How it all began...

About 5 years ago I was FAT. I mean REALLY FAT! I didn't realize how out of control things had gotten until my good friend Kristin developed some pictures of me after pulling a prank on my jeep. When i saw those pictures i thought "holy shit!!! is that really what is look like?" and it was. I took one of the pictures, went home, dusted off my treadmill and taped the picture to it. And that's how it began. I started walking every day on that treadmill... staring at that picture in disgust!

I won an ipod at work! (yes the very place that had caused such outrageous weight gain) i continued to walk on the treadmill but loaded my ipod full of Justin Timberlake and other shake your ass dance music and began dancing... alone... in my room... with the door locked... for about 45min a day. I also started to count my calories every day. I joined 24 hour fitness and started working out everyday. eventually i quit drinking and with all my efforts combined i lost close to 80lbs in about 9 months. I had never felt so amazing in my life. i had found a new passion for healthy living and fitness, this was GREAT!!!

Then I hit a speed bump. A long 3 year speed bump. I got into a relationship and my priorities changed and i didn't have the support that i needed. the scale began to creep up slowly on me. I even showed Mr. speedbump old pictures of me and told him that i could never go back to that. i started going to the gym again and lost the 10lbs i had gained back. Then tragedy struck and my father passed away. Now if i was Angelina Jolie or some other starlet this probably would have lead to and epic weight loss of the unhealthy kind. unfortunately i lived with in walking distance of 4 bars and with no motivation to keep my self healthy and Mr. speedbumps love of the drink i ended up eating bar food, washed down with vodka most nights of the week.I gained 30lbs back the next two years consisted of my fluctuating between that 30lbs. As my relationship with Mr. Speedbump worsend i found my self wanting to work out again to distract my self from my miserable life. Then i remembered how much i loved it. i started doing kick boxing in my bedroom, going for walks, riding my bike and remembering the great feeling that comes after a good work out. A feeling that can't even compare to any other high that i tried to obtain to mask my unhappiness. Then slowly but surely the scale started giving me a smaller number.

Long story short, things finally ended with Mr. Speedbump and I. It was the first time in a long time that i felt like me again!!!! and as sad and hard as the break-up was it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I was able to get back to the Lyz that i had become right before i met him. The happiest Lyz i had ever been. I immediately went to 24hr fitness renewed my membership and signed up for a personal trainer.

Now i am even more dedicated than i ever have been! and not just to loosing weight but eating as healthy as i can. I cut out alcohol, fast food, processed food, high fructose corn syrup and adopted the saying "eat from the ground up" (yeah ok i stole that from my trainer) and now i am in the gym 6-7 days a week  or as much as i can be. I have become a wealth of knowledge when it comes to nutrition and exercise and hope that when i reach my goal i can begin a new journey to become a personal trainer and nutritionist.

I wanted to create this blog to share my ongoing journey and to give advice and inspiration to anyone who needs it. don't be afraid to ask my anything, all i want it to pay it forward to others who want to meet goals or change things about their life style.

What I'm about to do now is very scary! but if people can go on shows like the biggest loser and do it then so can i!! I'm going to reveal my weight for the whole world to know!

I tipped the scales at just over 280lbs when i first started and i got all the way down to 199lbs i got back up to 230 when i was with Mr. Speedbump and right before we broke up i weighed 225lbs so that is where i start my count down from as of now. Today i weigh in at 189.8lbs so that's about a 36lb loss since the end of august. I would like to be between 130-140lbs but I'm taking it one pound at a time and setting my goals monthly with my trainer. by 1/8 my goal is to be in the 170's and officially put me in the "century club" loosing over 100lbs! Stay tuned for updates!!!!!