A good ol' Southern saying when discussing difficult things is "it's a hard job, but somebody's gotta do it."  When talking about weight loss and your health, that all changes.  Yes, it's a hard job, but nobody but YOU can do it!  I used a few tools to help myself get through Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred.  This list is as follows:  paper outlining each day on the mirror in my bathroom, religously using the myfitnesspal app on my phone, and being aware of restaurant nutritional information before setting foot inside the door.  If you were to ask my family and friends about these times, they would probably tell you that I was completely obnoxious, but they hung in with me encouraging me every step of the way.  I became a walking calorie counter.  Yes, it was obnoxious, but it was essential in keeping me focused on the journey that I had begun.  Every day for 30 days I would come home after work and meet with Jillian.  Those meetings made my stomach turn.  There were many times that i thought, "If she says, 'Only three more seconds!' one more time, I am going to throw something at this TV!"  Every morning I would get up, walk into the kitchen, and weigh myself.  I know...I know...you're not supposed to weigh everyday!  Just listen to my strategy...I had my 30 days outlined on my bathroom mirror...remember?  So I would log my weight on my mirror everyday, but I would only calculate pounds lost after each 7 day period.  I had to have my weight staring me in the face everyday and see how many more days I had in this first goal.  It was key in holding me accountable.  After 30 days, I had lost 18 pounds and a number of inches.  I worked VERY hard with Jillian on the TV every day to complete that month of, what I thought, was torture.  No matter how difficult a workout is, if you stick with it you WILL see results.  It may not be on the scale, but through exercise and changing to a healthy diet, you will lose inches.  I will never forget the day that I was able to do my first real push up, and the day that I was able to get through the jumping jacks without stopping.  These milestones encouraged me to keep going.  Don't sell yourself short!  Your body is capable of doing more than you think it can.  It's about pushing your body to change, because if you don't push, you don't change.  For instance, if I run out of gas on my way home, I'm not going to just sit in my car.  Duh!  I'm going to pull out my phone or begin to make my way on foot to a gas station!  I have to take action in order to get fuel.  It's the same concept.  As long as you sit on the couch without fuel, you will never go anywhere; but if you get up and take action, you will be fueled up and ready to go before you know it!  Remember set ATTAINABLE goals for yourself, reach for them, surpass them, and begin a new set of goals.  Your journey begins with one step...This is not a diet; it's a lifestyle!

Below is a picture of the way I set up my tracking sheet.  I would suggest also making one to calculate inches lost as well because sometimes if you don't see much on the scale you get discouraged.  You can calculate these once a week from your hips, waist, thighs, and even arms.  You're going to be amazed at how much BETTER you FEEL as you work through this!

REMEMBER...SET YOUR NEXT GOAL BEFORE YOU FINISH THE FIRST ONE...OTHERWISE YOU MIGHT WANT TO STOP!

If there is one thing that every person on the Earth understands, it is hardship.  Every person no matter who they are has endured hardship of some kind.  So how did the hardship I was dealt affect my life...I fell off the wagon...face first...into the dirt.  

After losing approximately 80 pounds, I had transformed from a 266 pound, unhealthy college student to a 180 pound student teacher.  With life beginning to look brighter and my future at my fingertips, I was trucking along on my journey.  However, life was about to throw me a curve ball right out of left field.  My parent's divorce came as a complete blow to everything that I knew as stability.  You never expect for your family to crumble right before your eyes.  A few months after my parents' separation, I graduated from college and moved to Flowood to begin my first year teaching.  I felt torn in half because I knew that I had left my sister in McComb to deal with the emotions of the divorce alone.  Battling the emotions of a crumbling family and struggling to become the teacher I wanted to be, the pounds began to slowly creep back.  Because of the stress I was dealing with, I was encouraged by my doctors to take medicine to help slow my mind from running 1,000 miles per minute.  It was during this time that my drive to lose weight went down and the weight on the scale went up.  Before I realized it, I was sitting at 225 pounds and was completely blind to the fact that I had a problem AGAIN!  I refused to look in the mirror and see my problem.  I knew I was having to buy clothes in "my section" again, but I would excuse it with thoughts of self pity, sadness, or anger.  Then, I hit the rock bottom day that would change my mindset into changing my LIFESTYLE not just my diet.  It was early one April morning, and I was getting ready for my best friend's baby shower.  I put on 4 pairs of jeans that didn't fit, until I finally located a pair that fit...but fit very snug.  Then it was on to shirts...disaster struck.  I tried many different combinations of tops, but nothing worked.  That's when I broke down.  Looking in the mirror, I realized that I had allowed the circumstances of my life to determine the outcome of my life.  I wasn't controlling my life; life was controlling me.  With the realization, I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and vowed that today would be the day that I would look back on as the day I took complete control.  I had lost the first 80 pounds after being prompted by others, but now standing in my room looking at the person I had become, I was going to lose it for ME...no one else! After the baby shower, I immediately went to Target and bought 3 lb. weights and Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred.  I went home, changed my clothes, put in the DVD, and began the most gruesome workout that my body had experienced in a very long time!  As I lay gasping for air on the floor of my bedroom, I called my mother to say, "I think I bought the DVD for skinny people!"  Her encouragement, as well as others, and my will to succeed ultimately proved to be the driving force behind the lifelong journey that I am now on.  In the words of Natalie Grant, "He's gonna take your pain.  He's gonna take your doubt.  He's gonna bring it all together...bring it all together for good."  How true those words are...living in this moment right now, I realize that my life and the hardships I faced when my parents divorced were all key in getting me to where I am today.  My relationships with my mom, my dad, and my sister are better than they have ever been, and I am so blessed by "new family" that I have gained.  

