Author: dbenzbuchanan

I’m just a girl. Married to the guy that writes this brainbodyfoodblog. Living our lives together for the past 26 years, we continue to find new interests and challenges to keep our relationship strong and flourishing through communication, trust, and an active lifestyle. We are #swolemates for life {it’s great living with your accountability partner!} and we hope to inspire others in living by example, telling our personal stories, and sharing lessons learned along the way. I was not always into fitness. I did Weight Watchers many years ago with my mom – successfully lost 30 pounds, and was finally able to get pregnant! However, I was not doing ANY exercise; it was accomplished merely by being disciplined with my nutrition – by counting points of everything I consumed and tracking my meals on the MyFitnessPal app. After having my daughter in 2005, I suffered PPD for almost 18 months, had severe chronic abdominal pain from adhesions following my c-section for almost a decade and gained almost 30 pounds during that time. I was taking heavy hitter pain killers up until January 2014 – when I decided to start my fitness journey. With the pressures of turning 40 in September 2014, it was my life’s goal to be “Fit & 40” by then. I first began my workout regimen at home in “Big Ds House of Pain”. I was committed and dedicated to working out, meal prepping, clean eating 80/20, getting more sleep, drinking enough water, daily personal development {reading books and listening to inspirational podcasts}, and surrounding myself with like-minded peeps. In five months, I safely dropped 30 pounds and was down from a size 12 to a size 2. There is nothing wrong with being a size 12; but when you are less than 5’ tall like me, that is not a healthy place to be. I have completed The Biggest Loser Nintendo Wii version and 10 Beachbody programs – including all of the P90X series, PiYo, 21DFX Extreme and Insanity Max:30. My next big challenge was to attend group fitness classes! As an introvert, the thought of moving, jumping, and sweating in front of others was a huge fear to overcome. My daughter’s Kindergarten teacher invited me to a TITLE Boxing Club class in November 2014. To my surprise, I immediately fell in love with the full-body cardio workout. I continue to push myself outside my comfort zone by trying out new ways to exercise. Over the years, I have done SUP Yoga {stand-up paddle boarding while doing yoga, sooooo fun}, Pure Barre, BODYPUMP 101, Aerial Class, Iron Fit Boxing, Burn Boot Camp, personal training at Planet Fitness, Shred415, 9Round, and self-defense and boxing fitness classes at Krav Maga. For now, my two gym homes are High Octane Boxing and Jose’s Box Fit for personal training. Both facilities challenge me in different ways … and the best part is that I have found a large community of #fitfriends who inspire me every day to be better than I was yesterday! I am grateful to share my story; as so many have helped me throughout my journey, it is my hope to do the same for someone else. #payfitforwardwithBigD