Tuesday, April 2, 2013

A little update on me!

Hello all!

I know I usually the blog to post pictures and updates on the boys, and I'll work on getting an update on them very soon! But I wanted to spend a second and just focus on me for a minute. I know, why would I want to do that? I really do spend most of my life/time focusing on my family, work, cleaning...well maybe not as much time on that as I should, but over the last 9 months I have tried to increase the time I spend focusing on my overall health and well-being. It's hard to take care of everyone else in your life if you don't spend any time on yourself and last year around June or so I decided to take the first step and really pay attention to what I was putting in my body and my nutrition.

Since having the boys in October 2012, I had gained about an extra 10 to 15 pounds (and really I had needed to drop about 10 to 15 pounds before I got pregnant, so I was now teetering much higher than I wanted to be) and since I had been working full-time that year it was really hard to put even an ounce of attention towards myself. Well, I was really just tired with no energy and feeling a little down and out of control of my own body. So step 1, was getting my body back. I started using Advocare products (send me a message or call me if you want to know more about this stuff, it's awesome!!) at the end of June and cut out much of the fast food and bad stuff I had been eating. Over time I was able to lose some weight and started feeling better! My energy and positive feelings increased ten-fold!

Then in November I finally decided to put myself and my family first a little bit more and I quit my full-time job so I could spend more time with the boys, but also to keep my sanity. Life was going too fast and I was spending too much of it at work when my heart just wasn't in it anymore! So, at that time since I was no longer spending 40 to 50 hours at work anymore I was finally able to incorporate some fitness back into my life. Since then I have been able to work out regularly 3 to 6 times a week and I honestly have never been in better shape or felt better than I do now. I take classes at a local fitness shop in Westerville called, Melt Hot Fitness (check it out if you are in Columbus, it is amazing, the workouts use your own body strength and can tone you very quickly!!).  Overall with my increased focus on nutrition and fitness I have been able to drop 35 pounds and dropped 5 pants sizes and I am really excited to be running (did I say really?? I don't like to run....) in a 10K with pretty much my entire family in May in Cleveland. It's been awesome to see my whole family work on improving their nutrition/fitness too! I'm pretty sure if I took a poll we have lost at least a whole person in the amount of weight we have lost, oh my I'm so proud of everyone!

So after focusing on myself I feel like I have more energy and a much more positive attitude to put towards the rest of my life and some of the most important parts - my little guys and Tim! They are my world :) I just thought it was worth posting that it's not a bad thing with all your obligations and things going on to make sure you are spending some of that time on yourself, it's totally worth it! My relationships are better than they have been (and they weren't bad before!), and I am just happier! Thanks for listening, now I'll go back to posting about my boys, stay tuned :)


March 31, 2013 - Now lighter, stronger, healthier and happier!

Easter 2013 

Easter 2012 (apparently I am still wearing the same shirt :) )And Tim looks the same :)

April 2012 - Before I started with Advocare/Exercise

3 comments:

Unknown said...

1. Hot momma! Your last year to this year photos are amazing!!!! Awesome work! 2. Updates on yourself are completely acceptable-you are part of the family after all

Danielle said...

Thanks Sonya! It was a long road but I feel so much better now! Looking back it's hard to believe the "before" pictures were where I was at! Oh well, I think I learned alot through the whole process! Thanks for the encouragement, maybe I'll post more of myself....eventually :)

Unknown said...

I finally have a chance to read this! You look amazing! Congrats on everything. Those boys are such cuties and I'm sure they keep you on your feet!