When I began this “wellness journey,” I never imagined that I would or could become the person that I am today – but it did not happen without a lot of challenges and setbacks along the way. 

At my maximum bodyweight in 2016, I was about 215lbs. At the time, I was recovering from a hysterectomy, due to endometriosis and adenomyosis, which took many months. Prior to that surgery, I underwent many other surgeries including:

• Emergency appendectomy.
• 3 Laparoscopic adhesiolysis surgeries (to remove adhesions and/or separate organs).
• 2 Salpingectomies (fallopian tube removal).
• Emergency unilateral oophorectomy (ovary removal due to PCOS/complex cysts).
• Removal of large benign lipoma tumor in my left elbow joint.

I was also a metabolic mess…

• I suffered from “clinical depression” and anxiety.
• I lived in hormone hell and suffered from endometriosis, adenomyosis, and ovarian cysts (PCOS).
• I had TERRIBLE acne all over my face, back and chest. 
• I suffered from pretty severe sciatica.
• I suffered from chronic inflammation and pain throughout my entire body – especially in my joints.
• I suffered from chronic bronchitis, strep throat, and recurring sinus and respiratory infections. (smoked until 2013)
• I suffered from IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).
• I suffered from chronic migraines, including ocular migraines. I also had terrible eyesight.
• I took a Parkinson’s medication for severe restlessness in my extremities (RLS).
• I was diagnosed with Pericarditis two times.
• I was medicated for Hypertension (high blood pressure). 
• I was pre-diabetic, “insulin resistant” and definitely had NAFLD – non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. But some of that may have had to do with alcohol because I enjoyed way too much alcohol every weekend for most of my adult life prior to 2019.
• I was diagnosed with a wheat allergy and chronic hives due to being “allergic to the cold”.  I took a daily prescription allergy medication for this.
• I suffered a Lisfranc Injury (2013).
• I suffered from frozen shoulder (2021-2022).
• I was diagnosed with diverticulosis and suffered many diverticulitis flares/attacks (2022-2024)
• I’m also hypermobile and ADHD. 

Throughout my teen and adult life, I was prescribed all kinds of medications, including opioids and narcotics. On top of that, I took ibuprofen, acetaminophen, antihistamines, and anti-nausea meds daily.

Especially ibuprofen.

I used antihistamines and anti-nausea meds as sleep aids, alternating between the two. Sometimes, I’d throw in muscle relaxers or any sleeping pills I could get my hands on, and even wash them down with some wine, from time to time. 

Doctors couldn’t explain why I was in so much pain and sick all the time. Some doctors were at a complete loss and didn’t know what to do with me. Some told me it was all in my head. Others told me “that’s just the way you are”. 

And I believed them.

I truly thought I would need to rely on medications for the rest of my life and that many of my conditions were permanent.

And to be 100% honest, part of me didn’t mind being sick.

I got more attention. More care.

I had more excuses to avoid things I was far too exhausted, mentally, physically, and emotionally, to deal with.

Even though it was awful, sometimes it was just easier to be sick because it was a break from the hustle of life.

Illness became both my identity and my escape.  

I was even addicted to surgery. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true. 

And to be fair, I didn’t exactly have an easy life. I experienced a lot of trauma and spent over 40 years in survival mode, stuck in constant fight, flight and freeze. I won’t bore you with ALL the details, but here’s a quick timeline of the gist:

1974-1981 – An era of trauma I had zero control over, rooted in generational wounds my parents never healed.

My childhood was chaotic and traumatic for many seriously messed-up reasons, and in November 1981 my mother tragically passed away. I was 7 years old. She was 29.🥲

1981-1992 – My rebellious-wounded-teenager-from-hell era justified by the trauma I experienced in the past.

During this period, I had 2 step-mothers and became a troubled rebellious teenager that dropped out of high-school, ran away from home, lived on the streets, hung out with criminals, and abused alcohol and drugs to escape my insane reality, which ultimately enabled and led to being sexually and physically abused by several men.

At 16, I became pregnant and had my first born son in April 1992, at 17 years old. This was actually a blessing in disguise because he basically saved my life. 🙏🏼

1992-2003 – The “I’m pretending I can mom and adult” era, while I was really just a terrified child trapped inside an adult body, and no one could hear me screaming for help because I was too busy being everyone else except myself.

