Blogger Interview With Chantal Steele

Hi, I’m Chantal! I am a mom, personal trainer, and fitness blogger. My primary focus is helping moms “get their mojo back.” In other words, I want to see moms becoming the best versions of themselves – mentally, emotionally, and physically.

After becoming a mom in 2014, I dealt with persistent postpartum depression and gained a lot of weight. I tried everything to get rid of the weight and the depression – but the only thing that seemed to help was exercise. After a lot of trial-and-error, I realized that exercise had to be a daily part of my life in order to keep my depression at bay.

That’s when I decided to become a personal trainer. Now I am focused on helping moms realize how powerful it is to take care of yourself. A healthy mom is a healthy family!

“10 Things To Try When Losing Weight Gets Tough” – This is my most popular post to date. I believe this is because realistically, we all struggle when it comes to weight loss. This post is relatable and actionable.

“Dreamer” – I am constantly working toward things that might sound crazy to others! I work for things that people don’t understand – career-wise, fitness-wise, and more!

I am a weight-training person. I am not into steady-state cardio! After gaining a bunch of weight with my first child, I hired my own personal trainer (before becoming one) and she exposed me to high-intensity interval training with a focus on weight-lifting. After trying many other ways to lose weight, lifting made me feel powerful and really started to change my body composition – even when my weight didn’t budget.

I am on an “everything in moderation” diet. I am currently reading a sports nutrition textbook in order to retain my personal training certification, and the things I am learning confirm that balance is key! I simply aim to eat more whole foods than processed ones. I don’t believe in fad diets, though they have tempted me in the past.

Keep learning from your mistakes! Arming yourself with knowledge is the best way to move up and onward in life. The more you know, the closer you will move toward any goals you have set. So don’t be a victim and let life “happen” to you, let life happen FOR you!

I love to listen to podcasts like RISE by Rachel Hollis, but I try not to rely on motivation to take action! Instead, I try to reevaluate my priorities often. If I’m spending time and energy on things that don’t move me forward, I have to stop doing those things. Then I try to adjust my daily efforts accordingly.

I struggle with weight loss just like many others. Even though I’m a personal trainer, I have 17 pounds to lose, minimum. I have struggled the most with consistency in the season I’m in. (Little kids and all!) My biggest issue is combating negative thoughts associated with any small “failure” having to do with diet and exercise. I am hard on myself!

However, I have chosen to focus on “rewriting my brain” to move to a more positive way of thinking and this helps me focus on moving on instead of dwelling on mistakes. Every day, I ask myself what the single-most important thing I can do to move forward is. In other words, I try to hone in on tangible action-steps instead of over-planning and over-thinking.

I use MyFitnessPal regularly to gauge my calories and macro nutrients. I also use an app called Seconds to help me execute HIIT workouts seamlessly. When it comes to blogging and business, I am a Pinterest fanatic!

I am truly inspired by other moms in fitness and business. I am a big-time Rachel Hollis fan because I resonate so much with her sentiments on being a mom but also chasing your dreams. You can be a good mom without sacrificing your ambitions!

My family is preparing for my husband’s deployment (National Guard) and I have vowed to focus on myself more. This means that I’m planning on writing and working out a lot! I have recently launched my first home-workout plan and I hope to launch a meal-planning eBook for busy moms, or something similar, by the end of the year.

I love my morning cup of coffee! While I drink my coffee, I normally check blog stats, sales, and plan my day. I love to write down my daily intentions while I drink up.

I love to garden! I have been known to get sucked into it and spend hours at a time pulling weeds – weird, I know! As far as family activities, we camp and go to dirt bike races a lot!