When it comes to dealing with roadblocks, Dominique Fleming’s fitness journey was at one time one after another.
When she couldn’t afford a gym membership, she chose to rely on YouTube videos, Pinterest workout ideas and the sidewalks around her home to get a workout in. And when her neighborhood failed to provide much in terms of healthy food options, the 30-year-old made the most of the produce she could find and started experimenting with recipes. She had to really beef up her culinary skills and do her research to enjoy veggies she had never really eaten before. In the end, Fleming’s hard work paid off. Not only did she completely change her body, slimming down and relieving it of pain, but her healthy dishes also caught the attention of many people online, helping her start her own meal-prep business. It’s so big now that she was able to quit her day job and focus on all things health, fitness and nutrition. We talked to the fitness enthusiast and entrepreneur, now based out of Atlanta, about her road to success — both on the scale and in the kitchen.
MadameNoire: I saw on your Instagram that you’ve had quite the transformation over the years. What did it take for you to officially commit and begin this major change?
Dominique Fleming: Basically, at the time when I kind of got started, I was going through a rough phase in life. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I hated my job and everything. I would look at pictures of myself online and sometimes I would see pictures other people took of me and I just didn’t see myself that way. I would look and say, “Wow, am I really that big?” Because I didn’t feel that way. So I started kind of slowly. I started doing cardio. I didn’t know a whole lot about fitness back then so I had to start where I was at the time. It was basically where most people start: ground zero. I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what to eat, didn’t know anything about a gym. So I literally started from 0. I got fed up with the way I was looking and health problems. I was having back issues, knee issues, all types of stuff just from being overweight. And at my age, I just felt I should do something about that.
When did you specifically start changing your diet and how did you start? That’s usually the toughest part for people, letting go of the poor nutrition that’s held us back.
Yeah, that is the main part. When I was in college, I transitioned from being a meat-eater to being vegetarian. It was a big learning experience. At the time, I didn’t know at all what I was doing. I still ate a lot of junk food and a high-carb diet at the time. So when I really changed how I was eating, that was around the time I started working out — about 25, 26. I started experimenting with whole food-based meals. The area I lived in didn’t have a whole lot of food options. We did have one fresh market and it seemed that everything there was whole food based. So it was kind of by force that I started cooking things fresh and experimenting with different vegetables I’d never used before.
I read that initially you weren’t able to afford the costs of gyms where you lived. And like you mentioned, a lot of areas aren’t plentiful in healthy eating markets. How were you able to overcome things that many of us probably would have thrown in the towel over?
Well, at that time I really couldn’t afford a gym membership at all. So I did go on YouTube and looked up at-home workouts. YouTube and Pinterest were really big tools during that time. I did a whole lot of running in my neighborhood because I didn’t have a gym or really any equipment. I had two 10-pound dumbbells that I would use just to do a full-body workout with in my living room. And eventually, a co-worker suggested to me that I join the YMCA because it had an income-based gym membership. So after a couple of months I finally went over there. It’s a sliding price scale. They base it upon your income, so I was able to get in. It was a really great gym and I had no idea that I even had that option initially. That’s something I would definitely encourage people to do. If you’re on tight budget, definitely look for your local YMCA because a lot of the time they do a sliding scale. They have great equipment, just as good as any Lifetime or L.A. Fitness I’ve ever been to. So that was a big help to me.
As far as the food, I was in Detroit at the time and within the city limits, they didn’t have any chain supermarkets. The market that was near me was a mom and pop-owned kind of supermarket and it was small. They really did only carry produce, so I had to kind of make stuff up. I would go in there and buy parsnips and chard and stuff I’d never ever cooked with before and Googled the things I could make with that. So that’s how I got started with the cooking aspect of it. Picking up new ingredients every week and saying, “I’m going to make some type of meal with this.”
I know you said you’ve done intense cardio with a healthy diet as well as focusing on strength training with a healthy diet. Why is the latter form of exercise your preference?
