Embracing Motherhood: Wellness, Community, and Authenticity with Alana Dwyer

Check out Alana Dwyers Website: https://carrollton.fit4mom.com/
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Join us this week as we chat with Alana, founder of Fit for Mom, about her inspiring journey from TV producer to empowering mothers through fitness and community. Discover practical tips on postpartum recovery, building support networks, and embracing imperfections—because authentic motherhood is a journey, not a perfect picture.
Key Topics
Alana’s transition from TV production to motherhood and founding Fit for Mom
The importance of community for postpartum mental health and support
Practical tips for postpartum exercise, pelvic floor health, and returning to fitness
How social media influences perceptions of motherhood and body image
The benefits of starting or joining local mom groups and franchises
The role of faith, family, and self-care in balancing motherhood
The impact of nutrition, exercise, and community on postpartum recovery
Practical advice for new moms, including starting postpartum workouts at six weeks
How fitness and shared experiences can combat postpartum depression and isolation
The power of authenticity, vulnerability, and sharing real stories

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Journey of Motherhood
03:00 Alana's Transformation and Career Shift
05:58 The Importance of Community for New Moms
08:58 Creating Supportive Spaces for Moms
11:56 Navigating Social Media and Real-Life Expectations
14:54 Addressing Postpartum Challenges and Seeking Help
16:36 Navigating Postpartum Challenges
19:24 Building a Supportive Community
22:03 The Importance of Self-Care for New Moms
26:10 Empowering Moms Through Fitness
30:34 Creating Connections and Community for Moms

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome everybody to our Paul Speed podcast that we have each and every week, where I get the honor of being able to interview and visit with some of the most amazing people that you might have not heard of. And uh sponsored by our wonderful company, Cardi Miracle. You're gonna hear a little bit more about that. Um, but this beautiful young lady has a wonderful mission on her spirit and her heart and what she's doing to for new moms and uh both prenatal and postnatal. And this is Miss Alana. Thank you so much for joining us. Well, I am so thrilled to be here. Thanks for having me. I just love it. I love talking to new moms. You know, I'm an old mom, so I was looking. No, no.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

You're not old, you're seasoned, okay? There's a difference. You're you have the wisdom I need, so you're who I want to be.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Oh, golly. I we were just talking about how people say it goes by in the blink of an eye. Um, and I remember sometimes going, Oh, this this blink of an eye is lasting a really, really long time when you're going to coma. So share us, share with us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

It's a very long story. Um, I'll try to consolidate. So met my husband when he was stationed in Nashville. I was a television producer for Pickler and Ben, a daytime talk show there. Um, and I was on the dating app, as we all are these days. I am about to turn 31, just to give you some reference on the age range there. So, yes, doing life, young 23-year-old, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, thought I was gonna move to LA and met my husband, and my whole world kind of exploded and changed. And um, I didn't think I was gonna do the kid thing at all, to be honest. It's so crazy. If you ask anyone that knew me, it was like, no, I'm gonna be a producer and I'm not gonna have kids. I'm gonna be career driven. Then you meet the love of your life and perspective changed. Uh so yeah, I literally drove home to Texas with him like a week later. My mom's like, You're gonna get murdered. But no, he ended up being my husband. So he was in the army and life just took a took a turn, and we lived in an RV and actually flipped RVs for a few years while we were on the road.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Um I never heard about that. Flipping RVs? What is that?

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yes, we're both very handy. Um, so on his downtime when he wasn't on base, we started renovating RVs. We were living in one and we renovated that one. And it kind of took off uh the people, the RV park we were in. They were trying to sell one for years and couldn't. So we we were like, let us make it better. So we started renovating people's RVs. I love design. It kind of just I had left my job as a producer to follow him in the army, so I needed something to do. And uh after that, I actually got a great job with Weight Watchers. So that's kind of what took me into the wellness space. It wasn't prenatal, postnatal, but I ended up producing um their wellness coaches in the app. So I did food, I did workouts, so all that good stuff just really dove into it and wellness became my lifestyle. And then, of course, fast forward, I got pregnant, I got laid off from Weight Watchers because they had a whole change in CEO, and I had some time to decide. Like, okay, I was I was just casting at that time remotely freelance for MTV and all that. And then I decided, you know what? My heart is not in this. Like, I I love people, but it wasn't per se what I wanted to be doing. It was just my dad had done it. I got in, I went to NYU for film. It was just what I was supposed to do. But then after that, I realized my heart is really in preparing moms to give birth. And I feel like this country fails us in so many ways for women. Like, there is no education for first-time moms. You have to do all of the work yourself. If you if you want to learn, you have to find it on the internet. You have to know who to trust or what information you're reading is accurate. It's like very overwhelming, I think, for women. So that's what led me into finding a fit for mom. I Googled Wellness Support Group for Moms in my first postpartum, and I found them. And the rest is kind of history, so as you can tell. I now own one. Fits for mom. It's it's FIT, the number four M O M. So it's a national franchise. And I had joined one, we were west of Fort Worth. I joined that one as a member when my son was four months old.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

