About Me

Hi all! Thank you for taking the time to visit and read my health and fitness blog. As you know, my name is Lara. Here's a little about me:

My Past

I grew up in South Carolina, close to my extended family and all of their good southern cooking. I was a chubby kid, partly because of the good food. But I believe the true reason for my weight issues stem from when I was six years old. Within months of each other, my Pupa (grandfather) and my cousin/best friend both died unexpectedly. That was my first real experience with death and I think I used food to comfort myself.

Once I hit high school, I started to thin out a little but I wasn't very active (no sports for me!), so even though I was skinnier, I wasn't necessarily healthy. I was about 130 lbs then; on my 5'3" frame, that was an okay weight for me. My parents were separated through most of my high school years, but the divorce was official after I started college. I was going to school close to home, so still living with my mom and brother. My mom couldn't afford the house payment each month on her own anymore and we nearly lost it along with some of the family land that it was attached to. My health was the last thing on my mind at that time. We moved in with my grandparents for a while and I gained 20 pounds because of poor diet (that good southern cooking I mentioned earlier) and stress.

Once we were back on our feet, we moved back into our house and my mom and I started Nutrisystem;  she had gained some weight during that time too. I got down to 123 pounds without any real exercise, which was the lightest I'd been in my adult life. Soon after that, I met my now-husband. Jason, and I have been married since April 2008, and together since August 2006. He's a military man, so I move where he moves...

My Present

That puts me in Jacksonville, Florida currently. I am working on losing the 40 pounds that I gained while on birth control for the past six years. Hubs and I are trying to start a family! :) I went off birth control in June 2012 and we started TTC in October.

The more I educate myself on the things that I put into my body, the more I want to avoid those things! Having a healthy diet and exercising on an almost daily basis will help keep me healthy without the need for unnecessary medications. I have said that I never want to go on hormonal birth control ever again! The weight gain alone was enough for me; I can't even imagine the things it's doing to my body that I can't see!

Food is another thing I'm paying attention to. I try to buy organic whenever I can but I also don't obsess over it; the chemicals used in processed foods are not good for your body. For the most part, I eat what I want; I don't gorge myself on junk or fast food, but I won't deprive myself of the foods that I like (okay, love is a better word). EVERYTHING IN MODERATION. In my opinion, it's the only way to do things. If you deprive yourself of the foods you love, you won't last on the weight loss wagon. You'll do really well for maybe a month, maybe a week, (or a day!) and then in a moment of weakness, you'll stuff your face with all the junk that you love but "weren't allowed to have," undoing all your hard work.

My Future

My ultimate goal is to be healthy and fit! And ideally, I'd like to get down to around 115-120 pounds! I will get there by working my ass off and tracking my food intake on MyFitnessPal.