Hey hey! Its been a long time since my last post, so I thought I would try and get this thing restarted again!! I hope that you enjoy reading and will continue to follow!
I want to share some exciting happenings in the Artis house! As most of you know we moved this summer and well, starting over isn't easy for anyone. In August, the hubs started on his Masters program, my daughter started back at school {and boy was that a change} and I was left with a quite house. Both of my loves were deep into school work and really didn't have much time to do anything extra {with me}. My husbands schedule was pretty crazy, it started early and ended late. He found himself studying all the time and didn't really have much time to spare , so I sunk myself into making sure he had everything he needed, breakfast, coffee and lunch every morning and dinner every evening. That meant, I was up with him at 4:30 every morning!! After he was out the door, it was my daughters turn...Breakfast {check}, Lunch {check}, School {check}. By 8:00, I was on my own to clean, do laundry and blah blah blah...it wasn't really "fun", but necessary! Fast forward to December...my daughter was offered an opportunity to work with and half-lease a horse. It's something we've always wanted to do for her, but we were never really in a position to. After meeting the horse and taking her for a "test" ride, we decided to move forward with the lease. I made my husband a promise in order to help finance the lease, I would get a job!!!
I wanted to find a job that I could love, a job where I was excited to work and be valued and appreciated. I prayed about it and while on a lunch date with a friend, I saw a sign..."NOW HIRING"! There is was, it landed right in my lap. It was at a store called The Paper Source, right up my alley, right! So I applied and long story short, I was offered a job to start on January 30th! So, the good news...after working at the store for a few short months, I was offered a position on the management team!! I am so excited and I've been wanting to share the news for a while, but have been waiting for the right time. I'm excited to be a part of such an awesome team and company that inspires people to be creative. The company's motto is "Do Something Creative Everyday" and I love that! I will be working more hours, making a little more money, but most of all I get the opportunity to make a difference. I am beyond grateful!
Wait there's more!! I also submitted myself to be considered to photograph a Faith based fitness shirts and got ACCEPTED!! I am super excited to be working with Fit Darlings and hope to create some beautiful images!!
In all, I know this will be an adjustment for our family, but I know its going to be a good one. I'm looking forward to the changes and greet them with open arms!!
Lots more coming on the blog...
Cheers,
Krista
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My Story
As kids, my parents always taught us to eat right and take care of ourselves. Growing up, I never struggled with food or my weight. I was always petite and fairly active. I grew up right smack in the middle of TWO brothers so we were always moving. Playing "bases" as we called it, riding bikes, swimming, the list goes on! Through my teenage years I played volleyball and was pretty active with youth activities. I have to admit that I NEVER thought about my size. In fact, I don't even know what my smallest size was when I was a teen. I was just "small" and never thought I would be "fat".
When I was 19, my life changed forever...I married my best friend and entered into some of the most fun, rewarding and challenging years of my life. In addition to marrying my best friend, I married the Navy...yep, a military wife life for me. 5 short years later, we were blessed with our sweet daughter. It was during my pregnancy that I really let myself go. My mentality was that I was "eating for two" and I could eat whatever I wanted because "I would never get fat". The day I had my daughter I weighed in at a whopping 180 lbs!! I am 5'2" so being that heavy was not a good look or feel for that matter. After I had her, I just assumed the "baby weight" would fall off. Isn't that how it works? My husband was deployed and I had a sweet little person to take care of and I was still learning how to be a mom. I didn't think I was really "that heavy" anyway, I just had a baby!
Since then, my weight has bounced around here and there. Still, I was pretty much uncomfortable in my own skin and knew I needed to do something just not sure how to go about it. Thankfully, I had a wonderful friend who was athletic and always encouraged me to get up and move. So, we joined the gym and became "gym rats"! I'm not sure exactly what kind of weight I lost, but I feel like we were always in the gym. Sadly, when the Navy decided it was time for us to move, I lost my workout partner. Looking back, that took more of a toll on me mentally than I really thought. It was nice to have her there to encourage me to go even when I would rather go have breakfast somewhere! When that was gone, I had ZERO motivation.
