My journey

It has taken a long time for me to share my full journey from where I was the summer of 2008 to now. The transition did not happen over night and it did not happen without a lot of self-control, dedication, and work. But it did happen for me and it can happen for you.

How I went

In 6 months and have kept it off for 8 years.

My entire life I was always one of the bigger girls in my dance class. I was my no means "fat" but I was no stick figure dancer. I had curves. I weighed 130 lbs as a 16-17 year old girl when most of my counterparts barely broke 100-110 pounds. But it didn't bother me. I had accepted and loved who I was. I always thought I was a bit bigger boned. I gained weight in my booty and thighs and had a butt to rival Beyonce. I never thought I could be a size 2. I was an 8. Well my waist wasn't, but my booty was. I had consigned myself to buying pants too big and getting the waist altered to fit my butt. To being the spotter instead of the dancer being lifted. To being 5'5" and weighing between 130-135 lbs. I had accepted that loosing weight was really difficult for me. My body held onto everything with tenacity and I was okay with it.

Or at least, I thought I was.

I was active. I danced for multiple hours every day. I hiked. I skied. I backpacked. I'd do the token mountain bike ride with my dad once or twice a year. But I hated exercise. And I HATED running. What could be more boring that putting one foot in front of the other? But then something changed. I moved away to college. I kept eating like I did in high school which was a steady diet of frozen burritos, sugary cereal, slurpees, apple juice, donuts, Maverick frozen yogurt, and nachos. You could hardly get me to touch a vegetable. I ate a banana and maybe an apple a day. It was not good. By the end of my freshman year I went from 130 lbs to 145 lbs. My pants were tight. And I was sick of my mother saying what she had said my entire life, "If you gain another pound, you won't be able to fit in those anymore."

Something had to change. So, summer of 2007 I moved to Moab, UT to be a river guide and I started to run. I had shoes. My dad and sister were runners. How hard could it be? But nothing really changed. My energy was up and maybe I lost a few pounds. But I was still much higher than I wanted to be.

I returned to school. I ran 3 miles every morning before class. I did a study abroad in New Zealand and ate my weight in cheese and ice cream. And despite running 3-5 miles every day, I was barely maintaining the status quo. I was fighting an impossible battle. But I was happy. I loved who I was and accepted that this was the way I would always be. I wasn't fat. But I wasn't thin. I was somewhere in between.

Then I sprained my ankle. I could barely walk, but still did. (I was studying outdoor recreation in New Zealand and a sprained ankle wasn't going to stop me.) But I couldn't run. That did me in. I had to limit my ice creams to 3 a week...how sad is that?

I came home. Did physical therapy and moved back to Moab to river guide a second season. In July of 2008, after a road trip where we spent most of the time on the floor in a sugar coma because all we ate was candy for 3 days, my friends and I decided to swear off all refined and added sugars for the rest of the summer. 1.5 months. How hard could it be? Little did I know, that moment changed my life.

I started to actually read food labels. Anything with over 4g of sugar and/or if sugar was in the first 5 ingredients was not allowed. There went practically all processed foods. I rediscovered fresh fruits and vegetables. I actually ate vegetables. It was hard. It took self-control to say, "No, I don't want that delicious cookie," or, "You guys go get ice cream. I will sit here and eat a peach." But the longer I went without sugar, the less I craved it and the less appealing sugary foods became to me. Until I would rather have a peach than ice cream. And at the end of the summer, my energy was so high and I felt so great, I decided to keep it going until the end of the year.

So, I moved back to college. I kept running. I stayed off sugar. I was still dancing. And the weight melted away until before I knew it, my clothes didn't fit anymore. But it was because they were too big. I was borrowing clothes from my petite friends that I never in a million years thought I'd squeeze into their clothes. And my energy was through the roof. I was strong. I could run longer. I could run faster. I started to actually like running. Dance was easier. Skiing was easier. Hiking was easier. Climbing was easier.

By Thanksgiving, I had dropped from 140 lbs to 115 lbs. No gimmicks. No tricks. Just an active lifestyle and a healthy diet. And it turned into the lifestyle that I loved. And I never strayed. I became more active, running longer and faster, climbing 4 days a week, and dancing daily. But my weight stayed the same. I had become the stick figure dancer I had always dreamed of being but thought I never could be.

Fast forward 8 years. I still don't eat refined sugars. In June of 2010, I gave up meat. I did this because meat made me sick when I ate it (I was poor and never bought it so when I ate it, it was really hard to digest). I had been married 6 months and on a whim I decided to be a vegetarian. My husband was not excited. He agreed to my decision only if I did extensive research on how to properly get my protein and other nutrition. After a lot of research, by November, I was vegan. It has been almost 6 years and my health has never been better.

Since that summer in 2008. I have lost and kept off 35 lbs. I think. We don't use scales in our house because for awhile, I became obsessed with the number on the scale. My husband would look at me when I would come out of the bathroom upset and say, "Do your pants still fit?" I would reply, "Yes." He would then ask, "Do your shirts still fit?" I would reply, "Yes." Then he'd hug me and say, "Then why does that number matter? If your clothes fit the way they should and you feel good in your skin, then who needs a scale?" I put the scale away and never stepped on it again. Now the only way I know my weight is when I got to the doctor.

Since that summer in 2008, I have met and married my best friend who is my number one support, gone through 3 years of infertility treatments, had a miracle pregnancy, and given birth to the happiest, sweetest, cutest boy on the planet.

Since that summer in 2008, I have run 6 marathons (7th coming up the October in St. George, UT), with a top time of 3:23, and qualified for Boston twice. (That includes a year of injury and a year of pregnancy). I have done countless half marathons, mud races, mountain races, and I just did my first Olympic distance triathlon. I compete in the top of my age division and sometimes as an elite athlete. I rock climb. I hike. I ski hard terrain and hike while I do it. I backpack. I road bike. I explore. I travel. I practice yoga. I meditate, I cook and bake healthy food for my family. I keep a garden. And I do it because I love it. I do it because it is my passion. And I am fueled by plants.

I am not a dietitian. I do not claim to be an expert in nutrition. But I know what has and does work for me and my family. I do know what changed my life and has lead me on an incredible journey to where I am today. A healthy diet that I am dedicated to and I love and exercise. No gimmicks. No fad diets. Just eating real, whole, nutritious foods in an easy and delicious way and using my body to do the things I love to do with the people I love.

#health #fitness