And then after that, I just fell in love. Like, I'm pretty sure I had postcard depression. Undiagnosed, of course, because the OB would just be like, You're fine, it's normal. They write it, they wrote everything off. I asked to see a public floor therapist. You're fine. I don't do that. You you'll be fine. Is the yeah, like, oh, oh, that hurts still seven months later, you're fine.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Yeah. So I decided there needs to be more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

No, a hundred percent. Little tidbits. So I was at Skyway Studios. We had um we had launched in an online television network called Brio TV. So we were there for some time. And I remember being in the in the in the studios with Pickler and Ben. But we might we might have crossed over. That's so funny. So here we are. Life is crazy. It is here we are again, you know, educating people on the things that really, really matter. You know, I think entertainment is really good for uh, you know, at times to be able to veg out. But I think again, the education is cra craving. And now, uh, would you agree with me? I think today what's happening is years ago, you know, I raised my children, they're all grown, but um we had a tribe of women around us. We uh you know, I could pick up a phone, we would go for walks, we weren't so technically driven, right? I mean, the world was very, very different. And now you look at it today, and like my daughter, who's 33 and it's similar. She's on the internet. Everything is is on the internet, and everything is well, it says this, and it's now it's like, did you ask the pediatrician?

SPEAKER_01 6:08

No, I asked Chat GPT. It's like, well, that's not a medical professional.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Or like, that's not a mom that's raised five kids and has better wisdom than the internet, you know? It's just some things can't be replaced by AI, and one of them is a mother's intuition, a mother's experience, having been through a traumatic birth before, and can lead people down a different path just from that experience. So yeah, I hear you on that front. It's very different. You're kind of left alone in the wilderness, and it's your job as a mom to like go. How do you find friends in your 30s? How do you how do you you're you're a mess postpartum, right? Like, you are not your best self. I didn't look like this, I was a hot mess. I I like I said, pretty sure I had like postpartum anxiety or depression. I was out in the middle of nowhere, my family's in New York, I was alone with a four-month-old that didn't stop crying, covered in barf, spit-up, poop. All you do is change diapers, and I had lost my career. It's a total shift in your whole identity. And it's like, what do I do now? I obviously am depressed. I should be so joyful that I just created life, right? But what's wrong with me? And that's what's wrong with layer. Where is where is the community? Where is the village to help you?

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, you need that. Then you layer it, right? You have you have you know, slight depression, then you have guilt on top of that, then you have you know, a lack of sleep, you have all of that that just continues to layer. And I think also, don't you agree that the social media today makes it I you know, all you see is these beauty, beautiful professional pictures of all these beautiful babies and moms and pre-pregnancy and post-pregnancy. And um so tell me what you would do, you know, how you address this with young moms. It might be do you start before birth or do you start after birth?

SPEAKER_01 7:57

You are our group is for any age stage of we once had somebody with a 10-year-old just come because she wanted mom friends. Well, it truly is a non-exclusive group. Like you can, we've had grandmas join that watch their grandchildren full-time because they also need community, right? You're anyone that is at home raising children. And honestly, our working, I I made it my mission when I opened this franchise. Saturday classes were a non-negotiable. The actually the Fit for Mom headquarters told me they don't do well. Like, we get a lot of them just don't do weekend classes. It's a lot of work for you. You need to be with your family. And I said, Well, I used to work, and if I still worked, what would I do? I wouldn't have mom friends. Like, how how would they make friends?

