About Spicy

Welcome! I'm so glad you stopped by to say hello. Let me tell you a little about myself and my journey to the point of creating this blog.

I am Spicy. I am 5'3", and on my way to 120 lbs. I am a stay at home mom (SAHM) and I love every minute of it! And yes, I have braces. Clear on top, metal on bottom (with teal bands, LOVE).

This is the Hubs and LW. The two loves of my life! Hubs is the best husband in the world, not to mention father and best friend. I could not have asked for a better partner in this crazy world. LW is my one and only baby boy and the second love of my life! I can't imagine life without him. He has changed my world in so many ways.

I have been over weight most of my life. I was a skinny kid, but by the time I was in fifth grade I started gaining and I became really self conscious. In seventh grade I was 185 lbs. Yes, you read that correctly. Seventh grade. I am only 5'3". I'm short, and I love it. ;) Eighth grade, I was 180 lbs. You may be thinking I wasn't a very active kid, but let me tell you something... I was the exact opposite. I played almost every sport you can name (including tackle football). I was CONSTANTLY outside, running around... but I wasn't eating right. My family has a history of being overweight. My Mom had just lost her excess weight, but I don't think she realized I needed, or any of her kids, needed her to help me be healthy too. My parents divorced and I moved with my mom. She is hands down the strongest, most loving, awesome woman I know! Just with living with her I learned more about being healthy and started eating better, but I still wasn't losing weight. As I look back on it now I can narrow it down to two things that may have contributed to that; I was depressed, and although I was eating healthier I was still eating more then I should. I moved out of my Mom's house in July 2006 and between then and December 2006 I dropped down to 140 lbs. Not healthily, I might add... I was majorly depressed, I wasn't eating much, and I would lock myself in my room. When I got bored I would do handstands. Yup. Weird. I know. But that's what I did. 

I moved back in with my Mom and didn't even realize exactly how depressed I was, or that my body had changed so much. The first inclination I had about my body being different was a reaction I'd received from a boy I had gone to school with since sixth grade. He and I weren't ever friends, but he was nice to me, unlike most kids. He passed by me one day and I said hi to him. He looked at me briefly, just a once pass over. He said, "Hi." And before I knew it his head was whipping back around for another look! And he was smiling! At ME! He was actually checking me out! He quickly repeated his original "Hi." with much more enthusiasm. Let me tell you, that day, I was on cloud nine! His name was Cameron and he was a cute guy... and he had looked at me like that... ME! No one had ever looked at me that way. To this day that boy doesn't know the impact he had on me. He never will as we are not in contact, but I think he was the first step in me gaining the smallest measure of self confidence.

I worked with horses, training them for 4-6 hours a day, but I definitely wasn't eating the best I could. However, I didn't gain weight! Living with my mom and eating mostly what she did, did it's job. I met my husband and within a couple months of being married, I started packing on the weight... fast. I hated it. Suddenly I was back in size 14 pants... and they were tight. I didn't feel beautiful and I was embarrassed to be nude in front of the Hubs. What an awful feeling... I say that only because I know I'm not the only person out there who has or still feels that way and it was part of the reason I knew I needed to change. 

The biggest reason though, was for my kids (then future kids), not myself. I didn't want them to go through the same torment I did as a kid... the fat chick. I want them to be confident, feel beautiful/handsome, and know how to take care of their bodies! I'm still learning on a day to day basis, but I know a lot more now then I did when I was a kid. I was determined to be in shape by the time I became pregnant. I finished cosmetology  school (Oct 2010) and realized what I had been doing to "lose weight" wasn't working. I was determined to get it under control.

December 2010

December 2010 I made a pact to get in shape (I know... great timing right?) with the help of my Mom, or at least as much help as she can give long distance. We weren't planning on becoming pregnant for at least another year so I had time. 

January 2011 I found out I was pregnant and I was terrified. I'm not joking when I say I was not excited to find out I was pregnant. My family has a history of diabetes... not to mention other things... and I knew the risks involved of being overweight and pregnant... Gestational Diabetes was on the top of my list... I was terrified. I weighed around 185. I went off all sugar and exiled soda. Aside from fruits and veggies. I stayed clear of it. By the time I had my first appointment I had dropped to 172 (ish). That scared me too. It isn't good to lose weight while your pregnant. I asked my OB/GYN if it was okay and I told him, "I haven't had morning sickness so it's not from that, I've just completely stopped drinking soda and having any sugar." He looked at me and shook his head. "You're fine. You have the weight to lose and you're body is just shedding the extra pounds from you going off sugar. As long as you gain the way your supposed to you will be fine."

At nine months pregnant I was 190 lbs. I didn't want to get above that and I didn't. After giving birth, coming home from the hospital, and waiting a few days, I was relieved to see 175 on the scale.

And that is where I really started working on my weight and health. I started P90X the second I got the go ahead... I lost about seven pounds putting me around 168.

I'm sucking in here... 

 I kept at it, not super consistent but at least 4 or 5 times a week. I got really flexible... but I wasn't losing anything else... I was trying to eat healthy, but without really knowing how, I was failing miserably. By January I was bouncing back and forth between 165-170. I was stuck in a five pound cycle. And I stayed that way...

I started doing Insanity, thinking that would help. It didn't. I got stronger and my cardio went way up, but it wasn't what I wanted. I was still in that cycle. My Sis Spunky and I started talking and we are both in the same mind set. Wanting to lose weight so our outside reflects our inside and we can be fit and healthy. We started the eight week challenge courtesy of Six Sisters' Stuff. And guess what... I didn't lose anything. I did break my five pound cycle and brought it down to a three pound cycle between 165-168. I was still stuck. 

While reading a fellow runners blog I saw she had started the C25K program before her second pregnancy. I had started the C25K program on my Ipod a couple years prior and it had worked, but I had hated it. Running for sixty seconds was killer! But I was curious. And I was desperate. I quickly downloaded C25k on my android phone and prepared to start it the next week... which is when I started this blog. 

Join me on my adventure to a healthier me! So my outside shows my inside, a fun spicy girl who is energetic and outgoing. To be an example for my baby boy, my husband, and our future kids. To weigh less then my can-eat-anything-and-not-gain-a-pound husband. To feel like a match for him. To feel beautiful when I look in the mirror, to look at myself in pictures and not focus on the fat I see, but the beauty of my eyes or hair or smile. 

Welcome to the journey!

A little more about me... Random Facts.

1.) I am an Animal Lover. If I could, I would spend my entire day around animals. Specifically Horses and Dogs. They have been and always will be a part of my life and heart.

2.) I'm a wanna be Chef. I love cooking and baking. I'm getting better with every recipe I make, I'm learning more about spices and I've even created some of my own recipes! I love to take a recipe and make it my own by adding or removing ingredients, or take the idea of a recipe and do it my way. Again, I'm not great. I'm not nearly as good as Spunky, but I'm getting better. :)

3.) If I had to pick a character/princess I was most like... I would have to say... I don't know! I love Rapunzel from Tangled. I feel like her fun personality and attitudes are a lot like me, the me that not many people know because I'm really shy and not totally comfortable in my own skin. Along with being told I'm like Rapunzel  I've also been told I'm like Jasmine, Mulan, and Belle. Weird combo... I know.