So why am I sharing this part of my journey with you?  I'm so glad you asked!  It is to say this...if you are on this weight loss journey, there will be ups and downs.  There will be bad days.  There may be times when you backslide so far that you think you've gone too far.  No matter how hard your fall from your wagon, get up, get ready, and get back on because this journey is not a diet...it's a lifestyle!

Picture from the Baby Shower That Got Me Back on the Wagon

End of my junior year of college...County Line Road...driving my old, white Ford Explorer...Dr. Pepper in the cup holder (not diet, of course)...Krispy Kreme donut in hand...the phone rings.  Reluctantly, I put down my donut to answer my phone.  My mom was on the other end, and immediately I could tell this was not a "shoot the breeze" kind of conversation.  As the conversation began, I could sense that things were about to get serious.  This was to be the phone call that would make me more angry than I had ever been but also later would make me more thankful than I could ever express.  The phone call was to inform me that my mom, dad, and Nana had had a discussion about my weight problem that had become out of control during college.   I was currently weighing in at a weight of 266 lbs. and totally blind to the fact that I needed help.  Sure, I may have wished I could shop where my friends shopped every now and then, but I had become accustomed to breaking apart on shopping trips and heading to "my section."  Immediately, I became defensive.  "How could they think I need help?  They think I'm fat, lazy and ugly!  Everybody looks at me and sees a fat, disgusting blob!" I thought.  In silent retaliation against what I was hearing, I finished my donut and Dr. Pepper.  My mom insisted that this had nothing to do with the way I looked, but at the time, I couldn't wrap my brain around that.  I was upset, offended, and sobbing..  When we hung up, I vowed to lose it, not to get healthy...but to spite everyone that I believed thought I was fat, ugly, and incapable of accomplishing it.  The next day, I began taking the stairs to my fourth floor dorm, choosing salad instead of burgers, dipping my salad in my dressing instead of smothering it, choosing fruit instead of ice cream, and immediately began to drop weight.  Weight Watchers points became something I was incredibly familiar with, and my attitude began to change.  After a few months of realizing my constant fatigue was subsiding and that my clothes were becoming baggy, I came to the realization that everything my mother said was true.  That was a tough pill for this prideful girl to swallow.  My family really didn't think i was fat and ugly; they wanted me to be healthy.  During the next year, I lost 80 pounds.  I felt better than I had in a long time.  However, within the next few months, life threw us all a curve ball, and I would fall of the wagon face first...but that's another story for another day.  The beginning of my story began with anger, sadness, and resentment; but is now full of thankfulness, happiness, and inexplainable gratitude to a mom, dad, and Nana who saved me from a life that would've certainly caused a premature death.  No matter what your incentive...get on the wagon, hang on, and quickly get back on if you fall off!  It's gonna be a wild ride full of bumps, hills, and sharp turns!  Remember in good times and bad...it's not a diet; it's a lifestyle!

Mississippi, the leader in obesity, is where I call home.  My family struggles with weight problems.  Waffle House was open all night in my college town.  McDonald's asked me if I wanted to Super-Size my meal.  Southern hospitality means never refusing food that is offered to you.  Believe me, I've used every excuse in the book!  What I've come to realize is that excuses do not bring about positive change.  If you want positive change, you have to make positive choices.  However, please understand me when I say this...in no way am I insinuating that big isn't beautiful.  Hear and understand this...from my experience, big can be very beautiful but it is not always healthy.  America's leading cause of death is heart disease, which in many cases, is due to excessive, unhealthy weight.  My journey began five years ago, and it will continue the rest of my life.  To start a journey, you must first take a step.  No matter how small or insignificant it may seem at the time, progress has been made.  You deserve more than a life hindered or cut short because of your weight.  I know what you're thinking because I've thought it many, many times.  Your thought process is going something like this...well, I could just run to the store, grab some diet pills, eat 1000 calories each day, burn 500 with exercise, then once I get down to the weight that I want to be I can begin to taper off of the diet pills.  Does anyone see the problem here?  I didn't for a long time and would grow very frustrated every time I gained weight back!  We live in a society that wants and demands things instantly...everything from food to car detail to department store service.  We get impatient waiting in line and grow even more impatient if while we are waiting, facebook takes too long to load on our phones.  Our mentality when attempting to lose weight is the same.  Trust me when I say that a weight loss "quick fix" does nothing but make for a larger hurdle to jump over later.  You may get in those jeans or that bathing suit, but let's be logical people...1000 calories...you are going to stick with eating 1000 calories per day the rest of your life.  I don't think so...at least I couldn't.  This is when I learned that the hard way is the slowest way, but it is also the ONLY way to lose it, keep it off, get fit, and stay healthy.  Follow me as I relive my weight loss journey to lose 110 pounds, discuss what worked for me, and share new struggles and rewards along this lifelong journey.  Start your journey today...and remember...it's not a diet; it's a lifestyle!