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

So I said, No, no, it's my non-negotiable. I will never cancel out. We have a Saturday morning class, and it is all our working moms, and it's so important for them. So that is that is my number one tip is like, I know it's hard to get out the door, but you you just have to like take take that step. Fu Google it. Like, that's my advice. Google support group, group Google community for moms. Find it in your area. If we don't exist there, find a Facebook group that meets for working. Or start one, right? Start one. Exactly. I didn't have that in Carolton, so I made it. Like, here it's different. Where I used to live, I drove 40 minutes to get to our fit for mom, but in the DFW area, people, you know, 20 minutes is far for them. So I was like, the people in Carrolton are not driving to Plano. That's 20 minutes. So I was like, you know what? Carolton's never had one. Let's do it. I love to work out. I hate leaving my children. That was like my big deciding factor was sure, we have lifetime gym here. We have all of that stuff. We have burn boot camp. You can leave your kids and go work out. But I'm I had obviously something anxiety, whatever it is, that I can't leave my kids with someone. It I would be more worried about that and I wouldn't be able to focus on a workout. So the question of like, how do I get a good workout in with my kids, is it easy? No. No, it's not. Somebody's having a meltdown the entire class. But as a mom, you just kind of learn to tune it out, you deal with it, and you get your workout in because it's gonna make me a better mom in the end. Like I do an hour for myself, and after we host playgroups. So the kids get out of the stroller, everybody I host either a sensory activity, a craft for the toddlers, we do some baby tummy time stories. So there's something for everybody after class. So like that's the incentive to the kids that are older, right? It's like mommy's got her time, this is gonna make me better. Then you get to play. So there's always something for everybody in a Fit for Mom class, which I think is very hard to find in a gym. Like you're not they're not paying attention to your kid in a gym daycare. Let's just be honest.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Like that's not happening.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

So, so when you so these these franchises are available if someone were to want to start when in an area, correct?

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Yes, yes. You can start. There's they're pretty much nationwide, but yeah, it's based by like population. So if you have under 150,000 in your city, you can start one if there's not already one. So that's a lot. My husband, uh so I was nine months pregnant with my daughter, my second child. My I was like, I need to do something, you know, having hormonal meltdowns. And my husband's like, the go-getter that he is that thinks I'm just superwoman, he's like, You should just start a franchise at nine months pregnant with your second child because it's gonna be so easy. So that's what I did like a crazy person. I taught my first class, her strapped to my chest, breastfeeding, six weeks postpartum, doing squats with her. I have a video. It was madness but it's I was like, if I I can be that example for a mom, then what are you scared of? Like, I feel like it's very intimidating to return to fitness postpartum, but I'm out here now going through a pregnancy in front of them. And now we have two pregnant moms in our group, and they're like, wow, she's about to work out through the Texas heat because we work out outside. Oh my goodness, girl. If I can do this, you can definitely do it as well. So I think there's something about just showing moms like I'm not perfect, I'm a mess. Like some days I'm really tired and I'm still teaching. Like I'm I'm here every week for you as much as I want to be or don't want to be, because I'm also a mom of almost three dealing with the same stuff they're dealing with, but I'm on time, I'm trying my best. They're very understanding, but we're out there together.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

This is fantastic. You know, we've I've never heard of this before. I was reading the the bio and I was thinking, this is such a wonderful idea. It's crazy. It's absolutely it's it's fascinating and wonderful because again, you know, I I keep beating up social media for a number of reasons. But one is, you know, women often feel so badly about themselves because, you know, you see the pictures of, you know, a super somebody with this flowing gown at a ball and their baby is perfect and everything's wonderful, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:49

A white, a white gown too, right? White of hair, her hair is blow dried. I'm like, I haven't I don't wash my hair. I'm like, it's been a week and a half. What are you with whose husband do you have? Because I would like to meet him.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Exactly. Do I get one? The pressure. Like, like I, you know, and I I I'm I'm so in admiration of the moms these days. And would you say that there's a little bit of a shift going on because we have, you know, the home homesteaders now, the people that want to be home with their kids, they want to, you know, bake good food, they want to be there, you know, to tuck them in at night. Um, talk to me about what your experience is there too.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

