Brianna: 40 Weeks Pregnant

Brianna gained 70 pounds with her pregnancy and told POPSUGAR, "My weight had escalated to 245 pounds." (17 and a half stone.)

Brianna: 10 Months Postpartum

In August 2013, Brianna was a stay-at-home mum and found herself looking through a copy of People Magazine's "How They Lost 100 Pounds" issue. She found the story of a woman from the same town who had hired Jason Burgoon, owner and lead trainer of Bodies by Burgoon, as her personal trainer the year prior, and he helped her lose 130 pounds. Brianna thought, "If this gym and this man could have such a profound impact on this woman's life and health, then maybe he can help me, too."

Brianna: 1 Year Postpartum

Brianna contacted Jason and started training with him three times a week. Most of her workouts consisted of total-body weightlifting, plyometric movements [2], and boxing.

Brianna: 1 Year Later

She says, "One year later, I had lost 100 pounds [3]. It changed my life in every way. It changed my relationship with food and exercise. It changed the way I feel about myself. It changed the way I parent my child. It introduced me to competitive powerlifting, and the physical strength I found in that sport spilled over into every other area of my life. And it inspired me to become a personal trainer and nutrition coach and help others define what strong means to them."

Brianna's Workouts Now

Almost five years later, Brianna now trains five to six days per week, and her training sessions include a combination of powerlifting and bodybuilding components. "I'm also a cycling instructor [4] and teach twice per week at Bodies by Burgoon's sister company, Torque Cycling."

Here's her workout schedule:

Monday: bench press/chest/triceps/shoulders
Tuesday: cycling
Wednesday: deadlift/back/biceps
Thursday: cycling
Friday: squat/legs/glutes
Saturday: total-body workout

Brianna's Diet

Brianna doesn't follow a specific diet. She shares, "I simply eat clean (lean proteins, vegetables, healthy fats, and fruit) and watch my portion sizes. I eat eight small meals every day that are spaced two to three hours apart. One of the secrets to my success has been implementing healthy habits that are realistic for my lifestyle and sustainable long-term! I drink one gallon of water [5] (3.8 litres) every day, log my food in My Fitness Pal [6]prep all of my meals in advance [7] so I can carry them with me in my 6 Pack Fitness Bag [8].

Here's a typical day of food for Brianna:

Breakfast: (305 calories) 1/2 cup of Quaker Old Fashioned oatmeal, 1 scoop of Isopure Dutch Chocolate protein powder, 2 tbsp. of Honeyville Organic powdered peanut butter [9], and 1 cup of black coffee
Morning snack 1: (201 calories) 1/4 cup of raw almonds, 1 cup of blackberries
Morning snack 2: (273 calories) 6 scrambled egg whites, 1 cup of spinach, half an avocado, 2 tsp. hot sauce
Lunch: (273 calories) 4 oz. grilled filet mignon, 1 cup of roasted asparagus
Afternoon snack 1: (121 calories) 4 oz. grilled cod, 1 cup of steamed green beans
Afternoon snack 2: (150 calories) 4 oz. oven-roasted chicken breast, 1 cup of steamed broccoli
Dinner: (249 calories) 4 oz. broiled salmon, 1 cup garlic-roasted brussels sprouts
Evening snack: (116 calories) 6 hard-boiled egg whites, 1 cup of sugar snap peas

Total: 1,688 calories

Nonscale Victories

"While the size of my body is perhaps the most obvious change," Brianna says, "the mental and physical strength I uncovered on my weight-loss journey has been the most profound. For me, it hasn't been about the number on the scale [10]. It's about feeling strong. And that strength translates over into every area of my life."

Brianna's Motivation

As a mom to a 5-year-old boy, it's one of her top priorities as a parent to raise a healthy and strong child. In order to successfully achieve that goal, she needs to lead by example. Brianna says, "If I make exercise and nutrition a priority in my life, there is a greater likelihood that he will do the same for himself."

She started her weight-loss journey around the same time he started eating solid foods, so eating clean [11] is all he knows. "We train together, play sports, ride bikes, shop for groceries, visit local farmers markets, meal prep, and talk about how eating healthy foods and staying active makes us strong in our MINDS, strong in our HEARTS, and strong in our MUSCLES."

Brianna's 7 Tips

If you're on your own weight-loss or fitness journey, Brianna wants to share these tips:

1. Find a supportive environment or community of like-minded people to help hold you accountable.
2. Stay hydrated [12]! Drink 100 to 128 ounces of water every day.
3. Download the free My Fitness Pal app on your phone and log your food.
4. Watch your portions [13]. You can measure one serving using a food scale or the size of your hand:
   1 serving of protein (chicken/eggs/fish) = your palm
   1 serving of vegetables (kale/spinach/broccoli) = your fist
   1 serving of carbohydrates (fruit/grains/beans) = one cupped hand
   1 serving of healthy fats (olive or coconut oil/avocado/raw nuts) = your thumb
5. Eat small meals every two to three hours as opposed to three large meals per day, and stop eating when you are 80 percent full. [14]
6. Prepare your meals and snacks ahead of time, and place them in portioned-out containers [15] in your fridge, freezer, and pantry.
7. Clean out your kitchen, fridge, and freezer. If you have unhealthy food in your home, you or someone you love is going to eat it. But the opposite is also true: if you have healthy food in your home, you or someone you love is going to eat that, too! We do not need more discipline or willpower to make healthy choices — we simply need to make it more difficult to make unhealthy ones.

Brianna's Final Thoughts

"If I can lose 100 pounds, I can do anything. Lifting weights [16] helped me shift that mindset. I'm less concerned about the size of my jeans because I'm focussed on the number of pounds I can squat. As a competitive powerlifter, I've won multiple regional championships and hold state records in the bench press and deadlift."