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Certified personal trainer Sara Pereira’s (@itssarapr) Instagram is flooded with glamorous shots from the gym and tactical fitness tips for her 384,000 fans. You might think she’s always had it all figured out. But Sara, like so many of us, started out as a complete beginner in her fitness journey. Sara’s journey really began when she was uprooted 6 years ago from her home country of Venezuela and moved to the U.S. Feeling alone in a new country and coping through emotional eating, Sara eventually had to confront the discomfort she felt in her own body. So she turned to the internet for help. Over time, Sara taught herself to transition from working out alone in her garage, to eventually mastering the gym and getting her NASM personal training certification. And she did it all by staying focused on her ‘why.’ In this episode, Sara shares her 6 years of knowledge. She explains how she conquered her fear of the gym, the easy nutrition tips she shares with her clients for weight loss, and how you can take your fitness into your own hands without getting overwhelmed. Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store.

After years of emotional binge eating and unsuccessful restrictive dieting, Ashley Zeffiro (@ashleytrackspoints) became a weight loss success story. Not only did Ashley hit her target weight, but she also kept the weight off, a part of the journey Ashley says “people don’t talk about enough.” So how did Ashley go from watching her weight yo-yo for years to becoming a sustainable weight loss advocate for over 67,000 fans on Instagram? She changed her mindset and started thinking long term. Ashley finally realized that in order to make lasting changes, she had to ditch the short term fixes. She had to try things that she’d be willing to stick to for life. In this episode, Ashley shares everything she discovered along the way. You’ll hear how she made food tracking feel easy to fit her busy life as a mom of three, why she refuses to give herself rules around food, and why when it comes to focusing on her weight loss, she thinks about everything a year in advance. Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store.

“At the end of the day...self-care is fitness.” Ever wondered what a 37-year-long health journey looks like? For Tara Allison (@fatgirl.fit), it’s one full of wisdom, self-love, and lots of squats. Raised in a household with generations of complex body image issues, Tara was taught to feel ashamed of her weight from a young age, and even forced to attend Weight Watchers meetings when she was just 14 years old. For Tara, this was simply her way of life. And then everything changed. A form of arthritis brought chronic pain into Tara’s life, and she was faced with a choice. She could either take copious amounts of medication for the rest of her life, or try building muscle to help out her joints and relieve her pain. She chose the latter. Now known as the “internet queen of the deadlifts” to her 123,000 fans on TikTok, Tara says she still takes herself by surprise. What took Tara about 35 years to realize is that, despite all the times she stood on a scale in those public WW meetings, she never lacked self confidence. What she lacked was self-love. And once she found it, a whole new world of health opened before her eyes. In this episode, Tara shares it all: how she let go of her very complicated history with food, why strength training can be for everyone, and how you can turn self-hate into self-love. Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store.

“The biggest part of this journey wasn’t watching the numbers on the scale drop… it was discovering a love for myself that I didn’t have before, and then having the privilege to share that with other people.” For years Grace Guilliams dealt with her health issues by… not dealing with them. Like so many coaches I’ve spoken to on this show, Grace (known as @GraceGoingDownDown to almost 100,000 followers on TikTok) struggled with her weight for most of her life.  She recalls coping with this through avoidance - avoiding the scale, avoiding taking photos - and resigning herself to the belief that healthy living is for other people. This all changed during the pandemic, when Grace describes hitting her “rock bottom.” She fell into unhealthy patterns that eventually took a major toll on her mental and physical health, and forced her to face the struggle she had avoided for years. She knew she had to change, but didn’t know what to do. When she discovered she could qualify for weight loss surgery, it seemed like the only option. But Grace didn’t go to the consultation right away. She made a deal with her parents and agreed to try a few lifestyle changes before fully committing to surgery - and she still assumed not much would change. Fast forward to today, and Grace is down 70 pounds without surgery. More importantly, she inspires thousands of people every day with her message of radical self-love and her shining example that we’re capable of so much more than we think. In this episode, Grace shares how she learned to eat better and still satisfy her sweet tooth, why walking can be the best foundation to hit any goal, and why if she was able to find success - you can too. Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store.

Franky Delgado (@frankyfitness) has some simple yet powerful advice when it comes to losing weight: don’t be like him. This isn’t because he didn’t lose weight. He did - 120 pounds to be exact. However, Franky originally believed that his true path to happiness was a number on a scale, and his motivation to lose weight quickly turned into obsession, causing a rippling effect of consequences that Franky says he’s still living with today.  But don't worry, there is a happy ending to this story. Today Franky is a shining example of exactly what finding balance in your health and fitness goals can look like, and he’s happier and healthier than ever before. Just ask his 260,000 fans on TikTok who tune in to his upbeat videos with advice on food swaps, calorie deficits, and more. In this episode, Franky shares what not to do when you want to lose weight, everything he learned about fitness and nutrition on his journey, and generally how to stay sane and find balance while you’re going after your own goals. Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store. Follow along with Franky on TikTok (@frankyfitness). 

