Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog!  This blog has been a long time coming, but I finally decided to bite the bullet and start it.  Let me start by telling a little about myself.  I am a former couch potato, fast food & junk food loving sugar-holic who has yoyo dieted her whole life.  I've always struggled with my weight and my desire to be healthy losing out to my love for sugar and junk food.  But 2 years ago, everything changed.  Ok, well actually really only one thing changed and that was my determination, and slowly but surely everything started changing after that.  

2 years ago after the birth of my son, I found myself tired, grumpy, lethargic, and weighing the same that I did at 9 months pregnant (my son was almost 6 months old at this time).  I had always wanted to be healthier, and tried on multiple occasions, but could never keep my resolve, but this time was different.  I wanted to be able to play with my son, keep up with him when he got older, and most importantly, be around for him for the long haul and I knew that the way I was treating my body wasn't going to guarantee me those things.  

That's why I called this blog Living Healthy with Purpose.  I don't just want to eat better and exercise to be thin (although I don't mind that part!) but I also want to be an active mom, and a great wife, friend, ministry leader, and do my best to excel in all the hats I wear at any given time.  I believe that God put me on this earth to follow Him and help others and if I don't take care of myself, I'm not going to be able to do that very well, and I will not be a very happy person. 

So slowly, but surely, I started making positive lifestyle changes over the past few years that has resulted in me (and my family) eating healthier and fresh foods, cutting out most processed foods and sugar and avoiding things like trans fats and high fructose corn syrup.  One thing I will say though, is that I am not, nor will I ever be perfect!  I still eat the occasional cookie, pizza, fast food, or Starbucks frappucino, but it's not often and I *typically get right back to eating right.  That said, I'm still on a journey (and will be for a long time) and I still struggle.  But I've made a lot of leaps and bounds and that is what I hope to encourage others with.

Since I've started my journey I've lost 50lbs and just a few months ago, I ran my first half marathon, which was HUGE for me!  And if I can do it, anyone can do it and now it is my passion to share that!  I will be posting info on here about my workouts, my struggles, my successes, and anything else relating to my journey and my hope is to help and encourage anyone who wants to read.  I also will post about what I eat and cook as I continue to learn to eat better.  I'm picky and have a picky family so when I find a recipe that is family approved, I was to share that with others who will benefit too!  Now, I'm no Martha Stewart so pretty much everything I make will be from someone else's recipe (Pinterest addict here) so I will make sure to give credit where credit is due and post links to the recipes I use!  

I hope this helps some people out there who are overwhelmed with all the healthy living advice or who don't think they can do it or have thought about giving up!  Whether I get 1 reader, or 100+, I just felt that I needed to write this so I'm doing just that.  Thanks for reading and feel free to introduce yourself and tell a little about your journey! :)