My total lack of blogging on this does not mean that I have not been hard at work with my new pursuit. In fact, I have been hard at work with this pursuit for years with out even really intentionally doing so. But it is just now that I am realizing this this is something that I LOVE and I want to do more!
Fitness and nutrition are a passion of mine and have been since I was 16. I remember exactly the time in my life when I started on this path of fitness and nutrition; my whole family went to Disney Land for New Years when I was 16 and I remember being at the beach in my swimming suit feeling really self conscience because all the girls around me (I thought) were better than me because they were so much skinnier. I remember asking my mom on that trip how I could look like that, and she said exercise and eat healthy. So when I got home that is what I started doing.
But I did it the wrong way. I obsessed over it. I took it too far, and it took over me. I did get "skinnier" but I was not a healthy skinny. Food controlled me and I was miserable. High school was a really rough. My mom stepped in and said enough is enough and took control, but I still was not ok. It was tough! I graduated from high school at a much better place, but I still struggled.
My first year of college I met Greg, and we became serious. Serious to the point where I was starting to think that having kids was not too far off in the distance, and I didn't even know if I could have kids because I had not had my period "naturally" for a long time. (I know TMI, but hey) I was scared and knew that I had to bite this in the toosh if I wanted the future I dreamed of. I worked hard at getting to an ok place and we got married. Well I was blessed because we welcomed our first son into the world just 6 weeks shy of our 1 year anniversary.
Since then I have tried to focus on being healthy but with a different attitude. Yes, I still struggle from time to time with negative thoughts about food and myself, and that is something I think I will always have to deal with. But I feel like I am in control of food now instead of vice versa. (But not all the time because you know sometimes saying no after 1 cookie is just not possible:))
I have worked out 6 days a week (give or take the times when I am sick, traveling, recovering from child birth, etc) for at least 30-60 minutes since I was 16, and it is just as much a part of my day as eating is. It is part of my routine. Some mornings I don't get ready until later because of it (and because I have 2 little ones) but it is a part of my life, and I will not NOT do it.
I came across THIS blog a year or so ago, and my love and interest of fitness and nutrition went to a whole new level. I realized how much I really didn't know and was in awe that there is so much out there that I was totally ignorant to in regards to fitness and nutrition. As a result I have realized that this is a passion of mine and something that I feel like I am actually good at! I am not a crafty person, or a great cook, or a great decorator, but by golly I can run for 30 minutes or more and still feel pretty good! I can compete with Tony on P90X and still feel pretty good! Fitness and nutrition are a part of me. I want to be healthy not only for myself but for my family. When I am healthy I am happy and am able to wear all the hats that I am required too (wife, mother, friend, church member, sister, daughter, etc.)
My goal is to take this passion to the next level and then help other people to take control of their lives and their health and find out how good it feels to be healthy!
Those are my reasons for pursuit #4.
