Maria is such an encouragement! She certainly expects cooperation and pushes you beyond what you think you can do, but she also knows when you are pushed as far as you can go. She has great tact and knows how to be gentle while being driven to help you achieve the success she knows you have within you. Maria also makes working out fun! We have at least one good laugh every time we workout.

First, here is some background info about me.  I am a stay at home mom with a part-time home business.  My baby girl is 10 months old this month, and I have finished the 90 day program in January 2015.  The results I have gotten have been phenomenal!  My goal with going through this process was to get rid of a few of the pounds I had retained from my pregnancy and to tone up a bit.

I lost 17lbs, BMI went from 22 to 18.8, body fat from 32% to 21%, increased skeleton muscle from 17.7% to 32.7%. I lost 5.5in in my waist, 5.5in in hips, and body age from 31 (actual age is 29) to 19!

I realized I had some hormonal imbalances based on my pre-program survey.   I saw significant improvements in those symptoms after the 90-day program!  Up until my work with Maria, I had eaten relatively healthy, but with LOTS of sweets. Because of strength testing a nutritionist did on me a couple of years ago, I knew some things to eat and not to eat. However, I never went through a reset to see what other things my body likes and what it doesn’t.

Maria walks through this process with you with tips, recipes, and encouragement to help you along the way. She is very accessible by text and email, and she is an overall delight to work with! She celebrates with me when I succeed as if she had succeeded herself!

She also is very flexible and understanding with me being a mom. She understands and is willing to adjust times as necessary to allow me to care for my sweet baby.  I am grateful for her, not only her expertise, but also for her friendship. She really cares that I succeed and reach my goals, and I am grateful for that.

After one week of mild food modifications and exercising 3 times with Maria, I could begin to tell a difference in the way my body looked and felt. Every few days I thought that my body looked as good as it could because it looked better than it ever had, and then a few days later, I looked even better! Doing what Maria says actually helps your health improve, as well as the way you look.  I am VERY pleased with my results.

Maria is such an encouragement! She certainly expects cooperation and pushes you beyond what you think you can do, but she also knows when you are pushed as far as you can go.  She has great tact and knows how to be gentle while being driven to help you achieve the success she knows you have within you.  Maria also makes working out fun! We had lots of laughter during our workouts.

After doing the 30 day reset, I am able to eat without my stomach hurting! What a relief! Adding back foods, I have found out how each food affects my body. I have been told from a doctor who did strength testing that certain foods were not good for me, like tomatoes, but now I have the testing behind it to know for myself that I shouldn’t have them. It gives me great confidence knowing not only how I should eat, but WHY I should eat that way and how I feel when I eat those things.  What a benefit!

Things I have learned from going through this process have been numerous.  I now know which foods are good in general and which are not, when are the best times for me to eat, and how much stronger I am able to perform when I sleep and eat well.  Also, I have learned that I do not have nearly as much variety in my diet as I thought!  My palate has been increased, but there are still several things I would like to try.  I also learned that I liked sugar A LOT more than I thought.  It is very freeing to know that now I am eating what is good for me.

The impact this experience has had on my family has been excellent.  My husband has slightly modified his diet by cutting out sodas and eating what I eat on most evenings.  He cooks a lot, so he is learning (along with me!) how to cook things that are healthier for us. Those outside of my immediate family are being impacted as well.  Thanksgiving fell right in the middle of my 30 day cleanse, so I brought my own cauliflower-based dressing with chicken in it to my extended family’s gathering.

I had comments about how good it was from people I never would have expected to like anything ‘healthy’!   What a neat experience it was to know that just because something is healthy doesn’t make it taste bad or even different.  It tasted very much like regular cornbread dressing!  Additionally, as I begin feeding my baby girl more solid foods, I have a much better idea of how to feed her in a healthy way rather than just going with the norm.  Maria has been very helpful with getting me information about topics that interest me also, like how to feed a growing child and how to eat while nursing.

Although we buy many different things at the grocery store, our budget has not been significantly impacted.  Maria introduced me to a farmer’s market where fruits and vegetables are cheaper than at a large grocery store.  That has helped us save money, as has not buying processed foods.  Meats are the most expensive, especially grass-fed pasture-raised meat and eggs.  We have not completely converted to grass-fed everything, but we get it when the budget allows.

As far as the exercising is concerned, Maria’s gym equipment is very good as she continues to add more ‘toys’ to her collection.  She knows so many different exercises that I never get bored, and many of the things she teaches I can do at home.

If you have never worked out with a trainer, I strongly recommend it.  I thought I knew how to do some exercises, but without someone there to observe and make sure you are focusing on the right things, you really don’t know!  I greatly value all I have learned in our exercise times.

My life overall has improved with the program.  I have more energy in general, fewer mood swings, lost weight, toned muscles, better self esteem because I feel good about the way I look, I am stronger, and my bodily systems are functioning much better.

If you really want to succeed in a program like this, you have to understand that it is a lifestyle change, not a quick fix or temporary challenge. You must be ready and willing to do what it takes to change.  Einstein defined insanity this way: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

If you want your body and health to change, you have to be willing to change too, like maybe shopping at a different grocery store, writing down all you eat, or making yourself exercise even when you don’t feel like it.  However, all the changes are worth it.  The results far outweigh the cost to me, and I think they will to you too.

– Laura Smitherman