My fitness journey...

I'm only 5'3" and I've always been a little more on the athletic/thicker build side. This has made me consistently in the "overweight/obese" category simply because of my height. I went through the awkward puberty stage like most people.

The summer before my senior year of high school, I spent the summer as a camp counselor. I gained ten pounds in six weeks eating camp food. Most people think you'll lose weight at camp due to the constant activities - which I guess is partially true. Most people also think camp food isn't that great. However, MY CAMP has cooks that make delicious homemade food for all meals of the day and I loved indulging myself in bacon every morning, scrumptious sandwiches at lunch time, and roast beef and mashed potatoes at dinner. All homemade, all mouth watering, all not so great for you...

When I returned home from that summer at camp, I was ten pounds heavier and it was noticeable. I was at the heaviest weight I have ever been in my entire life, 176 pounds.

 It was so easy for my weight to fluctuate. I felt like a bloated whale. I was also slightly depressed. My family had just taken in a homeless girl who had my room, this was my first summer "away" and it seemed like my friends had changed and moved on, and it was my senior year and I was supposed to be making decisions that would affect the rest of my life. My mom had noticed my weight gain ( I mean, who didn't...) and mentioned something. It wasn't a rude comment, rather an observation. The fact that someone had observed and then said something cut me to the core and I made a decision then and there to change this for the better.

I started eating a hard boiled egg for breakfast, a salad at lunch at school, and then simply watching my portions with my family at dinner. Senior year was BUSY - I was running around doing everything with everyone that I didn't' really think about snacking outside of meal time. I also dusted off those Seventeen Magazine fitness pull outs I had saved from years of subscribing. I did the easy exercises (lunges, squats, different types of crunches/pushups etc.) twice a day - once in the morning, once at night. Within three or four weeks time, I had lost 16 pounds! New weight: 160 lbs. WHAT.  I couldn't have been happier! Getting elected to the homecoming court really encouraged me to continue with my habits.

Senior year continued, I graduated, life moved on, and I returned to summer camp determined to not gain weight. I ran often with some other counselors, limited my portions, made healthier choices, and had a crush on a guy that helped me to keep my figure in check! I was down 10 pounds that summer and in the best shape I had been in awhile. I felt pretty, comfortable in my body, and good about myself.

My "crush" and I started dating at the end of the summer, a month before I was to head to college about three hours away. Because we had just started dating, we went out on dates to restaurants and movies, ice cream, - all the fun stuff. However, I made healthier choices and was able to remain the same weight.

College...oh college. Everyone says you'll gain the freshman fifteen. It's definitely true and possible! However, I was blessed with roommates that enjoyed exercise and we worked out almost every day freshman year.

This is my crew - my roomies!

 We used our free gym privileges with ease and you could often find us either working out to Jillian Michael's before class in the morning or in the evening hitting up the elliptical.We joined Zumba classes and had a lot of fun. I gained about five pounds my freshman year, but I'm going to say it was all muscle... even my sister said I looked good! ;)

This was at the end of my freshman year of college. DANG ;)

Sophomore year is when it all started going downhill. I don't think adults remember what college is like once you get into harder classes. I HAD NO TIME. I was barely sleeping let alone working out. I am one the most organized and prepared people I know, but in between school, work, and homework, all I wanted to do was socialize for an hour or so during mealtime. I didn't want to/didn't see the possibility of getting up earlier than I already was in order to workout. I gained some weight (I'd say my sophomore 15) putting me back up at 180)

I graduated college a year early so my junior and senior years were "together". This year, I pretty much hovered around the same weight. My crush turned boyfriend from camp asked me to marry him in October! I was engaged, getting ready to graduate, and preparing for my student teaching semester. Life couldn't have been better! Upon graduation, I moved into the house we would live in together after our wedding. I stepped on the scale and saw that I had gained a little weight and was up to 187 lbs. I wanted to be in shape for the wedding - that was my original plan -  but my life had literally just been CRAZY! Student teaching, graduation, and wedding planning - along with all those parties since we had graduated. I was searching for a job WHILE planning my wedding WHILE fixing up/painting our home WHILE figuring out my life. It was an intense time for my body and my brain. I wasn't eating that much at all because I was so busy and that made it worse for my body.

I started running. We live in a beautiful countryside and the mornings are simply gorgeous so I started running. Well,...first I walked. Then I jogged. And slowly but surely it turned into something I NEEDED to do. My cooperating teacher that I worked with while student teaching, Jessica, had become a Beachbody coach and asked if I would be interested in any of her programs to get ready for the wedding. I chose Focus T-25 with Shaun T. It seemed like the best program for me because it was only 25 minutes a day! Throughout the next ten weeks, I lost 12 inches! 12 INCHES on my body!! I didn't lose a single pound and that was okay because I realized the scale is just a number. I dropped a pants size and have never felt better. My weight might have not changed but my body was changing and I felt amazing on my wedding day.

Honeymoon over and now I'm back at home with my new husband trying to figure out how to live with a boy and make it work. I wanted him to love my cooking so I made every possible thing I could that was delicious and potatoey and filled with butter. I guess you could call me Paula Dean :) This wasn't good for either of us. On top of that, the stress of all those life events of mine within a 3 month period (student teaching, graduation, wedding planning, wedding, home, expenses, learning to live with a boy, job searching) had caught up with my body and I was sick. My stomach hurt, I was nauseous, I was extremely exhausted and napped every afternoon. My stomach was puffy and looked like a 6 month pregnant belly. My first thought was...have I pooped recently? yes. My second thought was...am I pregnant? 8 negative pregnancy tests later I accepted I wasn't pregnant but I still wasn't getting my time of the month.

Ladies, this messes with your body!!! I'm still struggling with my monthly today and it's been so hard getting back on track and handling my body along with it. It caused me to feel bloated, gain water weight, and at one point I was up to 200 pounds, 200 pounds?! I cried that day. I also cried when a lady at the grocery store asked when my baby was due. That is how pregnant and bloated I looked, that is how bad I felt.

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The most current photo of me (taken...three days ago!) - ignore the "R", it was for a craft project :)

SO - my whole story has been told. "But Alyssa, where are you now?!" I'm working on it! I'm figuring out my body, I'm getting further and further away from that 200 number and I'm bringing others with me. This story is so new, so vivid, and so real to me because it wasn't that long ago... My 200 number happened just last month. My body has been through the ringer lately. Sometimes that means I have to know my stress limits, sometimes that means I have to care a little less, and sometimes that means I have to say no. My weight loss journey has been a roller coaster and I'm more than prepared for 2015 to be the year that I meet my goal!

Join me! I'm not perfect, I like chocolate, and I'm just like you. Let's make 2015 OUR YEAR!