In the Spotlight with "Irma Gonzalez Hereford"

Meet Irma

RELENTLESS = showing or promising no decrease in force, intensity, or strength.
This is me. This is what I live by.

I am a married 38 year old 'Fit Momma'. I have 3 children…10 yr old twins (boy & girl) and a 5 year old son. Both my boys play basketball (year round) & my daughter is in dance.
I work full time, M-F & I start my shift @ 4am & I train 6 days a week.
Everyday I ask God to guide me in balancing out wife/motherhood, my 'personal' life, my career & housework. It sounds like a whole lot & it is but it is possible...you just need to find what works. One thing that works for me, is having my Faith in the man upstairs...without him, I would not be able to carry on as I do or get up after each time I stumble.

Being fit and working out has always been part of me…ever since high school when I got involved in dance and cheer. The hard work of practicing, challenging your body to perform new, harder moves and the euphoric feeling after competing…it all stuck with me...even after several years.

After I had my twins, one day i saw a few young mothers, younger than myself @ the park. They would get out of breath and break out in a sweat after being up on their feet, chasing their kid(s) around. It wasn't a pretty sight to see or hear…and i refer to that ‘health-wise’. These mothers were on their way to being ticking time bombs if they didn't do something to get healthy. I was moved to do something about losing my maternity weight after i had my twins…and i did!
Then about 6 months after having my youngest son, i remember not being able to go upstairs without being out of breath and not having my legs hurt or feeling super heavy. One day it just hit me hard…it was 6 months since i had my son, i had dropped most of the wt i gained while pregnant but i couldn’t lose the last 20 lbs plus the wt i gained from fertility treatments. I became discouraged…and disgusted with myself. I had no excuse for this. I had to take accountability. It took a good 2 weeks after that one hit for me to focus mentally, get it together and execute my plan of action.
When i finally dropped those ‘pesky’ 20 lbs from my pregnancy…it took almost 6 months to get it off of me. Boy, was i PROUD AND ON CLOUD 9!!
The changes i see in myself, physical ones as well as mental and emotional ones…each day i notice something different and/or new that is just FABULOUS!! This keeps me going forward and forces me to push harder.

My kids know that mommy has to go to the gym and is on a special diet. They are very aware and involved of my goals because i show them pictures of women in figure…plus they witness what i do. I love it when they get to see me, especially my little girl…i love showing her that women, especially mommy’s can be strong, fit, healthy and gorgeous!
They know about hard work…they see what i put in, time-wise and strength-wise…i use this all the time with them and their everyday struggles, such as with homework or their after school activities/sports. I remind them that hard work is not easy, it takes practice and patience and that something AWESOME will come of all this hard work. They understand this concept well, they just need to reminded of it sometimes, especially when they get discouraged.
Just because you are a wife & a mom, it does not mean you can forget or neglect yourself. Wives are supportive & encouraging...they are willing to help & hold the 'home-front' while they're husbands are @ work/on duty, especially those who are in the military, law enforcement & fire/ems services. My husband is a fireman & is away quite often. So while he is gone, im both Mom & Dad...

Moms are nurturing, caring, loving and protective of their children, their family…and they should be just like that with themselves. Moms must learn to get their ‘HAPPY’ on and get inner peace…i think that without these 2 driving forces, moms have a difficult time being truly happy. Lets face it, if moms can’t make themselves happy, who will make them happy?? It all starts within yourself.

This is what I've learned and experienced…pain, you will feel lots of it, but it’s ok, physical pain is temporary. Hard work is trying and results take time to see…but all that time and effort you put in SHALL SHINE THROUGH when you least expect it. The changes you want to see, well you won’t see them overnight but you will…just need to remember that these changes are probably already there, YOU just can’t see them because we tend to be our worst critics. 

Here are a few things that help me out, daily...I pray & talk to God. I breathe deeply & I smile, a lot.

-Irma-