The busy girl's guide to health and fitness

We have all been there....you look in the mirror and zero in on your double chin, the extra padding around your midsection, the cellulite. It is, I believe, completely normal to have these thoughts from time to time. But for me, there was a period in my life where these thoughts were all-consuming. All I thought about was how "bloated and fat" my stomach looked, or the jiggle that came from my thighs. Ever since I can remember, I have struggled with body image issues. In my late teens/early 20s, I put on a lot of weight, however around my mid-20s I started to get into physical fitness and nutrition. I went from a size 14/16 to a size 0, and was extremely active. So you would think that when I looked in the mirror I would feel beautiful, sexy and confident, right? That couldn't be further from the truth. I was obsessed with becoming "skinny" and thought about the food I consumed constantly. If I ate something bad for me, I would beat myself up. I would spend

Wow, it has been quite a while since I have posted! My life has been crazy busy with so many changes that have taken place. I moved from Chicago to Austin in July and have since been getting myself in my brand new life of a new job, new friends and church community, and new training. Back in October, I started veering away from the massive amounts of cardio I has been doing and started to become interested in strength training. I has done some strength training back in Chicago, but nothing too heavy and most of it had been confined to whatever I had done in group fitness classes. I really had no idea what I was doing, but I also knew I needed to start somewhere. The first time I decided to tackle the squat rack, I was terrified. I had never used anything other than the smith machine, and I was scared I was going to look stupid and like a total newbie....and, I did. But I learned that it was ok. We all need to start somewhere! Thankfully the few other crazies that I see every mornin