Go For It

Writing my memoir, “She’s Losing It!” and doing military training exercises on the John Cena reality TV show American Grit may seem like different experiences, but they had a lot in common.  In both instances I chose to push myself way outside my comfort zone not knowing how it would turn out and allowed millions of people to watch me struggle through it.

Why?

Lots of people lose 50 lbs. (or a lot more) and don’t write a book about it.  Lots of people do military boot camp obstacle races without a microphone and dozens of cameras on them.  And lots of people really, really want to change their life and live out loud but find it terrifying to take that first step.

That’s why I wrote the book.  That’s why I did the show.  That’s why I continue to do crazy things that make no sense but feel right to me.  (I told you I want to wear Victoria Secret wings on a runway, right?)

Ultimately, I want to be a Rocky for Moms, or for anyone, really, needing a little motivation.  I wrote “She’s Losing It!” for someone who was living through what I had been living through a few years ago.

 

Specifically, this was where I was at:

• I was overweight and had been for the better half of a decade
• After having kids my body changed drastically.  My stomach had loose skin folds in odd places, my breasts looked like two empty wallets and my butt seemed to disappear entirely.  I don’t know where it went, I don’t know why it went, but suddenly my cute bubble butt of my 20’s had been replaced by an ass-leg blend of my late 30’s.

  

   

• At any given moment I was tired.  Sometimes I would wake up tired and wonder how that was even possible.
• Money was tight.  My husband and I owned a real estate business and it took every single penny to keep it going.  This meant my purchases on pre-packaged foods, fitness programs and exercise do-dads that promised a svelte body in 10 days seemed like a frivolous waste of cash, especially after they didn’t work.
• Suddenly my go-to diets stopped being effective.  Was it my metabolism?  My age?  The fact that I had children?  Nothing helped.
• Exercise alone did nothing.  I ran a half marathon and didn’t lose a single pound.  That frustrated the hell out of me.
• My yo-yo diets grew more bizarre and unhealthy.  If there was a celebrity cleanse on the internet I tried it.  I also tried diet pills, water pills, fat-free-gluten-free frozen dinners that tasted like cardboard, lots of diet books and intermittent fasting.  They all worked for a week but as soon as I stopped I immediately gained back all the weight plus two more pounds.

  

• Women’s magazines made me feel bad about myself.  They made everything seem so easy but it just wasn’t for me.  I’d see some skinny b**** holding a baby and a sign that said, “No excuses!” and want to scream, “DON’T YOU SEE ME TRYING!?!  I’M TRYING AND IT’S STILL NOT WORKING!”
• My husband stopped finding me attractive; I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the frumpy middle aged woman staring back at me, and I just sat in the car in the parking lot of my daughter’s nursery school sobbing in frustration and praying to God, “Please, fix me.”

If you recognize any of these elements in your own life, then just know you’re where I was four years ago.

Here’s where I’m at today:

• At 42 years old I had the joy of being on the winning team, Team Noah on American Grit.  Even though I didn’t personally take home the prize, my teammates Clare and Mark did, I was able to help my team win the first four out of five evolutions.

  

• I’m a bodybuilder in the bikini division.  I’ve come in 1st place, dead last, and everywhere in-between. Each competition taught me something and made me stronger.  I look better at 42 than I did at 25.  Plus, I have sponsorships with Suits by Jodi and Egg Whites International.

  

• My husband and I are still married and working on our relationship.  Some days we are a passionate power couple ready to conquer the planet and other days it feels like 12 Years a Wife, yet we are absolutely in a better place than we were four years ago.  (And our real estate business kicks butt now.)

  

• Not only I can I read women’s magazine’s now, I’m actually in them.  My weight loss transformation story will be in the August 24th issue of Muscle & Fitness Hers, I’ve been in Texas Monthly, VENTS Magazine, Bikini.com, Good Day Austin on FOX, did podcasts and even did a little stand up comedy Great Day Houston on CBS.

  

• I’m not crying now.  Well, sometimes I cry but then I pull my s*** together and just go for it.

  

My friend, Serena, just went to a Tony Robbins seminar.  One of the things he had her do was write down what she wanted if fear, money and excuses weren’t holding her back.  How would her life look a year from now?  And how glorious would her life be five years from now???  And then he had her imagine what if she went home, knowing how awesome her life could be, but then chose to do nothing and continued living in the same safe, boring, frustrating place she was at now.  And in doing nothing, what would her life look like a year from now?  And five years from now…

Like you, I’m a messy, complicated, contradictory person.  And if I can dramatically change my life, so can you…if you so desire.  This is YOUR life, so live it.  Go for it.

If you’re serious about getting healthy, but need help getting started, try my S.L.I. Method on my website ShesLosingIt.com.  Only YOU can do the work, but I can give you the tools that I’ve learned over the past four years about nutrition, exercise and overcoming excuses.

Lisa 🙂

Lisa Traugott is a Mom’s Choice Award winning writer, fitness blogger, wife and mom of two….and Original Cast Member of AMERICAN GRIT, starring John Cena, on FOX!!!

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