I was a very active high school athlete and loved competing in team sports. Once I moved off to college, it was a struggle to motivate myself to work out for what I thought was merely "weight management". This was a battle for years, and I never really "got it" about clean eating and exercise being a lifestyle and not just a short cut to the body I want. It took a few years and a lot of fluctuation for me to realize that there was something better than what I was doing. Now I'm in it to compete against myself, to be in control of my actions, and to be able to enjoy the direct results of those actions.

Finally now I am learning how to set and manage goals so that I can be accountable to myself and achieve real results. No more weak goal-setting for me, with statements like "I just want to be healthier". My goals are to gain strength, learn lifts, eat clean and be lean (while making more specific goals towards these along the way). I love seeing my personal progress and tracking it to see how far I've come. This is the body I was born with and it's up to me to love it to make it the best body I can have.