During this period, I had 2 more children.

I had my second son in January 1995 and married his father that same year. We separated by 1998.

I went to College as a mature student for Business Administration and I graduated with distinction. (I’m an over-achiever when I am determined to succeed!)

I worked a few government placement jobs and I also worked as a bartender at a few bars to make ends meet.

I lived with roommates and dated a few more men, but nothing long term. I worked a lot and partied a lot and drank a lot. Not a really great way to be a mom, but my roommates and family did help me out and I always made sure my children where cared for.

My father was diagnosed with terminal Hepatitis C in 2002 and he died at the age of 51 in May 2003, a month and a half after my daughter was born (March 2003). I did not marry her father and we separated after 6 years. 

2003-2015 – The era I disappeared into caregiver mode and continued to avoid my own health and healing. 

During this period, I experienced a few more failed relationships. One in particular with a guy I met from an online dating site. He ended up being abusive and he robbed me. With a moving truck.

He did this while I was at work one day and took a lot of my stuff, including furniture. But I was just so relieved that he finally left.

In 2009, I met a great guy through mutual friends. We moved in together soon after, and life finally settled down a bit.

The only major life-altering event that happened after that was in the Summer of 2013. I broke my right foot stepping out of our lake house during renovations, not realizing the step had been removed.

All I remember is my foot basically bending in half and my toes touching my heel. When I explained that to the ER doc, he looked at me like I was crazy, and said “that’s impossible” (not asking about or considering my hypermobility). It was misdiagnosed as a “bad sprain,” but it was actually a Lisfranc injury.

Super long story (involving many specialist appointments and me eventually opting out of a full foot reconstruction), but that misdiagnosis ended up handicapping me for many years – both physically and mentally.

December 2013: Even though my man and I were having some serious relationship issues, I asked him to marry me right after he was diagnosed with CML – Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. He was supposed to get better with a new miracle drug, Imatinib (Gleevec), but he didn’t respond to that drug or any of the “_atinib” drugs available.

He ended up needing a stem cell transplant (bone marrow transplant) in 2015 and I was his primary caregiver throughout the entire outpatient process. It was a crazy, chaotic and difficult experience, to say the least.

I was so focused on keeping him alive while still trying to be a good mom, but I know I definitely neglected my children way more than I should have.😔

To cope, I relied on positivity, humor, sarcasm, coffee, and wine. That became my identity so deeply that I started blogging and creating comics about it… “stripping” away the insanity of life and parenthood from 2012 to 2016. It was another way I successfully escaped reality.

But that identity and platform also led to a lot of good. Through social media and my literary works, I encouraged people to focus on the positive and find humor in the chaos of life.🤗

I educated people about blood cancers and the importance of stem cell and blood donation. I even organized monthly local blood clinics in Kingston, ON, and was awarded for my efforts by Canadian Blood Services.🩸

August 2015 – My first Grandman was born and I officially became a NANNIE!! Such a blessing!! 🙏✨

2016 – My disordered I had no business starting my own business era.

February 2016: My own metabolic health had deteriorated so badly and I needed a hysterectomy. Due to complications, it took about 3 months to recover from that procedure and I gained a lot of weight. This is when I weighed over 200lbs.

August 2016: I started my own custom printing business, which was very successful, very quickly.

I had a product, the “Talking Socks”, that went viral online and even though I had absolutely no clue how to run a business, I RAN WITH IT and partnered up with another person who had absolutely no clue how to run a business.🤣🙆‍♀️

Essentially, I added another heavy layer of responsibility on myself and had no choice but to be more physically active. Because of that, I did lose some weight, but that fluctuated a lot over the next year.

I also did not have as much time to eat, so I drastically cut calories during the day, but would binge eat bowls of cereal, toast, and many other easy, yummy ultra-processed snacks at night, in bed – while binge watching Grey’s Anatomy until the wee hours of the morning.

At this point, I had not considered a gym membership or making time for strength training.

Between my business, being a mom, and being a caregiver to my husband, I was WAY too busy to make time for it and I honestly didn’t think I was physically capable to do much, if anything, because of my health issues and physical limitations.

