New Me :)

Recently, well about 5 months ago, I had decided to change my life. I decided that I was tired of being overweight. I never knew what to eat and I was always unhappy with myself. I met a friend at my work, Amy, who gave me the motivation to want to change. She came to the gym with me a few times and started giving me tips on how to change my life. I thought, you make it sound easy, and I still wasn't convinced I could do it but I decided I would try it. I started to limit my carbs and sugar and really paid attention to my serving sizes and went to the gym at least 3 times a week. I was so amazed at how fast the weight was coming off. I lost 7 pounds in 2 weeks just from those small changes!! I continue to lose a pound to 2 pounds a week. I started to lift weights and always chose the healthier choices when eating. Can I just say that this has been one of the hardest things I've done. There were times during the first month that I was ready to give up. The thing that kept me going was I felt so much better about myself, even if I didn't lose any weight I know that I was eating healthier and exercising an that made me happy. As time progressed I started to experience with weight lifting and really made sure I did my cardio. I started experimenting with my cooking, my poor husband, and tried to find ways to eat healthier. It now has been 5 months and I have lost 30 pounds! Can you believe that?! I can't! I didn't realize how out of control I'd let my weight get. I knew I was heavier but I never realized how heavy. I have been sticking to a low carb low sugar diet (it's too hard to totally eliminate them) :) and it's really been working for me. I attend the gym at least 4 times a week and I try to lift weights, on my lazy weeks, at least twice a week. The thing that has been so near and dear to me is I truly thought that I could never do this, I still have a long ways to go but I can't believe the progress I have made. Today at the gym a gentlemen, who I've never talked to before but have seen at the gym before, came up and told me how great I was looking. I didn't even know a total stranger could notice the changes. I only post this to share with people that you truly can do it. Fad diets are not the way. If you maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly... You can do it. I am ashamed and also very happy with this picture. It's my before and after this this point. :)