Client Spotlight - Nicole J. Miller
I started at Become Better on July 1, 2019.
Before that, I would consider myself rather sedentary. As someone who came of age during the early aughts, my idea of keeping my body “fit” was just keeping it as small as possible - which was relatively easy for a teen and twenty-something with occasional stomach issues and a fast metabolism. I did do occasional gym stints like during senior year of high school when I would run in sweats until I threw up or a stint in 2014 of 2 a days to get myself back down to 105 pounds to compete for Miss PA USA. I wouldn’t say this number was the norm for pageantry, I just get extremely insecure about wearing bathing suits in public and that’s what I weighed in high school. Maybe I should’ve worked this out mentally before doing such a thing, but I was at the top of the age range and wanted to check this off my bucket list.
But actual “fitness,” wasn’t for me. I didn’t want to look like a man. And skipping meals kept me in a size 0-2. Well, I turned 30 and things changed. I put on a couple pounds and increased to a size 4, and my employer has an optional wellness program that requires you to have bloodwork done yearly in exchange for a health insurance discount. I participated because I’d obviously rather have more disposable income, like any sane person. My results weren’t bad, but as someone who figured thin people didn’t have such problems, I was surprised. My cholesterol was high, but not dangerous. I realized that I needed to exercise in order to not end up on medications and real health conditions within a couple years. So like any sane person would do, I asked my Instagram followers what workouts they liked.
The replies I got ranged from Pilates to Orange Theory, all great options. I also got a message from Nicole (Dan’s girlfriend) about seeing Dan. Nicole and I had been friends for a couple years, and I was familiar with her story and knew she worked with Dan to train and made a ton of progress. I gave him a call and came in for a free session that July.
My session was probably interesting to watch. I planked for 19 seconds and had maybe not the best (body) squat form. But I knew I needed to make a change and I don’t believe in shying away from hard things. So I came back twice a week and sat in my car heavily breathing for about 10 minutes after each session, later progressing to 3 times a week and having less labored breathing.
Even though I was never the strongest at the gym (well, in front of anyone), I was very proud of the progress I’d made and could tell others were proud of me, too. I’d even consider several of these people to now be friends of mine who I care deeply about.
Fast forward to August 2022; I found out I was pregnant! Unfortunately, I had some pretty gnarly morning (all-day) sickness. It halted the progress I was making in trying out Olympic lifting and made me scale back on workouts. That being said, pregnancy is a beautiful thing, and I needed to listen to my body. Dan gave me a modified program to follow so I could do shorter workouts but still maintain some fitness.
My last day at the gym was April 7th, when I was 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant. The next few days I was extremely tired, so I wasn’t up for much after work. On the evening of April 12th, I thought I was experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions, so I relaxed and went to bed early. At about 11PM, I made the decision (after consulting with my doctor) to go to the hospital just to see if anything was up. We got everything together and arrived at West Penn Hospital by about 1AM, and I was in labor!
As any first time mom knows, your first labor can take almost a day or up to a day. Well, I had something called precipitous labor, which just means rapid labor. Sofia Nicole Dalessandro was born by 3:55AM! Although precipitous labor is a thing, what shocked the hospital staff was that I only pushed for 15 minutes, a time that is usually several hours for a first baby. While Sofia was only 6 pounds and 3 ounces, my OBGYN (who has delivered thousands of babies) and the nurses kept asking me what all I did to prepare, as they’d never seen anything like that before, especially since I was unmedicated for my birth. In the moment, I was truly delirious and wanted to talk about the truck hanging off of 79 (Nicole sent this article to me earlier in the day). That being said, it was not the truck that pushed the baby out so quickly. It was me!
I have to thank my dedicated and consistent time in the gym for almost 4 years, and my coaches and support system for helping me be so ready for labor. They even say staying in shape before and while pregnant greatly aids the recovery process, which is also huge. I can’t recommend getting in shape before pregnancy and continuing to workout during pregnancy enough to anyone even considering getting pregnant one day.
Other than for my fast delivery, I can’t recommend Become Better enough. Training here has enabled me to feel so much better physically and sleep better, have consistently healthy bloodwork, and increase my confidence I even picked up some wonderful friends along the way!
Nicole J. Miller
