Meet BBG Community Member Candice

Candice has been on a huge journey with fitness, and I’m sure her story is one that will resonate with a lot of mums in the BBG Community!

After giving birth to her daughter via C-section, Candice (she’s @candee_bbg on Instagram) was cleared to train by her health professional. But her return to fitness was not what she expected — Candice told me she was shocked because she felt so weak and disconnected from her body while exercising. 

This is something I related to SO much, and I know a lot of other mums will too. What I love about Candice is she has now completely transformed her approach to fitness. She now focuses on what she gains from training, not what she thinks she needs to change about herself. I hope you’ll enjoy getting to know this incredible BBG Community member as much as I did — meet Candice!

‘I feel like I'm not as thin as I used to be, but I'm stronger — I prefer the strength’

Candice: My name is Candice. I am 34 years old. I live in New Jersey. I'm an eye doctor and I married my husband who's also an eye doctor, and we have one child, Ayla, who is three years old. 

Me: What has your relationship with fitness been like in the past?

Candice: I felt like fitness was always like, you're like one inch away from death, and you were just like struggling to breathe, and your body was gonna die, and that's how you know you were gonna definitely burn up all the calories, because you were barely gonna make it on the other end. And I don't, it's better to just feel strong, like, I feel like I'm not as thin as I used to be, but I'm stronger than I used to be, and I prefer the strength over anything else.

Me: What has been the biggest personal barrier you’ve faced in your life?

Candice: I remember that first workout after I had Ayla once I got clearance from my doctor, ‘cos I also had a C-section, and I just was like, what did I just turn myself into? Like I felt like I couldn't move anything, like everything was just, like I don't even know if it was painful. I just felt like I was just moving a different body, like it didn't feel like I was connected to myself. When I first started back up with everything after I had Ayla, I had to put it in my Google calendar, I was like, I have to get a reminder that I'm doing this. And once I did that, I saw that it was feasible and then I was able to, like, work it into my schedule. 

Me: What did you think of the BBG Zero Equipment workout?

Candice: The best thing about it is it gives you flexibility if things change in short notice. So like if you do have to go somewhere else, or if like your gym closes again, or your gym's never opening and you never had any [equipment], you know, at your house to use, like now you don't feel like you're missing out on anything, because all you need is your body and your mat and you're good to go. 

Me: What do you think of the SWEAT community?

Candice: The SWEAT community, they're just the best.

Me: Have you made friends through the community?

Candice: I would invite like, my actual friends to go to the gym and nobody wanted to go. And I'm like, oh my God, I need someone to support me. So I just created this account, 'cos I'm like, okay, let me find out who else is doing it so that we can kind of virtually motivate each other. And it just turned into more than I had imagined, like, it's nice that that support is there, and that's not even about fitness related stuff, it's just like life stuff, and that's great to have. 

Me: Looking back, what advice would you give yourself?

Candice: I would tell myself to be gentle with myself, because I think it took a long time for me to not strive for perfection. Try to work out as frequently as you can. If I know that it's only gonna be a couple of days a week, start with that and then build up to like five, six, seven days a week. So I think I would just tell myself to just, you know, be patient, the results are gonna come. I know the results are gonna come, but it's just, don't expect it overnight. Don't beat yourself up if there's a bad day. Allow yourself for bad days and then more good days would add up.

Drop the pressure and find a fitness program that works for YOU

Returning to training after pregnancy can be a time when women feel a lot of pressure to “bounce back”, but the journey back to fitness post-partum is not always easy. It can feel like you have to begin again with fitness, but things change and that’s okay! 

My Post-Pregnancy program has been created for women who have had clearance to return to training from their healthcare professional and is designed to help ease you back into fitness.

And for women who are not postpartum and looking for a flexible training program, BBG Zero Equipment has been designed so you can do it anywhere, anytime. You can schedule workouts to fit in with your routine and you don’t need any equipment — start your fitness journey with one of my programs in the SWEAT app today!