Day one: The first steps

by Stephanie Ritchie
(Morgan Hill, CA, USA)

Well, here I am again. I have done this so many times before, some with success, some with the end result of " Meh, do I even have the energy, time, etc.?" The fact is, I'm tired of looking at myself in the mirror at the end of the day and sighing in discontent.

I am a mother of three wonderful children, aged 9 yrs, 6 yrs., and 3 yrs. The majority of my focus in life goes directly on them, then to my husband. Anything else goes to cooking, errands, chores and gardening.

Lately I have been seeing posts of friends on Facebook that show their progress with weight loss and self improvement, looking fabulous. Secretly I am somewhat jealous. I tell myself "If I had started X amount of time ago, I'd be there too" and then go munch on something high calorie, high fat, high carb.

Today I woke up at 3:30 am, as I do every morning, and started the coffee maker. I was scrolling through status updates online and saw a picture of one of my acquaintances online. She is undoubtedly gorgeous, healthy, active and overall lovely. Something sparked inside of me, and I felt compelled to begin somewhere, somehow.

I came across Dialacoach.com, and started this journal. I'll make daily updates, weekly weigh ins, and post pictures as much as possible. Today I've been drinking a lot of tea and water. I'm using Sweet N Low instead of sugar. I had 1/4 cup of blanched almonds this morning for an energy boost.

Going to do it right this time. I am fairly active in my daily routine, but will begin to incorporate 30 min. walks to start out slowly, then increase the time, until I feel strong enough to begin more strenuous exercises.

Anyhow, I'm off to go poke around in my garden. Until tomorrow my friends.

NeS