Instead, what I did try were gimmicky and expensive “weight loss” products – drinks, supplements, creams, wraps.

I also tried that cabbage soup diet, drinking gallons of dandelion tea diet. I even tried that drinking a glass of red wine every night “diet”, because apparently it was “equivalent to 1 hour in the gym”. 🤷‍♀️😆

In fact, I was SO disordered about wanting to lose weight the easy way that I asked my doctor if I would be a candidate for any type of weight-loss surgery. When the answer to that was absolutely not, seeing as I just had a major surgery, I researched which pharmaceutical drugs would cause weight loss and tried to convince my doctor that I needed another prescription. This was after my friend effortlessly lost a bunch of weight after she was prescribed a very potent medication for severe migraines.

Nevertheless, all of these desperate attempts did fail to provide sustainable results, if any at all.

2017-2020 – My kinda sorta health and healing era.

First – the awesome stuff! My second Grandman was born June 2017! 🙏✨

Summer of 2017: I was 189lbs when I was diagnosed with Stage 2 pelvic floor prolapse, due to multiple abdominal surgeries, the accumulation of visceral fat in and around my organs, and an extremely weak pelvic floor, core, and posterior chain. 

Me: “What does that (pelvic floor prolapse) mean?

Doc: “Your organs can protrude through your vagina. That’s why it feels heavy and painful down there.”

I was basically given two options, lose weight and strengthen the pelvic floor and core muscles myself OR wait for a full prolapse to happen and then be put on a waiting list for a very invasive surgical procedure – which involved placing a MESH inside my body to hold the organs up.

However, I was also informed that because of my surgical history and the amount of general anaesthetic that I already had in the past, I would not be a candidate for a surgical procedure for some time. 

WELL… that was the breakthrough moment for me. When I finally decided it was time to get off my ass, get out of my own way, and embarked on my “wellness journey”.🧘‍♂️

Being told that my organs could literally fall out of my vagina was a HUUUUUUGE wake up call. Immediately my “excuses” and my limitations became a thing of the past. Exactly where they belonged. 

September 2017: I got my first gym membership, but only went randomly, without a plan.

I stopped drinking Pepsi and sugar in my coffee. I was so addicted to drinking Pepsi, I would drink between 1-2 L a day! And I sure LOVED my sugar-filled coffees and would enjoy 2-3 daily. Oh, and yummy ice caps and iced coffees – they were my faves!

I also tried a KETO diet. It worked! I lost 30lbs in 3(ish) months!  I basically ate a minimally processed whole food diet and prioritized fat and protein. There were no KETO ultra-processed foods at this time, like there are now.  

January 2018:  After doing some random gym workouts and a few pelvic floor physio sessions, I decided that I simply could not afford or justify spending $80 a session just to concentrate on strengthening my pelvic floor. What I really wanted was to strengthen my whole body. That’s when I decided to work with a personal trainer. This kept me accountable and consistent with strength training.🏋️‍♀️ 

My trainer wasn’t a fan of the KETO diet and recommended that I start eating higher carbs again. So I started eating bread and cereal and some other ultra-processed carbohydrates and just kept track of my macros instead.

My body was not happy with this.

I experienced a lot of inflammation and reactions. My sinuses would flare daily. My face, neck and chest would become super blotchy and inflamed. My acne would flare, and I would break out in hives often.

Allergy testing revealed that I was highly sensitive to all 4 proteins in wheat and the allergist also diagnosed me with with “cold urticaria”. I was prescribed a new allergy medication that I was told to take daily and sent on my way.

This is when I switched back to a gluten-free, low-carb, mostly whole food diet.

December 2018:  After a difficult year, my husband and I decided to separate. 

January 2019: I set a BIG GOAL – to compete in my first CPA bodybuilding competition! This meant I had to cut out alcohol, track macros accurately, and eat a very strict whole food diet. I also trained consistently 6 days a week – which was challenging being a business owner and a single mom.

I also took time to just be on my own. No relationship. Which was super difficult for me.

September 2019: I did meet and start dating a wonderful man, but we decided to take it slow and have a long distance relationship until my daughter graduated from high school. (He was, and still is the man of my dreams who treats me like a QWEEN!)

