the difference a year can make

last christmas i did not have my husband.

this christmas i do not have my love handles.

when my husband left for basic training last december, i knew he would come back to me a stronger person, both physically and mentally. it was during his absence that i found within myself a person i had never before met. throughout high school, i was much more interested in the vending machine than any exercise machine and the last thing on my mind was my health. of course, however, my weight was always on my mind. it had been for years. during my first semester of college, i endulged myself in a fast food diet and late night refrigerator raids. only one year after graduating high school, i found myself at one hundred and seventy eight pounds and fluctuating between a size twelve or thirteen. ashamed and uncomfortable in my own skin, i found myself lying about my weight and cutting the tags out of my clothes to protect myself from the reality that was my weight problem.

my issues with weight, exercise, and food were put on the side burner, however, when i met my husband, corey. soon enough we were married and found ourselves happy but uninsured. corey enlisted into the united states air force a mere six months later and was headed to basic training only several weeks before christmas. as i mentioned before, it was in my husbands absence that i found within me the desire to loose weight. although i cannot recall the precise moment this desire was aroused, i knew it was long overdue. with a body mass index of almost twenty nine, i was a mere ten pounds away from being considered clinically obese for my gender, height, and age.

finally, it was time and something had to change.

and, oh, what a difference a year can make. tonight i find myself lighter both physically and mentally. along with the thirty eight pounds which i have managed to loose over the last year, i have finally been able to elude the emotional weight of growing up heavy. this last year has not been one of fad diets or as seen on television exercise products, but rather one of deliberate fitness and educated eating. i have learned that when it comes to weight management, there is simply no magic pill or potion. as in every aspect of our lives, balance is the key. we have all heard it before: calories in, calories out. in only one year, i have managed to go from the breathless girl on the treadmill to a marathon competetor.

through this blog, may you find the strength and motivation to believe that each of us has it within us to transform from the person on the side lines to the one reaching the finish line.

it is almost the new year, what will this year do for you?