Reflection

As I sit here at my kitchen table, watching the snow fall outside, I am taking some time to reflect on the past 3 months.

• If you would have told me that I would be sitting here, the day after Christmas, 41 pounds lighter than I was on Sept. 15, I wouldn't have believed you.
• If you would have told me that I would actually LIKE working out each day, I wouldn't have believed you.
• If you would have told me that I would be craving HEALTHY food, I wouldn't have believed you.

If you knew me a few months ago then you know that all of the above is true. I was fat obese and unhappy. I'm still overweight (no longer obese!) by my BMI measurement, but I am no longer unhappy. I have proven to myself that I can do this. I have proven to myself that I'm strong enough to make it through an hour workout. Granted, it might take me an hour and a half to do that hour workout because I have to pause the DVD every now and then, but I make it through!

I am REALLY proud of how far I have come. I am really proud that I made it through the holidays and didn't gain weight. I'm really proud that my family is proud of me! I'm proud that I have NO clothes to wear. Everything I own is too big!

Do you have ANY idea what it's like to have your 3 year old say "Mommy, I'm so proud of you! You look amazing!"??? I'm sure it was coached by daddy, but I don't care. He (and his sister) is the reason I'm doing this. I want to be around for his entire life. I want to see my kids go to grade school, high school, graduate, go to college, get married, have babies, and be successful in whatever they choose to do.

I was on a path that wouldn't have killed me today. Probably not tomorrow either. Heck, probably not even next year. But it would have killed me sooner rather than later. Now, my kids are stuck with me till the Good Lord says it's time to go, not my overtired, overweight, undernourished body!

As New Years approaches and the snow comes down, I can vividly remember making resolution upon resolution upon resolution to be healthy time and time again. I would resolve to go to the gym. Eat healthy. Go on a diet. Lose the weight. But the main problem was that I thought that as soon as I saw progress, I could let up. I would start up the bad habits again. I never really understood that my new habits ARE MY NEW LIFE.

I get it now. I live day-to-day. I don't plan for the future when it comes to my health and fitness journey. I can't. It will derail me. I have to take it one day at a time. Each day I make the small, tiny, seemingly insignificant decision to eat well and push play. It's all those small, tiny, insignificant decisions that are slowly adding up to the story of becoming me.

So my plan for today is to sit here, drink my green tea, watch the snow come down, and enjoy my little family. For soon enough, the beautiful, fresh snow will be gone and my little family won't be so little anymore.

Wouldn't you LOVE to never make the resolution to get healthy again? Wouldn't you LOVE to be confident in your summer clothes? Well, guess what??? The work happens NOW while it's snowing outside. And it's not all about exercise. It's almost MORE about what you do with the OTHER 23 hours in your day. There's a saying that I love and I live by it now - "abs are made in the gym and revealed in the kitchen." There's no way that you can get rid of that belly fat with a poor diet. But that's part of my plan. I will help you to eat right, motivate you to work out, pick you up when you have fallen (it will happen - it still happens to me!), and celebrate with you when you succeed.

When you are ready to take your life by the horns and say "this is not me. I am ready for my outside to reflect my inside." let me know. I want to help you. I want you to be in this happy place with me, ready to take on the world in ways you never thought possible!

<3,
Kell