We have come a long way since Day 1 of our fitness journey, but our progress definitely didn’t happen all at once. Just like it took us years to gain the weight, it came off slowly as well. Luckily we used the accountability that each other provided and the commitment that we both shared to keep us on track. I do Crossfit every day now, but I couldn’t have dreamed of even doing one WOD (workout of the day) back in June 2013. We get asked a lot about how we got started so we wanted to share the top things that we found helped us the most when we were kicking off our transition to a healthier lifestyle.

• Find a partner to be sure you do what you say you will

We were lucky in that we had each other to bounce ideas off of, hold each other accountable, and provide motivation from seeing each other’s results. Even if your partner doesn’t workout with you, having someone available to check up on you and be sure you are staying on track is incredibly valuable.

• Know what you are eating.

If you had asked me a year and a half ago why I was overweight, I would have told you it was because I didn’t exercise. I had no idea that my nutrition was as poor as it was. Looking back, I was eating over 4,000 calories on an average day. I would snack mindlessly and generally ate to the point of sickness just because I enjoyed food so much. Once we started using MyFitnessPal and knowing each and every thing I ate (and being honest about it!), I realized that I could eat less at one sitting and still be satisfied without overdoing it.

• Get active consistently.

No one is going to be able to jump off the couch and go run a 10K. Shoot, our first week I could barely walk a mile. But now I enjoy running because we have put in the time and effort that it took. It’s not about how fast you run or how much weight you are lifting; however, it’s all about putting one foot in front of the other and maintaining progress. I loved swimming when we first got started and I would diligently do my 5-10 minutes a day and be exhausted afterwards. To Michael Phelps that would have seemed silly, but for me it was a vast improvement over the alternative and my results built from there. Staying committed to doing something active every day – even if it is as simple as walking the dog around the neighborhood or doing push-ups in a hotel room – is of paramount importance.

• Don’t weigh yourself every day.

Want to know something fun I learned as a high school wrestler? You will float 1-2 pounds in your sleep every night. Combine that with your increased exercise and improved nutrition and your body will fluctuate weight drastically. In order to measure your results accurately, weighing yourself once a week will give you the best look at your actual weight loss. The number on the scale can be affected by how much water you drank that day, the intensity of your workout, or the meals you ate. Tuesday’s were our weigh-in day, but however you do it celebrate the successes as you see the pounds shed away each week.

We hope that you all will make strides to improve your own health! We would love to help out so let us know however we can assist to make you the best version of yourself!