Hello, it has been a couple of weeks since I posted- finals were no joke. Wednesday, June 7th, I turn 43 years old and  I feel great. Now, even though I posted my before and after weight loss pictures, this blog is about the “why” behind my weight loss and also about the amazing trainer who helped me. Years ago I had a partial hysterectomy, which threw my hormones out of whack, causing my weight to fluctuate up and down.  Not to mention, I love to eat and what I was eating was not healthy. Lastly, in 2013 I twisted my ankle and lost my grandma, who was my best friend. With the combination of these things, I gained so much weight and it seemed that no matter what I did the weight was stubborn as an ox. So, I decided if I could not beat it I made excuses for it, hey don’t judge me… they were real excuses. I’m laughing right now because women know this tactic all too well. We will say, It’s been so hard to get rid of our so-called baby fat and fail to mention that our child is over the age of 10.  The one excuse that faithfully reminded me that there was nothing I could do about my weight was my partial hysterectomy that caused me to experience early menopause. It made me feel defeated before I even started. So why start at all?  Then years later,  I started to feel self-conscious about weight, especially after my husband lost so much weight during the Fire-Academy.  Can you say motivated! Yes, I got motivated all over again, but for the wrong reason. I was doing it for my husband…I probably would have never said it out out loud, but I did not want him to stop being attracted to me. I must admit at the time it was my own past issues of having the wrong men in my life that were more interested in what I was than who I was. I will make it more plain for you.. what I was, was an object of physical attraction to them.  That’s not my husband …he has and still is in love with who I am as a person. Next, I started seeing other people starting their weight loss journey and their results were amazing, I’m here to tell you this can be a  great motivation starter, but if you are doing it because you are comparing yourselves to others, you set your self up for failure. We have to be honest with where we are in life.  During the year 2015 and early 2016, I found myself constantly dealing with something in regards to my health and I had had enough. I started to invite God into my health journey. He began to highlight my eating. I started slowly cutting out fast food and a lot of junk food ( I love cake and it loved me).  Also, I don’t won’t to fail to mention that I was in a great place internally! I started to love and really embrace who I was inside after going through a lot of inner healing over the years.  I use to carry the weight of low-self-worth ( that being me was not good enough) and I had some pretty good excuses for that as well.

 Now, I was one of those women who hid her weight well ( certain clothes made me look smaller & the color black worked miracles on me) and I was good at hiding my low self-worth too (speaking, posting pics, and showing up with a smile everywhere I went).  Even though I started my journey of inner healing in 2007, I can say it wasn’t until 2016 that I really could say I was in the best place of my life in regards to wholeness- mind, soul, but not body.  Fast-forward… we moved to Oakley in July of 2016 and I prayed that God will lead me to a good gym that would work for me because excuse or not there were some health issues fighting against me, but I was determined that they would be my competition challenge instead of my excuses. I was determined to win! I found a cardio kickboxing class in Oakley and the instructor’s name is Alanna Tarango… I want to take a moment to say, she is by far the best instructor/trainer that I’ve ever had! From day one she was very encouraging, I know everyone is different, but your girl Tiffany is an encourager and I also need encouragement. If you yell at me when I’m just starting and call it motivating or pushing me, you might not see me again. It works for some people but not me.  By the end of class I joined the gym, which was either end of July or August 1 of 2016.  The class is not just kick-boxing but a combination of everything! It’s always different and I love it, plus our class is truly a small community.  I also feel like the class is not just targeted to loose weight, but to be in good shape. I have never been able to really run a mile under 8min- I can now or do twenty men push-ups – I can now. I was so enjoying the challenge that I refused to look at a scale or allow Alanna to weigh me and when she did weigh me when I decided to do personal training, I would not let her tell me the weight. I did not want it to be about the number! I know me I would have gotten discouraged along the way if I focused on that.  So instead, I challenged myself and tried to enjoy getting in shape.  When I hit my goal because I did have one, I had lost a total of 29 pounds. I want you to know I did it for me ! If I had did for all the wrong reasons, which I was transparent and shared a couple of those reasons, I’m here to tell you the moment those reasons no longer motivated me, I would have stopped. I had a great accountability partner and friend Hannah who understood the journey because she was once there.  Alanna gave me healthy meal plans that were realistic, meaning I could incorporate into my long term diet. She also listened to me in regards to my health concerns and always worked with me in those areas so that I could be successful.  As a trainer I love that it’s not about the money because she is very reasonable and so are the regular classes that she teaches at Our House Gym; she will not train you unless she knows you are ready to do this for you. I want to personally say Thank you to Alanna because she was truly a god-send, she has become more than an instructor/trainer, but a friend. If you are looking to be healthy not just loose weight then inbox me because she is amazing ! I can truly say I am healthy mind, body, and soul… FOR ONE REASON, ME ! I posted a pic that I cropped to show the size of my face…before I cropped it you could not tell. The other one was the only full body pic I could find because I did not take a lot of them (lol).  I did not share my weight loss journey along the way so a lot of people did not know and have asked me what did I do, so I thought I would write a blog since my birthday is tomorrow to celebrate my hard work and it was hard work and to promote Alanna Tarango as a trainer/instructor/friend. If you are trying to lose weight I want to encourage you to be patient in your journey it took me almost a year ( no matter how long  it takes, it’s your journey just keep moving forward), don’t compare yourself with anyone else (this is your journey),  do it for yourself, don’t just loose weight get healthy ( identity the reasons that may have become excuses and be determined to beat them, find what works for you), and know that you are worth it! You are beautiful but let it flow from the inside out !