Like many girls and women I have been conscious of my body and what I thought it looked like compared to others for as long as I can remember. Also like many people, my story is a story of yo-yo dieting.
I grew up in a small farming town in Oregon and was active for most of my youth,playing basketball and volleyball; I was a cheerleader and even tried my hand at track in High School. However, I was always the chubbier one.
The summer between my sophomore and junior year of
high school I saw a commercial for some kind of diet program. I don’t remember exactly what its plan was but I remember very clearly what I took away was just stop clearing everything off your plate! For some reason that thought was revolutionary to how I had been living but I knew I could do that. I stopped eating everything in site and everything off my plate! I also took up running that summer and entering my junior year I was the smallest I had ever been, weighing about 120 and a size 2!
I was able to stay in decent shape for the next 2-3 years, wearing a size 4/6 until I moved to Los Angeles to go to college. Things were ok the first year when I didn’t have my car, I was walking everywhere.
Walking and taking public transportation kept my weight in balance, but when I brought my car down to LA, slowly all the drinking and eating in excess caught up to me.
At one point I was the most I’ve ever weighed at 196 pounds. There are very few pictures of me from this year, and you can see why. Seeing my weight at almost 200 got me and I made a change and started running again and working out with P90X and Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30
Cutting out the drinking and working out regularly, I got back into shape and weighed in at 140 the following year. Life happened again and I stopped working out as rigorously and started drinking more….you see where this is going. I was back up to about 165 and was able to maintain that, but not happily.
For the most part I was ok with myself but I still wanted to be more confident and feel good in a bikini, especially while on vacation. I was working out about 2 times a week and getting more familiar with Instagram when I did a Google search of women in fitness who I should follow for motivation.
That’s when I came across Kayla Itsines and her BBG program. I followed and watched all these amazing transformations of regular women changing their lives. I took the plunge and bought the guides. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made. I mean, I was lucky enough to have my own transformation be featured by Kayla this year!
For a year now (the longest I’ve ever stuck with something) I have been living a sustainable, healthy lifestyle and I truly believe my years of yo-yo dieting are over. This blog is the story of my journey, follow along as I continue to set new goals for myself and crush them. I love to learn from other women and be motivated by them, so please, comment and share your story! I hope I can be a small motivation to you on your journey as well!
The #BBGCommunity is the sweetest group of women from around the world, not to mention the largest female fitness movement! I know my goals, achievements, and motivation would not have remained or been as successful if it were not for all of these lovely women. They are encouraging, positive, and strong women whose only goal is to be the best version of themselves while uplift others along the way. If you are not yet a part of it, I highly recommend joining! xo
