Today we’d like to introduce you to MacKenzie Puricelli.
MacKenzie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Everyone’s journey may not be like mine, but that’s the beauty of our journey’s. They are all unique, just like we as people are.
I have always been an athlete. Growing up, I lived for competition. At age three, I started to dance and gymnastics then started competing at age eight until I was 14. In high school, I decided to switch things up and try out for cheerleading. I fell in love with the drive and dedication I had to put in week after week leading up to the competitions. I thrived under pressure and loved pushing myself to be the best. I received a scholarship for cheerleading to Lindenwood University, where I cheered my first two years.
I stopped cheerleading after my sophomore year, which for the first time allowed me to show women that it is okay to be strong and empowered after being in an environment where being “skinny” and “small” meant you were superior for the sport. My fitness journey began five years ago at the end of high school because I wanted to become skinnier. All my life, all I wanted was to shrink myself. This led to over exercise and food restriction, which then led to bulimia and into binge eating disorder. It took me up until this year to overcome that battle within myself and to accept my body as it is: strong, beautiful, capable, and worthy. It wasn’t until I started to focus on who I am as a person and really diving into self-discovery that I started to really embrace who I am as is and no longer worries about what someone else may think of me. I think spending some time to figure out who you are as a person and learning a lot about yourself will allow you to have a lot more love for yourself and lead to acceptance.
I switched from a business major to an exercise science major my sophomore year of college and graduated from Lindenwood University with a B.S. in exercise science within 3.5 years along with becoming an NCEP CPT.
I started personal training while in college and that’s when MBP Fitness evolved. I realized nothing makes me happier than changing people’s lives through fitness, and that’s what I wanted to pursue. Upon graduation, I turned my focus to online coaching, where I have been able to help people BE MORE than who they were and become the person they always strived to be.
My goal isn’t to help people lose 10lbs in three weeks. My goal is to help them create a lifestyle where they can be the healthiest, most confident, best version of themselves! Creating a balance between your everyday life and fitness is my top priority because everyone deserves to be able to have a body that they love while enjoying life’s’ precious moments.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My fitness journey began four years ago at the end of high school because I wanted to become skinnier. Starting at age 12, all I wanted was to shrink myself. This led to over exercise and food restriction, which then led to bulimia. It took me over five years to overcome that battle within myself of restricting food, then binging, and then purging. It wasn’t until I started to figure out who the heck I am and want I wanted in my life that I was able to start loving myself for the person I was inside and out. After struggling with my relationship with food since I was 12 essentially, by 22, I took the initiative to go to therapy, which has changed my life and perspective on myself.
I now don’t feel the need to be anyone but my weird, loud, and outgoing self. I finally have also accepted the body that I have worked too hard for rather than being so critical of myself and tearing myself apart daily. This helped me to find myself and actually allowed me to grow a deeper passion for fitness.
I used to use fitness as a way to burn off calories to be the smallest version of myself. I looked at it as more of a chore. Now, I am freaking thriving at the gym. The gym is my place to strengthen myself mentally and physically and to challenge my body. I now eat in order to fuel my workouts, rather than working out to burn off what I eat.
My biggest tip of advice is to realize fitness is not a short term thing, and that you need to be in this for the long haul. If you can imagine what you can accomplish in 1 whole year of consistency rather than always trying to lose weight for summer, or vacation, or a photoshoot, etc., then your results will be much more sustainable. But also, I advise women to figure out who they are, and what they are made of. They need to take time to discover themselves, because how are you supposed to love or accept yourself if you don’t even know who you are?
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am an online personal trainer and health coaching that focuses on helping primarily women establish a healthy relationship with food, exercise, and their bodies. I work with each client individually to achieve their specific goals and customize their plans specifically to them.
I make sure that first and foremost I put women’s internal and mental health before working towards physical results. Internally if our bodies are not in a healthy place and our hormones are irregular then most likely our body physically is not going to respond to how we want. Same goes for our mind if we have a very negative mentality towards our body, life, food, exercise, etc. most likely our bodies will not respond physically as well. Most women come to me with a goal to have some physical changes but instead of primarily focusing on just their physical goals like most coaches/trainers, I focus on their mentality and internal system first. I help them to make short/long term goals that they want to sustain, have them answer questions weekly revolving around their mentality, discuss their weekly wins, go over how their relationship with food is, and put emphasis on how their body is feeling- energy, strength, hunger levels, stress.
Most of my clients are drawn to me because I am extremely relatable and open about my past eating disorder, body dysmorphia, unhealthy relationship with food, and overall fitness journey. Being relatable is huge because it allows my clients to connect to me on a deeper level. Having a really good relationship with my clients is important because hen we can build a trusting relationship The more that they can trust me the better we can get to know one another, which will ultimately lead to the client adhering the pan and accomplishing their overall goals.
I make sure to go above and beyond for my clients by doing weekly audio check-ins and FaceTiming them so that they get the one on one attention that they need to be successful.
Do you have a lesson or advice you’d like to share with young women just starting out?
The most important piece of advice I would give to a young woman starting her career is to do something she loves and is passionate about. Your career is something that you will spend the majority of your life doing, and you do not want to look back in 30 years and say wow, I have wasted so much time… I wish I would have done something more enjoyable. How I look at it, is if you don’t wake up every day excited and ready to conquer your goals, then most likely your career path is not one for you or it is not pushing you enough. It can be scary to chase our dreams, but what we have to realize is that we ultimately are in control of our career path. We get to decide what we want to do in this life. If you are a hard worker, have confidence within yourself, have grit, and want something bad enough, then you will make it happen.
Pricing:
- Be More 12 Week Lifestyle Guide: $119 or $149 w/ a macro consultation
- 12 Week Customized Workout Plan w/ Coaching: $275
- 12 Week Customized Nutrition/ Macro and Cardio w/ Coaching: $675
- 12 Week Customized Nutrition/ Cardio/ Workout w/ Coaching: $850
Contact Info:
- Address: 800 E Curry Rd. Apt. 2045
Tempe, AZ 85281 - Website: mbpfitness.com
- Phone: 3149108979
- Email: mbpfit1@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mbpfitnesss/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teammbpfit/?ref=bookmarks
Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