So I'm actually I'm Catholic. So that is actually a big I'm in a Bible study with a big group of Catholic moms as well. And listen, it's like I run a Fit for Mom, but I'm in every mom group I can be in. Like I'm not I'm not exclusive to Fit for Mom. Like I go to the mom walks, I go to our Bible study group, which is with our kids. So it's like there's groups, there's so many groups you can get joined in on. But that's really yeah. My my Bible study group is big on they they bake the sourdough, and every time we meet, I'm like, this woman has six kids. I have two, and I am dirty, I'm cranky, and I brought Costco dip. Why is she showing up with three loaves of jalapeno sour? It makes me feel horrible, I'll be honest. Like, but then I have to sit down and be like, okay, her kids are older, some of them, they go to school, some of them. Mine do not. I am a 24-7 mom. I never gave them a bottle. I I have been on for three years straight. My husband doesn't do feedings, that's not a thing. So literally, like, I'm three years sleep deprived trying to start and run a business at the same time. So it's like I I it goes to perspective again. Like I myself have to remind myself constantly. It's you can't compare because what you see online, it's not true. They have help. Like those people in the mansions have helped I don't have help. Like I have a mother-in-law, but she works. Like I don't have weekly help. So it's always just okay, let me breathe and remind myself, I'm a good mom. I'm doing my best. That's it. Like bottom line, you have to just try to do your best. And I that's what I tell my moms when they show up and they're having a hard day. I'm like, I feel like you think I'm so perfect. Like, cause they probably see me in the way I see people on Instagram, right? Of course. I have to remind them. I'm like, I cried in my car for 30 minutes before I got out to teach this class, and I almost strangled someone. Like, it's real. Like things are getting really real when the toddler's having a meltdown, and you're like, okay, I need to go now sing in Stroller Strides. We say I sing songs. I'm like the class clown teaching fitness to moms. I engage your baby while I teach squats. Like, so I'm like, okay, my kid just threw something in my head. I have real rage. I gotta now get out the car and sing wheels on the bus and make baby smile.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Like it's just an absolute delight. I can imagine how excited they are to meet you and be part of your be part of your realm.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

It's a circus, but they love it. It's a circus.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

But you're real. And so what I what I'm hearing you say is number one, it's really important to stay connected, um, to connect with other moms, and number two, to keep active, right? To keep your body physically active. Uh, you know, working in medicine like I did for 27 years. Um postpartum depression wasn't even addressed way back in the day. Uh we really didn't really about that, you know, and and also um to recognize when things are not um quote and unquote that normal that you might need some some help. And I think it's really difficult. My experience has been it's really difficult for new moms because of the sense of failure and guilt that you just identified to be able to reach out and ask for help.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

It's it's terrifying. And I think it's for me, it was having okay, my husband was in the army, right? You know the whole stigma of that. They are built to not feel, they're trained to kill, right? So he does not believe in therapy and does not support the idea that somebody might be not okay, and that has been one of our biggest struggles having children like for me going through the postpartum and birth, like people can have like perinatal problems, mental health. So there's so many things men in general can't they don't know because women don't even know. Like, I had no idea. So, how would I how would I expect him to understand it? But then you add that layer of the military training, and that's weakness, and there's problems if you need to seek help. Right. And if that was what was really difficult for me my first time when I I had a traumatic birth and I ended up having a spinal headache that was undiagnosed from an epidural, and nobody wanted to send me like my in-laws didn't want to send me back to the hospital because they were like, She just pulled a muscle, like she's fine. And my mom was there and advocated for me, and she was like, She's not fine, she can't breastfeed the baby, she's crying, it's so painful, she can't move. So my mom rushed me back to the ER, they got me a blood patch, and I was fine. But after that, obviously, as I'm sure you've seen probably in in the wellness space in healthcare, one thing leads to a lot of other things. And I think that was a big factor in why I had such trouble postponing the first time. I just cried constantly, didn't feel as attached to my baby in the beginning, and felt like it was really hard because of that. So then I tried to ask for help, but didn't fully do it right. Like I saw a counselor, but probably needed a psychologist, should have probably accepted that I needed to be on some medicine. But what I ended up doing was finding fitness because the OB just wanted to put me on antidepressants right away. She wasn't about to help me in any other way. She was like, all I can do is prescribe Zola for you. And I was like, no, that's not gonna help me fix this, though. Like, that's just gonna put a band aid on this. And it is the answer in combination with other things, but not the only answer. It wouldn't have helped me fix what was inside. So I said, no, thank you. And I went and found a fit for mom. And honestly, that is what helped me. I got out of the house, I started walking. It's not like I went to increases your endorphins. Yeah. Yeah, increases your endorphins. That's that's literally it. I didn't have anyone. We moved there, I had the baby, and so I had no one. And then I found them and I started building those connections, and I started working out with them literally every day. And that changed everything. And so when I came, I freaked out when I had my second baby. We moved back. My husband is from this area in Carrollton. So when we moved here, I said to him, What am I gonna do without my village? That's what it's called. You're fit for mom village. I was like freaking out, and that's what led us to start this one. He was like, make your own, exactly what you said. So I made my own, which was also terrifying, right? Like having a baby and starting your own village, which was my second baby, was like, oh, this is scary.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