November 2, 2019: I achieved my goal, stepped on stage, and competed in the body building competition! I reversed out of that prep amazingly and kept working on improving my strength and building more muscle.

Right after this competition, I set another BIG GOAL – to compete in my second CPA bodybuilding competition with my daughter in April 2020!

So back into prep I went after enjoying the Christmas season. 

March 2020: I was in the BEST physical shape of my life and 5 weeks out from my 2nd bodybuilding competition. Then, the COVID pandemic reared its ugly head!

2020-2023 My Psychological Crisis Era

For the rest of 2020, I tried to stay strong and keep going… but man, that was hard. It was one of the most intensely chaotic, overwhelming times of my life.🫠

I did everything I could to keep my business alive on my own.

I had to close my store in the mall, so I moved what I could into my home and transitioned to an online system offering local pick-up and shipping.

I worked tirelessly to keep things going – all while trying to follow and navigate the insane, non-sensical pandemic restrictions. I was already struggling financially and behind on remittances, but I was determined to push through.

Eventually, I moved everything I could into a small warehouse space and operated out of there.

Meanwhile, my daughter was REALLY struggling with the pandemic restrictions.

She was supposed to graduate high school that year, but chose to do a victory lap and graduate the following year, a decision I fully supported.

Then that summer, everything collapsed. Her new boyfriend (who was a work friend for 2 years) died in a canoe accident in June 2020 and another close friend was killed in a tragic car crash in October 2020.

She desperately needed help, but no one would see her in person. I was at a complete loss for how to support her… and truthfully, I could barely support myself. I too, was hanging on by a thread.

2020 was a year of pure hell. 

To cope, I sprinkled everything with sarcasm and humor… of course.😏

But I also used alcohol, starting with Irish cream in my coffee pretty much every morning. And started binge eating all the gluten-free junk / fast food I could find. I kept telling myself, this is just temporary and promised I would “get back to good” as soon as all the insanity was over!

HA! Didn’t think it would drag on for years, did we?🙄

July 2021: My daughter graduated high school and decided to stay in Kingston to go to college.

I left Kingston and moved in with my man in Ottawa, Ontario.

I continued to operate my business online, but this quickly failed. 

For most of 2021-2022, I was in psychological crisis for MANY pandemic related reasons.

I knew I needed to claim bankruptcy but couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Empty nest hit me super hard. Much harder than I had anticipated.

I was raging against the machine and wasted most of what precious energy I had left glued to my social media feeds.

My diet consisted of mainly ultra-processed foods again, particularly fast food and take out. I’d even eat gluten foods and take extra allergy medication and ibuprofen to try and reduce the inflammation and reactions. I remember thinking and even saying out loud, at times, “I’m know I’m going to feel like shit tomorrow, but it will be worth it.” 🤦‍♀️😅

By this time, I was drinking LOTS of alcohol and stopped exercising consistently.

I gained back about 30lbs and my muscles atrophied so much that I dislocated my left shoulder, not once, but twice!

THEN, I got frozen shoulder!!

I eventually became severely depressed and suicidal…luckily, thanks to my son having a really tough conversation with me, I snapped out of that.

I also cut back on the drinking and tried using cannabis instead. This was actually life changing. All I needed was a small amount and it instantly calmed my nervous system and helped me somewhat return to my funny, happy-go-lucky self again! 

June 2022: I decided I needed to get back to the gym. I took a progress photo.😲

My body was in a ghastly de-conditioned state… to say the least. I was also recovering from frozen shoulder.

Taking these photos was the motivation I needed to keep going. There was no way in hell I was going to let myself get back to my previously obese and metabolically unhealthy state! I had come way too far to let that happen.

So I joined an online “shred challenge” to kickstart this journey.

BUT it was summer, and well… I didn’t follow through with the challenge. 

September 2022: I joined another 12 week “shred challenge” and I basically stuck to that program… BUT that came to a screeching halt when I was diagnosed with diverticulosis after a pretty severe diverticulitis attack in October 2022.

An emergency CT Scan showed 2 diverticula on my sigmoid colon and I was diagnosed with “uncomplicated diverticulitis”. And let me tell ya, after feeling that pain, I never wanted to feel the pain of a “complicated” case! 😫

Early 2023: We moved to the GTA for my man’s new job, and that’s when everything started to shift for me.

