Meet Mary Bower

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Bower.

Mary, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My story has had quite a few “chapters” over the year but the last two have been the influential, so I start there. I am a mom of two kids, I live in Queen Creek, AZ down a little dirt road. (We actually just moved, but I’m claiming this as home.)

Two years ago this September my second, a little boy was born into our family of three. I had a 2.5-year-old daughter at the time, so a baby boy was a perfect fit. From the beginning, little Greyson brought extra “excitement” to our lives. He spends his first six days of life in the hospital with breathing issues from swallowing fluid during birth, at four months old he was diagnosed with his first food allergies, and at nine months he had plastic surgery on his “superfinger” as we used to call it. His middle and ring finger were joined through the nail on his right hand.

Not gonna lie, it was a rough season, but if there is one thing I’ve learned over the last two years, it’s that life challenges, although sometimes painful, are full of hidden blessing when you lean in and let them be.

During this time, I was battling some health issues of my own. After the birth of my first baby, I was diagnosed with something called Diastasis Recti. Its an abdominal separation that can be a long-lasting side effect of pregnancy. Its extremely common among moms of multiples, short-torsoed woman, and moms with big babies, but can happen to anyone. The connective tissue that holds the rectus muscles together and provides core support essentially becomes overstretched and as a result the muscles don’t come back as they should.

My gap was a lot smaller after my daughter and after a year of modified fitness and physical therapy I was able to strengthen my deep core muscles enough to compensate, but things were completely different after my son.

Its quite a long story, but the next 18 months of my son’s life were full on the battlefield. I am huge fitness nerd, love healthy food, and was very aware of what I should and shouldn’t do with DR, but that first year of my son’s life, to be honest is a blur. Its hard to describe the emotions, but I felt trapped. Simple tasks like laundry, dishes, nursing, and carrying my own son would leave me in pain. No matter how hard I worked, I looked five months pregnant, I would pass on outings with my kids because I didn’t want to take them in and out of the car seat and started developing an unhealthy relationship with food due to accommodating nursing sons six allergies. This is the part of the story where it would be easy to say….. “and I fell into a deep depression and quit everything,” but I didn’t. I KNEW this was a season, people were watching, and I would get through. So I dug in.

I became a health and wellness coach back in college but didn’t get serious about my business till after my daughter was born. It started as a way to keep me accountable to daily fitness and healthy eating, but quickly because a career founded on storytelling and creating an authentic community for women learning to put their health back on the priority list. Blogging about my battle with DR, food allergies, and the REAL stories of motherhood became a release for me too. Over the course of those two years, I grew as a mom, wife, and began seeing incredible success stories from a client who were not only losing weight and building strength but BELIEVING in their own self-worth.

Things took a bit of a turn in my story January. I had just completed three months of PT for my DR and was FINALLY feeling like I was going to heal, but in March, I began to regress. I felt lost. I felt done. I didn’t want to be strong anymore. I wanted a normal life again.

I am now 13 weeks post of from a tummy tuck to repair a 7 cm Diastasis Recti. Surgery was NEVER on my radar, but sometimes plans change and open up opportunities you could NEVER have imagined.

The surgery process was long. Battling insurance, going through a crazy six-week recovery, fearing judgment, getting over that, and since then connecting with 100’s of woman all over the world, as I publicly shared my story, who secretly battled the same thing. I’m still in recovery mode on some level for the next 1/2 year or so but on the road to healing.

My life is not perfect, and honestly, there are crazier stories but if I can say one thing: it is mine, and I own it.

And now as a business owner and mom, I am able to build incredible community groups and mentor other moms with the goal to show them that their story matters too. My kids are a HUGE part of what I do and why I do it. They work out with me, are part of my stories, and my fans love the joy they bring.

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?
Not at all! Lol. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am a health and wellness/social media influencer. My clients are typically moms struggling to find themselves after kids. Most of my ladies looking for a way get active from home and pursue a healthy relationship with food, for themselves and their family. But what makes me unique is the only community I cultivate for this woman to connect with others, doing the same thing. We also dive into a lot of personal development and goal setting. I run monthly challenges and do weekly live videos where I encourage and equip my ladies to self-reflect and learn to push past barriers in their lives, The life change that comes out of these groups, both physically and mentally are beyond belief.

I also help mentor other influencers. I teach these ladies how to use social media as a tool to share their story, connect and inspire. I help them run groups of their own and I tailor my mentorship to challenge each lady where she is at. It has been INCREDIBLE to watch my fellow health coaches develop the incredible mindset and a heart for serving others.

Finally, I run my page and attract new clients by sharing REAL life stories, struggles from my own journey, and saying those things we all thing but are too embarrassed to admit. I am committed to authenticity and pushing past barriers in my own life. My followers and clients best know me for my long stories, and my raw and real content. My kids also play a HUGE role in my business. I workout with them, and they are the center of many of my posts and the reason I do what I do.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up I was always the leader of the group. I was the oldest of two. My sister was four years younger. I was a little nerdy, but for the most part, I didn’t care. I loved to play dress up, dream big, sing, play school, and was into theatre at a young age.

I knew I wanted to be a teacher at the age of 6 and throughout my entire education, I could be found volunteering in a classroom, tutoring a friend over the summer, or completing an internship as part of my class load.

I struggled some with confidence when it came to what others thought of me. I had great ideas and loved helping others, but if someone made fun of me or I felt I might be judged, I held back my gifts.

When I got to college, I broke free of the fear of others. I joined a ballroom dance team, met my hubby who was an engineering student (I was studying to be a math teacher) and I learned what it meant to push hard and fight for dreams.

I got my first job as a teacher my first semester out of college and taught for five incredible years before becoming a stay at home mom.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fit_happy_momma
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marybowerfitness/

Image Credit:
Mary Bower

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