You're amazing. Well, we're gonna give a shout out to our sponsor, Cardi Miracle. If you haven't heard of us, we're the number one nitric oxide uh formulation um and supporter, but also we are an all-encompassing whole food that you put in water or selected um, you know, liquid of your choice, and you can take it anywhere between two, four, or six times a day, like I did in the very beginning. But it has over 700 nutrients, over 58 ingredients. What I think is important about this is it's whole food. There are no synthetics. We don't talk about taking things that are not your body's not going to recognize, your cells are not going to recognize and accept it in. Um, we also know that so many people are deficient at the cellular basis. And we were talking about, you know, how you feel after having a baby. We have thousands of people that have been able to counteract some of the things that you were you were facing because they had good nutrition. And we know that nitric oxide is something that is in a molecule that carries the blood flow to the tip of your toes, tip of your nose, top of your head, um, and will help with your blood flow in your body. And that's really important, particularly after you have a baby. No caffeine, no sugar, so it's absolutely good for breastfeed, breastfeeding and and pre and post postnatal. So I get excited about it when I look at things that we might be able to complement, like you say, good exercise, community, all the rest. And I know that sometimes when you're in a fast moving world, you're breastfeeding, you're taking care of your family, you're starting a business. It's really difficult to eat right. You know, one thing is that it's, you know, if you want to eat completely organic, you want a food prep. I mean, I watch my daughter food prep every week and I go, holy smokes, I I don't think I could. That's a lot of work. And so all of that. So if you don't find that, or if you do find, either way, we know that we need great nutrition. So look into CardiMiracle.com, this is a supporter of this podcast, and I'm so excited that they stand with us and allow us to hear these wonderful um examples of excellence. In care and love and communities such as Alana. So going back to, you know, you started the business, you started moving forward, you're expecting your third baby now. What are some of the tips that you can give these new moms? I know you talked about again community, staying connected, um, and so on. Anything else that you can give them to encourage them to go in this direction? Because many times what happens is we don't know what comes first, the chicken or the egg. They can't get off the couch to exercise because they can't exercise to get off the couch, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Yes. I actually was just having this conversation yesterday. I ran into a mom that was thinking about joining. She was pregnant with her third, though, like very pregnant. And I was like, I was okay, I just wait till the baby comes. I ran into her yesterday at a playgroup and she was like, Can I come? I was like, all right, well, are you six weeks postpartum? She's like, No, I'm only four. So I was like, okay, let's at least wait to even if it was a vaginal birth and you feel really good. I was like, your insides need at least six weeks to like reshape, like reset. So I was like, but come at six weeks. Like I started at six weeks. There's no reason you can't start slow at six weeks. I'm not saying jump into the full 60-minute workout at six weeks postpartum. Okay, that's not even for a professional athlete, maybe if you're advised by a doctor, but if they come, my main focus for new moms is let's literally just do breath work and walk. Because, like I said, my OB wanted nothing to do with a pelvic floor rehab. She didn't even want to give me a name of anyone. So it was a totally different experience when I switched to midwifery, which is I do a midwifery birth now. And I had a natural birth the second time, and I just learned, even before my prenatal training, I learned so much from the care of a midwife. Oh, and they were like, see a Webster certified chiropractor your whole pregnancy. Go see a massage therapist. Like, go open up everything you can open up in that pelvic floor. And so doing pelvic floor therapy, I think, is just the greatest gift a mom could give another mom. Like if they can't afford it, put it on their registry. You can contribute to anything on a registry.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

