The holiday season; you know what it’s all about. They’re full of parties, gift giving, and of course lots of food. But what else typically happens around this time of year?

Engagements!

Three years ago I was one of those people, too. My husband and I got engaged on 11.12.13. We had been together seven years at that point, and we were elated to solidify our relationship. It was one of the happiest times of my life.

It was also one of the darkest.

With these “special moments” come lots and lots of photos. Everyone was expecting me to show off my ring and take photos with a big smile. Instead, I was steering away from it. But why?

I had gained 20 pounds since graduating college and besides feeling physically uncomfortable, I could see in photos that my eyes revealed the pain and low self-esteem this was causing me. I hated the fact that my fingers looked like sausage links, so instead, I made the excuse that my ring was sized too small.

What do you do when you can’t stand the way you look during what is supposed to be one of the happiest times of your life?

Instead of attacking the problem during the holidays I continued to indulge like many people do. Bring on the cookies, wine, and roasts.

The New Year came and went, and resolutions went out the window. Finally, after a couple of weeks into the year 2014 I woke up one day and said, “I don’t want to feel like this anymore.” That day forever changed my life.

That day, I reached out to a friend of mine who was a Beachbody Coach. I had seen her posts for months and months, but I made excuses to not try something new. I thought to myself, “of course she looks great, she’s four years younger than me.” I was scared and was feeding my fear and starving my faith, when it should have been the opposite.

Finally, at the end of January 2014, I started my new lifestyle change. I lost five pounds within the first week. I was feeling amazing! But like anything in life, it takes work to achieve your goals and there is no magic pill.

If it was that easy to be healthy and look great everyone would be doing it, right?

I continued to work out daily and focus on my portion control nutrition system. I drank my dense nutritional shake every day and was feeling amazing. By the beginning of July I had lost just over 12 pounds and was starting to feel like myself again. Even better, my lifestyle changes began to rub off on my family.

My parents and fiancé (at the time) began to get on board with what I was doing. They began to do the workouts and my mom began to drink the shakes. At work, my fellow employees noticed the changes and the membership I work for did, too.

My self-esteem was lifted. I couldn’t contain myself from blurting out and sharing my story when people asked me what I did to lose the weight. I became so passionate about the products I was using because I knew that they worked. It wasn’t just watching some infomercial late at night and seeing people claim they had success. I WAS the success story.

In the summer of 2014 I decided that I wanted to pay it forward to others, and show them how they could achieve their weight loss goals, too! I learned that I could help and encourage others towards their health and wellness goals while also building my own business. A coaching opportunity was presented to me; I took it and never looked back.

And so began my journey of losing twenty pounds and helping close to 200 people...

Maren Motivation