I wanted to start this journal and share with you a little about myself as a mom, a fitness coach, and just myself as a person.

Today I got a really great question from one of my twitter friends, and I get these sorts of questions a lot from my friends who haven’t had children yet, want to have children, or people who just meet me in general. How long did it take you to get back in shape after being pregnant? What do you do to stay fit?

Well first of all, let me be completely honest with you. I’ve always been a thin, and an active girl. My parents were thin. My mom and dad always had us playing outside, swimming in the backyard or enrolled in dance classes. I was also one of those little girls who came home from dance class and made up my own routines. Then I would make my sister and nieces (yes, my nieces; I have a few that are between 4-7 years younger than me) learn the dances at my pretend dance school. Go ahead insert laugh now, but we had a blast.

Back to the question though, I’m a single mom and after I had my son, my mom gave me a VCR tape; LOL, my son’s only 10 years old now, but it was a pretty awesome tape. This of course was before I became a Team Beachbody Coach. My mom told me to continue to make exercise a habit. Get  up, get going, and get yourself back in shape. Do it now after you had only one child and don’t let yourself go. You’re young, healthy, a beautiful person inside and out and attractive; let’s keep you that way. I want you to get back on track. So the day my doctor okayed me to go back to exercise, there was my mom at my bedroom door pushing me to do it!! I laugh about it sometimes because I can still picture the pep talk my mom gave me at my bedroom door with the exercise video…seriously no joke! You better believe she also made me walk when I was pregnant. I’ve never been lazy, but I gained like 50 pounds when I was pregnant. I went from a tiny 104 to like 155. It was a lot for my tiny frame.

My friends all went back to their normal weight quicker. Either that, or it was because they had their babies months before me. I worked my butt off while I was at home. Getting myself in the routine with my son, waking up in the middle of the night, everything that comes with being a mom, but I made sure when I could workout, that I got my butt up and at it whether it was early in the morning or in the afternoon. Working out at home helped because I didn’t have to leave my son more than necessary.

So I tried that VCR tape. It was some prevention magazine workout that included AB routines. It didn’t take long, but it was really effective. One day I went to Target and I got a Denise Austin video..LOVED HER!!  So this is what I did but I didn’t have a calendar or something that showed me exactly what to do each day. It was pretty much do these this many times. So I kinda just mixed the different workouts and did my own thing. I figured working out to something is better than nothing at all!

It wasn’t until like about 3 years ago that my son’s Tae Kwon Do Instructor reopened a new place and he was going to hire someone to teach Zumba and he asked me if I would support the program and join. Sure, I thought! I loved dancing and I missed it!! So I joined. LOVED IT!! My instructor totally inspired me and made me work on my Spanish as well because she didn’t speak English. I then took a class that same year to get licensed as an instructor. I began googling stuff and my instructor was talking about TurboKick so I looked it up and online, I instantly became a Chalene Johnson fan. Seriously, that woman is inspirational. If you’re a mom that needs that extra push, and tips to motivate you. Then I definitely recommend TurboFire the home workout.

Back on track. I bought some of the practice "Go For The Gold DVD’s" and signed up for certification for TurboKick and Hustle. At that training I met my coach and his assistant who later asked me if I wanted to be a coach. I thought yeah, I would love to help others get fit and healthy!! I’m a teacher and I already am used to helping people.

I also was introduced to Shakeology. Which I asked my coach, ok so I’m a thin girl. I really don’t want to lose weight . I would like to make sure that I get more toned and stay that way. Weight wise I’m fine with where I’m at. He said go ahead take it and you can add extra to it like peanut butter or something for extra calories. So I did and Shakeology has really helped. You know that bloated little kangaroo pouch you get post baby? This has really taken it away. It also keeps me healthy and gives my body all the vitamins and minerals I need.

I’ll end this journal here, but I could go on and on…But come back and I’ll share more with you about what’s going on in my journey, in hopes that it will help you!

If you need me to be that person to push you post-baby to get back in shape just click here and message me! I’d really love to help you out! Being a mom is awesome! Not always easy, but totally awesome, and I wouldn’t change it for the world!! Take care moms, new moms, and soon to be moms.  You can do anything you set your mind to!!!

Ilyana Castaneda