As long as I can remember I’ve struggled with the ups and downs of the scale. In High School I tried Weight Watchers, and then again in College after gaining the infamous freshman 15+. When I lost my freshman 15+ it felt amazing to be “me” again. Not long after getting married I didn’t work to keep things in balance and slowly put weight back on. I attempted to lose weight before trying to get pregnant and before I knew it I was expecting. After 2 kids I decided this was it – I needed to make myself a priority.
I started my journey full force in January of 2014. I began using “myfitnesspal” to track food & nutrition and had success losing weight. I then began using “couch25k” to incorporate fitness into my journey and to work up to running a 5k. In October of 2014 I ran my first 5k and officially caught the running bug. I signed up for more races to give myself a goal to achieve with each race. I made it my priority to run 3 days a week by keeping to a set schedule. I made sure that my running days were just that – I never scheduled things on those days. It was my time to run!
By July of 2016 I needed to change things up and joined Primal Athletics. I found muscles I never knew I had from trying new classes whether it was lifting weights or other forms of cardio. In January I made a goal for myself to get the gym more than 3 days a week and have averaged 5 days a week since. I also started weekly private training sessions in January with Brian to help meet more of my own personal goals. In February, I committed to doing the Primal Athletics 12 week fitness challenge with my gym buddy Laurie. With constant motivation and inspiration all around me at Primal I lost almost 20 pounds and a lot of inches on the challenge.
Since the challenge I’ve continued to lose weight and inches through proper nutrition and exercise. There are days that are easy and there are days that are tough to eat right and find the time to exercise but I work to maintain a balance. This is my journey and I’m in control of it. I couldn’t have made it this far without the support of my husband – he’s always standing in my corner encouraging me to go after my goals even if it means that he’s on bedtime/storytime duty with the kids 3 nights a week. My kids are always there along with my brothers to cheer me on at races pushing me to reach my next running goal. And then there’s my gym family who inspire and motivate me daily to do more with each class or training session. It’s amazing to look back to see how far I’ve come on my journey.
The journey continues but it changes as I go. Looking ahead I hope to run faster, lift heavier, and lose more weight to become the best version of me for me – but also for my kids and for my husband. I want them to have the best of me! In the process of my own journey I hope that I have motivated my kids to be the best they can be and be active! I love watching them be active in dance, sports, and running.
Since 2014 I’ve lost 70lbs from the day I started using “myfitnesspal”, lots of inches, several pant sizes and gained my self-confidence and self-esteem back. For a while I hated being in pictures because it was a reality check for me and now I love being in them. Pictures are the way I gauge my progress too – sometimes the scale doesn’t change but it’s not the end all be all. Progress can be how you look, how you feel, not necessarily the number the scale gives you.