It's a Lifestyle Change.

Hi everyone! My name is Claire, and this blog is about my fitness journey. To begin, I will tell you a bit about myself before I decided to change my eating and exercise habits, and life overall.

I have been involved in some sport for most of my life, whether it was swimming competitively for 8 years or softball for 5. I also dabbled in dance, gymnastics, yoga, and everything else that little girls love to try. I am a natural sports player, so I can pick up anything pretty quickly. The only problem is that I hate to practice, so when I became annoyed by swimming practices, I quit that, and focused more on softball, which I ended up quitting 2 years ago. When I was playing sports, I ate whatever the hell I wanted, and figured that I worked it off with the sports. So when I quit, I still had those bad eating habits: eating an entire bowl of cookie dough as a snack, 4 huge pizza slices for dinner, fast food when I was too lazy to cook. I started gaining weight, but made the excuse "I'm a teenager! It's hormones!" Uhh, no.

I knew I was getting chunky, but it really hit me when I was at the doctor's office, and at 167 pounds, I could be considered overweight. I would go shopping, and feel bad about trying on cute clothes because that one word-overweight-made me feel terrible about myself. So I started exercising. I would take my dog on walks in the evening, and though it wasn't much, I felt good because I was at least being active. However, it was not making much of a difference in my weight.

I looked into fitness more on the internet, and followed a couple fitspo Instagrams. I discovered that leisurely walks don't do much; healthy eating habits and tough workouts deliver the results that I wished for. I started by eating less food, and doing cardio a couple times a week. I always felt great after my workouts, and as I became more interested in fitness, I set a pretty lofty goal for myself: six pack abs.

I knew that it would be extremely difficult to achieve that goal, so I kicked up my "diet" a bit more. I don't even call it a diet now; it's a lifestyle change! Instead of just smaller portions, I made sure that my meals were actually nutritious. Huh, imagine that! I tried to eat more vegetables and fruit, and drink water instead of soda. I made my workouts more intense, going for jogs, weight training, and workout videos from the internet that made me sweat like I have never sweat before. I felt so accomplished with myself. Throughout the summer, I have gone from 167 down to 153 pounds. But I'm not stopping there.

I don't have a six pack, so I have dedicated myself to clean eating. I try to read labels more, and avoid anything that is heavily processed. However, I still have snacks like ice cream once in a while, and they actually help to motivate me to try harder the next day. I try to workout every day, and when I don't it feels like an incomplete day. My goal weight right now is 130 pounds, so I still have a ways to go, but I know I, WE, can do it. So, everyone, LET'S GET FITSICAL!