Several years ago I embarked on a weight loss journey. I was 173 lbs. It was the heaviest that I had ever been. I was eating my way through my mother's illness. She had Alzheimer's disease. I was hearing comments from a family member about how much I was eating and in my mind that translated to, "You are fat!" I had tried a couple of commercial diets but they never seemed to work for me because I always made the choice to resume old habits. I heard about my fitness pal. I decided to try it . It was not easy at first but my fitness pal made it easy to track everything. At that point I was on paid leave from my job so I made weight loss my fulltime job in addition to helping my dad with my mom. My stress levels were the highest that they had ever been at that point in life. At that point I decided to adopt a lifestyle called PE. Prayer and exercise. I was going to use prayer and exercise to strengthen my walk with God and ease my stress. I lost 48 lbs-a little too much for me but I felt great! My mom passed away on January 13th, 2012. It was the greatest loss that I had ever experienced. I felt so lost and so angry for a time. At that point I went though a couple of mindsets. At first I was afraid to eat anyting because I did not want to gain weight. Then that changed into thinking, "I can eat anything and not gain weight." So I did! Old habits creeping up on me again! So here I am 22 lbs heavier. I was still exercising I just wasnt being careful with my intake. I now live really close to a popular trail. I love that trail! I use it several times a week when the weather is good or even remotely good. (I went running in the snow a couple of days ago!). I love exercsing in the natural sanctuary! I have left much of my stress and problems out on that trail. I am so thankful for how far the Lord has brought me on this journey called life. I am thankful for my great family. I am thankful for the short time on this earth that I had with my wonderful mother. I am thankful for all of the people that God has brought into my life. I once again find myself in a bit of a stressful time with a fulltime job in preschool special ed, a parttime job at the Y and now I am a fulltime MAT Elementary Ed student. I would not trade my experiences for anything because I have learned so much!