About Me

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, went to the University of Wisconsin - Madison, studied abroad in Paris, and promptly moved back to the city that I love where I spent 5 years as a consultant. I now have a sweet baby girl named Sophia born 3/6/15 who is my light and joy, and a 100-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy named Zeus who is a big crazy ball of energy and love. I'm also currently pursuing my MBA in the one-year program at Kellogg School of Management, so I'd say it's been a pretty exciting year! 

I am passionate about many things, and this is a way for me to share all of those passions with you: my family, food, cooking, health and fitness, personal finance, traveling, gardening, and photography to name a few. However here, I'll focus on the intersection of food, fitness, and finances especially for Millennials. 

The Personal Finance part of it is simple - I just love it. I'm a huge nerd, and love numbers. I am constantly trying to learn more about it from experts, and I love sharing what I've learned with other Millennials to help them get their financial lives in order. Now is the time to start on the right foot, you're never "too young" to get involved in your financial life. Though it may not seem like it at first, food fitness and finances are related in some interesting ways. Health is wealth, not taking care of your body is WAY more expensive in the long run than treating your body with respect. Other than housing and transportation, I think that my biggest spending category is food, so it's important to understand ways to save money on what you eat without sacrificing taste, healthfulness, or quality. Prioritizing a good diet and regular fitness, while it may (sometimes) be pricier than McDonald's and the couch today, will always pay dividends in the long run.

Now for the fitness part of it... here is my journey. I grew up as a ballet and jazz dancer, so I never needed to actively "work out" beyond my training and classes. I managed to stave off the Freshman 15 in college, and kept it to the Freshman 5 which I quickly banished my Sophomore year by giving up drunk-snacking (I wish I was kidding). 

I met my now-husband in 2008 and was in great shape at that time. In 2011 we got an apartment in Downtown Chicago together, and I entered the "comfortable" phase... I've never talked really openly about my weight. Being "petite," any time I mentioned wanting to drop a few pounds or get healthier, I got the same response from people... "What are you talking about, you're so tiny!!" Well, I may have been able to hide the extra weight by wearing less fitted clothes, but I knew it was there. Some people will still look at those pictures and try to tell me I'm crazy, but I know myself, and I did not feel good in my own skin.

Me at my heaviest weight, summer of 2011. Notice that alcohol is in 2 of the 3 pictures? Not a coincidence...

The turning point for me was a melt-down I had while shopping with my then-boyfriend Mike. I had to buy several new pairs of jeans because I could no longer comfortably fit in the ones I had. That brought it home to me that no matter how many people marginalized how I felt and told me I was crazy, I did not want to continue down the path that I was on. I am not one of those Jared-from-Subway stories where you can fit 4 of my After pictures into my Before picture's pants. I'm fortunate that my Before is still better than some people's After, but for me, my body composition, and how I wanted to feel about myself, it was not where I wanted to be. 

Fitness is an intensely personal journey, and I knew how I felt, no matter what others said - positive or negative. People's judgments made me feel bad for wanting to eat clean or work out regularly. The constant comments of "Oh you don't need to lose any weight! You're so little!!" or at best, "Sure maybe one or two pounds, but don't lose more than that - you'll disappear!" I heard these ALL the time. And while people though they were being polite and complimenting me, I know now that they were just projecting their insecurities on me. Their mentality was that if I thought that I needed to lose some weight, what would that mean about them and their fitness situation? The reality is: nothing. Like I said, fitness is a personal journey. I realized that I needed to do this for me, haters be damned.

I started to eat healthier and began running on Lake Shore Drive several nights a week, and a few pounds came off. I wasn't giving it my all and I wasn't in tip top shape, but I was in a place where my weight wasn't constantly on my mind, and that was progress.

Then in April 2012, Mike and I got engaged. We took our sweet time doing anything wedding-related, which for me included dropping more weight. In the Summer before our September wedding in 2013, I participated in a series of clean eating and fitness challenges hosted by a Beachbody coach I knew. Between March and September, I lost 20 pounds by participating in these challenges. People would have judged me if I had told them in 2011 that I wanted to lose 20 pounds, but I'm glad I stopped caring about what they thought. I knew what I wanted to do to feel confident and fabulous, and I knew that I could absolutely do it.

 At my "Wedding Weight." At this point, I don't care what the scale says anymore, I felt fantastic

After that, I decided to commit to making health and fitness a priority in my life not just during monthly challenges, but consistently. I also decided to start leading my own monthly challenges, and help share my passion and success with others, and have people to whom I hold myself accountable.

I want to hear your journey! Leave a comment to share your fitness journey, your struggles, your successes, and what has helped you.