Transformation to a healthy lifestyle

My story began when I was living in Puerto Rico where I did started doing weight training with my brothers, dad and neighbors when I was in high school but I didn’t pay attention to what I ate. Time went on and I started college and I was more concentrated in my studies so I stopped exercising. I met my husband, and he usually invited me a lot to his parent’s house for lunch and dinner plus we ate in fast food restaurants so I started gaining weight. Also when I started my first job after college, we (my husband and I) have to travel from the south of the island to the north which took us like 2 hours, so most of the time we were sitting in a cubicle and in our car.

I remember that after we got married and moved to Maryland, I was 135-140. Since we got our own place and good paying jobs, we ate out a lot – too much junk food and we were not active at all, so I went up to 152 (I think I little bit more than that). We were always tired and took a nap after work, watched TV and use our computers at home. Did I mention I was dealing with depression since I was a teenager? Plus I was getting home sick; I wanted to go back to Puerto Rico. I felt horrible, didn’t like how I looked at all so I tried to lose weight.

In September 2003, my husband and I decided to change our lifestyle. We began doing lots of cardio and weight training for 5 days a week and I was following the South Beach Diet too. I was 100% committed to boost my self-esteem, feel better about myself and love what I saw in the mirror. We were so focused that nothing was an excuse for missing a workout day – not rain, snow, really cold, windy days, or getting out of work late. In April 2004, I was already 120.

Right now I usually do my own workouts at home. I like to be creative and challenge my body to try new things. I love running outside or jumping rope while I watch TV or listen to heavy metal music. And I change my weight lifting routines every 8 weeks. Recently my neighbor invited me to be part of a running club where we live so we meet new people who inspired me to run more.

We also do other things, like take stairs instead of elevators, walk our dog, park the car further if we go to the mall and we volunteer once a week as dog walkers in the Maryland SPCA (local shelter in Baltimore). Also I love rock climbing; it is a great way to workout and makes you feel proud when you reached the top.

I have a healthy diet right now without eliminating food groups, just learning to pick the right food and control my portions; and very important to drink a lot of water. I have my high calorie day once a week but I don’t really like to do that a lot because eating right makes me feel great, so healthy and gives me tons of energy to keep on going.

Since I changed my lifestyle, I am feeling awesome. I even went back to school to get a fashion design degree; I’ve been doing a lot of modeling too. Recently I am helping my parents (via phone, internet and once-a-year visit to Puerto Rico) have a healthy lifestyle. Also I helped other family members and friends reached their goal weight (niece, brother, sister-in-law, and friends), so they inspired me to get a personal trainer certificate soon because I love to exercise and help other reach their fitness goals.