Meet our amazing mama of 4 Jen…

Meet our amazing mama of 4 Jen…

This is a little different to our usual progress pics because I want to highlight how simply eating less and moving more does not necessarily mean you will be a picture of health, it does not mean you will get the body you want, and it definitely doesn’t mean a level of mental health which when you have 4 little ones to run around after, is exactly what you need.

Jen shared these photo’s with me after a few discussions about her pregnancies and her fitness journey and she has allowed me to use them as, like me, she feels that health and mental strength is as important or more important than how your body looks and she has had so many ups and downs, if this helps even a handful of women out there, then there is a massive positive.

Jen after her first 2 children, a break up and finding who she was, ended up a size 4!!! A size 4 at around 5”7, living on a pita bread and peanut butter every day. This was not a healthy way to live. Jen moved to the North East, found love with her now husband and made baby number 3 😊

After giving birth Jen went on a complete fitness kick to get her body back how she wanted it. Very low calories, clean and restrictive was how she approached nutrition and she was hitting Metafit classes at least 5 days per week, sometimes twice in one day. As you can see, she was well on her way… and then… baby number 4…

When baby number 4 came along, Jen had a meltdown. After working so hard for so long to get so far towards being where she wanted to be physically, the mental impact of knowing she was going to have to do it all again was huge.

Ask yourself how you would feel in this scenario, living a highly restrictive lifestyle to achieve something only for it to go back to the beginning. Now Jen is an amazing mam, you can tell that everything she does is for her kids, for her family… everything… I’ve seen mornings when Jen has come to her session with us and looks like she’s dragged herself in after being up with them during the night or because she’s had several kids parties over a weekend on top of running her own business and home.

Jen loves her kids more than anything and that’s plain for anyone to see, but in that moment, in that fragile, emotional, mental state with hormones all over and after everything she’d done to get her body back, she was on the brink of self-destruction.

When her youngest arrived, it was touch and go for Jen. Hospital bound and on injections to stop internal bleeding for 6 months, she literally couldn’t exercise and that mental frustration kicked in again.

She missed out on the initial connection with the little one too because of life saving surgery, so even the most magical moments had been torn away from her. She wanted to be the mummy, the friend, the wife, the housekeeper, the business woman, she wanted her body back and she wanted it all now.

Despite all of the above… check this ladies progress… Jen has been with us for just over a year now and I have had the pleasure of both training alongside her and coaching her.

A little different to Metafit, our Warrior Women program was more to do with putting some muscle mass on, losing body fat and having a balanced, flexible approach to nutrition. I actually don’t want to talk too much about the physical improvements with Jen, as you can see she looks awesome, but more the mental ones.

She won’t mind, or at least I hope she doesn’t mind, me saying when she started she was a flipping nightmare. The clean machine mentality kicked in, the calories were coming in lower than they should have been and she was hugely frustrated at her progression.

There have been many times that we’ve had a to and fro over eating and at times she’s probably wanted to tell me to do one, and I’ve probably just wanted to force feed her, lol. Fast forward to now and she LOVES food, she eats more than enough (upwards of 2000 kcals a day) and her body has adapted well to it, she can manipulate her calories to get the desired physique without absolutely putting her head in a shed and demoralising herself, she has definition everywhere, she’s strong and she has the energy to keep up the fast paced lifestyle of running a business with 4 kids!!!

She smiles more, she laughs more, she talks more, she’s still the rock holding her family together… she’s absolutely owning it! The nutrition and training aside… I think the girls Jen trains with have made a big difference… Those 4 hours each week spent with friends, a group of girls who are all in it together, Jens “me” time… I think that’s got a lot of bearing on where Jen is at right now.

It’s not all about stolen hours for sessions with feelings of guilt for leaving your kids with their dad or a babysitter for a few hours, it’s not going to your kids birthday parties and avoiding the buffet you’ve put on for everyone because you’re on a health kick and a slice of cake will kill your progress, it’s not beating yourself into the ground until you’re at the point where you want to be…

It’s all about balance, time for you, good nutrition, good training, looking after yourself so that you are in a better position both physically and mentally to look after your whole family, not just the kids.

Jen… I love you… all of the Warriors love you… I personally think your story will help more women out there than you can imagine and I’m very proud of your physical and mental progress and to call you my friend, not just a Warrior!!!

S x