Fit Mom of the Month: Katy Smallwood

My story....what makes me a fit mom you ask??? Here goes:


2007 Was a Very “good”? Year…life lessons learned I am submitting my “story”, my “journey” my “tale” in hopes that other women in similar situations know that despite some crummy odds and seemingly HUGE challenges you can achieve your best, most fit and healthiest self and have a great life.

The year was 2007, I was pregnant and on bedrest with my second child. My pregnancy was considered “high risk” due to my pregnancy induced condition called “polyhydramnios” as well as being over 35-advanced maternal age-blah who wants to hear that? Basically, from week 20 on my amniotic fluid levels rose to dangerously high levels.  I was literally about to pop! Usually, amniotic fluid decreases as a pregnancy progresses. Reasons for it were varied but weekly ultrasound and non stress testing showed my little girl, Maggie, was completely “normal” by all visual accounts. That said, my gut told me that all was not “typical”.

Maggie was delivered a week early due to my condition. Within 24 hours she was diagnosed with Treacher Collins Syndrome. She earned her ticket to the NICU within 24 hours of being born. If you google TCS, you will get freaked out. It can be very drastic, disfiguring and debilitating. Lucky for us, Maggie’s was and continues to be moderate. She is Deaf but wears hearing aids. Early on she had some medical issues related & unrelated to TCS. Today, she is a thriving, sassy and tough little girlie who charms and endears everyone she meets. I am blessed….but the story does not stop there… …

When Maggie was 5 months old I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. What? Me? Cancer? I had to stop pumping (due to TCS with her small jaw she couldn’t latch and therefore couldn’t nurse…I pumped for 7 months…).I had a total thyroidectomy with multiple lymph node removal in November 2007. Due to complications with my calcium & magnesium blood levels I stayed in the hospital for a week…versus the 24-36 hr stay we had anticipated. That said…I am blessed that I had and continue to have the best medical care from amazing doctors.

The “wake” from having a wacky thyroid then no thyroid left me overweight, depressed with my hair falling out, fingernails that wont grow and generally bloated & unattractive. I was tired, achy …but still happy to be here…happy to be alive. No matter how early cancer is caught or how “slight” it is made out to be it is still in YOU. In your body. It coats every cell of your body and brain. The overall feeling when you are diagnosed is “get it the heck out”.  But, I SURVIVED!

So, I decided to “take the bull by the horns”…and so my story continues…  …

Spring 2008…  Thru Golds Gym I worked with the best personal trainer…ever…Dan G. I am still in touch with him and can ask him anything-STILL. He was a “gift” for me.  In his personal trainer wisdom he told me,”If you want to lose weight, change your diet. If you want to change your body lift weight”. And so the first exercise he ever had me do was a barbell squat in the big scary squat rack. I haven’t looked back since. And…squats are still my fave exercise….



The last leg of my journey…October 9, 2010. I placed first in Womens Figure Overall Novice Class and Womens Figure Overall 35+ classes at the “Charm City Classic Bodybuilding & Figure Competition” held in Baltimore, MD.  I knew then I was bit by the fitness bug and wouldn’t be returning to my previous self…

Then, on October 23, 2010 I placed 3^rd in the Open Tall Division at the Yorton Cup Nationals in Bethesda Maryland, a pro qualifying event. I got into the best shape of my life…ever. I ate clean and continue to do so. I turned my workouts into my therapy, my stress reliever. And, it propelled me to a place that just a few months earlier had seemed, well…impossible. Nothing is. I really feel like my experiences have taught me to live life like I mean it. I am a better mother, wife, friend, daughter because of all I have been through. And, I hope my journey helps someone just like me see that they can do it, too…
Thanks for taking the time to read about my journey! It means a lot to me!

Sincerely,"Fit Mom" Katy Smallwood



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