When you live with a 15-year-old daughter, apparently Halloween decorations have to be cute AND creepy at the same time. 😂 I walked by and saw THIS hanging up… A whole skeleton just casually dangling there… BUT SHE HAS A PINK BOW. 🎀💀 Because obviously we can’t just be scary. We have to be spooky… but make it girly. 💅🏼😂 I don’t know whether I’m supposed to be scared of her or tell her how cute her bow is. Living with a teenage girl is basically: 💕 50% “Awww, that’s cute!” 🎀 💕 50% “Girl… WHY IS THAT HANGING THERE?!” 💀🤣 At this point, I’m just waiting for the skeleton to get a Stanley cup and skincare routine. 😂 Halloween at our house: cute, creepy, and slightly unhinged. 💀🎀👻

The Mister tells me, “You need to be more like me.” WHOOOAAAAAHHHH 🙄😬😂 Yes, I’m organized… just not MARIO organized. Apparently my stuff laying around the house tests this man’s patience. 🤣 But you already know smart-ass Lena was NOT backing down. Me: “Well, I’m not MARIO and I don’t want to be MARIO! Why don’t YOU be like LENA?!” 😏 The Mister: “I AM Lena! I wake up early and go to the gym!” Me: “Do you track your food like LENA?” 🤨 Him: “……I work out at the gym.” 😂 Me: “EXACTLY!!! You can’t be LENA and I can’t be MARIO!” And there was actually a lesson hiding inside all that trash talk. 😂 We all have our strengths. He can teach me a thing or two about keeping everything perfectly organized, and maybe I can teach him a thing or two about nutrition and consistency. 😜 We don’t need to become each other. Take the good habits. Leave the personality alone. 😂❤️ Happy Laughter Thursday!

⚠️ Long post ahead. Save this one for when you have a little quiet time to read. This is probably one of the most personal things I’ve shared here. I’ve gone back and forth about whether I was ready to share this with my Skool family. I finally realized that part of being present and transparent means sharing not only the workouts, wins, PRs, food, laughs, and crazy HYROX training moments but also the real-life things happening behind the scenes. I’m not sharing this because I want anyone to feel sorry for me or my family. I’m sharing because this is life. We can be working toward our goals, taking care of our bodies, laughing, training, showing up and at the same time be going through something incredibly difficult behind closed doors. On Friday, October 2, I was flying to Sacramento when I received a phone call from my younger sister. She asked, “Do you know anything about Mom’s health?” I had no idea what she was talking about. Earlier that morning Dad had called me about a bill from his podiatrist, so I thought maybe she was talking about that. A little background: my siblings and I have somehow naturally developed our own little system when it comes to taking care of our parents. 😂 My younger sister handles the administrative side: appointments, scheduling, messages, reminders. I’m usually the one taking Mom and Dad to their appointments. My older sister handles authorizations and billing issues. So I told my younger sister, “If you’re talking about Dad’s bill, I already asked our older sister to take care of it.” She said, “Oh… okay. I don’t know if I should tell you now or wait until you get to Sacramento.” And of course I’m thinking… well, now you HAVE to tell me. I asked her, “Is it serious? Do I need to sit down? Am I going to cry?” She told me I should sit down…and then came the words nobody ever wants to hear. Mom has colon cancer. During her colonoscopy, the GI doctor found three polyps. Two were benign. The third came back cancerous sigmoid colon cancer.

Wanted to share Kimberley's progress because I think a lot of women here will relate to her story. Kimberley's been working with us for about a year and a half, and a big part of that time she's been navigating menopause. Hormonal changes, emotional ups and downs, stressful jobs, family stuff, and something she's always struggled with: emotional eating. And she's the first to admit she's STILL working on it. Weekends are still challenging. She still goes out to eat. There are weeks when stress gets the better of her. But something has changed. Instead of automatically turning to food when she's stressed, she's learning to go for a walk, talk to a friend or find another way to deal with those emotions. And when things don't go according to plan, she gets back to her routine. Nothing particularly fancy. But over time, that's added up to: - 25.6 lbs lost - 14 cm off her waist - No longer taking blood pressure medication - More muscle and strength (apparently she's been making everyone check out her biceps 😂) One thing that came up during our call was how she sometimes compares her progress to other women who seem to be losing weight faster. And I reminded her that everyone has different circumstances. Different responsibilities, stress levels, health situations, etc. There's no universal timeline for how quickly someone should be progressing. What I really like about Kimberley's story is that she hasn't needed to get everything under control before making progress. She's been figuring things out WHILE dealing with everything life throws at her. And she's not finished either. Her next goal is another 20 lbs, followed by learning how to maintain her weight and build more muscle. As she put it, “I really don't wanna be skinny. I wanna be strong.” Big credit to @Kimberly Sylvester and Coach @Carlos Hellstern for the work they've been putting in. And for anyone here dealing with menopause, stress or slower progress than you'd like, I'm curious:

Is anybody else like me?! I’m really not a junk food person. Chips? Meh. Chocolate? I can take it or leave it. Soda? Not really my thing. But PASTRIES?! Now, that’s where I lose all self-control! Anything with bread, butter, or a flaky crust has my full attention. 😅 BUT LET ME TELL Y’ALL ABOUT THESE HOT CHEETOS! 🔥🤣 I don’t know WHAT they put in those things, but the moment I eat ONE, it’s a wrap for me! One turns into five, five turns into half the bag, and before I know it, I’m at the bottom of the bag wondering where my self-control went! 😩And don’t let me forget the cream cheese and a cold soda to wash it down! Baby, at that point, I’m not snacking… I’m having an EXPERIENCE! 🤣🤣 That’s why when my kids bring home a bag of Hot Cheetos, my whole body goes into DEFCON 1! 🚨 My mind says, “Don’t do it!” My stomach says, “Just one!” And my taste buds are already in the kitchen looking for the cream cheese! I have to fight every urge not to touch that bag because I KNOW how this movie ends, and somehow, I keep watching the same sequel! Now tell me, what’s that ONE food or junk food that makes you lose ALL sense of discipline? 👀😂 The one thing you swear you’re not going to eat, but once you start, you need somebody to physically remove it from your presence! LOL! 👇🏽