This was me when my son turned 1 (my daughter was 2 1/2):

I was only 24 years old and felt fat and old! I was super unhappy.   A short time after this I started weight watchers.  I lost a bit of weight and dropped a size.  Went from a 14 to a 12.  This was not my idea of weight loss and I felt starved all of the time.  I didn’t feel like the program helped me learn to eat better, just less of the crap I was already eating.  And not enough.  I was tired and cranky still.  I never learned to eat well growing up.  My parents didn’t have much money and we ate cheap.  When I was a kid I was super active and the poor eating didn’t really make a huge difference to my body (although, I’ve never had a nice midsection).

After weight watchers, I didn’t look a lot better.  This is me for my daughter’s 3rd birthday (6 months later):

I was about 15 lbs lighter but only 1 size smaller.  I was still very unhappy.  My husband told me I could get myself a gym membership and get kids club to go with the kids.  I went day and night for months and months.  The problem was I wasn’t doing weights because I really didn’t know what to do…I was loving doing 30 mins of cardio and then showering and getting ready in peace (to fully use my 2 hours of kids club) in the morning, then I would go back and do 30 mins in the eve.  It was relaxing.  A little bit of weight came off, but nothing substantial.  I went occasionally until my kids started school, then it became easier to go and more like a routine.

I invested in a personal trainer.  It was nice to have a reason to be accountable.  I had an appointment, so I went.  I learned a lot of exercises, I learned nothing about nutrition.  I did lose a bit of weight and was happy.  Eventually I couldn’t afford to pay the trainer anymore, but thankfully found a friend that had been working out for years.  I started meeting her after dropping the kids at school.  We met everyday.  We did cardio, we lifted, we did more cardio.  It was great for me.  I lost 30 lbs in the first 5 months.  It was perfect.  I felt amazing.  I was down to a size 8, finally in single digits.  During these 5 months I went into the local Max Muscle often and talked w/ the owner (Austin) about how to eat properly, exercise properly, and keep on the right path.  He was an amazing help and he and his wife have become some of my closest friends.  After my friend moved away, I have found more passion in learning to become more healthy on the inside.  I spend a lot of time learning about how my body works and what it necessary to keep it healthy.

By 2009 (my son was 9), I had made it to a size 5 overall and was super happy with my progress. But if I could get to a 5, what was keeping me from pushing harder? NOTHING!! I am still on this journey.  Today I am between a 0-2 and would love to be more lean and have more definition, so I continue on my journey that is full of ups and downs and rough spots.  I just get up and keep pushing! And honestly, if I can do it, so can you!!

(I don’t have a super recent pic, but will add one in the next week or so!)

If you’d like to read about the reason why other fitness women got started, check out the other Fitness Blog World bloggers!! They are an amazing group of ladies!!

When life is moving quickly and you need to prep food fast I have a few go to recipes.  The easiest one I have is a few ingredients w/ 1 pan!  Check it out: asparagus (I cut mine into bite size pieces, artichoke hearts (I buy in a steamer bag frozen), jar of sun dried tomatoes, chicken, and Mrs. Dash chicken seasoning. I put sun dried tomatoes w/ the oil from the jar in a pan, cook the chicken through out in this w/ Mrs. Dash seasoning, add asparagus, and artichoke hearts and cook until heated throughout.  Then I just portion out the chicken to my needs and add the rest!!

YUMMY, SUPER YUMMY that is!!  If you eat carbs, you can add to brown rice, quiona, or couscous.

The key to healthy eating is PREP, PREP, PREP!! Cook large quantities and have it ready for the week!! It really does help!!

I am going to use my home grown spaghetti squash for noodles and add ground turkey for a diet friendly meal that is healthy for all!! Gonna work on the squash tomorrow.

Love when I can capture cute moments with the kids and puppy!!  The kids are loving the new puppy…hubby and I well, we love him, but he has MUCH more energy than the last dog we had.  We are all still adjusting a bit!

We took a family walk to the new Farmer’s Market in our neighborhood.  Of course we bought some strawberries, a watermelon, some sesame sticks (for hubby), honey sticks (for girl), but we also found a cute little homemade dog treat booth and when we bought some pumpkin cookies she gave us this cute scarf free.  He doesn’t love it, but it’s cute!! And a bit too big!

This is just some of the nice things my daughter had grown out of:

And oh so much more!

Apparently when I fell asleep on the couch mid day, our new puppy Shadow came and laid with me and my kids snuck a pic.

Here we are walking over to the excitement from our spot on the beach!  It’s a much longer walk w/ a 2 year old.

He’s cute, so he’s worth it!!

The outdoor free concert arena has no crowd in the morning, but it’s the HOT SPOT in the evening!!

The kids w/ the sunglasses and hats they won at various spots! My son was so excited that his friend won 2 Hurley hats and gave him one…it MADE his summer!! LOL

The traditions pic w/ the giant logo is a must each year!!

Cute pics in the expo area of the kids surfing! LOL  Probably as close as they’ll ever get to it, so I had to get a pic!!  Then they all tuckerd out from the crowds and heat and wanted to go play in the sand and water…so we did!

My girl heading out to boogie board…she’s so cute!

She had a blast in the water.

This is my husband’s fave pic…he says the way I took it makes the wave look HUGE behind her and that she is trying to get away from it.  In reality, I think she is just getting the board ready to put down and the wave was far enough away that it was going to crash and give her white water (what she likes to boogie board in because she doesn’t have to go out so far).  It is kinda neat how misleading some pics can be.

The waves were a bit strong for my boy, he was quite timid and didn’t venture out far this time.

He enjoyed playing in the sand much more than in the water, which is pretty normal for him.

He is my little surfer (looking) boy! LOL

After we were done playing and our friends left since the little one had been out in the heat/sun long enough, we went back to the car, changed, ate dinner (of course I packed food for the entire day for everyone!) and then we went back to the expo area.

It was a wonderful day!! =)

Snuck a pick through the window of Shadow playing on the trampoline…he looked up when he heard the camera open, but couldn’t figure out where I was at.  He was very cute to watch roll around and play on the warm trampoline.

Homemade salsa from mostly garden items.  My own tomatoes and red jalapenos, fresh store bought garlic and fresh onion from the store, plus some pepper.  It is super spicy!! But yummy!!