I finally let go of trying to keep my custom printing business alive, and my man agreed to support us financially while I got certified as a personal trainer.

I started my coaching career in a commercial gym to gain valuable experience working with humans in-person.

I also thought it would be the perfect way to reconnect with my own health and fitness, especially since I was still struggling to lose the unhealthy weight that had found its way back to me during my pandemic depression. 

I was really good at training others and keeping them accountable, but I struggled to stay motivated for myself.

Getting my own workouts in felt like a chore, and most days I didn’t even want to stick around the gym after my clients were done.

I kept trying to kickstart my own fat loss by joining more “shred challenges” throughout the year, hoping one of them would finally be the push I needed. But I never finished them and most weight I lost returned.

I lost and gained the same 15lbs countless times!🤪

It’s important to note that all the online “shred challenges” I joined offered large sums of cash as prizes for the best transformations.

This was the main thing that motivated me to enter the challenges and I would purposely try to gain weight a week or two before the challenge started, thinking I would have a better chance at winning that money.

Thankfully, I eventually realized how disordered, unsustainable, and unhealthy that mindset was, and I stopped joining these types of challenges altogether.🙏

2024-Present – My TRUE Happiness, Health & Healing Era

February 2, 2024 – I filed for bankruptcy. What a huge relief! I was finally able to start healing and regulating my nervous system after I made this really difficult, but really important decision.

I decided my plan would be to continue working at the gym until I finished my bankruptcy in November 2025, and once discharged, I would eventually transition into my own health coaching practice.

I got really excited about this and was so grateful for the opportunity to embark on this amazing journey.

Unfortunately, after my diagnosis in 2022, I continued to struggle with mild to moderate diverticulitis flares until the end of February 2024. That’s when I had another major attack.

It was so bad, I was terrified I was going to need to have part of my colon removed. Luckily that did not happen, but I knew if I didn’t figure out the root cause of these attacks, that was inevitably going to happen and all I could think of was possibly needing a colostomy bag! 

Spring 2024 marked the beginning of my true happiness, health, and healing era.

At the time, I had signed up for my Precision Nutrition certification and just started the course. That’s when I learned how essential nutrients are for metabolic health, particularly gut health.

I also came across an article online suggesting that seed oils may be a major culprit in intestinal permeability (leaky gut), intestinal disease, and gluten (wheat) allergies.

So I decided to experiment and avoid seed oils for 6 weeks – which basically meant had to stop eating all ultra-processed foods, including all of my “gluten-free” and so-called “healthy” processed options.

I also took this a step further and started a few basic nutrient supplements and cut out any dairy that contained modified ingredients and additives (including thickeners and stabilizers).

Dairy had always been a problem for me too, but I never wanted to give up cheese or cream.

At first, I thought the issue was a lactose intolerance, but I learned about modified ingredients also being a problem. I was happy to figure out that I could enjoy dairy… I just have to pay more for the dairy that doesn’t have a bunch of shit in it. 

This experiment was a life-changing experience in so many ways!

I felt so amazing at the end of the 6 weeks, that I decided to just stick to a minimally processed whole food diet as much as possible, which I have continued to follow at about 95/5 compliance.

The odd time, I will have ultra-processed foods, but not often. 

The diverticulitis flares finally stopped. I haven’t had one since February 2024.

Stepping Into the Second Half of My Life – Stronger, Healthier & Happier

October 2024 – I turned 50 years old!!  That’s a pretty major milestone, but I don’t consider myself “old” at all. To be honest, I feel younger than I did in my 30s – mentally and physically!

I even started running and training for my first 5K.🏃‍♀️

November 2024 – April 2025

I spent the better part of this time listening, learning, unlearning, observing, continuing my education, and working on my own health and healing.🌿🧘‍♀️

I completed more health and fitness certifications, read many books and articles, and listened to a countless number of podcasts and audiobooks from a wide range of health, fitness, PhDs, and medical experts.

During this period, I was also testing several different coaching delivery apps to see which one could best support my style of coaching.

I eventually settled on the Everfit app. If you are a health, fitness, and/or nutrition coach, I highly recommend it! And yes, I do have a referral code if you’d like to check it out: https://app.everfit.io/register?code=CRPYUQA9TS

April 2025: My best friend’s husband reached out and told me she desperately needed my help.

