A few FAQs..

My ‘Fitness’ Journey

So, I use the term ‘fitness’ lightly. If you follow me on Instagram and watch my stories, you know I get very candid with my feelings about my body, weight, fitness, working out, etc.

I was a slave to the scale for a very short period of time. Other than that, I’ve always cared more about what size my pants were and just overall, how I looked. In recent months, post-children, I have fluctuated between caring about all of those things, including the scale. I’ve mentioned before that between both of my pregnancies, I had gained 89 pounds combined. Delaney, I gained 49 (weighing in at 186 lbs at my last OB appointment) and Cohen, I gained 40 lbs, weighing in at 181 lbs at delivery.

Anyway, the weight came off both times—over the course of several months. I was not a “bounce back” by any means. I dieted, exercised occasionally, and just through trial and error, figured out what works for ME. Now, I’m not recommending this to anyone, or saying this is healthy or what you should do. This is just what works for me, my lifestyle, etc.

During the week, I ALWAYS have coffee in the morning (Biggby order: Super iced coffee with Carmel). Then…I don’t eat. Eating breakfast has always made me feel gross. I feel way too full no matter how much I eat and it just makes me tired. For whatever reason, I skip breakfast 9 times outta 10. 

Lunch? I eat occasionally, but not very often. Again, if you’ve been following, I skip lunch and head to spinning class (I’ll get to this in a minute)—usually eating a Cliff bar or jerkey on the way for a little protein so I don’t over do it on an empty stomach. Regardless, I finish the class in a caloric deficit.

Dinner? I eat whatever the hell I want. Because I can. And I like it this way. I haven’t eaten yet today, it takes less to fill me up, and I am starting off with usually anywhere from -100 to -150 calories. If I want 8 quinoa tacos, I’mma have 8 quinoa tacos. Pizza? I’ll take the whole damn thing. Some might call this a form of fasting…I just call it the Courtney Diet (I use the term diet in here just to mean what I eat, not a weight loss method).

Ok, so the whole spinning thing. Let me just say, NEVER in my life did I think I would like it. I am the most unathletic person you will ever meet. I hate exercise, I hate playing sports, I don’t like sweating and I’m an asthmatic epileptic (the Highschool definition of nerd—proud of it). But anyway, I gave this gig a shot after seeing a former high school classmate post that she was teaching a class. I legit asked her if I would die doing the class….after still some hesitation, I showed up and got my ass kicked. BUT, I was energized after…not tired and ready for bed like I always was after going to the gym. For me, in roughly 30 minutes, I burn around 250-320 calories and range from 9-11 miles. In a 45 minute class, I do anywhere from 350-430 calories and 14-17 miles. I’m the type of person that has to talk myself into why this is worth my time…so burning that many calories in that short amount of time, makes me feel like it’s 1000% worth my time. Whereas when I was walking a 5k and only burning 220 calories in 45 minutes, it felt like a waste—I know, my analysis is weird.

I’m heading into month 3 of spinning and going usually 4x a week, sometimes 3x, sometimes 5x, just depends on my work schedule for the week!

In addition, because I feel dedicated to this regimen of exercise and eating ‘healthy’ (lol), I just got myself a little present—I went and had the TruScult ID procedure done on my lower abdomen. Before having kids, I was ALWAYS self-conscious of this area, and after having my babes 18 months apart, it has only gotten worse. For me, it just has always bothered me. I don’t feel fat, I don’t feel overweight, I’m not trying to have the ‘perfect’ body, I’m not trying to fix anything…simply trying to feel content with my own body and everything it has been through. If you have more questions on the actual procedure, feel free to DM me. And as always, I will share results along the way (takes 2-12 weeks to see results!)

Also, as I've mentioned in my stories, I don't aim to be a body builder, have noticeable muscles, be insanely thin, or any one thing. I just want to feel good. Period.

