1) Who is Megan Medeiros? (where are you from, what do you do, a bit about yourself (hobbies, etc) I am from Middletown, Delaware where I live with my wife of 2 years, Kate and our dog baby Roni. I currently work as a personal trainer and I am in school working towards becoming a Dietician, which is what I have always wanted to do. I don’t have a lot of free time right now for hobbies except for training so I’ll give you some random facts… I am an introvert, I love coffee, my favorite type of music is alternative rock, my favorite animals are monkeys, and my favorite mantra is “every day, I get stronger.”
2) How many years have you been training? (Including how you got started, etc)
I played soccer from ages 6-18, ran cross country and track in high school and then in college started CrossFit. I have been training CrossFit for almost 8 years and started in 2014 after doing a figure competition my very first year of college to “get fit” (obviously the wrong reason to get into the sport). My friend who coached me through the show was into CrossFit and brought me to a class for bring a friend day. Needless to say I never did another bodybuilding competition and stuck with CrossFit. In 2018 I discovered the Florida Grid League on Instagram and decided to try out for a team. I ended up getting onto the Aces and immediately fell in love with the sport. I’ve been training for Grid ever since.
3) Whats been the most challenging/hardest part of your journey so far? and how have you overcome them (set backs, rejections, injuries, basically anything difficult that you have had to overcome)
I have had tons of ups and downs in my journey as I’m sure most people have. I think for me the hardest thing I have had to overcome is the mysterious health issues I went through last year and am still going through and don’t have a solid answer for. For over a year I was struggling with symptoms like fatigue, joint pain, abdominal pain, and some others (believed to be due to food intolerances) and was unable to train to my full potential. Some days my joints would hurt so badly that I would just crumble under weights that weren’t even heavy for me or be unable to squat or go overhead due to joint pain. For several months I wasn’t able to push my pace in workouts without burning out and having to stop or scale way back due to general fatigue. It was extremely frustrating and at times felt defeating, but I just tried to take it one day at a time, one workout at a time, scale what I needed to and give myself some slack. I never wanted to quit as many times as I did during that time. I decided to take the pressure off myself in training and do what I could with what I had each day and try to keep a positive mindset. Despite this setback, my strength numbers have still increased, I had a great Grid season and I’ve adapted a better mindset to help me when these days continue to periodically and seemingly randomly pop up.
4) What does your typical workout/diet routine look like? (With any particular protocols you rate).
Ive been following TaylarMadeMeDoIt programming on the athlete track since 2018 and it has made a world of a difference in my abilities. It focuses a lot on improving weaknesses and working towards your individual goals at the same time, so I’m able to get stronger and work on my grid specific movements at the same time.
I used to count macros and I did that for a long time, but in the past year dealing with the health issues and with the stress of the pandemic I decided to switch to an intuitive eating style to be kinder to my body and listen to what it was telling me. I can’t say I’m 100% intuitively eating because I do still weigh some foods like protein, for example, but I’m working towards it. Getting back in touch with understanding my hunger and satiety cues and what feels good to eat and what doesn’t has been so good for me physically and mentally. Eating intuitively is an innate ability that we have as infants and toddlers and usually lose somewhere around early childhood when outside influences start to get in the way of understanding our bodies’ signals. It has been nice to work towards getting back to that and leaving the counting and measuring behind. I always have a vegetable at every meal and eat balanced meals, but depending on how I feel, some days I eat more, some days I eat less and some days I feel like trying new things to see how my body will react.
5) What new knowledge have you learned over this past year regarding training, lifestyle and nutrition? (And How has it changed your focus for the future)
This past year I have learned a lot. The most important thing I have learned sounds a little cliche but what is meant to be will find a way, so don’t stop pushing and working towards what you envision for yourself. Even if things aren’t going as planned, you feel like you’re not ready, or you feel like it’s too late, if you want it badly enough don’t give up on it, figure out how to make it happen. I’ve learned not to waste time on things that don’t serve me and to save my energy for things that do and that has been a game changer.
6) Whats your favourite cheat/Treat meal?
Ice cream!! I can’t eat dairy but my favorite dairy free ice cream is the almond milk Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food
7) Whats one supplement that you could not live without?
I’m not really into the typical sports supplements but I take probiotics, fish oil, CBD oil and a multi vitamin every day. Out of those 4 I think the one that benefits me the most and I wouldn’t be able to live without is the probiotic supplement. I’ve been using MaryRuth’s Organics liquid probiotics for about 2 years now and it has helped so much with my gut health.
8) If you had to start your Journey from scratch with both your health & physique what would you do differently and why?
I could say I wish that when starting my fitness journey I didn’t focus so much on my appearance and my body and focused more on my abilities and the fun of it all. Or I wish I learned to truly love myself sooner. However, every thing I’ve been through has made me who I am today and without all of the challenges I have faced and things I may have gone about in the wrong way, I would not be where I am or who I am today. So I don’t think that I would do anything differently.
9) Who do you look upto in the fitness industry and why?
Definitely my coach Taylar Stallings. I have looked up to her since I first saw her compete in the NPGL. She was the strongest woman I had seen at the time and it blew my mind that she was my height but however many pounds heavier than me of pure muscle lol and could lift what she could. I have never really been considered strong, more like strong enough to do what I need to do, but not STRONG strong, so I always looked up to her in that aspect. Since working with Taylar and competing alongside her on the Aces, I now also look up to her in another way from seeing all that she does to take care of all of her athletes’ needs, run multiple successful businesses, coach a grid team, and still be an incredible athlete who (probably) knows she is the best at her specialties but doesn’t act like it. She never gives less than 100% and that makes me want to work harder and be better too.
10) If you had to give one bit of advice to people starting out what would that be?
I would say first, invest in a good coach early and find a supportive community. Make sure you have someone knowledgeable to show you the ropes and guide you through your journey. A community will be very beneficial not only to help you feel supported when starting but to also talk you out of the darkness and keep you from giving up on your goals on the hard days. Second, don’t rush your progress! Progress is usually slower than we would like it to be but take it one day at a time and stick with it. Slow results achieved the right way with hard work and patience are much more beneficial to you in the long run than quick results achieved by taking short cuts.
Third, be kind to yourself and believe in yourself! The most important voice in your journey is the one inside your head. Let others feed the belief that you are capable, but don’t let them be the only ones who believe it.
11) What new goals do you have on the horizon?
I plan to get back on the grid for the 2022 season, so in the meantime I’m working on getting faster and stronger to better help my team.
12) Where can people find you? (website, social media accounts)
Instagram @medeiros_meg_
