Dream BIG!

Have you ever said to yourself, "I'll always just be a little chunky. It's just the way it's going to be." or something along those lines?

I did.

That's exactly what I have said to myself for as long as I can remember. Probably since early high school, actually. I was a bit of a chunky kid growing up until my growth spurt. After growing 3 inches in a year and then another inch, I was suddenly tall and skinny. That lasted until around the end of my freshman year in high school and then the weight started catching up with me.

I was unhappy and tried different diets, none of which worked. Then I went to college and gained the "Freshman 20". As much as I tried, I couldn't lose that weight and keep it off for years. I kept saying to myself that this will be my body forever. I need to accept that I will never have the body I really want. Then I was introduced to a diet with supplements and I lost close to 30 lbs when I was about 27. I'd wanted to go lower, but seemed to stall and couldn't keep up the diet for too long. It was too expensive and frankly boring since I didn't like vegetables and a daily salad was my only option for that. I was able to keep most of that off for the about 2 years then it slowly started creeping back. I look back and realize that I only did the diet a short time to lose the weight, but didn't make any good habits to keep when I was off it. I told myself that I could just go back on the supplements and diet and lose it. Needless to say, that didn't work. Over these last 2 years, I had gained back every single pound.  My metabolism slowed after I hit 30 and I couldn't seem to lose the weight like I had before. Not only that, I was gaining weight rapidly. This last Christmas, I saw myself in a picture and hated my body all over again. When I finally got up the courage to step on the scale, I realized I had gained about 18 lbs last year alone! I couldn't believe it. Especially since I'd thought that I was eating healthy enough and doing the whole foods thing. Processed foods were out, so why was I gaining the weight?

At that point, I decided to do something about it. I called my cousin, who is a health coach for Take Shape for Life, and told her I was ready. Exercise hadn't ever been too much of a problem for me, but I needed a good kick in the butt to really start eating right. I had seen the results on her and others, but still wasn't totally sure this was going to work. But I started it anyway.

Then the weight started falling off. In the first 2 weeks, I had lost 14 lbs. After about 7 weeks, I am down 26 lbs and still losing. My clothes not only fit better, but I have my confidence back and am starting to love the way I look. And I feel the best that I have in years. It didn't take long to realize I could get exactly the body that I wanted...and be able to keep it.

You can too!

Don't talk yourself into believing that you will never have the body that you want. The life that you want. It all starts with a dream. Wave that magic wand and figure out what your dream is. Then start to believe you can do it. If I can do it after years of failed diets, you can too! Let's do this together.

Are you ready?