Guest blog post by teacher, mom, wife and Transformation Tuesday success Angela Taylor…
My fitness journey or adventure started by accident.
My best friend Amy was going to Livefit and kept telling me how great it was. I was curious but found every excuse possible.
The picture on the left is what inspired me to get into better shape.
In March of 2015 my husband and I went on a trip together and while gone we had a picture made of the two of us. While I loved the pic ( because we really don’t have many of us) I was shocked at how out of shape and old I looked. I realized I had really let myself go.
In April there were some personal hurdles that I had to overcome and it became clear to me that I needed to start doing something for me to make myself better.
Just so happen that was when Derek released the 21 day challenge and of course Amy sent the link to make sure I saw it.
As I was discussing it with my husband he said that he would support “anything to get me out of my funk and back to being happy” so the stage was set, I just had to follow through.
The first night I was beyond scared but once again my bestie pushed me outside my comfort zone and together we did it. The people at Bootcamp were so different from what I expected and everyone was so encouraging.
My bestie helped me through all my fears!
Amy stood by me for the whole first week and laughed at me when I told her I could no longer lift my arms. However it was the strangest thing I was hooked and I loved the feeling.
As I got used to the workouts I was still trying to wrap my brain around changing my diet . I was very reluctant to say the least but after I went to the first nutrition seminar it started to make sense. I started changing the way I ate and continued to bust my butt at bootcamp.
As I saw the changes I only wanted to push more, it was exciting!!
The Great Escape Mud and Obstacle Run
Then came the GREAT ESCAPE!!! Once again thanks to the bestie I was signed up for a mud / obstacle run that I had no clue about. On the way that morning I decided to look up the obstacles and I freaked out. There was NO WAY I could do that !!!
But I did and crossing that finish line counts as one of my proudest moments. I had NEVER done anything like that because I never had the strength.
But after that I started to get to the point that it seemed I was never going to get the problem area ( my abs) to look any different . That’s when I received the text about Little Black Dress. I was beyond excited and vowed to follow it to the best of my ability. There were a few slip ups and many tears ( thanks Sara for listening) but I did it and I finished.
For the first time in many years I could actually look in the mirror with pride. Not to mention the pride I saw in my husbands eyes was great. ( we have been together for 20 years and he has seen it all so to shock him was great) 
Through this journey I have learned many things about myself both physically and mentally. I still have a problem comparing myself to others but I am working on it daily to truly believe that “This is my journey and can not be compared to any others”.
The greatest part of this is that I have two teenagers that have been shocked at the transformation and have both become much more conscious of what they eat and the exercise they get. I feel like I am truly setting a good example for them.
My future goal is to continue but find my internal motivation to keep pushing myself.
My advice to others is that you can’t complain if you don’t act :0)
(and I complained about the way I looked A LOT but now I can say I have acted and boy what a difference)
Still trying to get better every day!
