The shortest distance between two points is under construction

I'm a mother of 3, and I love my children, husband and my life in general.  I have spent the better part of my adult life and the past 4 years being pregnant and raising my children which I would not trade for anything.  But with having and raising our children so close together, I have put myself on the back burner to ensure that they have everything that they could ever need and then some. 

I have watched my figure and appearance change for the better (growing babies and watching my belly swell) and the worse (the stretch marks, water retention and weight gain) throughout this time and have decided that I don't like seeing the latter staring back at me in the mirror.  I have enough self-confidence to "rock" whatever extra weight etc.. that I'm carrying because I want my children to have confidence in themselves too but I asked myself the other day, "Am I truly showing them self-confidence or just showing them how to make the best of what you've got and taking the easy way out".  Again I realized that it's the latter of the two that I'm not happy with and have decided that a change is in order and a BIG change.

The first thing that I immediately told my husband and myself that I want to change is my fitness.  I don't have the desire/need to look like a super model or movie star; I just want to improve my overall health so that my children will not have to grow up without a mother.  I know that I need to lose weight but the number of pounds is not as important to me as the active lifestyle that I hope to teach my children.

This is not going to be an easy venture and I think my husband will be the hardest obstacle to overcome.  I love him dearly but he believes that we should just be happy with who we are.  I am happy with me but I'm not a healthy me and that's where my issues arise. 

It hasn't always been easy or even affordable enough for us to make healthy choices.  I can think of many times where we sacrificed a healthy meal for ourselves so that our kids could have one because we simply couldn't afford enough for all of us.  We're not set financially by any means but we're a little better off (at least to where we can afford to eat healthily) so I have taken the steps to ensure that we have balanced meals in our house and enough for everyone (STEP 1).  I got inspired by a blog of someone who I know consider my role-model (whose story is very similar to my own) to get my a$$ off of the couch and get active at home since we can't afford a gym membership.  After following her blog for weeks, reading it and re-reading it, I emailed her just to simply thank her for being such a great inspiration.  She gave me the greatest gift this Christmas, she invited me to come to her gym regardless of whether we could afford it and to just "pay it forward" later on. (STEP 2 is falling into place).  I told my husband just before Christmas about this gift and was crying with how excited at the prospect of change I was, it truly made my Christmas this year.

Today is day one of my journey, I will be heading off to the gym this evening for my first time in years and I cannot wait!  This journey will not be without it's ups and downs and bumps along the way but I'm determined to make the change and work my butt off for results!

Thank you to my Christmas angel for giving me the gift of hope and means to improve my life!

The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs... one step at a time. -Joe Girard