I am a 40 year old married mother of two gorgeous girls, and I am a full-time high school teacher. I was very athletic in high school and maintained a healthy weight with a lot of exercise. But the older I got, the fatter I got. It was my fault.

A few years ago, I was prediabetic, couldn't keep up with my girls, and felt like a slug. Today I workout 6 days a week and count calories. I've dropped from size 20 pants to size 4, I won my age group in my first 5K race, I am training for my third Pittsburgh Marathon, I engage in HIIT 4 times a week through running, spinning, and swimming, and I have been working hard to retain muscle mass by lifting heavy weights. I reached my goal weight in December of 2011, but regained more weight than I would have liked. From that I learned a lot about maintaining a dramatic loss.

I am currently following the Isagenix program, which helped me lose the last 15 stubborn pounds, but I've continued with this system to help me with good, easy nutrition while maintaining a rigorous marathon and triathlon training schedule. These kinds of systems aren't for everyone, but this one works great for me.

I have tangible goals:

(1) I do not define myself by the scale, but aim to maintain a bfat percentage of 23%.
(2) I plan to finish the half marathon in under two hours.
(3) I will complete the Spartan Race Trifecta this year.

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use." ~Earl Nightingale