My Journey

     
 I had my daughter in June 2012. I was over joyed to have this little blessing in my life but the truth was I was overweight, lazy, and nothing fit. I was depressed because I wasn't happy with myself. I would look in the mirror daily and put myself down. I would hide under baggy clothes and although I appeared happy, I was miserable. To cope with my depression I did want I have always done, EAT! But now being a stay at home gave me even more time to eat, which eventually put me at my highest weight I had ever been, even higher than when I was pregnant. 

    Now my journey wasn't one "A-HA!" moment. It was several. The first being in May 2013, I found myself soul searching and decided I was going to put in my more time for myself. I had seen a "beach body coach" posting about Insanity, P90x, Turbo Fire, all of which I had seen or heard of before but the part that really stood out was that she was offering to be there for me every step of the way to really motivate, push, and hold me accountable. Which like many others this was exactly what I needed. I can workout and attempt to eat right but I always was lacking the drive! I decided to learn more and so I shot her an email asking more about what she was offering. At the time I had a gym membership that was "frozen" and I really didn't have the money to buy anything. But then I thought to myself "Why am I worried about the money? I can't put a price on my health." So I decided to take that leap of faith and go ahead and try this out.

       Once I decided to commit my first struggle was taking the "Before" pictures. I took mine in a bathing suit that once fit me. Facing those pictures was my reality check, I had not really realized just how big I had got. It was really embarrassing. I was the same size as most of the women that were cast on the hit T.V. series, Biggest Loser! But I didn't let that stop me, in fact it did the exact opposite. Seeing those pictures and realizing just how much weight I had gained was my driving force (at first) At first this was just another "diet/exercise" attempt to loose the weight I had gained as fast as I could. Not really realizing it was about to be SO much more than that.









       After my first "Challenge" I was pretty excited. Mainly because I had never successfully lost over 15lbs at one time in my life. I had always lost the 15lbs, then gone back to my old ways and gain it back plus another 5lbs. Over the years it slows starts to add up! But in just 60 days I had lost 25lbs. That was the same size of my one year old. Of course, I was over the moon and super impressed with my discipline and motivation. I was enjoying my journey so much I had added in Couch to 5k training as well. The one thing I loved most about added in cardio was that everyday I got faster, I ran farther, and I had less pains. I was beginning to see myself as a runner, which never in my life did I ever think that was a category I would fall under. 

      The next few months I hit I "rough" patch that lasted a few months. I was still applying things I had learning during my first challenge. I was batch cooking healthy meals in my crock pot for the week. I was still going out and doing my couch to 5k and even run long distances 3-4x a week. But I was having way too many cheat meals. Now I am all for cheat meals. I believe they help you make changes for life. Lets face it, we all have certain things that we HATE to LOVE!! But one cheat meal a week or even every other week is one thing. I was having 2-3 cheat meals a week. I wouldn't admit it at the time but I was struggling. Luckily I didn't put on weight because during these months I still had a couple pretty good weeks. 





        Then I decided I needed to get back into these challenge groups. I needed the support and the motivation to keep my diet clean. Once I joined a challenge group, I was back! I committed to not let the holidays defeat me. I want to be the one to LOOSE weight during the holidays and fight off the temptations. This is when I hit "ONE"derland. No longer was I in the 200s. Oh man that felt great! I had been stuck in the 200s for far too long. (MAY U R.I.P 200's! 2011-2013) This is also about when I stopped being so ashamed and shy about my weight and what I was doing. Some people knew I was dieting and working out but not to the full affect. This was when I decided to share it all. My progress pictures, my weight, my struggle, and my journey. I had been hiding it because if I failed I didn't want people to know my weight and see what I really looked like under the baggy clothes. But not anyone, I wasn't going to fail and I was never going back.