Over the last few years, I have been approached by at least 10 lovely ladies asking if I would join their Beachbody team. Who me? A Beachbody fitness coach? Laughable.

At first, the thought was comical. A woman who had only dabbled in exercise in her 40s, who was overweight, lived with generalized anxiety, moderate depression and OCD and was ‘learning’ to run, a fitness coach! My first reaction was, have they seen my pictures? Are they making fun of me? What could I possibly offer as a fitness coach?

So with each ask, I politely declined. I stuck it out with WW, my small neighbourhood runs and my Insta friends cheering me on. It was working.

Until it wasn’t.

In April 2018 I had complex pelvic floor surgery to repair the damage incurred from traumatic childbirth 17 years earlier (that a previous surgery didn’t correct). After a few days in the hospital, a month at home with a catheter because I couldn’t pee on my own, and months of recovery (actually it took well over a year) I was told I should never run again or lift anything over 10lbs.

So here I have sat, for almost two years… still dabbling in WW and but not exercising. I have gained back all but 8lbs of the 39 I had lost before my surgery.

Yet I still keep getting Instagram DMs asking if I would be a Beachbody fitness coach. What? Seriously?

Of course, my curiosity won out and I needed to know why I keep getting these asks? Is it random? Is it because I follow WW? Do anyone and everyone who fains health and weightloss get asked to be a Beachbody fitness coach?

This made me ask the next person who reached out…why me? What I was told made me rethink Beachbody…

The woman was so kind and helpful. She said that Beachbody isn’t about having the perfect body or a history of being a gym rat. It’s about motivating everyday people to live healthier lifestyles. Beachbody is about good nutrition and keeping your body moving. (note: this is MY interpretation of what she said about Beachbody and is not necessarily accurate.)

She told me that she found my Instagram feed “incredibly inspiring, motivational and representative of real women who are constantly working for better” – her words, not mine. Well then. Not only did that make my heart happy, but I thought about all of the previous asks … I thought the say must have seen the same thing in me. And then I cried.

Such a girl, I know.

I cried because what I had considered a pathetic attempt at eating better, exercise and getting healthy actually inspired people that I didn’t know. Strangers were inspired by my journey.

Then the lightbulb came on!

Oh, Erin, you have lived and breathed marketing your entire adult life… these people were telling me what I wanted to hear to sign up. A good Network Marketer knows how to get into the head and heart of their ideal target and I didn’t even see it coming. Shame on me.

The sceptic in me got angry that I didn’t recognize the marketing ploy. But as I started to doubt my confidence, I went back through my Insta feed and looked through the comments on my posts. There were so many non-Beachbody and Beachbody folks telling me that I inspired them to keep on their journey. That they too lived with mental illness and found my perseverance motivational. I inspired. I motivated.

These comments date back as long as I started talking about my journey. And there are way more comments like this than Beachbody DMs.

Once I got my head out of my ass and saw it for what it was I concluded that many of the women that have approached me to be a Beachbody fitness coach were doing it to reach quotas, but I have to believe that a few of them believed in my journey and me. They saw the positive impact I was making and truly thought I could help others.

In the end, I’m not going to be hard on myself for thinking I fell for good marketing, because, to be honest, I really do applaud anyone that can market to me and make me believe or lean in. Again, the ever sceptic.

My understanding of the role of Beachbody coach has also changed. These women/men are not chosen because they are perfect, but because they are inspiring and lift others up. They bring positivity to a culture of hate, cruelty and despair. We are so critical of our bodies and live in a constant state of comparing ourselves to others – maybe the idea of an everywoman as a fitness coach is what we need more of.

And maybe, just maybe, it’s time for Beachbody to rebrand. And I know the perfect marketer for the job… 🙂 (Hey Beachbody…email me!)

While my opinion of Beachbody has definitely changed, I’m still not a subscriber. That may change, but for now, I just hope people find inspiration and motivation in my journey.

Thanks for the continued love. You have no idea how much I adore you and your support.