Meet Dougmary Esquijarosa | Fitness and Nutrition Expert

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dougmary Esquijarosa and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dougmary, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?

We are Two former dieters who turned weight loss coaches and now are on a mission to help women in their 40s lose weight sustainably without sacrificing your favorite foods.
Back in 2015 when we first met, we were attempting to shed pregnancy weight and regain our confidence. Kausar, my business partner, was a zumba teacher and I was a new mom trying to shed extra pounds. We became friends and together tried the 5 AM boot camp classes, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, even cutting out carbs, wine, and parts of our cultural cuisine.

None of it worked… leading us to hit rock bottom, deepening our frustrations and damaging our self-esteem.

Together we went back to school for fitness and nutrition and became obsessed with finding a way to say buh-bye to the extra pounds without doing the same to our favorite dishes AND we wanted to make sure our success would stick.

We didn’t want to get on that diet hamster wheel again. Through trial and error, we realized just how important habit creation is to losing weight and keeping it off. To get good at anything and see results requires consistency, and that’s why fad diets don’t work.

From there, we learned how to track our macros so we could still enjoy our fave dishes without the gut wrenching guilt afterward and lost 70 pounds combined!! We knew we were onto something and launched our business to help other women like us.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

What set us apart from other fitness businesses might be that we went through the same struggles as our clients. We understand and support them because we were there, physically and emotionally.

We are so proud of the community we have built over the years and how we have grown our business organically, just now, after almost 4 years in business we are thinking of investing in advertising. Our business has grown mainly through word of mouth, our clients recommend our work because we bring accountability and support like any other wellness program.
We are also proud of how quick we adapt to the circumstances. Our business was 90% in person and 10% online before the pandemic. It was hard for people to understand the concept of coaching online but we keep building systems and pushing, and very grateful we did because when the pandemic hit we already had everything set up so we migrated 100% online and haven’t gone back. Our clients have seen better results with this model.

It has not been easy at all, a lot of mindset comes into play when you are the owner of your business. One day you feel like the queen of the world in the morning and at the end of the day you feel like quitting. It is an emotional roller coaster.

The biggest gift in our business is having one another, when one of us is feeling low, the other lifts you up and we keep going, also making the commitment of not quitting and that our business is our plan A,B and C.

The lessons we have learned being a business owner for 4 years have been not waiting for everything to be perfect to show up in front of your audience. Our motto is “Take the path of least resistance”, we are innovating and we have no fear of launching a new product even though everything is not ready or perfect. We have also learned about hiring experts to help us to get faster results: coaches, marketing agencies, experts on email marketing and content.

We would love the world to know that there is a healthy way to lose body fat that can be sustainable where you can eat your favorite and cultural foods without feeling guilty and that this belief travels to younger generations so they don’t suffer what we have suffered for years. We want the younger generation to enjoy food without restrictions and fad diets.

We also would love women of the word to know they can change careers and launch their own business if they have that spark inside of them. Both of us changed our careers, Kausar is a Biochemist and I have a bachelor in Mass communication. We found our passion late in life and went for it, it is scary and exciting at the same time but we shouldn’t be afraid of doing it. Life is only one and we should go for it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Love this. Ok! I live between Jersey City Downtown and Manhattan, so this week is going to be so much fun.

Day 1: I would take her for a tour in Jersey City downtown and walk through the waterfront. We would have lunch at Southouse restaurant and then drinks at Lokal or Batello because they have the best views of Manhattan.

Day 2: I would take her to Manhattan for lunch at Planta Restaurant (My fav vegan rest) then we would go to a Broadway show, have Ramen for dinner at K-town and drinks at one of the rooftops in Manhattan

Day 3 and 4 : I would drive her to ski in upstate New York and then having a cozy dinners in front of a fireplace

Day 5: We’ll be back to Jersey City and I will bring her with me in a day in my life. Having coffee in any coffee shop in town, having lunch together and working out together.

Day 6 and 7: I would take her to all the tourist places in Manhattan like the Statue of Liberty, MOMA, Rockefeller center, Grand central station, Bryant Park, Time Square, eating at Soho and Chelsea Market.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our biggest shout out to the women community in Jersey City. They have supported us since we launched our business.

Website: https://bff.zone

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weightloss.with.bff/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Weightlossbefore40

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3_0qHLzycThjKOcNKnELJQ/featured

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@weightlosswithbff

Image Credits
Our photographer was https://www.photographybyesohe.com