Bio - Holly Binkley

Hi!  As you already know, my name is Holly Binkley.

I have included a bio here for you to see all of my experience but wanted to also add a more personal note for you to get to know me.

When I was younger, I was one of those girls who was “as skinny as a rail”.  I have a small frame and never could gain much weight upon it for my height of 5′5″.  As I got older I began training with weights and was able to shape and tone my physique into my early 20’s.

When my husband and I were married we decided that we were going to start a family.  After many attempts which included an ectopic pregnancy, a miscarriage and a few surgeries for ovarian cysts, I was then informed that I couldn’t have children, much to my dismay.  I turned all of this over to God and let go of the dream of having a family.

A few years later, I wasn’t feeling well.  Something  just wasn’t right and I finally went to the doctor to discover that we were, in fact, pregnant again!  I was so excited and couldn’t wait to share with everyone but was very afraid after losing the other two babies.  I was miraculously able to carry this child full term and was blessed with a baby boy.  God is so faithful to give us the desires of our heart if we will only trust HIM with our life instead of trying to do things on our own.

After having my son, I was still having struggles with my cycles and was continuously having to see my doctor for various problems.  I ended up having surgeries for Ovarian cysts twice and having one ovary completely removed.  It was devastating but, again, I accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to have anymore children.

We later found out, again, that I was pregnant.  I was shocked, to say the least, because the odds were so against it.  But this time my baby died within my womb and had to be surgically removed.  :(  It was so heartbreaking.  Additionally, my doctor also found more cysts and recommended that we tie the tubes because he was going to have to remove most of the remaining ovary and because I was now in my late 30’s.

The surgeries caused many more problems with my cycles, hormones, etc. The hormone imbalance caused me to pack on the pounds and I ended up weighing as much as full-term pregnancy.  I felt awful and there was nothing I could do to get the weight off.  I was battling much more than weight, too.  I was feeling extremely depressed, lacked energy and was still mourning the loss of my baby.

Since I had always been into fitness, I tried putting myself on a training program only to fail time after time.  I knew that God wanted more for me but I just didn’t have the motivation and diligence to stick with my own program until I hired a personal trainer to help me.  I knew what I had in mind for a trainer and searched and searched until I found Kim Oddo.  He was featured in an interview on Bodybuilding.com’s website and when I visited his website and discovered that he was practically in my backyard I knew I’d found my trainer!  He was amazing and gave me the encouragement I needed to succeed.  I couldn’t have achieved what I did without my faith in God and my trainer.  Kim helped me through the lows and cheered for me during my successes. It was wonderful.  Then I decided to go ahead and try a competition since it had been a dream of mine.  I always was a huge fan of  Rachel McLish and Cory Everson and was very excited to try doing a competition on my own.  I was all geared up to compete only to have to have another surgery… but you know what? This time I was able to resume training almost immediately after surgery because I was so much more fit than previously and ended up doing two competitions in only 6 months after surgery!!  I placed in 3 out of 4 of the classes I entered and was extremely proud of my accomplishments.

After my competition though, we had a tragedy in my family.  My younger brother disappeared in the desert near Las Vegas and was found 3 months later, deceased.  There’s a lot more to the story but that’s all I prefer to disclose… This sent me into an emotional tailspin and I once again packed on the pounds, even though I wasn’t eating much more than previous.  I turned to food instead of relying on God to get me through.  I even tried to do another training program with my trainer and he suggested that I seek medical attention to find out what was wrong because he said my body wasn’t responding properly to the training and nutrition plan.  I, first, went to my medical ob/gyn and the doctor I saw that day piled a bunch of anti-depressant medications on me and referred me to a psychologist for counseling.  I was livid…there was no way I was going to take a bunch of drugs to get through this. I knew there was something more!!  I went to my church and sought counsel with a wonderful Godly woman who told me what I knew all along, that I was holding all of this in and not releasing it to HIM.  Then, I found a wonderful Naturopathic Doctor who, after a series of questioning had me take a series of tests that helped her to determine that my entire adrenal system was out of whack due to the amount of stress I was experiencing and she prescribed a nutrition program, a cleanse, and some healthy supplements and I’ve been healthy and fit ever since!   It just goes to show how faith in God, eating clean, managing stress and getting enough rest can make such a difference with the functioning of your body.

So I’ve shared my journey with you and I hope that I have encouraged you to start your fitness program today. It’s never too late.

Now at the age of 46 I am happy, healthy, and am enjoying the career of my dreams – to help others achieve a life of fitness!

Please feel free to click around my site and if you have any questions please fill out a Contact Form.

Thanks for visiting my page and I look forward to hearing from you!

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