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Our very first Fit Mama of the Month is Shalane! Read below about our interview with this inspiring mama. She is a full time working mom of two active boys but she has found a great balance and has figured out how to just make it work and #makeithappen
Name/Age:
Shalane. I'm 27 years old.
Do you have children?
Yes. I have two boys, ages 7 and 5.
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| Shalane's boys. :) |
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Do you work outside of the home as well?
I am an application analyst in IT @ Sutter Health. I work
full time 8-5 for the most part, but at times when supporting hospital go lives
on the Sutter EHR, I work 12 hour days and even weekends at times.
Have you always been into fitness? If not, why did you start?
I
have not always been into fitness. I had my first son at 20 years old and
returned to my pre baby weight pretty quickly. I gained about 10 pounds before
I got pregnant with youngest child at age 23 and then after my youngest son was
born I slowly started gaining weight and reached my heaviest weight of 215
pounds early last year. I had some difficult challenges to get through and my primary care doctor put me on an
antidepressant. I gained about 20 pounds on the medication and stopped taking
it after 1 year.
I knew that I needed to step my fitness goals up but this proved to be difficult being a working mom to two young boys. I have always worked full time while raising
my boys. The only thing on my mind after getting off of work was getting home
to my family. I hated being away from them all day. I felt guilty not devoting
the rest of my time with them. I actually felt like I was being selfish to take
any more time away from them. I had myself convinced that I did not have the
time to work out. There were points where I would find some motivation and
would join the gym but after about a month with hardly any results, I would
quit. I began to feel like I could not do it. I tried weight watchers with a friend
and saw some results of a few pounds but that did not last either.
I
pretty much lost all confidence in myself and settled. I began to feel
depressed. The hardest thing for me was making fitness apart of my every day
routine. I was so set in my daily schedule of working 8-5, picking up the kids,
making dinner, giving baths, and then once homework came when my boys went to
school, there was just no time.
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| December 2012 |
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| December 2012 |
I
had a few very close friends that lost a lot of weight and who were inspiring to me.
I began to think, if she can do it, then so can I. I joined a gym about 8
months ago and started doing zumba classes. That motivated me to start running.
I ran about 30-40 miles in a span of a couple months and cut out soda and started making
better choices. I tried to go to the gym 3-4 days a week for an hour. I started
gaining some confidence back and was a lot happier when I starting focusing on
myself a little more. It made a huge difference in my outlook on life.
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| Shalane with her personal trainer/November 2013 |
Six
weeks ago, I decided to step it up and take my fitness to another level and
hired a personal trainer. He has me on a very strict nutritional intake and I
have learned so much about nutrition. I weight train 3 days a week and do
plyokikboxing twice a week. On an average night after the gym, I get home
between 7 and 8 pm. I take my son to basketball practice once a week and have a
lot of fun introducing new exercises to them that I do that day in training.
They love it. I
make sure to go home focused and at my best and spend some time with them and get their
bath in.
My mom and boyfriend and are a great support system. Daddy usually takes care of homework with the boys and my mom helps out so much. They are pretty much in routine with my schedule now and understand that all the time I spend at the gym is for myself and for them so I can be around as long as possible for them.
My mom and boyfriend and are a great support system. Daddy usually takes care of homework with the boys and my mom helps out so much. They are pretty much in routine with my schedule now and understand that all the time I spend at the gym is for myself and for them so I can be around as long as possible for them.
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| Shalane's mom |
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| Shalane and her boyfriend/November 2013 |
My
trainer is the best. He goes above his call of duty in my opinion and has
helped me so much. He has taught me to never say, “I can’t”. He has told me time and time again, that the
training never gets easier, you just get stronger”. I have lost just a little
over 30 pounds and have a long way to go. This is a lifestyle for me. This is
not temporary or "until the weight comes off". I have met some wonderful people who
inspire me and encourage me and it means the world to me. I am happier than I have ever been. I am now inspiring others and it feels great. I
am feeling very confident in myself physically and
internally.
internally.
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| October 2011 and present |
April 2012 & November 2013
You mentioned a little bit about how you work out. What else do you do to stay active? What do you do as a family to get active?
To
stay active I weight train, run, and do plyokikboxing. I exercise with my boys
and we have a lot of fun. My littlest laughs and says mommy’s squatting or
mommy what is that exercise called. LOL. Next summer I plan on getting a bike
and going on family bike rides.
Shalane with her plyokikboxing class
Making a commitment to getting and staying fit is something that is not easy. How do you stay motivated?
Making a commitment to stay fit is definitely not easy, but
it is rewarding in so many ways. I follow some inspirational people on Instagram, including people such as my dear friend #fitnessmama. My personal
trainer helps add to my motivation and just takes it up to a higher level.
Group classes at the gym are also motivating; meeting people who are living the
same lifestyle is awesome.
How do you balance work and family and then trying to stay fit at the same time?
My family is very supportive so it makes it easier to
balance fitness and family. My boyfriend and I both live an active lifestyle
and I enjoy working out with him when my mom can watch the boys. It's always fun when he joins me for plyokikboxing. My mom helps a lot with dinner
for the boys. I feel extremely blessed.
A lot of our readers have questions about nutrition and what to eat. We know the right answers will be different for everyone but can you share with us what you would eat on a typical day so that we can get some ideas?
On a typical day my nutrition intake consists of:
Breakfast: oatmeal and a protein shake.
Snack: carrots, celery or fruit
Lunch: Chicken and veggies/salad
Snack: veggies or fruit
Dinner: a protein shake with fruit and veggies (this is
because I have a personal trainer and so this is part of my personal plan) A
healthy dinner choice would be chicken/fish and some veggies.
What is your favorite snack?
My
favorite snack is celery with peanut butter at the moment. My kids enjoy this
too. My boys also like apple slices with peanut butter. They also like oranges,
watermelon, and pineapple.
What are some of your fitness goals for 2014?
My fitness goals I am working on at the moment are burning
fat while leaning out and building muscle. I am 30 pounds away from my pre-baby
weight. But I won’t be stopping there. I also want to run a ½ marathon this year.
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