Welcome to Real Life Wellness

Welcome to my Blog!  This is scary and a lot more "out there" than I have ever been. Bear with me...

I have started this Blog because I want to document my recent jump back in to health and fitness.  I personally love reading and being inspired by other people's stories and I thought that this could be a good way not only to keep myself accountable but to connect with other people looking to make positive changes in their lives.  I decided on the name Real Life Wellness because while I used to be able to spend two hours at the gym everyday, those days are long gone!  I am a full time teacher and a busy swim/football/volleyball/lacrosse mom.  "There's never enough time!!!!" is like, my battle cry.  I need simple, healthy solutions that work - in real life.

So where am I starting from?  I just had my third baby in May 2015.  I was already about 30 pounds overweight when I got pregnant so I knew I was fighting an uphill battle.  I gained about 30 pounds while pregnant (which was a pretty big win since I gained more than 50 both other times I was pregnant!)  My big wakeup call was when baby C turned 3 months old and the scale said I weighed exactly what I did the day I gave birth!!  Um...once the baby is out I should be at least a little lighter right?  I had to face the uncomfortable truth that I was not eating well and that my half-hearted walks around the block and 10 minutes of sit-ups here and there were not going to get me where I wanted to be and worse, these choices were causing me to gain weight.   I had to face the fact that losing pregnancy weight at 34 is a lot harder than at 22!  And I realized that I was going to need some help.

This was a big decision for me.  I have always thought of myself as a pretty healthy person.  Even when I am carrying a few extra pounds I have always been active and felt like I knew what to do to eat healthy and work out.  This time I just felt lost.  Being much heavier than I have ever been I felt like I didn't know where to start.  So I turned to social media!  I follow lots of health and fitness accounts on Instagram including several Beachbody coaches.  I picked the one that I felt like I related to the most and I bit the bullet - getting into a 21 day challenge group and starting to drink Shakeology everyday.  I absolutely LOVED the support I got from my coach and fellow challengers. I needed the daily checkins and accountability to keep me engaged.  I stuck like glue to the eating plan (and about 90% to the workout plan) and in just 3 weeks I lost 11 pounds and 9 inches all over!  I was (and am) hooked.  

So that's me today.  Hopefully me tomorrow will be a little bit stronger, a little bit smarter and a little bit lighter!  I hope you will join me on my quest to make wellness a part of my real life everyday.