Today marks the beginning of my blogging journey. I am doing this for myself, for my daughter, and for anyone else that may need encouragement and positive energy. I have always struggled with my self-esteem and how others perceive me. I want everyone to like me and I want to feel like no one is judging me. Well, apparently I am a fool and I am okay with that now. After having my daughter (a post about the pregnancy and birth experience to follow at a later date), I realized that I want her to grow up feeling confident and strong in everything she does. I don’t want her to feel like she needs to eat lunch in another room just because she is unsure of what others might think about her food choices or how much she is eating. I don’t want her to feel like other people judge her as a stuck up person just because she may be shy or quiet. I want her to love herself and to love others and the world around her unconditionally.
I am writing this blog because I started the same journey of self acceptance and self-appreciation four years ago. I have struggled at times but have come a long way. I still have a way to go and am excited to share my journey with you. When I got married I was at my highest weight ever. I told myself that I was going to diet and lose weight before the wedding, but I gave every excuse in the book why I wasn’t losing weight. After our first wedding anniversary, I decided to participate in a 5k with a good friend of mine in memory of her son and my husbands good childhood friend. The last time that I had really run in any type of event was 6th grade track and I absolutely dreaded it. My goal at that time was to stay ahead of the last person on our team because she threw up at almost every race and I didn’t want to run into that (some motivation there!). I started slowly thinking I could just jog around the block. I didn’t even make it to the stop sign 500 feet in front of me. I was embarrassed and disappointed that I had let myself get that out of shape.
As the race approached, I was getting better at running 3 miles without having to walk. My husband was reminding me how he was going to train by eating a donut at least once a week. I kept reminding him that the race was going to be a challenge if he didn’t at least attempt a jog at some point. Well, race day came and lo and behold he beat me by a single stride. I was devastated. How could I spend months prepping for this race and he come out and beat me? After that race, I got an itch. I wanted to improve my running, I wanted to participate in more races, I wanted to drag more and more people into the race world *cough mom cough*.
Well, in just 4 years I’ve lost and kept off 25lbs by changing my eating habits, got pregnant and had a healthy baby girl, lost the baby weight, ran numerous half marathons (even a relay team while prego), and I am prepping for a full.
I hope you will be inspired to see a happier and healthier you as you start your own health journey. The only way to succeed in a more confident you is to start something for yourself not because you want someone else to like you or notice you. Do this for you. Be there for yourself. Hold yourself accountable and remember that you are loved and appreciated by so many people in this world that you don’t even know. Be confident, be fit, be you!
confidentandfitmom 