Happy New Year Everyone!!!

I hope everyone had a fabulous New Year's Eve!  I was lucky enough to enjoy an incredible night out in Ocean City, MD at Seacrets and had a blast celebrating with a HUGE crowd of people!!!  What a great night!  I love New Year's Day... I love the idea of "wiping your personal slate clean" and starting off a whole new year with all new goals!!!

When I started working out I wanted to set realistic goals for myself for the short term but really wanted to make the determination at that time what my long term goals would be as well.  I got the body fat test done so that I would have a record of what my starting point was.  Then, I looked online to see if I could find a site that would give me pictures of what people looked like at different percentages of body fat. I found this great site called Leigh Peele.  You can check out the pictures that are posted on here to get an idea of what your goal body fat percentage would be.  You shouldn't just go by weight since, as we know, muscle weighs more than fat and it is far more about how your body looks and how healthy it is then what the scale says!  This said, I decided that I really loved the way the picture looks of the woman at 18% body fat.. I liked the one at 15% as well but 18% seemed a little more comfortable for me.  So, it was done... no matter how long it takes, I want to get to 18% body fat then I can reevaluate my goals and see if I want to reduce it by a little more!  As a side note, please take a look at the 30% body fat picture... I was 2% higher than that when I started a year and 8 months ago! 

I grabbed a diet journal and started writing down what I ate in the beginning.  I cut out a couple of the fast food meals, cut back on the soda and started drinking more water and working out at least 3 days a week.  I actually saw some weight loss in the first week, I think like a pound or two.  I liked that... ALOT!  I loved the way I felt when I left the gym.  I loved the feeling of accomplishment that I got when I worked (and I mean worked) my way up to 45 minutes on the elliptical. I got very excited to see the number of calories that I was burning during each workout!  I did cardio alone for two months... 3 to 4 days a week and reduced my calories to about 1400 per day.  That is all that I focused on was the calories at that point.  I would have to say that after about the first month I was HOOKED and I still am... actually more so now!  I can't seem to do enough research or learn enough to quench my thirst for knowledge for everything fitness related!  It is overtaking my life and what could be more perfect than allowing myself to be hurled into a healthier, happier, fitter lifestyle?!

Anyway, I will get into more details about my regimine and eating habits, etc soon but for now I wanted to share with everyone my AMAZING news... I am at the end of another one of my diet journals as of today and it is time to buy a new one.  At the end of each of them I take my measurements again and get my body fat taken again so needless to say, today was my day for that.

And the results are:

• 130 pounds
• 20.9 % bodyfat
• 36-27-36
• 29 total inches lost

WOW!!! I am SOOOO excited I can't stand it!!!  I am still working towards my goal daily!  I am more driven than ever to make my goal body fat percentage and continue to learn, share my challenges and what I have learned with everyone!!!  I am going to be posting some pictures on here soon but I have learned that I did not like pictures to be taken further down than my chest when I was heavier apparently so I am having a hard time finding full body pictures.  I am going to keep looking and will post some as well as some progress pictures in the next couple of days!