You know... You have to start somewhere!

I've been blogging now for a few years on my Simply Happy blog, but I felt like it was time to create a Simply Healthy blog. I just envision people opening my Simply Happy blog, seeing that it was a fitness post and quickly closing it!  So it's time to separate the two....

It should not come as any surprise to you that I'm a little a lot into fitness.  Even if you are reading my blog for the first time and know nothing about me you have to assume I am, just based on the fact that I started this blog.  But more than that I'm pretty passionate about encouraging others to get fit and healthy.  It's almost like I've experienced this life that is so incredibly amazing (when you put together a healthy body, mind and spirit!) and I can't stop until I share that with everyone I know! 

But it hasn't always been like this.  A little background for you new readers (for those who have been following me for a while I apologize for the redundancy!).  I didn't start working out till my 3rd daughter was born.  I mean yeah, I worked out here and there but never like I do now.  I mean when you are having kids it's not exactly the ideal time to start working out.  I've been very lucky that my body bounced back to "normal" after each kid.  But after my third daughter was born I was pretty motivated to lose the weight.  So I'm 5 foot tall  short, and have always been around 120 lbs.  When I had my third daughter I believe I weighed 155lbs.  On this 5 foot short girl that's a lot!  Well motivation goes a long way and I lost all the weight and here we are today!

Did I mention that my husband lost 100 lbs!  Look at what a hottie he is (it's okay, you can agree with me)  :)

So here I am, 4 years later, feeling better than I've ever felt and I've got this passion inside of me that is screaming at me to motivate people to do the same.  Hense the Simply Healthy facebook page and now this blog.  I pray that it develops into so much more, but I'm just taking it one day at a time!

So where are you right now?  Maybe you are the heaviest you've been in your entire life.  And if you are I get that.  Life is tough... There are a whole lot of reasons that we are in the places that we are at.  Maybe you are just doing okay.  You eat okay most of the time, you exercise when you have time (which isn't very often!) but your probably more over weight than you think, it's just easier not to think about it.  Or maybe you are that person that really doesn't have much weight to lose at all, but you know you aren't eating the healthiest and you want to change that.  So think about that for a minute...

I want to show you another before and after of a friend of mine.  This is real life people.  This is Melanie.  I've know Melanie for a few years now.  She had just had a baby when I met her.  Well just this winter she decided to take her life back and get healthy.  She was motivated by a competition at her husbands work (I love when competition motivates people because I too am motivated by competition!).  Well Melanie worked hard, ate right and lost 42lbs and over 30 inches!  In the first picture she is a size 14 and now she is a size 7/8.  I am soooooo proud of her and all her hard work!  Doesn't she look stunning!?!

Melanie's a stay at home mom of 2 little girls.  But she made the choice to get healthy.  She did what it took, sacrificed what she needed to, and look at her end results.  I guarantee you she is saying that she feels the best she's ever felt!  And while she may still want to lose more weight, and get more tone she's committed for life.  The journey never stops, it just starts to look different.

Well...  With all that said, I am really here to say whatever place you are at in life, whatever your story is, there is no better time than now to get healthy.  And I'm not talking about fitness model healthy.  I am talking about the kind of healthy that allows you to do all the extra curricular activities that you want to do.  The kind of healthy that starts from the inside and starts shining on the outside... 

The kind of healthy that inspires others around you to do the same thing.  We aren't trying to all get to a size 2 here.  Now if that's the end result of hard work, awesome!  But you have to ask yourself why am I doing this?  Is it to be able to stand in your bikini in front of judges and show off your muscle (which yes, that is some people's goals and I say go for it!) or is it to be the best you that you can be?  To look in that mirror and say, for once in your life, I am beautiful and I am worth it.  To be a role model for your kids so that in 10 years they too are living a healthy lifestyle.  We are only given ths one life... this one body.  My choice has been to live it to the fullest!  But I don't want to stop there.  I have chosen to take this God given passion and share it with the world.  Because I want you to experience what I've experienced!

So, the choice is yours... what will you choose?