Fitness Guru Confesses That Abs Are Only Part of the Package

Sia Cooper, a fitness blogger and personal trainer who promotes herself online as Diary of a Fit Mommy, wasn’t always so fit. While she’s now a certified personal trainer (and a mother of two young kids), she used to be overweight and consumed her fair share of alcohol, cigarettes, and junk food in her early 20s. After finally realizing how bad eating and drinking and lack of exercise was making her life miserable, she changed her habits and drastically transformed herself into the fit mommy she is today with well over half-a-million followers on social media.

But in a recent post she shared on Facebook, Cooper revealed a message that few in the fitness-social-media complex seem to expose — at a certain point in time, her fitness journey perhaps went too far. “Just because you may have abs, doesn’t mean that you’re healthy,” she says.

To prove her point, she shows two photos of herself, six years and 24 pounds between them:

“The girl on the left was all about that scale,” she confesses. “That girl barely survived on her 1,200 calorie daily diet. She didn’t touch carbs or have cheat meals. Inside, she was miserable. She took healthy too far (yes that’s a thing).” And in pointing to the more current picture, she explains, “Fast forward 6 years and 2 kids later, the girl on the right is much more relaxed. She doesn’t count calories. She breastfeed (sic) two kids. She indulges often and enjoys life in moderation.”

Of course both photos reveal a visibly healthy and fit body, and the Florida-based Cooper is not shy about showing off just how fit she is in her social feeds (it’s her business, of course).

But the message within, according to Cooper is “do not strive for a look. Strive for a FEELING. The gratification will last longer.”

As she told Yahoo Style & Beauty via email, “I initially created the post to show that looks can be completely deceiving. I was getting complimented on how skinny I was and how great I looked, but on the inside I was literally starving, had little energy, and was miserable back in 2011. Nowadays, I’m happier because I’m stronger since I’ve stopped counting calories. I feel more in shape now after birthing two children than when I wasn’t a mother. ”

Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty

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• Gold’s Gym Apologizes for Fat-Shaming Kids in Ad

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