My weight loss journey started this past March. Ironically enough, I was on a cruise, where free food surrounds passengers the way predators surrounds prey. I had no intention, when I boarded that boat, to begin a weight loss journey. Heck, had you asked me upon boarding if I would ever be extremely food conscious and work out regularly, I would have laughed in your face... and not just like, giggled or something... but I would have probably started laughing to the point that I wouldn't be able to breath. No joke - that's how comical the idea of giving up the cookies that I ate nightly and hitting the gym was to me.

At fifteen, I was skinny. Like, really naturally thin. I could eat whatever I wanted with no fear of gaining weight. I consumed sugary snacks every night before bedtime, after indulging in plate after plate of food during dinner. With the exception of downhill skiing, I also despised exercise. Plagued with memories of wheezing during fitness testing in elementary school, the last thing that I EVER wanted was to go to the gym, even after college afforded me a gym membership via the student recreation center "free" with my dorm room my freshman year.

As time went on, things changed, including my metabolism. Between puberty, a slight change in fitness due to a couple of crappy ski seasons, and most notably, a hormonal imbalance, I began to gain weight.

By the time I was nineteen, I had gone from 5'8" girl who weighed 130lbs, to a woman who weighed 160lbs. While I was by no means "fat," but the fact that my BMI teetered between "healthy" and "overweight" was enough to make me uncomfortable.

Even as I became aware of my weight gain, my old habits persisted. I felt that I may as well enjoy what I always had - food. I did not feel that I could change anything. After all, a large portion of my weight gain was hormone-based, not habit-based. I just quietly accepted that I would no longer be the thin girl that I once was.

This brings me back to that cruise. After eating endlessly for a day or so, I went to the ship's spa and had my teeth whitened... of course, I didn't think about the fact that you can't eat any staining foods after a teeth whitening.

Over the course of the rest of the cruise, I found myself eating a LOT of white, carb-loaded food in order to keep my teeth from staining, and while this food is not what a healthy diet largely consists of, it proved to me for the first time that I could have control over what I ate.

After I got off of the cruise, I was greeted by a fitness loving friend. We spent the rest of our spring break together in Florida. And while we both had a great time, I realized that, looking at photos of myself from over the course of the trip, I was not satisfied with the way that my body looked due to the weight that I had gained.

Now, here's my disclaimer: I'm all for self love. And even though I wasn't satisfied with my weight, I still loved my body. (Please, if you're reading this article, know that you are beautiful/handsome the way you are, and that numbers on a scale in no way define you.)

But the thing was, even though I loved my body, I was treating it like crap.

It was at the end of spring break I decided that I loved my body enough to get healthy.

I started by simply cutting out most really sugary treats, like cookies and brownies (which, as someone who was raised on eating cookies nightly, this definitely was not easy.) I didn't cut them entirely out, I just started eating less of them. For example, although I often no longer ate a bedtime snack, when I went to the restaurant that has my favorite cake on the desert menu... you can bet that I still ordered that cake.

About the same time that I started to work on sugar control, I started to work on portion control. Let me tell you that as someone who LOVES to eat, this was NOT fun. However, within a month I began to get used to smaller portions, and now eating a single helping does not only feel like it isn't a struggle, but I often feel completely full from a single helping.

While I did not change the content of my core diet much to begin with, as I was largely vegetarian and was a salad lover prior to this lifestyle change, I did (slowly) end up making one very notable change - and that is being conscious of my protein intake. I started eating more protein: putting black beans on my salad, mixing in small bits of meat and multiple kinds of beans into dishes. I almost always have a breakfast containing at least 20g of protein. If I workout in the evening, I make sure that I eat a protein bar first. This has been key to me losing body fat and retaining muscle.

Working out for me has been a struggle. I started slow, largely doing short workouts outlined for me by the app "8fit." I then transitioned into using my parents' treadmill while staying at their house. When using the treadmill, I would usually go for roughly three miles, at an incline of 5/10, and walk in-between sprinting. There was only a couple of problems - I hated running even more than "normal workouts," and I felt very isolated and alone on that treadmill.

After arriving back in my hometown for the summer, I was talking to a friend going through a weight loss journey of her own. She had lost upwards of twenty pounds, and largely credited her exercise program. That exercise program was Fit Body Boot Camp, and after hearing her testimony, I decided to give the program a whirl for myself.

It's been several weeks, and Fit Body Boot Camp has changed my life. I now feel more motivated than ever to go work out. Plus, it's only thirty minutes a session, which makes it super easy to fit into my schedule. I am not sponsored by them in the slightest, but this article would not be complete if I didn't mention them, as they have played such an important role in my weight loss journey.

At my last weigh in a couple of weeks ago, I had lost exactly nineteen pounds. More importantly, I feel healthier than ever before. If you knew me six months ago, you're probably shocked that I now have a passion for health and fitness. However, losing weight and getting healthy is one of the best things I've ever done for myself. If you're currently contemplating starting a journey into healthy living, I hope that this article motivates you to take the leap. It's not an easy journey, the number on the scale may not go down every single weigh in, there may be days when working out seems impossible, and you end up eating a few more sweets than planned. All of this has happened to me. But that's okay. Keep pushing. The results will come, and they will create a sense of pride that will give you the drive to continue.

*Special shoutout to the people who have helped to get me this far, especially my parents, who have greatly helped to support my eating habits (and bought me my trial that now has me hooked on Fit Body Boot Camp) as well as the staff and my friends that train with me at GH FBBC. You guys have all been incredible, and I can't wait to see what the rest of my time in Grand Haven holds.*