My name is Amanda Sellers and I’ve been a member of Stroller Strong Moms since October 2016. I reside near Fort Bragg, North Carolina with my husband Jesse, our 7-month-old Gabriel and our bundle of joy arriving in November. Before moving to NC, I lived in Charleston, South Carolina where I was born and raised. Growing up, I constantly struggled with weight gain and not having self-confidence. It wasn’t until my eighth-grade school year that I joined Weight Watchers and lost nearly 30 pounds. My confidence sky rocketed as a result. With this new-found confidence, I joined multiple sports but instantly fell in love with lacrosse. I kept active by playing throughout my years in high school and even into college. Juggling school, a job, and playing sports eventually proved to be too much, which resulted in me giving up lacrosse. Consequently, some of the weight I worked so hard to shed came back and my confidence dropped. Sometime after, I was able to take positive control of my weight when I joined a kickboxing gym. During this period, I felt empowered, self-assured, and was in the best shape of my life. I continued to kickbox until I graduated college, at which time I put my gloves down to move to North Carolina.

As a newly married woman, I continued to work out but faced challenges once I started my career in finance. Additionally, I discovered I was pregnant shortly before my husband was tasked to deploy. These stressors got the best of me and the cycle of gaining weight came back full circle.

After the birth of my son, Gabriel, I decided to take a hiatus from my career to become a stay-at-home mom. Making this decision proved to be a struggle for me at first, because I have never been much of a homebody; I have always packed my schedule with a laundry list of tasks to remain busy.  Having time on my hands was something I was not accustomed to and it did not take long for habits of an idle mind and postpartum depression to set in. One day while scrolling through my husband’s Command FRG Facebook page, I saw a posting for the grand opening of SSM in Fayetteville. As soon as I read the information, I was eager to join but nervous at the same time. If it were not for the encouragement from a trusted mentor, I would not have given SSM a try. Once my doctor cleared me for post-pregnancy exercise, I joined SSM the following day. I’m not much of a social bug so initially I was a bit nervous to attend, not to mention the fact that I didn’t consider myself to be in shape. In fact, on the way to the workout location, I almost talked myself out of even showing up but I’m so glad that I committed to going.

On my first day of SSM, I was hardly able to run a quarter of a mile without stopping and I also struggled to push my son in a baby stroller not designed for jogging. Five weeks later, I had completed my first 10K run with my husband and as a reward, my husband purchased me a BOB Jogging Stroller that I had heard so many great reviews about. (The reviews were indeed true, the stroller is great!)

I’ve now been a member of SSM for about six months and I’m proud to say that my postpartum depression is long gone, my confidence is up, and I have met many fitness milestones that I made for myself. Having just discovered that I’m expecting again, I couldn’t be happier knowing that I get to go through this journey with a great group of mommas by my side! I look forward to making and meeting future fitness goals while forging memorable friendships along the way.

I’m truly honored to be selected as the SSM member of the month. Above that, I consider myself privileged to know and exercise alongside such an amazing group of women. Every single member of SSM Fayetteville is amazing, welcoming, and friendly. Our coaches, Amy Schwartz and Amanda Taylor, are the best coaches I’ve ever had and constantly demonstrate enthusiasm and motivation. I’m always excited for the next day’s work out and always filled with empowerment. SSM has had a great impact on my life, both physically and emotionally. The friendships and connections I have made within this program are ones that I will treasure for a lifetime and I am forever thankful to everyone who makes SSM the terrific program that it is!