Welcome back to the Solidarity podcast

where we share stories to connect with one another, find comfort in life’s challenges & to celebrate the solidarity that is, being a woman.

I am back with another special episode today, another interview. If you missed the last one with Casey, a self reliance coach and firearms instructor, be sure to go back and check out episode 15 of season two, it’s a great episode.  Today I am excited to welcome a very dear friend of mine, Lauren of Lauren Rachelle Fitness.

Lauren is a Christ follower, fitness student, and hippie at heart.  She seeks to marry the radically divorced worlds of health and fitness.  She’s lost 50 lbs so far on her health journey, she’s got the sweetest pup Roxy and she tells me that she can’t fall asleep without her snuggled up on top of her and she could live on fajitas, which, same girl, same.

Lauren’s mission is to help women fall in love with mental, physical, and spiritual health.  Lauren has long inspired me, we actually met in a funny way. I had met her brother at a homeschool conference in 8th grade and had a major crush on him and we texted for awhile. One day I texted him and Lauren replied, they had switched phones or phone numbers and I started following her on Instagram and it’s bloomed from there into a beautiful friendship.  If you need support when it comes to identifying and crushing your goals or even just having someone in your corner cheering you on and encouraging you on the hard days and the great ones too- Lauren is your girl.  Truly a ray of sunshine and she has been through it, walked through fire and God has brought her out on the other side and it’s been beautiful to pray for her and watch her walk through all of this.  I really couldn’t think of anyone better to have on the show to talk about health and wellness and pursuing a fitness journey.

This has been something I’ve really struggled with and learned a lot about the last couple of years.  I’m super careful with who I let influence me in this sphere because it’s important that I’m looking to someone who is also looking to Jesus for their sense of self worth and who understands that we have to look at the body wholly, take our mental health into consideration and that there’s a lot more to taking care of our bodies than just “being skinny” and that there is a whole lot more to life than pursuing “thinness”.

I think you’re going to love Lauren, her story and what she has to share today, 

Note: I apologize that due to the length of this episode I was not able to do a written transcript. I have time stamps and resources cited below.

Join me in welcoming Lauren!

2:25 - Tell me a little bit about yourself, your story and your incredible faith!

6:56 - When did you start becoming interested in health & fitness?

15:31 - How did you feel called into working in the health and fitness space?

25:33 - How has your health and faith journey collided?

27:3 - When you consider health and wellness, what do you think are the foundational pillars and what does that look like played out in your own life?

31:50 - Do you have a daily health routine? Do you suggest that everyone has one- how do you even start?

40:11 - What are a few mistakes that you see people make when they’re approaching health and fitness?  Are there any misconceptions you’d like to clear up?

48:05 - How has your relationship with food affected your personal journey and how do you suggest approaching this in each season?

52:00 - As women we are constantly hearing or feeling this message that we’re “taking up too much space” and we need to be skinnier- which you and I both know that healthy is the goal, not skinny and this looks different for every single person and that as women we are meant to have a little protective layer over our uterus so the majority of us, even if we were at our healthiest, are never going to fully achieve the man “flat perfect abs” or we’re going to have curves because that’s how God designed us.  Basically, our definition of health is way way off and it’s driving us into really unhealthy habits and mindsets. We constantly strive to stay in calorie deficit and we work our bodies too hard without enough nutritional support with the goal of always getting skinnier. But then we end up with other health issues, inflammation, burn out or binging because of this lifestyle that’s not actually supporting our bodies. All that being said, what is your advice to women who are struggling with feeling like they take up too much space? Either at the gym, in the world- how do you suggest we approach this & start to work through it?

55:01 - You’re so encouraging online, how do you suggest women build a support system for this journey?

57:47 - I know you’re a part of Arbonne and you’ve really been loving it. We’ve personally discussed the trepidatious space that is MLM’s, but I’d love for you to tell us about why you chose Arbonne specifically out of all of the companies out there, to support your health journey.

1:00:01 - And my final question, to those who are scared, ashamed, have trauma or mental instability when it comes to just approaching the subject of their health, what advice do you have for them?

1:03:00 - Where can we find you on social media?  Do you have any upcoming projects or plans for serving people coming up?

Thank you so much for listening in this week. 

You can find Lauren on Instagram @laurenrachellefitness and be sure to stay tuned for her upcoming coaching!

DM me on Instagram @riley_quin or shoot me an email riley@rileyq.com and let me know what you’re going through and if there is a specific topic you want me to talk about and if I haven’t experienced it, I’ll find someone who has to come and chat with us.

Want to share your story?

I just really want to get back to why I created this space, which is to share our experiences and our stories to find solidarity, even in the hardship because you’re not alone. Someone has always walked before you and someone is always walking beside you and behind you so we must share.  We are not meant to live in isolation.

I’d love to have you on my monthly “Coffee Dates” email list, you can sign up on my website or click the link below in the show notes. You can follow me on Instagram @riley_quin and check out my new account @furtherandfree as I am relaunching my virtual assistant business to help women further their businesses and creative endeavors by taking tasks off their plates and freeing up their time to work on their God-given gifts!  If you know of someone who is looking to hire a bit of help, please send them my way, it would mean the world. If you feel called to, please share with a woman who you know needs to be strengthened and encouraged. It would mean the world to me if you’d leave a podcast review on Apple podcasts and let me know your favorite part of this week’s episode. Thanks again & be sure to subscribe and we’ll meet back here next Wednesday for a new episode.

As always, I’m so glad you’re here. You’re wanted, needed and loved. I see you, I hear you and you my love, by the grace of God, you are enough.

xoxo - Ry