If they have a meal train, like we do a meal train for every postpartum. It's like, forget one meal, get her one rehab session at a pelvic floor. She'll learn more than she's ever known in her whole life about her own body. I went and I was like mind blown. I'm like, you're not supposed to do Kegels. I didn't know this. Like it just blows your mind as a woman in this country how little we know about our own body until somebody helps you learn about it and learn, like you said, well, what comes first? The only thing you need to know how to do is connect with that pelvic floor through breathing. It's not, people think it's like weightlifting and crazy exercises. And yes, like there are certain diastasis, recti, all those different, you may have a medical condition you do need to do some exercises for, but the main thing you're doing is a 360 breath, which is strengthening that pelvic floor. So the only thing I'll teach them their first class, if they're that fresh postpartum, is how to breathe properly to start connecting back to your pelvic floor, because you'll lose that connection after you give birth. And if they start exercising, that's when you get prolapse. You get all these big problems because you're not connecting to your core again. So it it there is like a big difference between coming to a Fit for Mom class where we are certified for prenatal and postnatal fitness versus going to your lifetime gym and just jumping back on a treadmill. And you should like I didn't know this, but I became a runner postpartum because of mental health. It it is my holy grail. Like I am not like a great runner, but I now lead a run club as part of our fit for mom. And I have given this gift of like the joy of a run to other moms because they were like, I'm not a runner. Nobody wanted to do it. I had seven moms sign up the first time and now they're addicted. One mom had never run a mile in her life, she just ran a quarter marathon with us. And I am like, this is the joy of my life to see people that, like you said, couldn't get off the couch. Like she actually came to her first class with her second baby and told me, I am having trouble getting up off the floor.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

And I said, No way, that's we gotta change that. You're you're too young and you're too great, and your kids need you. We can't have that. So look at her now, like it's not even a year. She's run two uh two 5K's, uh, a quarter marathon, and I'm just gonna be. It is the gift that keeps on giving. I'm telling you, if you are having problems with smart, leave the kids with dad and go on a 30-minute jog. It'll change your life.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Yes, I was a runner for many many years. I did marathons and so on, and uh for me, it was because of a time crunch, right? So I had a very short amount of get out and do something, and it was running. And there's something about the endorphin kick that you get from running that you really don't get from anything else, at least I haven't experienced.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

I it changed my life, and I just try to share that joy with other people. I'm like, I promise, I promise. It sucks in the moment, but you get to listen to your favorite tunes, nobody's screaming at you, nobody needs to change their diaper. 30 minutes, that's it. Just dad can do it, mother-in-law can do it. Don't feel bad asking. Can you watch them so I can go do this? Like, just ask.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Do it, go.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

So, some other tips that you can give moms, and I mean we're gonna direct them to the website and your particular website. Um, do you do one-on-one, you know, counseling per phone or something like that if they should need you?

SPEAKER_01 27:34

I do not, but we have a community once a member has joined, so we're membership-based, it's cheaper than getting a coffee every day. So we it's I'm not in this for money. If I wanted money, I would have bought a McDonald's. You know what I mean? Like I do this to help mom. So our memberships are like 60 bucks a month for our weekend mom, 75 a month for everyone else. So when you think about the cost of a gym, it's it's much less, and you're getting friends. So uh it's really it's really an affordable option, and we have to keep it that way because we're a working class area. So it really is great. Everyone's on a budget that has a lot of kids. So I know it's hard to spend on yourself as a mom. And I it's probably the biggest hang up people have about joining, but I'm like, trust me, these will be your kids' friends for life and your friends for life. Where else are you getting that?

SPEAKER_00 28:25

And you you know what you probably you probably get real raw information, good solid information versus what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

The most intimate conversations. Like, yeah, we talk about everything, and the beauty of our group, like there are Fit or Months that are like hundreds of women, and that's great. But I'm kind of happy ours is we're right now like 16 members, and I think it's a beautiful thing because that's great. As the owner, I'm at every class, and I also intimately know everyone's husband and kid and family. So it's just a one-of-a-kind thing where you can join, and in three weeks, I I know your favorite food. So we do like a question of a day at the beginning of every class. So you you the whole point of a stroller strides class is not just working out, we focus on a mom-to-mom connection as well as mom to baby and mom to instructor. So there's like very specific modules that I use. They're disguised, and we do the parachute, right? We're doing we're doing squats with the parachute and we're singing the songs to the baby. So that's mom to baby. And then we'll do partner exercises with bands, and you'll be like popcorn in questions back and forth. What was your favorite subject in high school? What's your husband's name? So you really get to know people that you wouldn't normally just stand next to someone in a workout class, and that's the only person you spoke to, right? We're making sure all the moms mingle. We're making sure everybody knows everybody. That way, when the intimate things come up, like, hey, I'm having pain during sex, like two years later. Is that weird? Like you can ask those questions, and everyone will jump right in with the most open and honest answers and make that person feel a little better about themselves.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

