ROCKLIN, Calif — Living your best life. You probably heard the phrase before — folks encouraging themselves and others to be the best versions they can be.
But it's easier said than done.
Chady Dunmore a Rocklin single mother who at her heaviest weighed more than 200 pounds, is the living embodiment of living her best life — or at least her version of it.
"I'm going to be 40 in a couple of months," Dunmore said. "I'm just trying to keep up with everybody else."
In recent years, the 39-year-old body builder has been on the cover of fitness magazines encouraging every woman and mom out there to be all that she can be. It was well after she had her 12-year-old daughter Sofia that Dunmore was her heaviest.
At 206 pounds, she said she didn't recognize herself anymore. "I just said, 'All right, I need to get my body back.' But it was more than just my body — I needed to get me back."
That's when Dunmore said she found her outlet in the gym. She said it's the only place where she had complete control over her stressful life as a single mother.
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"You gotta find time to sleep, work and so on," Dunmore explained. "And then your kids get sick — so the gym and how I take care of myself and what I eat and all of that — was all in my control."
Dunmore soon became a full fledged body builder. "[I] saw a girl in the gym with beautiful arms, and I was like 'I want my arms to look like that.'"\
But It wasn't easy for Dunmore, who also has lupus, an autoimmune disease that can affect the joints, skin, kidneys, blood, heart and lungs.
"With my health issues, I wasn't able to diet down like the other body builders," Dunmore explained. "I can't carb deplete. I can't water deplete."
She didn't let anything get in the way of living what she felt was her best and healthiest life. She put in the work and stayed consistent winning competitions and landing magazine covers.
But she said it all starts within yourself. "The universe and God really just follow through. But first you got to believe in yourself."
Dunmore is a personal trainer who partners with Til You Collapse in Rocklin. She's also a social media influencer, encouraging thousands of people, not only here in Sacramento but all around the world, to live their version of their best life.
If you want to follow Dunmore's journey, follow her Instagram page.
Follow the conversation on Facebook with Keristen.
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