You Can Reach Your Fitness Goals Like Caroline

I love working with people who have a goal to achieve. Occasionally, I’ll be out with friends and I’ll come across someone who starts talking about wanting to make some changes to their body. Once they find out I’m a fitness and nutrition consultant, it’s not long before I know what fitness goals they’re trying to reach.

Oftentimes, people want me to work with them as their fitness trainer  because they haven’t been able to make changes on their own. Whether it’s friends or new clients, I’m always willing to help someone change their life and reach their desired fitness goals. For this reason, when my friend Caroline asked me to help her reach her goals, I was definitely looking forward to it!

Meet Caroline 

Caroline is a close friend of mine. She approached me prior to the summer of 2020 and asked me to help her reach her goals. Her initial goal was to tone up, shed some pounds, and hopefully slide into a pair or jeans she bought two sizes down for a little motivation.

Shortly after, Caroline started working with me in June of 2020. Initially, we were only working on her nutrition. I was not doing resistance training with her. She did her own work with weight lifting and the recommended 2 hours of cardio per week to do my nutrition program.

We created her personalized meal plan together with foods that she enjoyed eating. Her meal plan consisted of foods like sandwiches, chips, fruit, veggies, chicken, and (turkey) bacon.

After four months of following her meal plan and fitness program, she made amazing changes.

Carolines Weight Loss Results

Weight Loss – 40 Pounds

Bodyfat % Loss – 15%

Inches off abs – 9.25

Inches off hips – 5

Inches off thigh – 3

Challenges of Losing Weight

When it comes to reaching your fitness goals, consistency and patience isn’t an easy task. In my 20 years of experience, I can tell you that those who learn how to discipline themselves mentally and physically above a certain degree, reach a higher level of respect and self confidence opposed to those who don’t keep it 100.

When this happens, not only do they change, but everything else around them changes. They have better relationships with the people around them, better love lives, begin to excel in their profession, and best of all, they inspire others around them.

During her training, Caroline was someone who kept it 100. She is someone whom I consider inspirational. I feel that her story can give support and motivation to others like her that struggle with staying on track. Hopefully, her story will inspire you to create your own goals and stay on track yourself!

Q: What motivated you to create your goal and get started?

I was tired of my clothes not fitting and not feeling comfortable and confident in my body and I knew it was time to do something about it. I was also asked to be a bridesmaid in a friend’s wedding and I wanted to make sure that I looked my best.

The reason I started with you [ Travis ] was that I had gotten to a weight that I’d never been before and I didn’t want to waste any time trying to do it on my own and end up not seeing results. I wanted to make sure that the work I was putting in was correct and going to get me to my goal. I was ready to get back to a point where I felt good and looked good when looking at myself in the mirror.

Q: When you were with family and friends around all the foods and drinks you love, what kept from cheating on your plan?

Always thinking about the long-term goals and gains rather than the short-term wins. If you want to hit your long-term goal of losing a certain amount of pounds, or losing a specific number of inches off your body, then you have to remember it is marathon not a sprint.

When hanging out with friends and family or going to gatherings, I always bring my own food and will pull it out and eat it there so I’m not starving and tempted to eat things off my plan.

I also bring unsweetened sparkling water (I like the HEB ones and Topo Chico) so that I can have a drink in my hand and it satisfies the feeling of having a cocktail but it’s really just sparkling water. It keeps you from being tempted when people offer you a drink.

Lastly, it is always in the back of my mind that weigh in time is every 2 weeks and if I’m not eating right and getting my cardio in then I’m going to disappointed in my progress at weigh in. So, in summary always prep and bring food with you, sparkling water can replace cocktails, and remember why you are doing all of it the first place.

Q: After continually making changes every couple weeks, what motivated you to continue to stay on track?

Accountability! At weigh-ins or each time I worked out with Travis, I knew that he would be able to tell if I had been following my plan or not. He was never mad or angry. It was more a reality check in a sense that if I didn’t follow it, then I wasn’t going to see any changes or hit my long-term goal. I had a friend’s wedding that I wanted to look and feel good at, so I had to keep reminding myself why I started this journey in the first place.

Q:When you first started your nutrition plan, you were eating more food than you typically did. Did you think you could eat the amount of food you had on all your different meal plans and still make changes?

At first it did seem like a lot of food but you get used to it pretty quickly and it holds you accountable to make sure you are eating throughout the whole day so that you get all of your meals/snacks eaten before the day is over. It’s also realizing that the calories you are eating are coming from healthier food and are way more balanced than before.

Q: What tips can you give others who have goals who might have a hard time sticking to the plan? 

It’s all about discipline, balance & preparation!

You have to plan & make time for the things that are important to you. For example, you need time to prep your food, time to get your cardio in, etc.

Then, there are reality checks. For me, I weighed myself on the scale multiple times a week. The number on the scale didn’t upset me or discourage me. For me it was a reminder of why I started and a reality check if it wasn’t moving in the right direction that I need to work harder and be more disciplined with my food and exercise. Because at that 2-week mark I wanted to make the progress that I knew I could if I worked for it.

The key is to figure out what works to keep you accountable.

What’s most important is finding the right balance. Some weeks you might not make the progress you want or you might not eat 100% according to your plan, but every week you are trying and working hard is progress and it gets easier the longer you do it. Also you can still eat out or enjoy a cocktail or dessert every now and then its just in moderation!

– Caroline –

Reach Your Goals

As we all know, it’s not easy to create a goal, draw up a plan, stay on track, and ultimately reach your goal. In my line of work, I’ve come to realize that no one is perfect. Every now and then, we all fall off our path and indulge on forbidden fruit. Whether it’s an extra slice a pizza, one more margarita, or answering to that favorite bag of chips calling out to you in the middle of the night, we all stray off course every now and then.

The best part is, making mistakes is what makes us human. If we don’t makes mistakes, we’ll never know improve who we are. It’s learning from our mistakes that pushes us to strive for perfection, and helps conditions ourselves to be better disciplined.

When you’ve reached that level of dedication, and stay on course, your goals will be within arms reach. As Caroline showed you, once you’ve reached a clear understanding of your goals, and condition yourself to be disciplined, goals are very doable. You have to have patience, be consistent, and persevere through the tough times. And again, it’s okay to make mistakes. Remember to trust the process and remind yourself it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Lastly, stay track and you can reach your goals!