Transformations: Mia Boostrom

24-year-old Boston-based Mia Boostrom is a wedding singer ("Yes, just like Adam Sandler," she says) who was unhealthy and unhappy – but found the courage to completely turn her life around! Today we're sharing her fitness transformation to spread her inspirational messages to young women battling societal pressures the world over. Mia's fitness transformation began about two years ago; she considers the first year an experimental phase in which she pushed her body to new limits and tried different weight loss methods. It has only been in the past year, however, that she has experienced the most significant results. She recalls the exact moment she knew she wanted to make a change like it was yesterday. "I went to a local water park with a group of friends. I was weighing in at about 250 pounds, pushing a size 20 in jeans and definitely didn't feel comfortable in a bathing suit," Mia explained. "However, I figured what could go wrong? I'm with friends... just let go of your insecurities and have fun. Well, that didn't work. I walked out of the women's changing room and in front of me was a group of about 6 guys my age (early twenties) and they straight up LAUGHED in my face." They made cruel jokes, but it was strong fuel. She remembers calling her mother ten minutes later and saying, "Today, everything changes."

"I want the body and the life I've always dreamed about€¦ and I made it happen."

About one year into the process, however, Mia hit a roadblock. She had only managed to lose maybe 20 pounds and go down one pant size despite her hard work. When discussing the situation with her best friend and training coach, Kyle, they decided she should get blood work done, which is how she came to be diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Disease. "My hormones were so out of whack that it was actually slowing down my metabolism to pretty much a dead stop," Mia added. With the newfound diagnosis, Mia knew that she would have to work even harder to get to where she wanted to be. As she explained, "PCOD is a non-curable disease, so all we could do was push harder by changing up my diet and training routine almost every other week to confuse my body and stay out of a plateau." These days, she trains with Kyle 7 days a week and aspires to become a figure competitor, which means her regiment is typically 45-50 minutes of weight training followed by 30-45 minutes of HIIT cardio. "My coach keeps me sweating my ass off," she said with a laugh. Initially, she found her biggest inspiration in other fitness models, people she could follow and emulate. "But the more I started to lose weight, the more I became inspired by women who looked to me for help," Mia stated.

"To stay accountable for all the women who looked to me for weight loss advice pushes me harder than any fitness model icon ever could. You have to be your own motivation and want this for yourself, which is what I've learned and continue to learn every day."

She was receiving messages asking for advice and motivation from women all over her social media. "As much as they think I helped them, they actually helped me WAY more," Mia acknowledged. When it comes to her nutrition, Mia must follow a very strict diet due to her PCOD. Since she must keep to such a specific diet – low in carbs and higher in fats – she follows a custom macro plan every day, which has been an extremely successful strategy for her. And since she travels so much for work, when her mom's Christmas gift to her in the first year of the fitness transformation was a Renee Meal Management Tote, Mia was over the moon.

"My 6 Pack Bag has been my SAVING GRACE."

Aiding her through her entire fitness transformation, Mia stated, "It can accommodate all of my meals, keep them fresh, and it helps me stay 100% focused on my diet – which is the MOST important thing in this process." On top of that, Mia added, "6 Pack Bags have absolutely saved me money. Because I'm on the road a lot, I never have to stress about getting food from an outside source. I can prep everything at home and take it with me! I have saved SO much money and have gotten AMAZING results... What's better than that!?" Mia now considers herself a completely different person. "When I was heavier, I was so shy and insecure. Not only with my weight, but with everything. I was dependent on people and let people walk all over me," she noted. "I was scared that if I didn't, I wouldn't be accepted or wanted. I didn't realize by saying yes to everyone and putting my needs on the back burner I was actually losing myself." As such, one of the most important takeaways from Mia's fitness transformation is the strong respect she gained for herself. By pushing her body and mind to the absolute limit, she discovered her ability to break down internal walls she didn't even know existed.

"Not only did I start creating the body I've always wanted, I created the person I always wanted to be. I became a person who could look at herself in the mirror and say 'I like you, I like you a whole hell of a lot.'"

In addition to continuing to work on her own training in order to eventually participate in a figure competition, Mia would also someday like to start an organization for young girls to build their self esteem and teach them about the importance of eating healthy, being healthy, and creating a healthy mind. "Girls these days are subject to so much body hate growing up," Mia explained – and she wants to do everything she can to fight the negativity and social pressures so that all girls can have the chance to look at themselves in the mirror with love and respect for their own badass bodies.