I reached out to Jessica Rothenberg for online coaching about a
month into my pregnancy. I wanted guidance for strength training through pregnancy
and to avoid having excess weight to shed after the baby was born. My ultimate goal was to be
as healthy as possible to have a healthy pregnancy and baby.
What made Jessica’s training approach so special for me was her methodical and
manageable approach to behavioral change. The changes we made were small and very doable
and compounded over time.
With careful exercise programming imbalances in my shoulders and hips improved, and I gained
strength all the way through my second trimester. In my last trimester I was able to maintain
that strength and keep up my activity. My coworkers often remarked how surprised they were
with my energy and stamina as an incredibly preggers lady.
I gained awareness on areas where my nutrition could improve and over a year later, I have
maintained the changes we made and make conscious decisions about my food choices. For
example, I now at least include 5-6 servings of vegetables a day, my added sugar is minimal to
none, and I can now make the choice to occasionally enjoy something that may not be as
healthy and move on. For well over a decade before training with Jessica, I had struggled with a
poor body image and some binging-type behaviors. I had not anticipated that my progress in
this area would be one of my biggest areas of improvement with Jessica’s guidance. Food has
switched from being an area of stress for me, to something I enjoy and am much more relaxed
with. Jessica is phenomenal in her ability to connect with her clients, which is a challenging feat when online training and not face-to-face. I felt heard by her, and our conversations gradually delved more into the mental and spiritual realm than on nutrition and exercise. Rather than tell me what to do or to think, she asked me thoughtful questions that unearthed my own beliefs and
responsibility for my own happiness. I have never been in such a good frame of mind, and I am
grateful to be going into parenthood in this state. I want my son to love himself, and I know
that watching me now, he has a much better example of self-love than he would have a few
years ago. I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am for Jessica’s guidance in this area.
It’s now over a year later from the start of our training, and I got so much more out of the
experience with her than I had hoped for. I was able to work as long as I had
wanted to, had a full-term pregnancy, a completely natural childbirth experience, and an
extremely healthy son. I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight five days postpartum. I gained
the knowledge and skills to take ownership of my own exercise, nutrition, and mental/spiritual
health. I cannot recommend Jessica enough as a coach and am immeasurably grateful for
how the experience has benefited my life.