My Story

I didn't grow up in the type of family who had fast food for dinner more often than a home cooked meal, or played video games instead of riding bikes or playing tag. On the contrary, my Mom never fed us fast food except on rare occasions (what's a Big Mac?)and because I grew up in the country we had lots of room to run and play, which we did. I think my eating habits were fairly healthy and I was active, but I didn't realize I had to "fine-tune" them as I got older. When I was 7 it was almost harmless to eat 4 cookies because I would burn off the calories as I rode my bike down our 1/2 mile road, or as I played kick-ball on our large lawn. I soon discovered that changed, however. When I entered college I made the mistake of thinking that I could eat very little all day, even skip breakfast (eating less food is better, right?) and then have a high calorie meal and piece on brownies in the evening, adding up to more calories than I should have been eating throughout the entire day! What happened? I damaged my metabolism, if there is such a term, and gained weight without fast food, pop, potato chips and everything that I thought contributed to becoming a little heavy.

I've never been obese and not necessarily "fat", but definitely chunky. As I watched my slimmer sisters eat the same way I was, with no apparent consequences, I
figured I was just bigger and there was nothing I could do about it. I was wrong!

After reading a lot and learning from my husband who had been educated by a body builder friend,I knew I could lose weight HEALTHILY, and that meant changing the way I was living. I began to work out at the gym, and I mean REALLY work out. I didn't just go to say I went, but I really got my heart rate up. I ran, did the elliptical, lifted weights or took strength training classes 6 days a week. This was a start but the turning point in my health was when I began writing down and counting the calories to everything I ate. I realized I was eating over 2000 calories, and for my height and weight goals I only needed around 1400. I found that although I thought I was a "small" eater at meal times, I would think nothing of popping a handful of M & M's (which are 103 calories for only 10) when I could have eaten an apple for 80 calories which would actually fill me!
Much more will follow on this and many subjects, but fast forward 2 years. I weigh 25 lbs less, have been through two healthy pregnancies which I worked out during all 9 months, and can honestly say I feel better than I ever have!

I have learned a lot and seen results which motivated me to blog about my success. This will be a blog with exercises, recipes and ideas to remaining active while single, pregnant, or with children . I will write about my day to day goals and weekly goals, to prove living a healthy life definitely has a payoff!