I can't believe another year has gone by and that I am now 27 years old! I am beyond thankful for all the love and birthday wishes that I received this year and am amazed at how much my life has changed in such a short time. I am finally choosing to love myself first, which has made a world of difference in how I feel about myself and my own personal journey.

This is the first year that I haven't set a weight loss goal for myself by the time I hit my birthday. In years past, I would set a goal to lose x amount of pounds and anxiously await the big day when I turned another year older. I would celebrate my life by eating food that completely derailed me from my weight loss goals and would fall off the wagon hard! I also spent a many a birthday highly inebriated which inevitably lead to a downhill spiral of bad habits. In fact, in reflecting back on the many, and yes there have been many, times I have attempted to lose weight I have realized that I always have tied my weight loss goals to an event. When I lost 100 pounds in less than 4 months it was all to prepare for a pageant I was competing in, and when I didn't win I found myself feeling that I had no reason to continue trying. When I was preparing to go on vacation with my family, I would set a goal to hit a certain number by the time the trip came, and of course would spend the entire vacation overeating on all the foods I had diligently been restricting. I was a serial weight loss person with the intent of getting to a certain weight for one specific moment in time.

But this year I made the biggest change of all, a true commitment to bettering myself and my health purely for the sake of living a happy and long life. Yes, I have lost weight, and that is great, but it isn't my main focus. My focus is trying to become the best version of myself and live my life to its fullest, and it just so happens that I have spent the last four months doing exactly that. I LOVE following a ketogenic lifestyle and the benefits go above and beyond weight loss. I no longer have cravings to binge eat like I used to, I don't feel anxious anymore and feel like my overall outlook on life has changed for the better.

I feel like for the first time in my life I am truly awake and taking in all that life has to offer. I made some big changes and have held my head high through some rocky times as well. This is the first time in my life, where I am allowing myself to truly understand my emotions and tap into addressing the problem rather than masking it with food. I feel present in the community that has manifested around me here in Columbus, and while I am missing my Wisconsin peeps, I feel that I have finally made a home here and have begun to find a network of incredible people that support and accept me for exactly who I am.

This year I celebrated my birthday with great friends, yoga, hip-hop, organic salads, and lots of self-love. I am beyond grateful for all the people who helped me to celebrate, and am looking forward to the days ahead on this beautiful journey towards love, self-acceptance, and positive karma. My heart is filled with joy and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me, because this is only the beginning!

FEELING ALL THE FEELS & TURNING 27