ABS Story

If I had to describe who I am and what I’m about in a single sentence, it is Fitness, Food & Wine. I LOVE helping people transform their lives so they can feel strong inside and out with great workouts that strengthen the body while also being able to enjoy their favorite foods and life.

I love creating workouts that are fast and effective with the ultimate goal of supercharging your self-confidence, fitness results, and personal growth. I love creating simple and delicious recipes and I love taking something complex like wine and making it simple and applicable to your own life. I enjoy teaching you how to incorporate things like food and wine into your fitness life so that you can have balance and maintain the body you want without having to sacrifice your favorite things.

LET ME GIVE YOU A LITTLE BACKSTORY TO EXPLAIN WHERE I’M COMING FROM.

FITNESS.

Although I’ve been in the professional fitness industry for over a decade, I took my first stumbling steps into the world of health and fitness when I was around 14 years old. Like many girls my age, the motivation to learn more about nutrition and exercise mainly stemmed from poor self-esteem and insecurity around my body. Having been told cardio was the best and fastest way to lose weight, I tried running… and hated it. Instead of boosting my confidence, it made me feel defeated and incapable.

I dreamed about having my own personal trainer, but as a teenager, I obviously didn’t have the money to get one. I was stuck in a downward spiral of low self-esteem and negative thinking, which affected many areas of my life; I let my failures get the best of me and was left with the nagging feeling of having settled for less than I wanted. I was hiding in the shadows of my insecurities, while knowing deep down I had far more potential for both happiness and success.

The breaking point for me was getting divorced in my twenties. As painful as it was to have my entire life turned upside down, the dramatic change resulted in much needed soul-searching and a complete life transformation.

Having lost my house, friends and a job that made me miserable, the gym became a daily oasis that kept me sane and on track. Sticking to my new workout routine didn’t just strengthen my muscles; it also empowered my self-confidence, proving that with discipline and consistency, I could do anything.

I began defining and writing down my physical and personal goals and dreams, and then practiced a combination of meditation & positive affirmations to strengthen my resolve and chances of success. I applied the same mindset and commitment to everything in my life.

As someone who once struggled from severe anxiety and panic attacks, I spent much time studying the mechanisms of emotions and the intimate relationship between our minds and bodies.

When I learned that various thought-patterns can produce certain chemicals and reactions in the body that produce very real feelings of fear, worry, stress and anger; I had a complete epiphany that propelled my life in an entirely new direction. It didn’t just take my workouts to a whole new level, I also experienced growing success with my personal relationships and business endeavors; which then led me to take this passion and turn it into a career to help others and in 2009 I became a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and I started a personal training business.

As a certified NASM CPT with more than 10 years of experience, I’ve had the privilege to work with thousands of inspiring individuals of all ages and backgrounds.

Throughout my career, I’ve witnessed countless life-altering transformations as a result of my method to approach the mind and body as a whole; ranging from increased strength, well-being and self-confidence to people who’ve successfully lost 200 pounds.

I have made it my life purpose to help others feel confident, strong and empowered throughout their fitness journey, all while actually enhancing and improving their quality of life.

The problem was as a personal trainer I noticed that the food people were eating to lose weight and get in shape was incredibly bland, boring, and strict. I tried out a weight loss diet for myself and was personally miserable because food is something I am passionate about and to have to deprive myself of it not only meant no going out to dinner with family and friends, but also took all the fun out of it. There had to be another way that I could enjoy Food I love while also being fit and having my body look the way I want. this leads me to my next passion…

FOOD.

Since I was a kid, I always loved baking. I baked chocolate chip cookies several nights a week for friends and family, I baked cakes, brownies, and loved the feeling of making food that people enjoyed. In my 20’s, I took a trip by myself to Tuscany to cook at an Italian villa with a chef and learn all about the way they work with food and in the kitchen and fell in love with the art behind all of it. I was making pasta from scratch, pizza, desserts, picking vegetables and herbs right from the garden, and loving every single bit of it and yet ironically I never gained any weight. Not because I have so me crazy fast metabolism or special genes, but because I was able to have whatever I want whenever I want and never felt the need to deprive my body or binge eat that my body ended up balancing out. For the last ten years, I regularly enjoy things like pizza, chocolate, wine, pasta, cheese, bread, pancakes every week while maintaining my fitness and nutrition.

This led me to taking one of my favorite breakfast foods of pancakes and re-inventing the recipe and making it my own so that not only myself, but others could at least enjoy a healthier version of our favorite breakfast food of pancakes and waffles and in 2014 I turned it into a product called ABS Protein Pancakes from scratch and ended up landing a deal on Shark Tank that led me to be featured in places like, HSN, Oxygen Magazine, Zulily, Eat This Not That and Forbes.

I had found a way to not only enjoy my passion of food, but also help others to enjoy their food while hitting their fitness goals and built my own product line.That now is not just the ABS High Protein Pancake & Baking mix, but also the ABS Fresh Baked High Protein Desserts.

I believe that Dessert should be enjoyed every day along with your favorite foods which is why I created these products so I can enjoy ABS Pancakes & Waffles every morning and then finish my day with one of the delicious ABS Protein Brownies, Cookies or other desserts!

It took me several years to get the business up and running with a team and systems and in place, but once it reached that point I still felt like there was a piece of the puzzle missing. I do what I always do and journaled/soul searched and took a trip to California where I spent all of my time exploring vineyards and the outdoors which leads to the story of the next passion…wine.

WINE.

I always get asked how I got into wine and honestly in my early 20’s I was that girl that drank Arbor Mist and wine coolers and thoughts that was wine. It was until I took a trip one fall to North Georgia and visited local wineries up there having someone take me through an actual wine tasting professional with a tour of the vineyards, the fermentation processes, and the gorgeous winery itself that I fell in love. In some ways, I got into wine over night. I spent 4 or 5 years just having fun with it traveling and trying every winery I could really learning more with each trip. I always light up when I am at dinner or at a wine event with friends and they are learning about their palette and I can help educate them so they can explore their likes and dislikes.

Then I realized, the thing that was missing in the puzzle for me was wine! I love taking the complexity out of wine and making it simple so people can experience the art and the fun behind it. In 2017, I signed up to take the WSET (Wine Spirits & Education Trust) Level 3 exam where my wine knowledge was challenged and greatly expanded and... I passed becoming an official WSET Level 3 Wine Expert!

I ended up temporarily working as a wine consultant for a large wine & spirits distributor to grow my wine knowledge even more and build my connections in the industry. In 2019, I decided it was time to take all of my passions of Fitness, Food & Wine and help other people create a body and life they love without having to sacrifice fun and flavor! Which brings you to here: ABS.

My philosophy is that life is too short to not eat great good and enjoy great wine, but there are ways to do that while also taking care of your health. You can have everything in moderation; you just have to learn how to be present to the experience of each of these and practice connecting with your fitness, your food…and your wine!

That is exactly my mission with creating this platform is to help educate you to connect to a deeper level of yourself, of your life and life. The way I do that is through Delicious Food Products, Great Workouts, & Wine.

Thank you for letting me share my story and for checking out ABS! Cheers!