My fitness journey truly began in 2012, when I graduated with my MBA from Canisius College. Despite having been highly active, and even continuing to work out after classes or a day of work, I had gained an excessive amount of weight unexplainably. My doctors had no clue why this happened and gave me the routine nutrition information I was already following. When my evenings were no longer filled with classes, I started taking group fitness classes and making small adjustments to my diet, ultimately leading me to lose 70 lbs in 18 months.
While I was on my journey, I fell in love with group fitness and began my studio career as a Zumba Instructor in 2014, which led me to receive many more certifications and lead many more classes. I taught classes as a side hustle, until the birth of my son in 2015. After a short return from maternity leave, I found myself entering the fitness world full-time, eventually working in management.
While I was extremely active and following a very healthy diet, my weight was fluctuating greatly, and I was suffering from joint pain and infertility issues. My doctors did not take the time to dig into the issues that I was experiencing and brushed off my concerns.
This continued through the summer of 2020. During COVID, I was following a very strict workout regime, was eating very few calories a day before feeling full, and regularly feeling a lack of energy by the afternoon or early evening, I had come across some information online about Hypothyroidism and the symptoms, all of which lined up with what I was experiencing. I went to my Primary Care Physician who was the first medical professional to really connect the dots that something wasn't right. After thorough testing, she diagnosed me with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and I began my journey to create a lifestyle that kept this disease in check.
As I learned more about this condition, it was very apparent how much of my quality of life would depend on my lifestyle choices, including food and movement choices. It was not long after working with a dietitian that I was also diagnosed with Celiac Disease. As a fitness professional, as I began to share my story with members of my classes, I learned that so many women live with this condition, and we often don't adjust our workouts to account for what is going on in our bodies. Navigating Hashimoto's is a dance: sometimes our thyroid functions well if we are medicated correctly, and other times our bodies start short-circuiting. So there is an extra layer of detail to find that fine line between achieving personal fitness goals and keeping inflammation in the body to a minimum.
I started Heal & Thrive Fitness to help people with this disease enjoy movement and establish a routine that will maximize their quality of life by improving body composition, reducing joint pain, developing greater strength, reducing inflammation in the body, and relaxing the nervous system. My intent is not that every workout is soft, gentle, and of low intensity, but rather that each individual has a program that will increase physical fitness, without the setbacks of stress-induced flares from exercise.
Heal & Thrive Fitness
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