Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Gargiulo.
Hi Maria, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
When I was 25 years old, I had recently gone through a divorce, and for the past year and a half, I had been trying to cope with the pain of my failed marriage. During that time, I found myself frequently indulging in eating and drinking alcohol with friends, going out to bars and clubs, and overworking to maintain a lifestyle that I couldn’t afford. I was trying to mask my feelings by having a busy and exciting lifestyle.
On Thanksgiving Day in 2016, I noticed that my “Thanksgiving eating pants” (the stretchy ones) were uncomfortably tight and digging into my lower back fat. This revelation shocked me, prompting a closer look at my body and the regrettable lifestyle choices I had made.
Despite being already $30,000 in debt from school payments, car payments, and maxed-out credit cards, I decided to hire a fitness coach. Over the course of three months, I managed to shed 15 pounds. I gradually reduced my drinking and partying, making a concerted effort to shift my lifestyle.
Once I had lost those initial 15 pounds, my coach recognized my impressive muscle composition and encouraged me to consider training for a bodybuilding competition. I saw this as an opportunity to make a clean break from my partying days and focus solely on my fitness goals. Consequently, I lost an additional 15 pounds and even won the competition.
This success led to me participating in more shows and eventually competing at the national level, coming just one spot shy of winning my pro card. During this journey, I started sharing my progress on Instagram and began to gain a small following. Friends and family started reaching out to me for weight loss assistance, which I found incredibly fulfilling.
In 2017, I decided to pursue a personal training certification and started working at a gym. After six months, my schedule was fully booked, and I realized that my clients needed more than just the one hour, three times a week I was offering. I incorporated a nutritional component into their programs, leading to better results.
As time went on, I recognized that I had reached my limit in terms of energy and needed to find a way to help more clients without compromising my mental well-being and personal time. In 2018, I found a coach who helped me transition my business from in-person to online. It was during this period that I established the “Me, Myself & Health Academy.”
Since then, we have worked with clients from every continent except Antarctica. We’ve also expanded our services to include gut and hormone testing, and we now have access to doctors and nurse practitioners to provide our clients with additional support. Our approach revolves around holistic and functional principles, emphasizing health, fitness, and overall well-being.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Competing in fitness competitions had a significant impact on my hormonal balance, and it took a strenuous six months post-show to restore my physical and mental well-being. During one of my off-seasons, despite diligently working out six times a week and maintaining a clean diet, I was gradually gaining fat. When I conducted a hormone test, it revealed that my testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone levels were severely depleted. It took me an entire year to rectify my hormonal imbalance and return to a comfortable weight.
A few years later, after traveling the world and returning to the United States, I encountered severe gut issues, which once again caused weight gain. I also had to contend with persistent eczema flare-ups in my mouth and body. It took me six months of adhering to supplementation and specific protocols to restore my gut to a healthy state.
During the process of documenting my experiences, I became acutely aware of how many other women were grappling with similar challenges. This realization prompted me to incorporate gut and hormone components into the MMH ACADEMY.
In addition to my personal struggles, I have also faced burnout, challenges related to timing in hiring additional staff, and the common feeling of “I’m not doing enough.” Fortunately, I firmly believe in investing in mentors who can assist in areas where I lack expertise, and with their guidance, I successfully overcame all of these challenges.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Me, Myself & Health Academy is a specialized women’s health and fitness coaching program with a distinct focus on internal health. We adhere to a holistic and functional approach, targeting fat loss, body recomposition, and internal healing. Our array of services includes personalized workout plans, custom meal recommendations, meticulous macro tracking supervision, individualized coaching calls, lab testing for more complex cases, and the added advantage of having access to medical professionals. All of these services are seamlessly integrated into our user-friendly app, complemented by a supportive and nurturing community.
Our distinctive blend of a functional and holistic approach, combined with our unwavering commitment to internal health, empowers us to initiate healing from the inside out. We transcend the mere pursuit of weight loss and transformation photos, aiming to catalyze transformative change in all aspects of our client’s lives, including their physical well-being, relationships, financial stability, parenting, and, significantly, their relationship with themselves.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I don’t place my faith in luck; rather, I firmly believe in taking proactive steps and positioning myself in situations that allow me to seize opportunities.
My journey had its share of challenges: I moved continents two times before the age of 11., English was not my first language; I grew up in poverty in Springfield, MO, and faced divorce at the young age of 25. In my mid-20s, I grappled with a binge eating disorder, and for a significant portion of my early 20s, I believed that my potential was limited to being a stay-at-home wife with a side gig.
When I embarked on the path of entrepreneurship, I had no preexisting advantages, no one to financially support my education, and no one handed me any shortcuts. I am not inherently gifted with intelligence or crazy physique genetics, and I don’t readily grasp new concepts easily. However, I possess an unwavering determination to comprehend, and I’m willing to read something ten times over if that’s what it takes. I also recognize the value of seeking guidance from individuals who are more knowledgeable than me, particularly when I need to tackle a specific task.
While some might perceive my life circumstances as a series of unfortunate events, I do not subscribe to the notion of bad luck. Life simply unfolds, and I firmly believe in transforming challenging situations into invaluable learning experiences.
My journey isn’t the result of luck; it’s a testament to my commitment never to settle for anything less than excellence. That’s my truth.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mariagfit.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maria_g_fit/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maria.gargiulo.98
Image Credits
Live Fit Apparel, Springfield Fit Life
