Wow. 43 lbs.

Wow, I never thought I would be someone to lose 43 lbs, I never thought I would be someone who would need to lose 43 lbs. I more belonged in the lose 5 lbs gain 5 lbs over and over and over club.

However, during my pregnancy, I gained 70 lbs on my already 20 lb. overweight frame. It was really hard on my body and I naively thought, it would all come off easily with breastfeeding. After having the baby, and breastfeeding but still eating horribly and not being active at all, months and months went by and the scale stayed the same. That's when I decided to start tracking on MFP again. At the time, I had no energy, felt so heavy still and was tired of wearing maternity clothes.

I started small, just trying to watch my calories a little and tried finding time to squeeze in some physical activity when I could, maybe a 10 minute walk here, a couple laps around my office there. Very very slowly, the weight started to come off. As the weight came off and I started to feel better, more drastic changes happened. I started being more strict with my diet (though I still cheat), started up Crossfit and running and the most important thing, I WANTED TO! Little lifestyle changes lead to big lifestyle changes. Going straight from a fast food every day, sweets every day, and spending my evenings as a couch potato to being this super sensible eating, heavy weight lifting, runner was not going to happen. Start small, start with something attainable, then achieve that goal and start a new one. The domino effect will happen and you'll reach your all time goal but you must be patient. This 43 lbs. took me a year and half to lose because I would try and fail then have to pick back up over and over again.

But the most important thing is, I did pick myself back up, I persevered. I still have a ways to go, but I'm so proud of how far I've come. I'm down to lower than my pre-pregnancy weight, I have so much energy now to play and run and chase my toddler. I'm so happy she gets to see her mommy being active and eating healthy foods.

They say, "a year ago you'll be glad you started today". That is so true, start TODAY! You. Can. Do. This.