Keeping the Kids Looking Fly

Dressing my kids is an extreme pleasure. I adore getting their clothes out every night for the next day. Here’s a few of my own type of rules and ways or organizing:

1.       I despise ‘graphic’ tees. I know, let them be little—pick out that hideous PJ Masks shirt or the one with Vamperina all over it. BUT, I HATE THEM. I compromise by pairing these hideous items with either leggings or khakis/chinos and layering underneath a chambray or jean jacket. It instantly makes the outfit cuter and the best part is, if kiddo gets too warm, they can take off the top layer and rock out their awesome shirt (while at school, where I don’t have to look at it)

2.       LAYER. See above.

3.       Every kid needs a chambray shirt. Boy, girl, dog, etc. But really, they pair so nicely with anything except jeans (I’m weird and don’t like it with denim), but they look great over a dress (I like to button it and tie the bottom, making the dress appear as a skirt), and then layered for warmth and style, as well as super cute open or buttoned with chinos (pants or shorts).

4.       Shoes are another item I am super picky about. I don’t do light-up or character shoes. That’s what dad and grandparents are for (insert slight sarcasm), but now that school is back in, I am forced to do tennis shoes more than I care for. But variety is the spice of life. The kids have a TON of shoes (I actually buy them mostly from WalMart, Target, and Old Navy) so we can still try to match and ad variety to their outfits.

5.       I dress my kids as mini adults. Delaney always wants to match me, and Cohen is just so easy going and doesn’t really care (yet). So, I dress them how they let me for now…

6.       I also ALWAYS get the kids outfits out during bath the night before. They are always stacked and ready in their bathroom for in the morning. They know where they are and I just tell them in the morning to go grab their clothes (they still require assistance getting dressed sometimes)

7.       My favorite places to shop for the kids are: Old Navy, Target, OshKosh (literally 99% of their clothes are from one of those places)

Career Mapping

It feels like I’ve been doing a lot of mentoring or having conversations about careers or how I got to be where I am, so I thought I’d give a brief timeline of events.

2008: Graduated High school and was denied acceptance to MSU for Fall semester but was offered early acceptance to UofM (3.8 GPA but a 21 ACT score that I got THREE times). I took fall semester off and worked full time as a Keyholder at Steve & Barry’s making $10/hr until the store chain filed bankruptcy and closed.

January 2009: Began a temp job at a credentialing company in East Lansing making $9.50/hr and began taking classes at MSU.

2009-2012: Continued working at the credentialing company and eventually moved to a full time position and was promoted a few times to various positions. I took the maximum amount of credits year round and finished my undergrad in 3.5 years with a BA in Advertising Management. I began grad school 4 days after graduating MSU.

2014: I graduated from Gonzaga University (virtually, as I had Delaney 2 days before commencement) with a MA in Communications & Leadership. I also completed a residency the fall of 2013 in Washington on Gonzaga’s Campus. Upon return from maternity leave, I was offered a management position with the company that oversaw the credentialing area where I’d been for five years now. It was this position that started my career. I was the Management Services Administrator until the credentialing company was sold back to the co-owners.

2015: After the sell, I was moved to the Marketing department by default because of my undergrad degree. I stayed in this role until I was let go in 2016 (we’ll tell that story another day).

Fall of 2016-March 2017: UNEMPLOYED. Yup, you read that right.

March 2017-March 2018: Worked at Dart Container as an IT Communications & Training Specialist and dipped my toe into the world of Organizational Change Management.

March 2018-Present: I did a quick apply on Indeed for my current position in November of 2017 and got a call 2 months later. After 6 rounds of interviews and over 90 applicants, here I am. I currently serve as the National Marketing Manager at Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services.

So, what do I do there? I’m lucky enough to have a team of amazing women and we oversee all things Marketing, Public Relations, Events, and Communication on a national level for MiHIN & its two subsidiaries. We do things like: create marketing materials such as flyers, brochures, we run MiHIN’s social media, all events, speaking engagements, presentations run through our department. We also put on the annual Connecting Michigan for Health Conference. All our websites, branding, logos, press & media, and events run through us! We’re a small & mighty team and I’m thankful to be a part of it.

All this to say, that just shy of 30, I have a pretty bad ass role. But that’s because I worked 40+ hours and went to school for 7 years to get here. Don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s. We’re all on a journey, no matter how long it takes you to reach a goal, Just. Keep. Going.