how she lost 54 pounds healed trauma

After years of feeling physically exhausted, emotionally depleted, and out of alignment with her deepest intentions, Kimberly, a 56-year-old woman, made a bold decision to take back her health, and her life. With the help of Hitch Fit online coaching, she shed over 54 pounds, healed past trauma, rebuilt her confidence, and even stepped on stage for her first-ever bikini competition. Her story is one of courage, resilience, and proof that transformation is possible at any age!

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Kimberly’s Before and After Body Transformation Stats:

Starting weight: 172

Ending weight: 118

Starting body fat: 37.7%

Ending body fat: 21%

Kimberly’s Before and After Bikini Body over 50 Photos:

From Struggle to Strength: Why She Decided To Transform at 56

“I have a deeply held intention to lead by example. I devoted many years to gathering information and learning about how to create lasting positive change in all the important areas of life so I could enjoy a long healthy life with my husband, adult children, and grandchildren, yet I found myself out of alignment with that intention in my own health – the extra weight I was carrying around was causing me to feel physically exhausted all the time, I was increasingly less resilient emotionally when life’s inevitable storms would come, and I was not bringing my best self to my treasured relationships. I began to feel a powerful longing to reverse the trend from an unfulfilled, purposeless decline to a vibrant, meaningful progression.

Through a series of strange events I found myself at a celebration of life for a friend who typified the vivacious, juicy kind of existence to which anyone would aspire. There I met Diana Chaloux-LaCerte and Micah LaCerte from Hitch Fit, the couple who became my coaches during this fitness transformation. They stoked the fire of motivation for me to keep moving in the right direction and get my body back on board with the vision I had for my life.

I really had to look inward and face some hard truths about why I was turning to food to change the way I felt, resorting to binge watching, doom scrolling, and bed rotting instead of exercising, and isolating rather than working to heal internally and repair damaged relationships. 2024 was a year of unearthing, and facing past traumas and setting up better strategies for coping with life in general.

I really didn’t know until this past year that I had some childhood trauma I hadn’t dealt with which charted a course for my life over a pretty bumpy road. Alcoholism, failed relationships, parental alienation by my ex-husband from my eldest child, anxiety and depression colored so much of my early adulthood and took an enormous toll on my family. Those difficult experiences taught me skills to take charge of my own results and motivated me to keep going even when it was hard.

The hardest part has been learning to prioritize and implement the healthy disciplines I need to do for myself every single day, no matter what. Some I have mastered, like I plan my meals each week and eat what is on my plan. I walk every day. But I still have to work very hard at getting all my weight training in without fail.

I feel so energized, optimistic, and renewed – I truly wish everyone could feel this good because the world would be a much better place. I know many people can relate to feeling poorly about how their body looks, stressed and discouraged, and even though it is not easy, it really is pretty simple to turn things around. I’ve had some incredible mentors over my lifetime, so I am standing on the shoulders of giants, and my own experience has given me so many sound practical tools to achieve absolutely astonishing results toward a happy, healthy, fulfilled life. I just want people to know there is hope for them, too.

Yes, clean eating, exercise, and excellent sleep hygiene are non-negotiable. Hiring an online fitness coach has been incredibly valuable. They provide feedback relevant to my individual situation, strategies, support and encouragement to press through the difficult times, a vibrant community of people on a similar path, meal plans, workouts, and the value of their experience with thousands of others so I don’t have to reinvent this particularly complex wheel.

My ultimate goal is to live out the rest of my years in a lean, fit, flexible, energized body so I can explore even more of this beautiful world with my sweet family and enjoy my grandbabies.

One of the ways I found to do that is completely out of character for me – I entered my first fitness competition in June of 2025. I was stunned to discover the category most suited to my physique is called “Bikini Model.” It has given a name to an identity I can aspire to and has been the most fun pursuit I have had in a long time watching my body conform to this new elite standard!

Some of the most powerful benefits I have gained from this transformation and showcasing my results on stage are a deep sense of accomplishment, a feeling of being in integrity with my values, and a profound joy in seeing how my experience is inspiring others.

The blessings are so much greater than just the 54 lbs. I have lost in the transformation process. I feel like I have been given the opportunity to walk around in the world as the authentic version of myself!”