Another Inspiring Success

I'm so proud to share another success story.  Mariah's story is so encouraging to the thousands of women that feel stuck, unbalanced and unappreciated.  I'm a firm believer that the core of everything that signifies life begins with health. Thank you Mariah for taking control of your life and health and for sharing your story.   You're an inspiration!  You're beautiful!

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Two years ago, in December 2008, I wound up in a psychologist's office.
Her question..."So why are you here?"

My answer...."I hate my life..."

I worked all of the time. I hated my job. I commuted far, I never saw my husband and children, and I never had time for myself. It took me 2-3 strong cups of coffee to wake up in the morning, 2-3 glasses of wine to get to sleep at night, and I had constant heartburn and acid reflux. I craved time with my children. I craved time with my husband. I needed balance. I wanted a job in which I felt appreciated, and made the kind of money I needed to make.

I didn't even know where to begin.

At the advice of my therapist, I began reading the book, Codependent No More by Melodie Beattie. In a nutshell, I stopped trying to change the world around me, and I instead asked myself one question..."What do I need to do to live a fulfilling life?" The answer was simple...

I need to get healthy so that I can feel good, live a long healthy life, and feel confident and sexy again.

I need to somehow come to a sense of balance so that all of the priorities in my life get the attention they need and deserve (my children, my husband, myself).

I need to find a career that is rewarding, utilizes my intellectual capacity, has a high degree of flexibility, and has a high income potential so that I'm not living to work, but working to live.

All three of these objectives came together. My approach was very different than the normal dieter...it began deep inside my soul. It came from this feeling of everything spinning out of control and me feeling like my life was passing by. Within two years time, I quit my job and my family moved back to my hometown. I'm back in school and studying both psychology and nursing. I spend more time with my children and husband, I'm learning material every day that I directly apply, and I am back down to the weight I was at years ago.

Last year, I began a fitness and nutrition blog that marries the psychology behind our unhealthy habits with our weight loss goals. I find that everyone tells us how to eat to lose weight, and how to workout...but nobody digs deeper to find the cognitive behavioral reasons why we do what we do. I believe that until those are addressed, weight loss is only temporary and addictions other than food are sought out.

In September, I began P90X as a natural continuation of my health journey, and in December I completed it along with my husband and workout partner. I loved the intensity, appreciated the diet and nutrition recommendations, and cannot wait to do another Beachbody fitness program.

Mariah today