It's not rocket surgery people!

(((climbs up on soapbox))) **disclaimer** If you happen to get offended by the following information I'd thank you to keep negative comments to yourself. This is what I believe and no amount negative snarky remarks will change my mind.

In the past 9 and half months I've exercised 6-7 days a week. I've been keeping my food diary and realize I used to eat too much. I was 177 pounds and I'm now 154 pounds. I used to be a 14 and now I'm an 8. With how things are going I'll most likely go down another size or two.

For this lifestyle change I had to take baby steps. I personally think that too many changes will inevitably lead to failure, and reverting back to your old bad habits.

I had to start out by exercising every day. I knew that in the beginning, even a rest day would likely turn into two, three and I wouldn't stick to my workout schedule. As an elementary school teacher and mother of two I knew that I was either too busy or too tired to "fit in" exercise at the end of the day. I had to make a tough decision, I needed to workout in the morning before work. Which means I have to get up at about 4am so I have time to workout, shower, get ready for school, get the kids up and ready for school, get breakfast for everyone, get lunches for everyone packed, and be out the door and at school by 7:30.

As far as food went I wasn't delusional enough to think that I could maintain a diet of 1200 calories when I was clearly eating well above that. Since I was exercising evert day I knew I had to gradually lower my calorie intake or....you guessed it I'd end up feeling deprived, then overeating, feeling guilty, feeling like a major failure and then giving up. I always eat my exercise calories because I want to loose fat, gain muscle, and look great. I realize that not eating exercise calories will help you loose weight however, you're losing fat and muscle. Muscle helps you burn fat it's a good thing to have. I believe that not eating exercise calories will lead to being skinny/fat. Which is when you're skinny but have a lot more fat than muscle on your body.

This journey is not always easy. There are some days that are hard. Then there are some days that are complete failures. This is not about being on a diet. This is about a permanent change in how I live my life. It's about making long lasting changes that are sometimes hard.

Now listen up. There is no quick fix to weight loss and being healthy. Any product or person that claims to guarantee weight loss in a short amount of time without regular exercise and lowering calorie intake/counting calories...is LYING! There is no magic pill or special powder to sprinkle on your food or depriving diet that will get you to get healthy and lose weight. Those prepackaged "healthy" meals are high in sodium and preservatives. You don't want to put chemicals in your body. So every time you watch an infomercial about a powder to sprinkle or pill or unhealthy low cal diet or a high sodium prepackaged food plan...slap your face or call me and I'll come over and do it for you.

For you to be successful you've got to have your heart and head in the right place. You've got to be prepared to work hard. That means pushing yourself during your workouts, eating fresh healthy foods, and understanding what happened to get you in the shape you're currently in. You didn't get unhealthy overnight and you're not going to see long lasting results overnight either. This is going to take time and that's okay because you've got your whole ife ahead of you!