I Spent Two Years Fighting My Own Body. Then I Met a Female Fitness Trainer in Nashville Who Finally

Author : Daniel kotal | Published On : 27 May 2026

At the age of 43, I lost faith in my body.

It wasn't a big deal. It happened gradually, little by little. Instead of losing weight (especially around my belly) after about two weeks of clean eating, I started to notice that my weight was now permanently fixed. I could no longer rely on the energy I had for my adult life (as much as it was!) For instance, nowadays I rarely have any energy after 2 pm. I am now waking up at 3 am for no reason, lying there wide awake, but my heart is racing. And it is extremely hard to get up in the mornings, which, up until that point, had been so easy before.

I was still exercising regularly, training, watching my food intake closely, etc. But I felt even worse! 

Additionally, I saw my doctor, who ran the routine bloodwork that I am sure would show all the appropriate results. However, his suggestion was to reduce my stress level. 

So, my next step was to go home from the doctor's office, sitting in my car, trying to figure out how in the world that was supposed to work for a working mom of a family and running the race of life.

A female friend of mine had similar experiences, as she had been going through the same issues. She got a referral to a female fitness trainer in Nashville, who actually articulated why that was happening to her, and not just handing her nothing but a program and telling her to push through.

I had no idea what the first session would be like, but it certainly wasn’t as I expected. 

There was no assessment of my physical ability and no calorie count. No folder with a program in it. Just the opportunity to walk through my day-to-day life…sleep (when, how much), stress levels (on the scale and how it changes daily), energy levels throughout the day (method of measurement), food and when I eat, etc. 

There are other examples, but these give you the idea that I was treated like a real person trying to figure out what the problem (causes) of my symptoms…not as a client being prepared to go into a generic training program.

After that, I received an explanation of perimenopause that finally made sense.

Estrogen decline causes fat storage to be moved from the hips to the torso. A person is more sensitive to cortisols than they are used to, creating not only an increase in one's overall body composition but to limit one's body's ability to utilize fat. Blood glucose instability causes afternoon crashes and waking at night. Five hours of broken sleep had taken away any other effort that the client had made up to that point.

I had not spoken to someone for a long time about what I did or did not do, and learned that I was simply not doing the right things for my body at that moment in time.

The changes were almost too easy to apply. Replace most of the cardio with three strength training sessions each week. Eat protein at breakfast every day. Go to bed at the same time each night. Step outside for a quick ten-minute walk at lunchtime. 

I thought it was such a little amount of activity that it wouldn't change my life (but it did). There were no diets to eliminate foods and no restrictions placed upon what or how much you eat, just creating a plan that fits with your hormones rather than one that ignores them.

Eight weeks later, I finally felt like I was a different person. Twelve weeks later, my clothes fit differently, I was sleeping through the night, and I hardly had any crashes in the afternoon anymore.

I want to be clear, I'm not trying to sell anyone on my transformation story. For two years, I thought there was something wrong with me. The reality is that what was wrong was easy and kind. My body had not failed me.

It had been transitioning into something new. All it needed was someone who understood what that meant well enough to provide a framework around it.

If any of these thoughts sound familiar to you, I encourage you to take a look at Basics and Beyond fitness and nutrition in Nashville. 

I didn't go there looking for a transformation; I went there for answers. I got a transformation when I found new answers.