks to go back to work and my struggles with postpartum depression & other life struggles were something that I wanted to share with other moms out there.  Sometimes as new moms we can feel so isolated and alone and the last thing I want for anyone to feel is that way because it can be a scary place.  This is my journey to uplift, inspire, and be the friend/mentor/coach that you may need.


Find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/karlie.bodden

Find me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getfitwith_kb/

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