Who would have thought 2 years ago that I would wear a booty girl shirt with such confidence? *smiles*

I can remember being on diets as far back as junior high school. That is over 20 years of attempting different methods to become "normal".

For the first time that I can remember, I'm no longer considered obese by medical professionals and by summer I'll even qualify myself as "normal"! I've always joked with my friends that obesity is a genetic trait that I inherited along with obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit and the entrepreneurial spirit. Since I've won the fight against obesity... maybe there is a chance to curb my other issues... nah... it's part of my charm... and lets be honest obsessive compulsive disorder can definitely be a helpful characteristic when you really need to stay focused and follow-through to meet a goal.

As I continue to learn about living a healthier lifestyle and realize why I was overweight my entire life... the more I believe that our learned behaviors and conscious decisions have more of a negative impact on weight then our physiological make-up. As far back as I can remember, I have blamed poor family genes on why I have a weight problem (what a joke). There is no question that the environment and genetics definitely can have an negative impact on your health (cancer and heart disease run rapid even with the "normal" members of my family). Everyone has a family history of one ailment or another... and there are going to be some cards stacked against you even at birth, no matter how you live your life... it's possible you will prematurely die because of your genetics. I'm not a scientist or a trained medical physician... but lets be honest... most of us with a slow metabolism probably are not suffering from a genetic disorder... it's more likely that we make poor food choices and are lazy.

I now understand that the way you chose to live your life (being active and eating healthy) can have a significant positive impact on your psychological and physiological well-being. This morning I woke up at 5am, totally refreshed from 7 hours of sleep. Instead of tossing and turning for another hour before the dudes had to get up for daycare, I decided to put on my gym gear and do my cardio workout. It didn't seem like a chore... and I was looking forward to spinning out the bike to my favorite bad boys (Dr Dre, Snoop, Ice Cube and I can't forget Kanye). I made this choice because "I wanted to do it"... NOT because I thought "I had to do it".

I realize now... in the past I tried dieting but was never "sold on the idea". It seemed like a chore. I don't know how many times I said... "On Monday... I'll start the diet"... or "First of next month... I'm going to start fresh." If you are at the point right now that you know you should be changing your life... if you still feel the need to delay change until the start of a week or the start of the a month... I guarantee you... you are going to fail. You need to want to change bad enough that you don't care if you have one more binge day, weekend or another week to sloth around. You need to want the change today... not starting tomorrow or the next day. Hate to sound like a skinny b*tch on a soap box but remember... I have 20 years of failure to back up my claims!

I tell Devin and Gina regularly... I think they have one of the hardest yet rewarding jobs out there. How they persevere with people until they wake up and realize what they need to do is commendable... I'm just glad they never gave up on me. At first I needed them... now I'm pretty certain I would stay on track without them (well at least with food and cardio)... but now I want them in my life. I'm even enjoying weight training now and its only been 3 weeks. How does that happen? Is it them... is it me? Is it us together... I'm not sure but it's magical!

I now live, eat and breath exercise and healthy eating. I will NEVER allow myself to be overweight again... because I didn't realize until now... this is what living really feels like. If I could bottle my energy, happiness and general feeling of well-being... I'd quit my day job today and sell 250ml bottles for $1000 a pop! And of course... it would be called "Adrenaline Junkie"... hmmm maybe I should copyright that!