Life Before KickStart
How was your body before Trevor Kashey Nutrition?
Physically, my body was in the cusp area of normal to slightly overweight by most external measures. Nothing dramatic, nothing that would have alarmed anyone looking at me. But I felt flabby in a way that the scale didn’t fully capture, and I was exhausted in a way that had become my baseline. I couldn’t get through a day without hitting a wall. I had gotten to a point where I felt forced to lean into the body positivity movement and accept that I wouldn’t be able to do any better.
How did that (state of being) make you feel?
It made me feel like a diminished version of myself. Not incapable in every area but like there was a glass ceiling on what I could achieve physically, and that ceiling bled into everything else. Confidence isn’t compartmentalized. When I didn’t feel good in my body, I didn’t show up the same way in rooms, in relationships, in opportunities. There was always a constant, semi-conscious awareness that I wasn’t looking or feeling my best.
Was there anything you were unable to do that you wish you could have done?
As a single mom navigating the dating world, I didn’t feel confident enough in my body to know my own worth. And when you don’t know your worth, you settle. I accepted less than I deserved in who I chose, in how I allowed myself to be treated, in what I believed I was allowed to want. The connection between how I felt physically and how I showed up in my own life was more direct than I ever admitted at the time. It wasn’t just about how I looked. It was about whether I believed I was worth choosing. And for a long time, I didn’t fully believe that I was.
During that time, how did your current state of being affect those around you?
I wasn’t present. That’s the simplest and most honest way to say it. I was physically there but energetically somewhere else and tired in a way that made real presence almost impossible. And the low confidence didn’t just affect me quietly. It led me into a relationship that was damaging, not just to myself but to the people I care about most. My kids deserved a more present, more grounded, more confident version of me. The work I’m doing now is partly for me and partly an amends to them.
The Moment Everything Changed
How did you hear about Trevor Kashey Nutrition?
A friend shared just this chapter of The Comfort Crisis with me. Then I went back and read the whole thing. But I signed up for Kickstart after reading just that one chapter from pictures I took on my phone.
What were your doubts and fears before starting the program?
I was scared it was too good to be true. The tuition reimbursement especially. I kept waiting for the catch. Nothing in my experience with health and wellness programs had ever offered something like that, so I was waiting for the fine print to eventually reveal itself somewhere within the sign-up process.
I was also afraid it would be so rigid and prescriptive that I wouldn’t be able to function in normal life. I have a social life, a family, a church community, restaurants I love, trips I take. Every program I’d tried before felt like it required me to live in a bubble to make it work, and the moment real life showed up the whole thing would collapse. I didn’t want to sign up for something that would just give me one more thing to fail at.
What made you say YES anyway?
I didn’t fully trust Trevor Kashey yet, but I trusted myself, and that distinction mattered. I’ve been in a season of life that’s required me to turn inward in a serious way, to put in the reps across every dimension: mentally, emotionally, spiritually. A lot of hard, quiet work has been happening behind the scenes that most people don’t see. Taking care of my body was just the next outward manifestation of that work. I was tired of my body not reflecting what I already knew I was capable of. I could see the discipline and the follow-through in other areas of my life. and I couldn’t understand why this one kept escaping me. The answer turned out to be that I didn’t have bad motivation, I just needed better direction. Particularly on the behavioral side.
Life After KickStart
Where is your body/mind now?
Physically, I can tell my body is in active recomposition. The scale hasn’t moved dramatically, but my measurements have, my energy is consistent without the crashes. Tracking trends instead of panicking at data points helps me understand what my body is doing and why.
Mentally, I’m a different person than the one who started. I execute planning and preparation much more consistently. I design situations instead of surviving them. I read a hard week as information instead of evidence of failure. I’m actually building a skill.
The confidence piece is still in progress. That’s honest, but there’s a version of me that believes she’s worth the effort.
How does that make you feel?
For the first time in a long time I feel supported, not just by the program or the people in it, but by myself. That’s the part that surprises me most. I’ve spent a lot of years being the last person I could count on. A lot of self-abandonment used to occur. This is just another area of life now where that’s no longer happening.
I’m proud of myself for following through. Not for being perfect. I haven’t been perfect, but for not stopping. For being honest with the spreadsheet after goofy days. For engineering my environment instead of hoping for the best. For doing the Next Right Thing even when I couldn’t see the whole path yet. I know how to read my data now. I know how to adjust. I know how to navigate a restaurant, a family trip, a church dinner, a food pusher, a plateau. That knowledge lives in me now. Nobody can take it back.
What are you able to do now that you were not able to do before (mentally, emotionally, or physically)?
I fit in all my freaking clothes! I am stronger than I was when I started. But I just feel calmer and happier, knowing that I can keep up this lifestyle for a lifetime and stay healthy without crazy, restrictive dieting.
The Ripple Effect
What positive impact did that have on others around you that you might not have expected?
My friend Chris introduced me to this specific chapter of The Comfort Crisis and watched me actually take the plunge and said I basically inspired him for the rest of his life just for signing up.
My kids got a better version of me. My boss and my employees got a better version of me. Multiple friends have told me that I have inspired them to start taking steps to make some changes. Hopefully a couple will take the full Kickstart plunge.
Morgan’s Words to You
What would you tell someone who is reading this right now and is unsure about taking the next step?
What Dr. Kashey said: “Things seem hard because we lack the skills to make them easy, but the actual difficulty is often an illusion.” Sometimes building the skill is just taking the first step and saying yes. The rest is just putting in the reps. By the end of twelve weeks you will have tangible physical results, absolutely no doubt. But what you’ll also undoubtedly have is a set of skills that bleed into every area of your life. The way you make decisions. The way you handle stress. The way you show up for yourself when things get hard. Especially if you have a lot of balls in the air right now. Especially if life feels overwhelming. This program meets you there. Not to add one more thing to your already overloaded life, but to support you through it.