Sometimes it seems like getting healthy means hitting an arbitrary goal weight and calling it a day.  Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Hitting that weight can be a great thing, but this is usually just step 1.  The unexpected question that so many of us face when we finally achieve that first, hard-won goal is… now what?  That’s the question that Michelle Wigle (@michworksout) wrestled with at the outset of her health transformation. In the early days, she had such a singular focus on weight that she felt like “a slave to the scale.” Contrary to her expectations, reaching that goal weight didn’t solve all her problems.  In order to figure out what healthy maintenance looked like, Michelle had to reassess her motivation for losing weight altogether. Finding that answer involved a life-threatening accident that changed the way she understood health, family, and physical fitness forever.  In this episode, Michelle shares how she initially overcame a lifelong struggle with her weight, real tips on how to find balance and stay in maintenance once she lost 65 pounds, and how she discovered the right mindset for achieving lifelong health and wellness.  Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store. Follow along with Michelle on Instagram (@michworksout).

Rylee Ollearis (@ryleejade.fit on TikTok) knows that when it comes to hitting your goals, sometimes it's less about motivation and more about discipline. Luckily, building discipline can be as simple as making your bed every day. Simplicity, it turns outs, is at the core of Rylee’s health and fitness philosophy. She believes that it’s the small daily changes that add up to the big stuff. Her own practice of building healthier habits every day transformed her from someone who felt out of place at the gym, to an IronMan competitor. In this episode, Rylee shares the 3 easy goals you can set each week for long-term success, the “change talk” method she uses to crush self-doubt, and the one very important question she asks her clients to get them started. Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store. Follow along with Rylee on TikTok (@ryleejade.fit). 

We often talk about “getting healthy” and “losing weight” as if they always mean the same thing. But of course, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Health and wellness mean so much more than a number on the scale.   Take our guest, personal trainer Margaret Cresta. At the beginning of her journey, stress and a lack of proper nutrition made it nearly impossible for Margaret to keep weight on. So when she  decided to focus on her health, she knew she had to get physically and mentally strong. And that meant gaining weight. At the beginning, she was on her own. Most of her friends and family weren’t as supportive as they could have been, so Margaret had to learn how to eat well and workout properly without a strong support network. Today, Margaret is a certified personal trainer with 169,000 fans following her workouts on Instagram. In this episode, she shares real tips from everything she learned along her journey, like how to eat well even when you have a busy schedule, easy ways to get protein in at every meal, and the one workout move you can do for the most results.  Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store. Follow along with Margaret on Instagram (@sovigor). 

Polly Kerbut (@polly__wants) is all about making big life changes.  But sometimes these changes happen to you. Instead of being in control, you feel at the mercy of your circumstances.  It was one of these changes in Polly’s life almost two years ago that left her feeling stressed, overweight, and depressed. Polly had relocated from her native home in Russia to Seattle where she didn’t know a soul. Her body was in the U.S., but her head was back in Russia. As she describes it, she felt like she was floating in space.  Ironically, this experience of disconnection and isolation is what ultimately inspired her to take back control of her mental and physical health, and become a fitness star with 189,000 fans in the process. How did she do it? By embracing the suck. In this episode, Polly shares the benefits of committing to workouts that you think you hate. She also breaks down the “fantastic 4” method that helped her lose 50lbs in quarantine, and her famous Russian pancakes filled with protein.  Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store. Follow  Polly's journey on Instagram (@polly__wants). 

Ashley Mojo’s transformation was so stark, sometimes even she can’t believe it.  And it’s not even the physical transformation that stands out (though after dropping 80 pounds, that’s definitely part of her story). No, the viral Tik Tok star went from hating the way she looked and dreading the gym, to someone who inspires nearly half a million people  to think about their health and bodies in a whole new way.  On her road to helping others, Ashley also regained her self-confidence and a greater sense of control over her health. One key: Mindful Eating, a practice she developed while also adopting a vegan lifestyle.  In this episode, Ashley breaks down what we mean by Mindful Eating and how to practice, why you should celebrate non-scale victories, and the secret to mobility for better workouts. Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store. Follow along with Ashley on TikTok.

“I don’t think I would have survived recovery had I not lost the weight.”  Those are the words of Jen Wagner (@_jens_journey_), who lost 100 pounds and was enjoying her new, healthier life when her world was turned upside down.   She was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  According to Jen, recovering from brain surgery is the hardest thing she has ever faced. But it was only possible because she had recently committed to a healthier lifestyle, breaking her sugar addiction and dropping more than 100 pounds in the process.  Now her mission is to spread the lesson from that ordeal to her thousands of followers across social media and beyond: focus on the things you can control... while you still can.  In this episode, you’ll hear Jen share real tips on how she does this everyday, plus how she broke her years-long addiction to sugar, how she keeps the weight off, and her very favorite low-carb recipe.   Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store. Follow along with Jen on Instagram (@_jens_journey_). This is the Season 1 finale! Join us again in two weeks for the start of Season 2. 

Jasmine Parent (@jasminelosingit) is a certified fitness trainer and nutrition coach who knows exactly what it takes to make sustainable, long-lasting health changes, because she lost over 120 pounds herself. Here’s a hint: it involves completely ditching diet culture. If you’re wondering how this is possible, you're not alone. There’s a reason Jasmine now guides her clients and her 174,000 followers on Instagram to true success. In this episode, Jasmine shares  three key things you can easily adopt for your own successful transformation, how she changed her life first by finding self-love, and why it’s so important to treat your mind just like a muscle. Better by the Day is produced by WayBetter, the app that makes health and fitness fun with new group challenges starting weekly. To join a challenge, download WayBetter in the App store. Follow along with Jasmine on Instagram (@jasminelosingit).