The Next Chapter in a Lifelong Journey to Health

Two and a half years ago I completed a 6 month journey and hit my goal of a 50 lb weight loss. I worked very hard to achieve that goal by means of consistent exercise and diet. My weight then plateaued for the next 5-7 months. 

I remember telling Ty that one of my biggest fears was gaining back my weight. I constantly felt self-conscious that others were watching me and judging whether or not I had gained weight. 

At first, my nutrition slipped because I told myself I had "earned" some binge meals from all the hard work I had put in. I gained weight back slowly at first, only about 15 lbs by the end of the year. 

My senior year of college got insanely busy. I was in my senior business capstone class and was also starting my own Origami Owl business. I let those things become excuses in my life and did not manage my time enough to stay healthy and get consistent exercise in. 

The weight started to come back, and my fears came true. One night I was laying in bed at school, and heard rumblings about a new app going around campus that allowed anyone in close proximity to anonymously post short messages. This turned into a place where people felt comfortable to shame other students.

As soon as I downloaded the app and started scrolling through the feed, I saw a post about me. 

"Tara Zschokke has gotten so fat again."

That simple post hurt me more than whoever wrote that will ever know.

Without considering the fact that my senior year was going awesome and my brand new business was so successful, I told myself I was a failure and I should just stop trying when it came to my health. I turned back to food. 

During the summer, I joined TITLE boxing club. I absolutely love the workouts. I went very consistently. However, I still couldn't get the nutrition side correct. I didn't lose a pound all summer. 

Over the remainder of 2014, I gained back the rest of the weight I had lost.

I joined TITLE again this February and got connected with a personal trainer, Coach Mike. We talked several times about my fitness and training goals. Coach Mike told me that his business is to get his clients results. I knew that wouldn't happen with my nutrition no matter how hard I worked with my exercise. I just needed some type of structure, without having to completely overhaul everything I know and make changes that will not stick long-term.

He introduced me to the Isagenix 30 Day program. He had personally had incredible results after just 40 days on the program. Not only that, but I have had several friends with the same great results and reviews of the products. 

This program seems doable to me. It consists of of 26 "shake days", in which you have Isagenix shakes for 2 meals of the day and eat a good meal for the third. You also choose 4 days to be cleanse days. The programs come with a ton of products to set me up for success.

I'm looking forward to the structure but flexibility of this program, and am excited to see my results! I will be posting weekly about my thoughts on the program here on my blog. Looking forward to the accountability of my trainer as well as friends and family!