Kaylin is a client that I’ve been working with off and on for the last three years. She’s an IRONMAN, marathoner, business owner and mother of four. To say she is busy, is a significant understatement. Kaylin’s recently had some major breakthroughs in her efforts to both fuel for optimal performance and lose some very stubborn weight. She’s a classic example of how it’s important to do what you can, when you can, and to realize that the goal evolves with many factors in your life, many of which are outside of your control. I’m SO PROUD of her commitment and diligence over the years and can’t wait to see all that she will still accomplish in the races ahead of her. I recently asked her if she would share her thoughts on working with me for a Facebook post, instead she filled my heart with her own perspective on her journey. Here’s Kaylin’s story in her own words.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last three years of working with Lisa @ Focused+Fit Nutrition, it’s that being “fit” is definitely a journey, NOT a destination.
I first came to Focused+Fit Nutrition to work with Lisa in 2017. I am an athlete and was realizing that harsh training and not-so-disciplined nutrition were really taking a toll on my body. Performance in my training, particularly running, had declined. I was “soft” all over, and felt generally “flat” in terms of energy. She listened. Asked questions, and listened more. She asked me MY goals rather than insert her own for me or guide me toward any “mainstream” goal(s) that women my age might have (or “should” have.) She educated me and gave me guidance to really make some great changes in my nutrition, such that within about 4 months of working with her, I achieved a new PR on my full marathon time and was feeling better and visibly LOOKING better than I had in YEARS! I was ecstatic!!
Fast forward a few months, and this is the part where life reminded me who was really in charge. I came upon a couple of years where stresses were at an all time high. Was it the stress of four kids, the oldest of which was entering into those tricky teenage years? Or the business my husband and I were running that started demanding more from me? Or was it (pick any of the other 20+ roles I play in life at any given moment) that just seemed to form a “perfect storm” for awhile? Keeping my head above water was an accomplishment each day. Lisa’s patience with me and encouragement meant the world. She didn’t give up on me, even when I had given up on me. Life’s journey at this time was pretty rough and would have been a whole lot rougher had I completely let go of ALL of the progress I had made. I had fallen away from the BEST habits, but she kept me from falling victim to the WORST of habits. With that “Lisa-style-grace”, she convinced me to hang on and not completely let go (although “let go” is really what I wanted to do). This phase I call “keeping the head above water”, and I was worried this was going to be the “new norm” for a long long time…
A new page finally turned in March of 2020. While the world was facing a global pandemic, much of my own personal stress factors were starting to resolve. The mindset that I had lost for awhile started to come back. The macros that I had been following had much less resistance to compete with (stress is nasty y’all), so they started WORKING. With each little improvement, I had more and more confidence that maybe I could get back to where I was. Running performance started improving again, greatly – each run was a little better than the previous one. Things were really “clicking”.
In the last month, I’ve dropped >6 inches, approximately 13 pounds and feel better than I have since I can remember. I’ve set new personal records for myself in several aspects of running, including a new mile and 5K PRs. I feel motivated and energized.
Will this last forever? I don’t know…..do we ever REALLY know where the journey will lead?? 😊 I expect there will be setbacks at some point, more of life’s stresses that we can’t predict will bubble up again….I still have those 20+ hats .😉 The journey makes us stronger though. Recovering once means that I can recover again, and again. I just can’t thank Focused+Fit Nutrition and Lisa Ferrara specifically enough for being there for me. Lisa didn’t let me lose sight of my goals during some quite difficult times. I am forever grateful!
