before.during.after

With 20 years of bad eating and exercise habits in my back pocket, you don't really change over night. It takes time and it takes effort.
I've never had a good relationship with food, and in my early teens it started to catch up with me. I spent my entire teen years overweight. I was always happy and I never hated myself.


September 2010-Before

But I knew there was more and I chose to change.

In January of 2011 I decided to change my lifestyle permanently and to dedicate my energy to my health and fitness to properly care for my body the way God designed it.
I set a goal to loose 67 pounds and began working out 5 days a week and changing my eating habits. 



November 2011- During. -25 lbs.

After 11 months of sweat and tears I reached the 30 pounds lost mark!! Wow!! I felt incredible!

I decided to take a couple of months off to focus on maintaining my weight loss.

My intention was not to'get skinny', it was to completely overhaul my lifestyle to make fitness a priority.

I took an 4 month break and successfully maintained my weight loss.

During those 4 months I focused on listening to my body and focusing on what needed attention.

This change in my life has caused me to fall in love with running. I am a slow runner, but improving every day!! I have run several 5ks, a 1/2 Marathon and am training for the full 26.2 in April, 2013. My favorite time to run is early morning and I love running in new places! I love that my legs can show me places in this world that I would never have seen without them!!

I also cross-train extensively by lifting weights, HIIT workouts and playing high-intensity sports (volleyball, basketball, tennis etc...). On average I work out 5 days a week with two rest or 'low mileage/intensity' days.

During November 2012- down 50 lbs.

I changed my life because I decided to be done looking in the mirror and wondering WHO was on the inside. I'm not done yet!

What am I made of? What can I do? Who am I?

I'm learning to accept progress, resist the idea of perfection and love myself on the good days and the bad days. I changed my life and am now healthier and happier than I have ever been.
It is hard work, it is the best work.

YOU ARE WORTH IT!

I'm on a journey to be the best me that I can ever possibly be.

One day at a time, better tomorrow than I was today.

We don't 'arrive', we're not 'perfect'; we work, we fail, we try, we get back up; we succeed!