Health & Wellness......MY Journey

For most of my adult life, I have battled my weight & had a very poor body image.  In our society it is in our face every single day, every where we turn that we are supposed to look a certain way & be a certain size.  Thanks to Hollywood & magazines our idea of beauty is so skewed & messed up. Thankfully, the older I get the easier it is to realize that the goal shouldn't be to be "skinny" or beautiful.  The goal should be to be healthy.  If we take care of our bodies with a proper diet & exercise we will make ourselves healthy.  Then a smaller body size & a certain kind of beauty will be ours. 

I'll be 42 in 8 months.  I'm determined to make 42 my healthiest year yet.  I have yo-yo dieted & lost & regained the same 10-15 pounds for the past 10 years.  When I got pregnant with Ava, I was bigger than I had ever been.  Thru both pregnancies, I gained very little weight.  BUT I was still bigger than I'd ever been  & I wasn't able to lose the extra weight after giving birth. 

After turning 40 almost a year & a half ago, I decided once & for all to get my health & weight under control. While I have been excited to figure this out, I have hit a few speed bumps along the way.  I've finally had success & have lost more weight this time than any other time I've attempted to lose weight.  I'm still not where I want to be, but I am well on my way & I am already a MUCH healthier version of myself.  Since last July I have lost 41.5 pounds & 8.1% body fat.  I feel like a new person.....and I've lost what equals to a small person. And now I want to share my story.  I hope you'll indulge me & follow along.  I will be doing a series of posts over the next few weeks/months.  I'd love for you to join me on this journey. 


 I will not even pretend to treat or diagnose anything.  I'm simply going to share information & tips & actions & products that have worked for me & helped me become a healthier version of myself.  I will tell you right now, there has been no magic pill, no quick fix, no "easy button."  Just a lot of work, sweat, tears, & real food.  

 
 
This first before/after picture is me in May 2015 & today.  The next picture is me in March 2016 & today.  As stated earlier, I'm not where I want to be, but I'm so much better than I was.   









They say great things happen just outside of your comfort zone.  I've never been one to share too many personal details about myself.  But I'm going to step outside of my comfort zone on this & share this journey.  I'm hoping that it will help & encourage someone else.  And I'm counting it keeping me accountable.  :)  One of my goals, aside from getting healthy, was to become a runner.  Several years ago, I completed the couch to 5k program & was just starting to understand what people mean about enjoying running.  Then I got sick & the weather turned colder.  That turned into my excuse to quit that time.  So, of course, the weight came back & I got down on myself & let it win.  I'm not going to let that happen this time. I am currently on week 5 day 2 of the Couch to 10K program. We are just coming upon my favorite time of year.  And with my recent weight loss, I'm finally enjoying running.

These cool, crisp, fall-like mornings are ideal for running. I will be sharing more details from this beginning of my journey in later posts.  I hope you'll tune in.