About the Journey

I've always wanted to write a blog, but was worried I didn't have the time to keep it updated or that no one would be interested. Really, they were excuses.

But all that has changed. 

When I started this journey and later became a coach, I found that others were genuinely interested in what I had to say because I've been through it. I've pushed my mind and body in ways I never thought I would, and am proof that these programs work! I have a totally awesome (yes, I grew up in the 80's) coach myself and wanted to pay that forward by helping other people along their path to getting healthy.  

I frequently get asked questions about getting started, challenge groups, 21 Day Fix, Shakeology, recipes and all things Beachbody. 

So I thought, "well the universe is sending you a sign, start the blog already. Tell the people what they want to know." 

Then a good friend told me that it was part of my life's plan...so, well here I am.

So, how did you get here, you ask?

Or maybe you didn't, but if you're gonna check out this blog, you're should probably know a little bit about what led me here.

I've been on this roller coaster ride to get fit for some time now. As a kid, I was a string bean. Like really. So naturally thin that my bones popped out of my skin in places. And I was always tall. Tallest girl in my class. Sometimes the tallest person in my class until about the 6th grade.  

I peaked out at about 5' 7", was no longer boney, still thin, but took on some of my mom's curves. I was blessed with a high metabolism, I guess, because I didn't do anything to stay in shape. I just was. 

I never exercised on purpose, was never a part of organized sports and definitely didn't watch what I ate. My parents enjoyed food, including the infamous "pogey bate" (that's what my ex-Marine dad used to call junk food) and they passed that yumminess down to me :-) As a kid, I spent a lot of time outdoors. So I was active without trying to be.

THEN, I got an office job during my senior year in high school, went to college and have pretty much worked full time in an office setting ever since.  

I started slowly gaining weight after about a year of sitting behind a desk because I was't active, still ate whatever I wanted, and didn't go out of my way to find things to do that involved speeding up my metabolism. 

As a matter of fact, I didn't even really realize that I should be. My parents never really stressed the importance of exercise and getting fit wasn't necessarily the "movement" it is today. 

I got married in my mid-20's, had a baby at 30 and gained a TON of weight. All during my 20's & early 30's, I flip-flopped between fad diets, never really exercised at any consistent rate and never really lost the weight after I was pregnant.

Then, my mom died and my whole world came crashing down. I was 32. I became a totally different person, and not in a good way. Mom died from congestive heart failure and other heart-related complications. And even though I was in a complete fog the year after she died, I finally realized I needed to do something about my weight...not only for me, but for my little daughter who was only 16 months old at the time.

I managed to lose about 50 lbs, again fad dieting...and slowly, but surely gained it back. 

Fast forward to Feb 2016.

I had once again let the weight creep up. I wasn't feeling great physically or fitting into my clothes, which took it's toll mentally. I had seen numerous commercials and social media posts about 21 Day Fix, but I found excuse after excuse NOT to do it. Until one day my Facebook friend was tagged by her Beachbody coach for all of the fab progress she had made on 21 Day Fix. It was like the final straw that got me off of my butt.

I sent my friend a message, asked her some questions about the program and her coach and decided to contact Julianna Dill (totally awesome coach mentioned above). That call truly changed my entire life. I jumped in, joined a challenge group and never looked back. 

Since I started 21DF, I've completely changed my mind, body and spirit...honestly and truthfully. I learned about portion control. I learned about preservatives and that just because things are labeled "healthy" for you, doesn't always mean that they are. Some contain things that can't be processed by your body, so it just stays there...and you gain fat, among other health-related issues. 

I learned that discipline gets you through the days when you don't feel like working out or eating right, and trust me, we all still have those days. I started to look for ways to be active during vacations and completely rethought the food I offered at family gatherings and parties. I learned to plan ahead in order to stay on track. 

As I embraced this program and educated myself through the help of my fit family challenge group, my coach, Beachbody Blogs, Pinterest, and even Autumn Calabrese herself, I began to see that a healthy lifestyle doesn't mean I have to deprive myself or stop "living." And I've even enjoyed cooking more, finding ways to "clean up" everyday recipes and making time to workout.

It's all about that balance.

The bottom line here, friends, is that I'm living proof that a cleaner, healthier lifestyle works. And you don't have to cut out everything you love in order to make it work. Life's too short to deprive yourself. Make good choices 90% of the time and the other 10% won't totally deter you.

I'll leave you with a quote from Autumn during a number of the workouts..."Don't wish for it, work for it!" You get out of it, what you put into it.

And if you made it this far down the page without falling asleep...THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for sticking it out. :-)

This Blog: Real Talk

So now that you're here, reading this, and I've told you more about me and what led me here (see post About the Journey), you might want to know more about what else you can expect from this blog:

1. I'm keeping it real over here. Everything that I'll write about is straight from my life's adventures and what I've seen work for others. So you may not always agree or may have had a different experience. And that's ok. That's the beauty of this crazy life...we're all different and have a lot to share with the world. I'd love to hear your perspective as well!
2. Hi, I'm Leah and I'm human. Which means I make mistakes, have bad days, succeed, accomplish goals and fall down just like everyone else (well, I might "fall down" physically more than most people, but that's because I'm clumsy and is another story entirely). And I plan to write about that. So you get to hear the good, the bad and the ugly. :-) Feeling lucky, right?
3. There may not be a consistent cadence to when I post. I'll try, but as I've mentioned before, I'm a full-time working mom and wife with a busy schedule (like pretty much every other person you know) and sometimes life just gets in the way.
4. You'll likely find grammar mistakes, punctuation errors, run-on sentences and the like. As much as I try to proofread and make sure that everything presented to you is of the most-perfect, the reality is I'm not perfect and I'm constantly on-the-go. See #'s 2 & 3
5. There will be a hodge podge of different stuff. Along with writing about my journey, I'll post recipes (usually developed by someone else), tips for getting started/staying on track/eating out at restaurants/vacationing/meal planning & prep...basically anything and everything that comes up. There are certain things the people starting out want to know, and you'll find that here. There are things that folks doing it awhile want to know...you'll find that here too. And if you have questions, you can always reach out to me and I'll help you through it. Then, it will likely end up here as a post so others can benefit.

I'd love to hear from you. 

• Ask me questions...because you're likely having the same question as another person out there.
• Tell me what you like and don't like about this blog or want to know more about. All I ask is that your comments are constructive. There's enough negativity out there, let's be kind to one another.
• Tell me what's worked for you. Again, this is all from my experience. Share something fabulous that you're doing.

Hopefully, you find this as a useful tool as you go along your journey, but at the very least, you'll know that there is a whole community of people that are right there with you, having the same questions, looking for new ideas and trying different things.