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Hi! My name is Stephanie Kathleen Fonseca and I am a registered dietitian and certified personal trainer. I live in the beautiful state of Florida with my husband and our dog, Zeus. I LOVE traveling, eating good food, doing anything in tropical weather, and sleeping. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but relocated to Florida for college on a cross-country scholarship and never thought twice about moving back to those Northeast winters.
I have been a competitive runner since age eight. I grew up with a super-athlete of a mom who is nationally and internationally ranked for distance running. She even competed in two Olympic Marathon Trials. My mom had me going to the track with her since I was about 4 years old, so needless to say, I have learned from a young age what it takes to build a strong athlete. And you would think having a mom like mine that I would catch on to ALL the aspects quite quickly. |
Fast forward to high school where I was a varsity cross-country and indoor/outdoor track runner for all four of my years. I was plagued with injuries throughout my high school years mostly due to the fact that I trained and raced competitively year round and was always slightly heavier than the average runner (thus adding more weight to the pounding my legs already took.) While I was pretty successful, I never had a good diet or good eating habits and would sometimes eat lunches that consisted of just French fries and cookies. Whenever I crossed finish lines with the other top girls, I was guaranteed to always be the heaviest.
On top of that, I never believed that the weight room could really do me any good. In high school, I never ever wanted to be in the weight room after practice. I believed that lifting would make me look “manlier” and felt that if I just kicked my own ass in practice then that should be sufficient and no lifting was needed (sorry coaches!!).
I ended up going to Florida Institute of Technology on a cross-country scholarship and could not have been happier. Practices were tougher and I was in the best shape of my life at the time but again, I was still slightly heavier than the average top college runner, and college food certainly was not helping. During my first two weeks at college, I was rear-ended in an accident which caused my car to be totaled and resulted in injuries to my back that kept me out of my first college cross-country season (and continues to sideline me after certain workouts to this day). This was the first time in my life that I really had to take a complete break from exercising so the college cafeteria and late night pizza deliveries really added up. By the end of my freshman year, I was the heaviest I had ever been at 172 pounds. I trained hard to get back to where I was, but the added weight definitely did not help. Over the years at school, I slowly started losing the weight and even made the All-South Region team my last two years at college.
The real change happened when I met my boyfriend, now husband, towards the end of college. He was really into the gym and lifting and, seeing as we were inseparable, we started to go to the gym together daily. I would always go in and bang out a run on the treadmill and then end up waiting for him to finish his routines (and I am VERY impatient). Since I would just hang out by his machines and weights until he was done, I would start watching what he was doing. Then, he started showing me and teaching me new exercises that I could do to “tone” up. Some exercises I would love and start to add in after my treadmill work, and some I would not like and then get moody with him because I didn’t want to do it (sorry, baby!). The point is, I started finding exercises and routines I liked and saw which ones had the most benefits for my body. I started running less and training more weights, and I had never felt or looked better. I loved the process and the little gains of muscle along the way. My husband had gotten me used to eating 5-6 times a day, focusing on always having protein, and I had never felt more energetic and healthy. This way of eating also just made my muscle gains come all the more quickly. I always think back to what I really could have been in my running career if I had eaten better and did more of the weight training.
So, here I am today. I want to share with you what took me 23 years of my life to figure out- that healthy eating habits and quick full body workouts will give you that body you always wanted and thought was so unachievable, - that you can get the body you want eating French fries and cookies, but also if you include more of all the "healthy" stuff too. If you work with me, I can show you how simple changes in your lifestyle can be easy and how this will give you more confidence and strength in all aspects of your life. Now, let’s get stronger, healthier and happier!
On top of that, I never believed that the weight room could really do me any good. In high school, I never ever wanted to be in the weight room after practice. I believed that lifting would make me look “manlier” and felt that if I just kicked my own ass in practice then that should be sufficient and no lifting was needed (sorry coaches!!).
I ended up going to Florida Institute of Technology on a cross-country scholarship and could not have been happier. Practices were tougher and I was in the best shape of my life at the time but again, I was still slightly heavier than the average top college runner, and college food certainly was not helping. During my first two weeks at college, I was rear-ended in an accident which caused my car to be totaled and resulted in injuries to my back that kept me out of my first college cross-country season (and continues to sideline me after certain workouts to this day). This was the first time in my life that I really had to take a complete break from exercising so the college cafeteria and late night pizza deliveries really added up. By the end of my freshman year, I was the heaviest I had ever been at 172 pounds. I trained hard to get back to where I was, but the added weight definitely did not help. Over the years at school, I slowly started losing the weight and even made the All-South Region team my last two years at college.
The real change happened when I met my boyfriend, now husband, towards the end of college. He was really into the gym and lifting and, seeing as we were inseparable, we started to go to the gym together daily. I would always go in and bang out a run on the treadmill and then end up waiting for him to finish his routines (and I am VERY impatient). Since I would just hang out by his machines and weights until he was done, I would start watching what he was doing. Then, he started showing me and teaching me new exercises that I could do to “tone” up. Some exercises I would love and start to add in after my treadmill work, and some I would not like and then get moody with him because I didn’t want to do it (sorry, baby!). The point is, I started finding exercises and routines I liked and saw which ones had the most benefits for my body. I started running less and training more weights, and I had never felt or looked better. I loved the process and the little gains of muscle along the way. My husband had gotten me used to eating 5-6 times a day, focusing on always having protein, and I had never felt more energetic and healthy. This way of eating also just made my muscle gains come all the more quickly. I always think back to what I really could have been in my running career if I had eaten better and did more of the weight training.
So, here I am today. I want to share with you what took me 23 years of my life to figure out- that healthy eating habits and quick full body workouts will give you that body you always wanted and thought was so unachievable, - that you can get the body you want eating French fries and cookies, but also if you include more of all the "healthy" stuff too. If you work with me, I can show you how simple changes in your lifestyle can be easy and how this will give you more confidence and strength in all aspects of your life. Now, let’s get stronger, healthier and happier!