Everybody’s body is different, but I learned that for the aesthetics I was going for, which was still curvy but fit and toned, lifting weights was far more effective than just doing cardio alone. Cardio, when I did do it, I did drop a lot of weight really fast. But I noticed I lost a lot of my curve. I didn’t have a whole lot of butt left. Legs, all of that kind of just really hit the pier. At the time, I really liked that look because I was just happy to have lost some weight. But as I got more experience in the gym, I realized that weightlifting is really what shapes your body. Cardio can help you lose weight, but it’s not going to give you the shape that I know a lot of women of color and a lot of women in my age bracket are looking to have. And a lot of the time, we’re scared to go in there and lift weight for fear of looking “too manly” or bulking up. But it’s really the opposite. It gives you the curves everybody wants in the right places.
So you’ve been at this for a while and really dropped a lot of weight while also tightening and toning. What advice would you give to others who are getting frustrated with not seeing the specific results they want?
It’s been about four years for me. If you’re getting impatient, just realize that this is a lifetime journey. It’s not something that will happen overnight and it’s not something where you’ll reach a particular destination and get to stop. It’s a lifestyle change. So if you’re ready to give up and you’re thinking that maybe you’re not getting to the progress you want, just realize that this is something you’re dedicating yourself to for the rest of your life. You’ll see changes along the way. Just be patient, because you’ll eventually get to a place where you at least feel like you’re making great progress.
How did you end up launching your meal-prep business, Eat With Dom?
So that was actually kind of like a mistake [laughs]. I started out just doing meal prep for myself and would post pictures on Instagram every Sunday. Eventually people started asking me, “Can you do mine?” I started out with maybe two people and I would just do it as they requested. I would freestyle and make whatever I wanted for them. But after a while it kind of started picking up. I was getting requests on Instagram, from co-workers, friends of friends, and before I knew it, I had a full-fledged business to the point where I was able to quit my day job. But it started by mistake. I just started doing it for myself and got coerced into doing it for other people and now it’s a full business.
I do have two assistants right now. At this point, it would be kind of hard for me to do it alone. But we have a pretty decent clientele and we just started shipping, so that’s a new aspect that’s created more of a workload. We’re in the works of trying to find potentially another assistant and another delivery driver. So yeah, it’s growing and we’re pretty excited about where it’s going.
You haven’t been shy about showing your transformation not only with your weight, but with the change in your butt. What are your top three moves for glute development?
I would say the really beneficial things have been weighted cable kickbacks, four sets of those with 12 to 15 reps at a medium weight of 40 to 50 pounds. That’s been really great. Also, deadlifts. They kind of grow the hamstring and that little cup right under the butt. You can really get a lot of nice lift there. And the last one would be raised hip abductors. So just on the hip abductor machine with your hips raised. I usually max out at the heaviest weights I can possibly do because it does build up a lot of muscle there.
With four years of work down, packing on muscle in the right places and garnering a following because of your results, would you say that you’ve reached the goals you had when you initially set out to change you life around?
Yeah! I definitely feel like health wise I’m at a place where I feel really great. I’m at a healthy weight. I like how I look. At this point it’s a lot about maintenance and learning new things. I try to learn new ways to cook things. I try to experiment and pick up new things to make. It’s just about tweaking little things to see the difference. I’ve found that I don’t have to do as much cardio as I once did, and lifting weights has become a lot easier for me. Fifty pound squatting was insane for me initially and now I can squat like 180. So it’s about progress every day. It’s really about learning more about yourself.
Check out Fleming’s site for her meal-prep business, Eat With Dom and follow her fitness and food journey on Instagram with 11,000 other people. Also, check out the rest of our Fitness Friday profiles!
The post Fitness Fridays: Dominique Fleming Shares Story Behind Her Successful Meal Prep Business And Her Body Transformation appeared first on MadameNoire.