When sisters Jenna and Maddie founded Senita Athletics, they were building not just a business, but a family. Here at Senita Athletics, we are continually inspired by our customers and the many incredible women we are privileged to collaborate with. We want to share their stories so we can all benefit from one another’s successes. Look for Senita Sister Spotlights here on our blog and be part of our family!
If Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor” isn’t Heather Crockett’s theme song, it should be. It’s easy to be initially drawn to Heather because of her incredible weight loss journey, she has lost over 80 pounds and her before and after pictures are truly incredible. However, it is her story of overcoming several other seemingly insurmountable hardships that make Heather one of the strongest and most inspiring women we’ve ever known. In fact, it is likely her beating these other extreme challenges that gave her the immense strength required to revamp her life and diet so drastically.
After growing up in a household with a mother addicted to painkillers, Heather put herself through school to eventually become a nurse. Heather tragically lost both her mother and sister due to addiction, motivating her to end her own self-described “addiction” tendencies with food. With her recent marriage and becoming a #bonusmom, her balance of family, work and exercise has gotten trickier, but her determination is as solid as ever.
Your posts about your setbacks and struggles are some of the most inspiring because you always recommit. Why is it important to you to share both the good and bad of your journey?
There are a lot of reasons why it was important for me to share my setbacks. Unfortunately, the majority of the time you only see people's highlight reel. So, you don't see the hardships and the challenges. It is important for me to show people that I am real person and that I go through a lot of similar struggles that people are faced with on a daily basis. It helps me relate to people and also for people to see someone that has parallel challenges. I get people all the time that write to me and tell me that they don't follow me for weight loss, but for my relation to addiction in the household, being bullied, being a "bonus mom", a nurse or a nurse practitioner, and many other things.
You are a #bonusmom! What has been the most surprising thing about transitioning to mom life?
The most surprising thing to me honestly was how invested I became so quickly. I got the mama bear instinct and no one will mess with my kids pretty early on. I can also admit that sharing them half time and not seeing them as much as we like is hard. We get along great with their mother and her husband but there will always be two sets of rules and two different households that you are trying to blend.
You talk about how you’ve gained weight back in the past. What advice do you have for those trying to maintain weight loss?
Maintaining is just as hard if not harder than losing weight. We get lax in our decisions and also working out. You almost feel like you deserve some breaks for working so hard. The problem is you then realize your pants got a little tighter. Your scale went up just a little bit. You sneak in a few extra sweets. I can only encourage people to continually make new goals. I am constantly updating my goals. New ones each week. I just recently signed up with a coach for a 16 week program to get myself to that next level. I have taken myself this far and now it is time to push it even further.
What advice do you have for those who are afraid of failure?
I am constantly afraid of failure. That is one of my biggest worries. However, I have let it keep me from doing things in the past instead of motivating me. You have one of two choices. You can either let it keep you from doing things and you WILL NEVER know what you can really achieve. Or you can face hard things head on and the possibilities are endless.
Why is sharing non scale victories (#nsv) so important to you?
Because the number on the scale should NEVER dictate your self worth. Our body compositions are all completely different. WE are all made differently. So, it is important to mentally be ok with how your body looks and not by a stupid number on a scale.
How did experience personal tragedy help propel your weight loss journey forward? How did you persevere through these trials without turning to food for comfort?
I grew up and was overweight. I did not know about proper nutrition or how to exercise. I also knew that in the past I used tragedy to fuel me even further into eating more to comfort my soul. Although, that feeling was fleeting. I did not want to be a statistic. I did not want to live an unhealthy life. I did not want to be a hypocrite to all my patients. I did not want my children to learn unhealthy habits and to also not be able to keep up with them.
What would we find in the pockets of you Senita gear?
You would find my phone with my headphones coming out and me singing along to a catchy song in my head. I LOVE putting my phone in my pocket! I also put my drivers license in there and keys when I need to!
Follow @heathercrock and here is:
What you’ll get: Along with her other 60,000 followers, you’ll get daily inspiration that’s totally real, successes and setbacks alike.
What you’ll love: Heather prescribes to HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts, proclaiming herself a “cardio bunny” no more! She has the body composition pictures to prove the muscle gains from HIIT, so sign us up for that.
What’ll make you jelly: Her HAIR. It’s thick, it’s lustrous, it rocks top knots and ponytails while lifting weights like a boss. It is our vote that no one’s hair has ever looked so good in the gym. EVER.