Taking Care of ME for a Change...

 When my kids started school in the middle of August I decided it was time to do something for ME.  I had three kids in three years (not on purpose) and that wreaked havoc on my body.  I wasn't able to lose my baby weight between pregnancies and when I was done I was a lot heavier than when I started.  After I had my last daughter I was a size 14.  I wanted to do something about it but it's hard with three little kids to focus on anything or have time to do anything for yourself.  There was always an excuse not to start like  I was tired, it's too hard to start an exercise program, most people who lose weight just gain it all back anyways, I don't have time, etc.  I started running at the end of April and had continued to run 3 days a week but without changing my diet it wasn't really doing much for me.
I had a friend who was starting a 90-day fitness challenge with a group of women and I thought that would be a great way to motivate myself to get moving in the right direction.  It's always easier when you have someone else doing it with you.  I didn't diet...I hate diets.  I mean if you want to drop some weight fast for a special event or something a diet works great, but you always gain the weight back when the diet is over.  I also didn't cut any food groups out of my diet completely.  I don't think that's healthy either.  Your body needs a balanced diet and I don't like eating the same thing every day.
What I did do was start tracking my food and exercise on a website called MyFitnessPal.com.  I was able to figure out how many calories my body needs on a daily basis to maintain a constant weight.  When I enter in some form of exercise it adds calories on because your body needs more food when you exercise.  Then I was able to track how many calories I ate and how many calories I burned with exercise.  It was easy.  I tried to make healthier choices with my food and cut out a lot of junk food and empty calories.
I have been running 3 miles 3 days a week and I do Zumba for about an hour 3 days a week.  I have started doing more weight training now because I'm ready to focus on toning now instead of just weight loss.  I know I'm not super-model thin but I'm happy with where I am at.  I even managed not to gain weight over the holidays ;o)  That's a first! 
Anyways, I have been so happy with my results I just had to share them with all of you.  If you are debating about whether or not to start taking better care of yourself, just do it.  You won't regret it.  I am now a size 8 but some of my size 8 pants are already getting a little big.  Here are some before and after pictures of me:

BEFORE:

I was trying to hide my body with my daughter...too bad it didn't work very well!

Not too flattering and I don't just mean the fabulous look on my face.

Here I was dancing with my son at my sister's wedding.  Look at that huge arm!

AFTER: 

This is me now at a healthy size 8.

I've lost a lot of weight in my face too.

Oh darn, I had to get a bunch of new pants because my old ones were too big ;o)

I feel like I can wear belts now because I'm not constantly trying to hide myself.