Not because of the calories burned or the muscle built. Because of what it teaches you about yourself. Every time you show up when you do not feel like it you are building something that has nothing to do with your body. You are building evidence. Evidence that you are someone who keeps their word to themselves. Evidence that your commitment is bigger than your mood. Former athletes know this better than anyone. You did not always want to go to practice. You went anyway. And that discipline is still in you. The hard days are not obstacles to your progress. They are the progress. Show up today. Even if it is just 20 minutes. Future you will be grateful. 💪🏽

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. We’re living in a time where it’s never been easier to lose weight. There are more tools, shortcuts, and quick fixes than ever before. And naturally, the focus has shifted back to one thing… being smaller. But here’s what I don’t think people are talking about enough: Smaller isn’t the same as stronger. Smaller isn’t the same as confident. Smaller isn’t the same as capable. And for a lot of us who came from sports… we KNOW that. We used to train for performance. For power. For endurance. For what our bodies could actually DO. Then somewhere along the way, the goal changed. But I honestly think we’re about to see a shift again. Because muscle? You can’t fake it. You can’t shortcut it. You have to EARN it. It takes consistency. It takes showing up when you don’t feel like it. It takes fueling your body, not depriving it. And more than anything, it builds a different kind of confidence. Not just how you look… but how you carry yourself, how you move, how you live. That’s what we’re building here. Not smaller. STRONGER. More capable. More disciplined. I want to hear from you: Have you ever gone through a phase where your goal was just to be smaller?And what shifted (or is shifting) you back toward strength and performance? Drop it below 👇

I want to say something that might feel uncomfortable at first. Most of us spent years chasing a smaller body. Smaller legs. A flatter stomach. A lower number on the scale. We counted calories, avoided carbs, did endless cardio, and measured our worth by how little space we took up. And I get it. I lived it. After volleyball ended that was the only performance metric I had left. If I could not perform on a court I would perform for a mirror. But here is what nobody told us. Small is not the goal. STRONG is the goal. There is a massive difference between training to shrink and training to perform. And once you make that mental shift everything changes. When you train to be small you are always in a deficit. Always restricting. Always punishing. You dread workouts because they feel like consequences for eating. You are exhausted, underfueled, and wondering why your body is not changing even though you are working so hard. When you train to perform you are building something. Every workout has a purpose. Every meal is fuel. You are not running away from a body you hate. You are running toward a version of yourself that is capable, powerful, and strong. Here is how to start making that shift today. Change the question you ask after a workout. Instead of "did I burn enough" ask "did I show up and give what I had today." That is it. That is the whole shift. Start measuring progress differently. Not just the scale. Track your strength. How much you lifted this week versus last week. How your energy feels. How you sleep. How you show up in your life. Eat to fuel your training not to punish your weekend. Food is not a reward or a consequence. It is information your body uses to perform. Remember why you trained as an athlete. You did not lift because you hated your body. You lifted because you wanted to be faster, stronger, and better for your team. Bring that energy back. You were not made to be small. You were made to be strong, capable, and fully alive in the body God gave you.

This is one of the most common things I see and it breaks my heart every time because these women are working SO hard and getting nowhere. So let’s talk about it. Here is what usually happens. You decide you want to lose weight or get back in shape. You cut your calories. Maybe pretty significantly. The scale starts moving and you feel amazing. Progress! This is working! Then a few weeks later it stops. You are eating the same thing, training the same way, and suddenly nothing is happening. So you cut more calories. And it works again for a little while. Then it stops again. Sound familiar? Here is what is actually happening inside your body. Your metabolism is not a fixed number. It is SMART. When you eat significantly less your body reads that as a threat and it adapts. It slows down your metabolism to match your intake. It holds onto fat as a survival mechanism. It starts burning muscle for energy instead of fat. And now you are stuck, eating very little, training hard, and wondering what you are doing wrong. You did not do anything wrong. You just did not have the full picture. Here is what most women do not realize — especially as female athletes. Your hormones are deeply connected to how much you eat. When you cut calories too drastically your body lowers leptin, which is the hormone that tells your brain you are full and satisfied. It raises cortisol, your stress hormone, which tells your body to hold onto fat especially around your midsection. It can disrupt your estrogen levels which affects your cycle, your mood, your sleep, and your ability to build muscle. It can tank your thyroid function which is essentially the regulator of your entire metabolism. This is not just about the scale. This is about your health. So what do you do instead? You have to be STRATEGIC. Here is what that looks like: Do not cut more than 300 to 500 calories below your maintenance level. Any more than that and your body starts fighting back. Prioritize protein. 0.8 to 1 gram per pound of bodyweight every single day. Protein protects your muscle and keeps your metabolism firing.

What do you need most right now? Whatever gets the most votes is exactly what I am dropping next. This community exists for YOU so let me know what you need and I will deliver it. 🤍