The greatest of journeys truly begin with a single step.

I confess. I was overweight and unhappy. I was tired of not being able to keep up with my children (that were younger then and still ran and played) and hated the way I could no longer feel comfortable in anything I owned.

But what to do? How do I fix this?
It seems like a common sense question with easy answers, but no. It's not.
I come from a family that treats food like love. We get together, we eat...someone is born...we eat...someone dies...we eat (you get the idea).....and by the time I had reached my heaviest I had been to many of those tables...lol.

I am a researcher...I'm a reader. I'm a thirster for knowledge. If I don't understand or know something I need/want to I will pick it apart until I understand it or have driven myself crazy...and so it was for this information I was so seeking.

I am blessed that I have been married to a wonderful man that has been fitness minded from the 'get go' and has even received his personal training degree and physical therapy degree. He helped me to have him as a sounding board and educator along the way.

I realize everyone doesn't have someone to turn to in order to help them along the way once they've decided enough is enough & they want to get fit.

Here is an example of how I went...where I turned.and how it helped me in the end. I am in no way a doctor, nor do I play one of TV. I'm just me....trying to help others they way people have helped me.

go see your doctor and be cleared to do workouts and diets, etc.

I decided I wanted to go 'low carb' (kinda explanatory what that means), so I joined BEYOND LOW CARB and started reading upon how to reach my goal and what I needed to find out to know my calories and such.......

body building diet is a good site to read & get more information....

nutrition information a good read also

Carb, Protein, Fat calorie calculator

FIT DAY is a good site to put in what you eat and such.

GYMGA for tracking your workouts

find a 'diet' plan that works for you. Some people do well with programs and others do not. What it really boils down to is EAT LESS......MOVE MORE.

Online Fitness Log (free trial) (I tried this one, by this time I could figure out on my own and do gymga for free)

if you like to run Couch to 5K is a great place to start!

a list of good reads- so helpful!

One of my favorite authors is Jillian Michaels. I love her approach to fitness. (I know shes not everyone's cup of tea). I have read all of her books and have most of her DVD's and have even joined her website JIllian Michaels online before......you can have a free membership for a period of time (the last time I joined) and if you have purchased some of her products, they also have offers for membership. *I'm the kind of person I like free.....*

if you can not buy the books you need/want to read, your local library is a great place to get them. You can also swap books at www.paperbackswap.com  (at your own risk).

and a little funny to help you even more how to get fit....let me google that for you :o)

to sum it up....How I got in shape in 12 steps....

1. I stopped drinking my calories. Gave up colas (still struggle with this one)
2. I ate more natural foods.....fresh veggies, fresh fruit.....
3. I planned my meals and my portions for each meal, and tracked them so I knew I wasn't going over my MACROS. YES it takes time......yes I had to a lot of brown bagging it at work...but it was important to me and I made it work.
4. I ate at HOME. Stopped eating out all-the-time. The only place I really eat out now (unless I am having a splurge day) is at Subway. I love it there.
5. STAYED away from sugars. I know this is hard...believe me, I know this is hard....but it can be done! :o) I know that a certain amount of sugars will be there, but try to have them be in the fruits you eat...
6. stayed away from salty foods. RETAINING water.yeah. we don't need that. No extra salt no extra water.just that simple.
7. I ate more lean protein. For me I basically went PALEO and that has worked for me.
8. As stated earlier, I had short term and long term goals. I put them on the fridge & with one of my long time goals was to fit into this little black dress....I purchased the black one I loved in the size I dreamed to be..I hung it on my closet so I could see it every day..and encourage me.....
9. To repeat myself......EAT LESS MOVE MORE.......I made sure I stayed within my MACROS, (as much as possible) and then made sure I worked off the extra I ate above my maintaining macros.....
10. EXERCISE. Some people don't realize that for me loving exercise is not something I started out loving. It was something that I grew to love. Give it a chance.......you may love it too...just like you use to love to play...running until it hurt to breathe...swinging on the swings....etc. you can go back to that....
11. Finding a partner-some people do well with having a workout buddy. I do well with working out alone, but when I started it was good to have my hubbs there to show me what to do....don't be afraid to ask someone to help you!
12. RELAX......don't (over) do it.......take those days off that you 'earn'. You need to rest. Your body needs it.

I went out & found the prettiest journal that I could find to write down my workouts and meals down in daily. It really helped to have that visual on my kitchen table as I walked by that I had fitness goals I wanted to reach....

I believe in this so much that I will have a drawing to give away this JOURNAL

HOW TO WIN
1. post a comment below. If you leave your facebook name, link, etc. I will notify you when you win

(yep..thats it.....)

this contest will be open until 3/30/12 and then I will use a random number generator to pick the winner.

look forward to more blog entries about this in days to come