Lying in bed with no motivation, feeling sluggish and tired, even though I had a full night sleep was how I started most of my mornings. I took my daily ibuprofen to try and calm the oncoming migraine I could feel blurring my vision. None of my clothes fit from the year before so I slipped into my favorite pair of sweats that I wore almost everyday. I wasn’t looking
forward to the day, I didn’t enjoy things I used to enjoy and I didn’t really want to go out and do anything anyway. Like many women in their forties, I had slipped into a rut, and slowly depression had set in. I wasn’t me anymore. I knew something had to give when one of my children asked me why I was always so sad, and I really didn’t know the answer.
I always had an interest in learning how to lift weights, but had NO idea how. I belonged to a gym, but was terrified to go over to, “that side of the gym”. What if people stare at me? What if I make a fool of myself? What if they think I look stupid? Besides, I’m 42 years old, what’s the point? My body won’t change now, I’m too old! I finally realized if I wanted to change my life, I had to change my MIND. Once I did that, everything changed.
All it took was a simple photo of a friend my age who had done what I wanted to do, which was build lean muscle and make a drastic, visible change in her shape. I wanted to see muscle definition that I never had before in my life. I wanted to feel strong, confident and like I could accomplish anything. Then the negative self talk started again. “I can’t afford a trainer!” So, I worked more. “How am I going to have time to cook?” I learned to prep my meals ahead of time. “I’m so tired after these 12 hour shifts!” I forced myself to go anyway. “I’m not spending enough time with my family!” We ALL went to the gym. NO MORE EXCUSES! Nothing was going to stop me.
I ended up winning a national fitness challenge out of
thousands of people in just two months. I lost almost 30 pounds and 14% body fat and earned a $10,000 prize! My trainer, Brandyn, taught me efficient and effective exercise and everything I did was the exact opposite of what I used to do, from the weight training to eating a lot of good, whole, non processed foods. Cutting sugar and making it a true
lifestyle is how I manage to maintain my health to this day.
I strongly believe that for women in their forties, lifting weights is so important for bone health, metabolism, posture and general feeling of well being. Not to mention it can kind of make you feel like a badass sometimes. 
No more headaches, no more depression, no more feeling tired. So many people came up to me and said, “Kim, you looked great before, you didn’t need to do this.” It wasn’t about how I looked to other people, it was about how I felt mentally and physically that demanded the change in my life. My reason is for my health and my mental sanity. My reason is for strength and confidence. My reason is for happiness. My reason is for me
and I really don’t know what better reasons there are, because when mama is happy, everyone is happy!
