Journey to a Healthy Lifestyle

Hi guys! I just wanted to share my journey so far with you and a little bit about myself. It's been a long one, but I'm finally on the right track. The reason I decided to share my personal journey is to show you that it can be done. It may be a little bit too lengthy, but it was beneficial for me to write down all my failures so now I'm more motivated to not let it happen again.  I am finally doing my dream job as hairstylist at a salon I never thought I could work for so now I want to do the other thing I'm passionate about. I have always loved fitness and encouraging people to reach their goals. By sharing my story I hope I will be able to inspire some of you to reach for your goals also! 


In high school I loved to be active! I figure skated, ran and completed the Insanity program my senior year. My weight problems didn't really start until I met my husband. He loves to eat out. He easily gets bored with home cooked meals so he always wants to go get pizza, mexican, or fast food. We had a long distance relationship so I only gained a few pounds when he would visit and lose it when he left. My family never really ate out so I had never tried a lot of the fast food places until I met him. We got married a few months after I graduated high school since he was in the military and after two years in a long distance relationship I knew he was the one and wanted to be together. We got married in October 2012, but due to his training we didn't start living together until December 2012 when we moved to Beaufort, South Carolina. That's when I started PACKING on the pounds. Within the first 2 months of living together I went from 110 to 125.

In February 2013 he had to go away for training in California and that's when I decided I needed to do something about my weight. I started Chalene Extreme and Shakeology. I was doing great! I was cooking for myself, getting my workouts in and feeling good about myself again. I was down 7lbs in 3 weeks... then my car made a funny noise when I turned it off one day after work and wouldn't turn back on. I was only 2 weeks into my new job, my husband still had a week left of training and I had no way to get to work the next morning. My husband didn't answer his phone the multiple times I called so I called my dad in tears. Thankfully he told me exactly what I needed to do since I was so stressed I didn't even think of calling a tow truck. So I woke up at 6am (I'm not a morning person so this was very difficult) the next morning, since of course it decided to break down on a Sunday evening, called the place that put new tires on my car a month earlier and asked if they thought they could fix it. They said yes and gave me a number for a tow truck driver and I started to calm down. The place was only about a mile from my work so I decided I could just walk since I didn't have any friends or family. The mechanic was super nice though and drove me to work because he hoped someone would do the same if it was his wife in that situation. Then one of my coworkers was nice enough to drive me to pick up the car. It was a super expensive fix for my 19 year old car and there were a lot of other things they said needed to get done soon. The whole situation worked itself out but I was thrown of track. I didn't work out again for months after that and started eating bad again.

In June 2013 I got motivated again and started Focus T25. I was 128 so I had only gained a little bit more weight since my initial starting weight. I was able to mix that up with Chalene Extreme and workout pretty consistently (skipping a week every now and then) until October when we went to Myrtle Beach for our anniversary then it was down hill again. I'm not sure how much I lost or even if I did lose anything that time since we were still eating pretty bad. I then started Insanity the Asylum in December 2013 when I saw I weighed 132 and only did about a week of that. We got a puppy and I didn't realize how much work that would be. He barked constantly and would try to bite my feet when I worked out so I just stopped. Then life got even crazier!

We had a house built in South Carolina since we were supposed to be there a few years. We moved into that in March of 2014. I had just started a new job that was 30 minutes away vs. 5 and the hours were a lot longer than they told me when I was hired. I was doing 11 to 12 hours a day then I had to add an hour to that for my commute. I didn't even think about working out or eating healthy. My husband had some knee problems then gained weight because he couldn't run and we were eating awful so he was honorably discharged from the military. We weren't given much warning and he probably would've won if he had appealed it, but his unit was about to deploy and he didn't really want to be in the military anymore anyway so we decided to just let it go. We rented out our house and moved to his hometown of Chattanooga, TN in July so he could go to school and work for his dad. I was 142 by this point. It took me a few months to get a job in the hair salon that provided the training for the stylist and the guest experience that I wanted but I got it.

In December 2014 I weighed myself and was up to 152... I almost cried. I decided to buy yet another program, Insanity Max 30, and I joined a challenge group thinking I would stick with it. Unfortunately my job has a demanding training program where you assist other stylists and go to classes for a year before you can start taking clients of your own. It was hard to get my workouts in and work the long hours and only getting one day off some weeks so I quit yet again. I started the 21 day fix in June and did a few rounds of that and the extreme, but my eating was still horrible. I did get below 150 though and really liked the 21 day fix programs. When I heard about the Masters of Hammer and Chisel program I got really excited. I bought it and joined the Masters Challenge group that started the first week of January 2016. I am three and a half weeks in and haven't skipped one workout and my nutrition has been great the last 2 and a half. The first week I wasn't completely on bored. My results in just this short amount of time have been incredible. I am down 8lbs and 3in off my waist. 



My journey overall has been more of a weight gain journey than a weight loss, but I think a big part of that was that I just wasn't ready to commit. Considering I'm only about to be 22, I have had to learn how to be an adult, be married, and balance work/family the last few years and clearly I have struggled. I feel like now I am ready to commit now. My career as a hairstylist is finally starting, I'm able to say no to my husband when he wants to get dinner out, and for the first time in my life I don't feel the need to depend on someone else to help me reach my goals. That first week where I focused on my nutrition I told myself that if I could make it just one week without cheating or even nibbling on something I shouldn't have then I could do anything. I did it! That was the first week in my life where I ate completely healthy! I have been allowing myself one cheat meal (not cheat day) on either Saturday and Sunday since this is a lifestyle change and not just a 60 day program and that has been enough to keep me on track even with my husband eating pizza and cinnamon rolls right in front of me. I can't even tell you how proud of myself I am! I feel like I'm finally getting my life together. If you need help reaching your goals please let me know. [email protected]