And so it begins…. After months of marathon training and basically eating whatever I want, the calorie counting has started again.

I want to say ‘Ughhh’ so bad, but I know I need to be positive and optimistic about it. In reality, it doesn’t take that much work with my Sparkpeople app. And I love waking up in the morning feeling awesome because I know I didn’t overdo it the day before. Having power over food and using it for the good of our own bodies is one of the most rewarding feelings.

About 2 years ago, in January of 2012, I started taking Jazzercise classes. I had tracked calories on and off through college. But I got more on track with during this time and lost a few pounds. After a month or 2 as a student, I decided that teaching Jazzercise was definitely something I wanted to do. I was around 155 lbs at this point. On my petite and curvy 5 foot tall frame, I was a fairly chunky little thing.

During my jazzercise training, I loosely tracked my calories (I had more splurge days than non-splurge days) and the weight continued to fall off. I was taking numerous classes a week, along with doing my instructor training. Any calories I took in didn’t have time to stick because I was always on the go! On the weekend of my instructor certification, I was down to 142 lbs. I still felt ‘heavy’ but knew that I was a million times healthier than I was even a few months ago.

Once I started teaching 5 classes a week, the weight still kept coming off but more slowly since I wasn’t having to do hours and hours of practice for my certification. Around January of 2013, I was at 135 lbs – 25 lbs down from my heaviest weight. Woot! It’s funny, but it wasn’t until this point that people began to notice the difference. Others could finally ‘tell’ that I had lost weight. And then they would ask how. Jazzercise was always my answer. 🙂

Through the summer of 2013 is when I got to my smallest: 119 lbs. That weigh-in was on a morning after a day of little eating due to multiple Jazzercise classes and work. So I kinda took it as a grain of salt. In reality, I think I was around a solid 120-122 during most of the summer when none of my clothes fit me anymore. It took very strict calorie counting to get down below 128 lbs…. Which makes sense about where I am right now with my weight.

Once the holidays hit late 2013 and I was training for my first half marathon, my calorie counting got pushed aside. Big time. When you run 30+ miles a week plus teach Jazzercise, it’s hard to control your appetite! Now that my last full marathon of the spring is down, it’s time to get back on track. Why you might ask? My pants from last summer are tight!! And buying new pants isn’t really fun! The 8-10 lbs I’ve put on has settled right around my hips. Nothing some veggies and calorie counting can’t handle. 🙂

I use the Sparkpeople app to log my daily calories and fitness minutes. I have it linked with my FitBit. And those 2 things work together to make me into one lean, mean weight losing machine!… At least let’s hope!

I have 2 more races I’m currently signed up for: the Go Girl Half Marathon in Springfield on April 19 & the Divas Half Marathon in Branson on May 4. I’m hoping since they are only half marathons instead of fulls, I shouldn’t have to carb load as much and derail my diet plans. Although 13.1 miles is a long enough race to carve out some room for a nice big post-race meal! I’m excited to feel completely recovered to get back to my normal training schedule to finish off these last 2 races of my spring season.

I, once again, slept in past my alarm this morning. So today’s workout will happen tonight at Jazzercise instead! Nick keeps telling me to take it easy and listen to my body. Well apparently my body wants to sleep more than go to the gym this week, so that’s what I’ve been doing! Next week, there’s no excuses though!!

I hope you all have a great weekend. I’m so excited to enjoy the beautiful weather!