My Battle with the Bulge

I have been battling weight issues since a very young age. It seems like my whole life I have struggled with overeating, finding clothes that fit my body type, and just feeling confident with myself. I am now 28 years old and have finally started a real fight with fat. About three years ago I finally got to a point of complete disgust at how much weight I let myself gain. At my heaviest I weighed in at about 202 lbs. I was appalled. I couldn't believe that I let my weight get so out of control. I had to do something...so I did. I started simple. I began walking for 30 minutes during my lunch break at work. I also tried to find time in the evenings to go to my local greenway and walk or even do a short exercise video that I have recorded earlier that day. Slowly but surely, I started to see some changes. Along with the exercise I started to watch what I ate. At first it was mainly just cutting down my portion sizes and trying to eat the majority of my meals at home. All of this was going great and I was losing weight. I had lost almost 20lbs when I found out I was pregnant. I was very excited to be expecting my first child, but also nervous about the weight gain I would soon experience. Over the next few months I tried to stay true to my new lifestyle of eating healthier and getting in as much exercise as possible. It was not easy, but I new how important it was. I ended up gaining about 35lbs with my pregnancy, but was also surprised when I lost the first 20lbs after giving birth. So, now I had a beautiful baby boy and about 15lbs of extra weight that I had previously worked so hard to get off in the first place. I was basically going to have to start all over again. After six crazy weeks of learning how to take care of a newborn and adjusting to my new life I knew it was time for the battle with the bulge to begin again.I started slowly by making small changes that I knew I could stick with for the rest of my life. I started back to my old walking routine, but this time I made sure to really challenge myself with the speed and also the length of my walks. I also tried to integrate some jogging along with the walking. Along with the walking I was very lucky to be able to work with a personal trainer at my job. He helped me focus on weight training and also my aerobic endurance. After a couple of months I could really see changes, both in my body and in my ability. The progress I was making was all I needed to encourage me to continue on. I had come so far and I did not want to go back. Today, as I write this blog, the battle still continues. It is a daily battle, one that I decide to fight every morning when I wake up. It is not easy, but it is possible. I have a lot of people at my job constantly asking me how I did it, how I have lost so much weight and that is why I decided to start this blog. I want to be an ecouragement to everyone else out there who is fighting the fight with fat. I want to be able to share my fitness and nutrition tips with anyone who may be interested. So hear it goes....Welcome to my blog!