Today is a fresh start. Today I begin a journey that is long overdue. Today is the day.
I guess I should start my first blog post by telling whomever may read this a little about myself. My name is Jennilee Wheeler. I am a 22 year old, first time Mom to a beautiful 4 month old girl, Ainslee. She is my reason for everything, including this. I am engaged to a wonderful and supportive man who I cannot wait to marry one day. I am a Christian and Jesus is my saviour. Every part of me longs to do His will for my life and in many posts I will be referencing my faith as I move forward on this journey.

Those things are the basic, fundamentals in my life. Anyone who happened to come across me in the world could probably tell you these things just from looking at me. What I crave from this is something deeper. I want my blog to be a place where people can come to be inspired and motivated. I want this to be a place where I can come to learn and also be inspired and motivated.
So here's the truth: I am in trouble. I am not safe. I am diseased and I need a cure. My cure. I am an addict and food is my drug.

I have struggled with my weight my entire life and it has lead me down a dangerous path where I no longer use food for fuel, but for enjoyment. When I was 14 years old and after years of being bullied to the point of having to be taken out of school for a year, I decided to make a change. I was in grade eight and finally starting to make friends when I realized I didn't want to be fat anymore and I was ready to work for it. Within a year and half of that day, I had lost over 115 pounds. Not by starving myself, but by working my ass off. Literally.

However, being young and still addicted to food, when life got harder and harder I reverted back to my old ways. Now, years later, I have gained it back and then some. It happened slowly, I yo-yo'd for a long time, but it did happen. Pregnancy was terrible for me, but it knocked me into reality. Now that I am older and a Mother, I am ready again. Only this time, it's different. I am smarter, I know my triggers. I am a Mother and I need to not only be around for my daughter, but I also need to set an example for her as well.

While I'm not happy I gained the weight back, it did teach me a lot. I still know what I need to do and how to do it, but I also know what not to do. This is a lifestyle change for me, not a diet. I am inviting all who reads this to come on this journey with me, to hold me accountable, and to fall in love with fitness. I was given this life and this body to treat as a temple and for the first time in a very long time, I intend to do just that.

Cheers to 2015, it's going to be a wild ride!