Heart disease and Diabetes affect my family as well as many other families in America. I had always sat at around 145 pounds but from 2003 until the end of 2006 I had ballooned to 185 pounds, and into a size 14 in jeans and XL in shirts. I was upset and scared that I had allowed myself to become so unaware of what I was putting into my body and I had to make some important choices. I was in a sort of denial of the fact that I had gained weight look-wise, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that I felt lethargic and tired.

In December of 2006 I went to my annual physical and found out that not only was I overweight, but my cholesterol was 250, and my triglycerides were 460. My blood was so awful that my LDL cholesterol was unable to be calculated, and my HDL (that’s the good kind) was extremely low. This was extremely upsetting for me because I had always felt comfortable in my skin, even at my highest weight. At this point in my life I took charge, walked into Weight Watchers, and got serious about my gym workouts. As of February, 2008, I reached a loss of  52.8 pounds and counting.

Almost 5 years later, I still count my points and allow for treats. I’m currently working on losing some of that holiday fluff (eep!) but now I am focusing on keeping my body healthy and happy, and I am also working on the non-scale aspect of treating my body better with kind words and positive motivation. To keep my perspective light and realistic, I moved my fitness section of my website to a separate tumblr account so I could network with other fitblrs. My blog and my fitblr keep me motivated and determined to stay creative with my new, healthy, lifestyle.