Roughly two months ago, I was driving in my car during work, and I looked down. Not sure what sparked the disgust in me at that very moment, but I realized I was MISERABLE with my body and how I felt. I am 5’2 and at that point weighed 158lbs, maybe even 160.  I am surprised I am even publicly admitting that, but owning up to it will help me lose all the extra weight.

Let me rewind a bit here. I have always been a decent eater – or so I thought. I seriously justified the fact that I did not eat fast food every day or make ribs & wings for dinner every night as a good eater. But after I stopped breastfeeding (not Time magazine style here), my giant appetite stayed. And I made it feel oh-so-welcome.

I have been about 15-20lbs overweight most of my life. But after I stopped BFing, I really thought that at some point I would have an epiphany & want to work out & eat healthy. I just never thought that would come when my kids were 3 1/2. I thought it would have been way before that.

I have always had the greatest love affair with junk food. Cake & frosting are my real weaknesses. I would cheat on any food for a good piece of cake with buttercream frosting. I would eat frosting out of the can, out of a jar, out of those little squeeze packets most people have never even heard of yet. I LOVE FROSTING. In fact, every night before my daughter goes to sleep we tell each other: “I love you more than cupcakes.” Clearly we are showing our true, deep love for one another.

Back to my epiphany. I knew I could never do a diet; I needed a full lifestyle change. An eating & food makeover. And I needed to get back to working out.

And something in me changed that day. It was a huge, life altering change that I had to make on my own. No one could convince me before, it had to come from deep within me. It had to be powerful enough to get me to completely change everything I ate, drank & did. I had to learn to make the right food choices to keep me healthy & get me in shape.

(But to satisfy my sweet tooth & try to stay healthy, I am now in love with www.ChocolateCoveredKatie.com. She is a blogger who makes amazing recipes that are sweet & healthy. Her Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough pancakes rank high on my list.)

I started with the eating first – God knows I could not have done eating & working out in the same few weeks – my system would have gone into such shock it may never have recovered.

I started with the iPhone app called My Fitness Pal. (you can get the app or just do it online, or both: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ ) This was the big game changer for me. I log everything into this app to keep me in line. I love this app. In the first two weeks I lost 10lbs – just from changing my eating. Clearly I was overeating by thousands of calories a day to lose that much weight in the beginning.

I started working out about 3 weeks later & try to go to the gym every day, but it ends up being about 5-6 days a week. Life often gets in the way, as you all know.

For my wedding anniversary a few weeks ago, my husband surprised me with the FitBit Ultra. (www.FitBit.com) It is like a pedometer on drugs – it tracks your steps, calories burned, flights of stairs climbed, and your sleep activity. And it even syncs with My Fitness Pal app!!!!!!!

I cannot even believe I have become this person – this healthy eater, fitness-minded girl who now wants to run a 5K. I NEVER in a million years believed I would be this person, but I am so happy I made the change. I feel so good all the time.

My original weight loss goal was 30lbs, but now I have re-adjusted it to 43lbs. So far, I have lost 22lbs. It is a much slower road now, but this is my new life, the new me & there is no looking back for this girl.