Welcome to Faith-Filled Fitness!!!

II John 1:3 "Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love."

I am so excited about this new blog. It is an extension of my other blogs and I am so thrilled!!! I have a blog about my life in Christ and with my family. It is a scrapbook of different aspects of my life and can be found here, and then I have a food blog that I have not been very good to keep up, but I plan on keeping up with it better, because I will be referencing recipes and menu's, ideas for snacks, breakfasts, etc., and I will be putting those things on that blog, but I will always link you back there when that is the case. My food blog can be found here. It is also undergoing a renovation, so bear with me on that one.

A lot of you that are viewing this blog today either know me personally, or know me through my other blog. What you may not know, is how I have struggled with my weight.

It started when I was 13 and puberty hit. Up until that time, I was a skinny little kid, but puberty hit and youzers ~~ everything changed!!! I gradually gained weight right into my adult years. I had a lot of trauma in my life as a young adult. I was 19 when I lost my sister Dana (who was 18) in a motorcycle accident, and my husband (of almost 8 months), within 3 months of each other back in 1986. It was an absolutely devastating time for me. I turned to food to help mask the deep pain that I was feeling. And I got bigger.

I moved on with my life as best I could. I was away from God at that time, and trying to do life on my own. I.was.miserable.miserable. And I got bigger.

In 1992, I had my son Dak. That was such an exciting time in my life. But after Dak was born, his dad and I experienced great turmoil in our marriage that ended with me leaving him and starting life with Dak on my own. And then eventually we divorced. It was a very difficult time in my life once again. And again I was still away from God (but coming back).

Well when I was about 29 years old I started losing a little weight. I lost about 50 lbs and then decided to keep going. All total I lost about 100 lbs in about a year. That has been about 13 years now since I got all the weight off.

I have gained some and lost some through the years, but I've never gotten as heavy as I was before I lost the weight.

This is my after and before =) pics. The one at the top is hubs and I from just last week and then the two at the bottom is me as well. (Please click to make bigger if you'd like.) The first one is when I'm about 22 or so and on vacation in Florida (and miserable). And the other one is me almost at my highest, 247 lbs (yep still miserable).



So why start a health and wellness blog now? Well back in August I had a heart scare, a big one, and so I started eating very healthy and exercising as best I could. I had gained weight since major knee surgery in November 2008 and was back up to 159 lbs. I was so unhappy that I'd let myself get there. But the scare with my heart did it for me. I realized that being healthy was not just a looks thing. It was a heart matter. I needed to be healthy to fulfill the life that God has for me. He has a purpose and I want to fulfill it. So I got busy.

I went back on my vegetarian diet and started trying to exercise, be it ever so slightly. I set a goal weight and got to work. My goal was to lose 29 lbs by the end of the year. I am 4 lbs from goal weight, so I reset my goal and it is to have those 4 lbs off by the end of January.

I have learned so much about health and wellness and being able to exercise and deal with chronic pain. I've learned how to stop emotional eating, and to deal with my pain in more healthy ways and I want to share what has worked for me with you.

I am so very excited about what God has laid on my heart concerning this blog. The name alone just thrills my heart so. You see that didn't come from me: totally God!!! I give Him all the praise and glory for what He has done and is doing in my life.

In the days to come I will explain more about the name of the blog and also what I am doing to start the New Year off right.

But for now I'd just like to welcome you and say thank you so much for reading. Please check back often as I will be posting regularly.

I have already posted some "keys to consistency posts" and so feel free to browse those. More on those coming up as well.

Healthfully yours,
Dawn

PS I love your comments and thoughts. If you are struggling with your weight and have a question or just need to "talk", please e-mail me (my address is in my profile). Thank you so much for visiting.