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Introduction Text 2016: I've been battling with my weight since I was a teenager (for 20 years now!) trying every diet, seeing doctors, life coaches and nutritionists and even seriously considering weight loss surgery but I didn't go through with it. I've been happily married for 18 years and my husband has been a big supporter of us both getting healthy as well, but nothing seemed to work! In January 2013, at 36 years of age, I wondered if we were ever going to have that baby we so desperately wanted for years!! I thought for sure that I was too overweight to have a healthy pregnancy, but I decided to talk to my OB about it anyway. She insisted that I'd be fine, that they would monitor me closely and that it would be better to start now than wait a few more years to lose the weight. So we did, followed everything the OB recommended and finally got pregnant in August, but sadly it ended in miscarriage at 9 weeks. I was so distraught and didn't realize how common miscarriages were, but I was determined to get as healthy as possible before trying again. So, in Dec 2013, I was referred to a homeopathic doctor and we discovered some major medical issues that have made it very difficult to lose weight and nearly impossible to have a healthy, full term pregnancy. It took another 7 months to work through these issues and in the process I lost 25lbs, the most I'd ever lost! Once we were given the OK to try again, we got pregnant right away!! It was a tough pregnancy, but I did my best to follow a strict regimen of vitamins & supplements and fairly healthy diet, I only gained 7lbs the first 30 weeks, but then another 15 the last 9 weeks!! But a lot of that was the baby ;). I was a nervous wreck for most of the pregnancy, but every time we went in to see the OB, they would tell me the baby was doing great!! In March 2015 my husband and I finally got to meet our son and he is such a great joy in our lives! He's big, strong and healthy! But to my great dismay, in August, my mother passed away suddenly after being in and out of the hospital over the past several months battling liver disease. She had a lot of medical issues of her own and was quite overweight as well. We found out about the liver disease almost 2 years ago and at the time they told us we'd just have to deal with the symptoms as they came up until she could get a transplant, but because of her other issues and her weight, they ultimately told us she would not be able to get a transplant, but could live another 3+ years if monitored closely and symptoms/side effects were handled properly. She had declined over the past few months, but the doctors were handling the symptoms well and were talking about her coming home again when her kidneys went into failure. They thought she would come through it with dialysis, but more systems began shutting down and she was put on life support. Her body was just too tired to keep fighting and the liver disease also took away the clarity of her mind, I was not able to talk to her again after they put her on the machines. I mean I tried, but I''m not sure if she knew what I was saying. What makes me the most sad is that my son won''t get to have a grandma like I did, she loved him so much and only got to see his first 4 months of life, but I am grateful she did get that time with him. Watching my mom go through this over the past year and a half has been really hard, struggling with the extra weight on top of the health issues, it really has made me revisit my original goal to get healthy and lose the weight and now with my son being 12 months old and about to walk any day now, I need to be able to keep up with him!! I need to lose this weight now!! ---------- 2017: I'm back to square one again. How does one lose weight while trying to help care for a 21 month old, help take care of your 89 year old grandmother, work ~20 hours a week and do all the cooking/cleaning in house? It's been tough, but I'm ready to start again.

- get fit: body, mind & soul - drink more water!!! - get better sleep!!! - love and value myself! - have fun and LIVE my life!

CLEAN EATING!! Gluten-free, dairy-free, no added sugar, drinking more water, walk or be active several days/week, find fun & active activities for the weekend, clean & organize my house so I can breathe easier, get rid of as much stress as possible and start planning to have another baby!

I'm originally from south FL but live in NC now. I own a design studio offering graphic design and photography services.



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