One Very Important Change I Made in My Life to Get in Shape

Being a part of the Dare to Lose Fitness Challenge has taught me so many useful things; and it's gone so far beyond just exercise.

Being fit has a lot more to do with nutrition than I ever realized before.  I always thought as long as I worked a salad into my diet once in awhile, I was fine.  Turns out, I was wrong.

But I also learned that when I eat is just as important as what I eat.  Before I started the challenge, I was only eating two meals a day: lunch and dinner.  I thought that skipping breakfast, or maybe just having coffee to fill me up, was helping me keep my weight from getting out of control.  Again, I was wrong.

So I started eating breakfast.

Simple: eat something within an hour of waking up in the morning, even if it's just a banana or some Greek yogurt.  Yes, it's extra calories; but the body NEEDS the right amount of calories to function.  And eating breakfast in the morning kick-starts your metabolism, making it easier for you to burn fat the rest of the day.  It might seem silly, but I never knew that before; and it's really helped me on my journey to get in shape.

So if I could recommend a good first step towards getting fit, it would be to start eating breakfast every morning.  And make sure to keep eating throughout the day (no skipping lunch)!  It might sound weird to hear that you need to eat more to lose weight; but trust me, once your metabolism gets going, all your dieting and exercise will pay off that much more.  I promise!