Wow! I can hardly believe that a year has flown by already since I started my fitness journey and changed my life around to better my health. My own desire to change my life has spilled over into my husband and children. We're all eating better. My daughter loves to work out with me. And I've loved sharing this journey with them, and teaching them about why we need to live a healthy life and make the most of this one body that God has given us.

It's been a spiritual journey for me as much as a physical transformation. My perspective has changed so much since I first started in April 2013. You know what did it for me? I saw myself in pictures after Ava's birthday last year and I didn't like what I saw. I had a 3 month old baby, I was breast feeding too. I had already lost the baby weight that I gained with Zane by this point, from 190 to 158 pounds. I was still very over weight at 158 pounds on my 5'2'' frame. I knew things needed to changed. I knew I wanted to feel better about myself, I wanted to fit into clothing again and feel good about it.

Before April 2013 on the left and on the right after the first 3 months (July 2013) of working and eating well consistently.

I wanted to rid my body of the sugar cravings I'd been having, I wanted to exercise more and learn to love it and enjoy it! I've never loved to exercise, it's never been a priority either. And I knew that needed to change.

So I started. I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred everyday, from my living room. Sometimes with my kids screaming in the background. I remember how hard it was when I first started I could barely do the jumping jacks she wanted me to do. And I was cursing her the whole time. After 6 days, I thought maybe I can do this. It's getting easier.

I also began to clean up my diet. I cut out all refined sugar, dairy and started to eat clean. I gave up a lot at first because I needed to. I just cut it out cold turkey. I started drinking massive amounts of water and gave up soda. I knew I needed to give up some time and retrain my taste buds. Can I tell you something? I don't even crave the same things any more. I don't even miss it.

I did the 30 Day Shred for about the first 5 months and had great results with it in addition to my change in eating habits. In August 2013 I started running. I used the C25K app on my phone and started running. Three times a week and also still doing the 30 Day Shred on the other days I wasn't running.

I kept pushing my body and trying new things. My body started changing. When I started this journey I wrote down some goals. At first all I wanted to do was fit in my size 8 jeans that had been sitting in my dresser for almost two years and I couldn't wear them, I wanted to wear them again and thought that was a good goal to attain. I wrote down some simple goals and now one year later I'm so excited that I've surpassed those initial goals I set for myself.

The picture on the right is October 2013- back into a size 8. Today those pants are too big and I've surpassed my original size 8 goal!

I remember the day I slipped them on and couldn't believe that they fit. It was like a small miracle to me and a big thing. July 2013 I had finally been able to fit into my size 8 jeans down from my size 12s that I was wearing when I started this in April of that year. That motivated me to keep going and trying new things and pushing my body to do what God created it to do.

I learned that God created my body to do amazing things. This machine that he created to be able to hike, run, walk all with ease. I decided that I have this one body and this one life and I needed to take care of it and honor God with my physical health and not waste it away and treat my body badly. This changed my mindset as well. It changed my outlook on myself and my confidence was boosted.

One of the biggest high lights for me this year was running my first 5K with my husband. Something I never thought I'd do, I did it!

On the left Before, on the right one year later. A work in progress but I'm so happy with the direction I'm taking.

I almost hesitated to share and talk about the numbers and results here publicly on the blog. But then I remembered how motivated I get when I see others results and how encouraging it is. I'm also very proud of what my hard work and discipline has done for my physical body.

Starting weight 190 pounds, current weight 124 pounds: 66 pounds lost

Starting size 12, current size 6

I've lost 4 inches and 1 cup size in my bust.

I've also lost 10 overall inches.

If you're on the fence about your own healthy journey I encourage you to JUST START! Start small, start somewhere! You'll never wake up and regret getting in that work out, never! I'm so thankful for the overall health journey I've taken this last year, it's made a huge impact on my life and my family's life as well.

I love teaching my daughter healthy habits, I love that she likes to work out with me. My family is as much involved as I am in this journey. They have been supportive and encouraging and it's been a ripple effect on others around me. Let's do it together, encourage one another to reach our goals and live our best life.

Andrea Worley