About

Who is Coach Karla?

Fitness has always been something I’ve enjoyed, though my interest would wax and wain due to the seasons in my life. Over the years, I participated in numerous aerobics classes, taught kickboxing, lifted weights, played soccer, enjoyed bicycling with friends, and most recently, learned to figure skate.

While I have remained active throughout my life, my diet has always needed work. I love anything fried, and my Venezuelan heritage pulls me towards a love of corn, cheese and coffee. I love fruits and veggies, but never seemed to get enough of them during the day, and I really struggled to eat enough protein.

When beginning my fitness journey, I learned a lot about portion control and found I was able to break my old eating habits, incorporate regular exercise into my schedule, and built a healthier lifestyle overall. As an added bonus, these changes made an impact on my family, friends, and co-workers. I love sharing what I’ve learned and promoting a different way to think about food and exercise.

I’ve also discovered a new passion for fitness and hope to continue it by providing coaching services to those who are interested!  While I’m not yet certified, I’ve learned a great deal about nutrition and how the body functions.  Ideally, any income from being a coach will help to cover class expenses as I work to become a certified personal trainer and nutritionist starting in the fall/winter of 2016!

Overall, however, I seek to glorify God in all I do!  Thanks for stopping by to check out my site!

Transformation Story

After decades of being unhappy with my body, I was prompted to make a change when a high school classmate invited her Facebook friends to participate in the 21 Day Fix.  I didn’t know what that was, but quickly learned it was a product by the same company who did P90X, which I heard of before: Beachbody.

After some hesitation, I decided to buy the program and give it a go in May 2015.  After all, it was only three week…21 days.  What could I lose?  I got the base kit for $50, and the rest was history.

Following my first round of the fix, I was ecstatic to lose 5 pounds and around 2 inches. I decided to do another round and continued to see results.  In addition to loving the workouts, I enjoyed planning my meals, and eating better foods overall.

After 4 rounds of the 21 Day Fix, I was ready to up my game and moved to the 21 Day Fix Extreme.  The workouts were tougher, but fun!  Another 4 rounds flew by, and by this time, I’d lost roughly 20 pounds and 15 inches.  I then moved onto the Masters Hammer & Chisel and completed 2 rounds of that program by March 2016.  During all of these programs, I followed Beachbody’s portion/container system and had amazing results.  However, being 20 pounds leaner, I began to plateau.

I started tracking my food using MyFitnessPal to see where I was falling calorically, and determined that even at the lowest container bracket, I was still consuming too much food to lose weight.  That’s when I learned about IIFYM (if it fits your macros) and flexible dieting.  It was at this time I began my personal Macro Experiment, which I documented in my blog.  I saw amazing results and also gained a wealth of knowledge through research, trial, and error.  I found a new passion for fitness and nutrition, and thus Solana Fitness was born!

May 2015:
Weight: 149
Body Fat: ~29%
Waist: 36 inches
Dress size: 8

July 2016:
Weight: 118
Body Fat: ~16%
Waist: 25.5 inches
Dress size: 00

Additional Benefits:
No longer suffer from chronic headaches or back/hip pain, increased strength, flexibility and stamina.