That's beautiful. Because ultimately it's like a ministry for you, you know. To I the big thing in our country, families are being ripped apart.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

And it sounds like part of your mission is to maintain that family relationship with the husband and wife, the wife and we talk a lot about how hard marriage is with the joys of motherhood and breastfeeding and them being eager, and we're like, I'm in pain.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Yeah. Welcome to my world. So what a great opportunity you are presenting for moms. And now you're in Carleton, Texas. Your information is gonna be scrolling in the bottom for your particular group. Uh, we encourage anybody around in the Texas area to please come and get a hold of you and come on out. It's really not too far from a lot of the suburbs. No, um, I think I love to meet people.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

That's that's honestly how I ended up doing this because I was I was a producer and I just love people. So I will go up to any mom at any park. I'm not even trying to recruit them, I'll just start talking to you.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

That is awesome because again, people since COVID particularly, people have been so tremendously isolated, and isolation is now normal.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

It's now I've gotten a lot of very shy mom. I I actually had a mom recently, she was very nervous to come to the first class. She comes, she didn't even want to do so. We do a lot of group um exercises with like cones and you know where you're doing things with people, and she literally wouldn't do it. She stood in the corner, had the instructor go over and see if she could give her something else to, but yeah, she was her baby was five months old. Her so she was just so scared to like put herself out there. I I totally hear what you're saying. Like I've seen it firsthand, and she is now one of our best members. So it just takes that owner or that instructor. That's what's different about Fit for Mom. They're there to make sure every mom is seen and feels welcome and feels noticed because what mom feels seen during the day? No one. We're like ghosts. We're the people that come and clean the house and change the diapers, but nobody knows we're there.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

Yeah. At the nanny, mom, wife, all of that rolled into the room.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

And there to hold you and tell you you're doing a great job, and also kind of yell at you to do squats. And I'm like, it's gonna be good, you're gonna be better.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Well, I think everybody needs a lot of cheerleader for sure. And I just appreciate my goodness, and being on the show with us. And again, you know, if you're a new mom, or even if you aren't a new mom, if you're just a mom period, you want to get connected with other moms, please do so. And I love this idea and this concept. This is absolutely fantastic. We want to give one more shout out to our sponsor, Cardi Miracle. Thank you so much. I know it changed my lives, uh, my life. I know that it's changed the lives of of thousands and now millions of people um nationally. And of course, no caffeine, no sugar. Just, you know, we're talking about a food.

unknown 32:53

Uh Dr.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

Judy Mykovich calls it, you know, uh a liquid food, real food. And of course, if you can't, you're really busy and you need to drink something, you might be a nursing mom. There's nothing in here that would be harmful. Over 700 ingredients and over 58 or 700 nutrients, over 58 ingredients. So we really appreciate you, Carly Miracle, for putting this together for all of us, including the busy moms. And Alana, I look forward to hearing more from you again. And thank you so much for being on our podcast.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Well, thanks for having me. This was such a pleasure. Like in the last three years, this is probably the greatest pleasure I've had so far. Minus my children. But I was gonna say, I I lived on those things breastfeeding. I actually want to try that. I've never heard of this brand, but now I'm gonna go buy some because they're they're a godsend, and especially for the running mom in Texas, very hot.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Amen. Amen. And you know, a lot of professional athletes are are using them as well as you know, day-to-day, day-to-day moms like yourself and those that are on the road around a lot because it's very difficult for us to get good nutrition from the food that we're eating.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Yeah, from the Chick-fil-A, they're not they're not giving me that a chick-fil-a. When I get the scraps that are thrown at my head from the backseat, that's not in it.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Zach, you gotta prep that. Well, bless you, dear Alana, and thank you everybody for listening and viewing. And uh, we'll be back again.