She had been struggling with obesity and some serious metabolic health challenges, including pre-diabetes, thyroid complications, and “peri-menopause symptoms” that were wreaking havoc on her body.

I contacted her immediately and told her I would absolutely help. I also asked if she’d be comfortable with me using her journey to help develop my lifestyle transformation coaching programs, and she agreed.

It was exactly the kick in the ass I needed to finally get things started. (Alignment! 🙏✨)

Since then, my bestie has completely transformed her mindset, nutrition, lifestyle, body composition, and most importantly, her health and happiness!

And through her journey, I built what I truly believe is one of the most effective, kickass lifestyle transformation coaching systems out there.

In fact, her results have been so remarkable that I decided to fully practice what I preach, follow my own program alongside her, and my health has improved even more because of it.🔥💪

One of the biggest realizations I’ve had over the last two years is how disconnected I had become from nature and my true self.

Like so many, I was just winging it through this life, completely unaware of how my thoughts, habits, actions, and behaviours were affecting me – mentally, physically, emotionally, biologically, and metabolically.

The only things I had keeping me going throughout most of the insanity were my wonderful man, my amazing children/grandchildren, and my sense of humor!✅😂

For the better part of my life, I traded nutrients and health for convenience and comfort.

I rarely spent quality time outside, especially in the winter.

I lived in constant fight-or-flight and thrived on trauma and drama.

I worked hard, played harder, crashed even harder, and bragged, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” then overdosed on caffeine and sugar instead.

I binge-ate most nights and binge-drank my stress away often.

And instead of moving and using my body the way I was supposed to, I took it for granted and overloaded it with stress and toxins that eventually overburdened my organ systems.

Looking back, that was the REAL root cause of my poor health.

But none of my doctors ever saw the full picture, because not one of them asked for a food, activity, or sleep journal.

Not one of them took my trauma, my stress, or my unregulated nervous system into consideration.

Not one of them took the time to observe or assess how my lifestyle was basically slowly killing me.

It wasn’t bad luck or genetics or “just the way I was”. It was self-destruction.

But I didn’t really know better and neither did anyone else in my life.🤷‍♀️

This is why I strongly believe personal health coaching is so important and why it should complement medical care and the medical system – not compete against it.

Medicine and medical intervention are absolutely essential for accidental and acute conditions, or to bridge a gap back to health, if necessary.

But holistic health care and lifestyle coaching are far more effective when it comes to healing chronic conditions and maintaining optimal health and happiness.

And I’m here for it. I now know this is my purpose. 🙌

My journey wasn’t linear or pretty, but it taught me exactly what I needed to know to help others reclaim their power, transform their lives, and prioritize their health and happiness.

I’m grateful for all of it. ✨

I’m more aware of my health and my body than ever before.

I can see myself at the cellular level now… and I can feel myself at the cellular level too.

That level of awareness changes everything and it’s something I want to help others realize.

I’m aligned in a way I didn’t even know was possible – simply by giving my body more of what it needs and less of what it doesn’t.

I’ve improved my health and strengthened my body for life, with the intention of living fully, independently, and unassisted for as long as I possibly can.

I’m more connected to nature now, and I plan to deepen that connection as I continue to grow.🌞 🦋🌱

Getting back to basics has become one of the most fundamental parts of my healing.

I’ve detached from the things that don’t matter and learned to be happy with “less” – and that simplicity has created so much abundance. Abundance I wish for everyone to experience. 

Okay, so I realize this is not your average “About Me” page.

I have a very hard time keeping things simple… it’s actually the most complicated thing for me to do in this life.

But I’m also not your average health and fitness coach.

I typically don’t go by the book (or the recipe)

If you made it this far, thank you for reading my story.💖🙏

My journey is proof that transformation is possible at any age and any stage, as long as you decide to prioritize your health and happiness.

✨It’s never too late to start.
✨You’re not too old or too unhealthy.
✨You’re not too far gone.
✨Your limitations don’t define you.
✨And YES, you do matter.

If you’re ready to take that first step toward the health and happiness you deserve, I’d love to support you.🥰

Tanya ✌️❤️🙏