Fast forward several duty stations later to 2008. It was here I decided I'd had enough of being uncomfortable. A friend was also looking to loose some weight and had decided on the Body For Life program. It's a 12 week program and it didn't look complicated. I liked it and thought this was something I could do. So I grabbed the book and the cookbook that went with it and got to work. After all, what's 12 weeks, right?! I started cleaning out the cupboards and ridding our pantry and fridge of all the bad things that I liked to eat. {I think my family thought I might be a little crazy, but they were so supportive.} The BFL incorporated fitness and an eating plan that I could follow, this plan even included a "cheat day" and I REALLY liked that! So Jan 1st 2009, I was ready, I was excited!! I had made up my mind that I was really going to do this, I was really going to make this work. I needed to be healthy, I wanted to be healthy. January 1st, I took my first step...I was going to start this "exercise" thing...again! This time, I started with running...boy was that a rude awakening! I didn't really know what I was doing, but I was going to try it anyway, how hard could it be? Put one foot in front of the other, right? I realize now how really unprepared I was. To start with, my shoes were horribly wrong. All I had were some old Nike's (they were probably 3 years old) but I laced them up, put my earphones in and off I went. At this point reality set in when I could barely make it 5 minutes without stopping. I thought I was going to die!! I kept at it tho and slowly {this being a key word here} I worked my way up to 10 minutes without stopping {or dying}. Unfortunately, shortly after starting to run, I started getting this horrible pain in BOTH of my legs...SHIN SPLINTS!!! Oh my goodness, the pain was really bad, I did have to give my poor legs a rest, but I wasn't going to let myself give up. After giving myself a week to recover, I went out and bought some new shoes {Mazuno's} and got back to it. I will never forget the day I ran the whole mile without stopping, I was so happy...I cried! I have never really been the "athletic type" and certainly not a runner so this was really a new and somewhat terrifying thing for me, but I felt like this was going to be huge in my weight loss progression. I somehow managed to stick with the running, the weight training and the eating program. It worked for me, it was hard and I often found myself crying over food I couldn't have, but it worked. I lost 30 lbs and it felt good!!
Unfortunately, as with any diet, when you stop really focusing and allow certain things back in the weight comes back slowly and before you know it, you've put it all back on. Things happen, life gets in the way and I just wasn't in a place to commit to a whole lifestyle change beyond the 12 weeks (I know, it sounds cliché, but thats the truth).
Fast forward again several years and I am met with a new weight loss "miracle" that promised to be a quick fix. I was reading that folks were using this product and loosing weight without exercise and changing their eating. I kinda liked that because lets be honest, I love my bread and pasta and cake and I didn't want to have to give anything up. I wasn't in the place where I wanted to put in the work to loose weight, I just wanted it to fall off. So, I signed up and when my package arrived I started taking the "magic". It worked and helped me loose 20lbs...again!! I lost the 20lbs and was ready to loose more, unfortunately the product stopped working, they changed the formula and just like that the weight loss stopped happening. In all honesty, I can't completely blame the product, because I wasn't changing my eating habits and I wasn't putting much effort into working out. I take responsibility for that, 100%. Sadly, I managed to find that 20lbs that I lost and added a few more! I couldn't believe I let myself do this...again. Sad, disappointed and kinda depressed, I just stopped caring. With yet another move here I was again, heavy...FAT!! I let myself have things and didn't do any of it in moderation. I have learned that I am an "all or nothing" kind of gal. I would fool myself into thinking that I can allow myself to have just a little, but that little eventually tuns into a lot.
I was so frustrated with the weight I have gained back and had no desire to do anything. I was working and always on my feet but felt horrible. I was tired all the time and never really felt good. In fact, it really hit me hard when my husband said, I'm worried about you, you often don't feel good." It never really bothered me until he pointed it out that way, on multiple occasions.
So, what was I going to do about it? A dear friend of mine had found her passion and health in this cool little {ok, not really little} company called AdvoCare. I had heard of it before because this same friend would give me this "stuff" to put in my water, it tasted yummy and gave me awesome energy. That "stuff" is called Spark and it has changed my life. My dear friend loved me enough to keep encouraging me to keep going with my progress regardless of what I was using, didn't have to be her product. She saw that I needed AdvoCare, but let me figure that out on my own. I could see her passion and her pure love for what it was doing in her life, but still I wasn't going to get "sucked" in to another program or magic pill. I didn't want to get on that bandwagon. I said "no" several more times until finally she was in my home with all her "stuff". I watched her take all kinds of goodies and then she mixed some up for me. After about a week of taking her "stuff", I was hooked. I started small, a spark and the cleanse. After the cleanse I started using the Slim (a drink mix FULL of vitamins and minerals). I had never felt better and that began my love affair with AdvoCare.
I've been using the product for a little over a year now and I have lost the weight I found and am feeling better than ever. I turned 40 last year and really wanted to be in a good place with my health. I don't want time with my family to pass me by because I didn't feel like doing anything. I am so glad that I made the choice to invest in myself. I've been working out regularly and I'm pushing myself in ways that I never have. Just the other day, I was able to run 4.2 miles without stopping and guess what...I'm still alive to tell about it! I am starting this blog to share my journey in not only AdvoCare and health, but in the things I learn about exercise along the way. My true desire is to inspire and encourage anyone who might find themselves in the same position I was years ago. I still have a ways to go but I am taking it a day at a time and paying myself first. Its not always easy and sometimes its a battle with myself, but I WILL do this, I CAN do this and you can too!! Join me in this journey and be the best YOU possible! Happy Reading!!
My AdvoCare
About Me
- Krista Artis
- Stay-at-home Mom, Freelance Photographer, Floral Designer, Wife, Daughter, Sister and Friend.
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