About Me

Hi!

My name is Shannon and I'm a 20 something year old looking to get healthy and lose weight.  I've alway felt I was overweight ... but in hindsight I was just very self conscious.

I started in gymnastics when I was 2 1/2 years old.  I was never very good, but I enjoyed it ... at least until I started going through puberty.  The other girls started making fun of me saying that I was so fat - it wasn't until later that I realized I was going through puberty and that is why my body was changing.  I ended up quitting competitive gymnastics because I couldn't stand being around those girls anymore, but I still liked the sport and wanted to stay in shape so I just did rec gymnastics - more geared towards the fun of the sport rather than competing.

In high school one of my best friends was on the cheer team and as a freshman I wanted to join.  Boy, was that a discussion with my parents.  They remembered cheerleaders as mean girls and ... well, you know ... promiscuous girls.  They weren't about to let their little girl join that world.  They wanted to have 2 high school gymnasts (my older sister was a really good gymnast and made them proud as a member of the hs gymnastics team).  I ended up talking my parents into it by saying that I was just going to do it in the fall and then try out for gymnastics during the winter season.  Long story short, I did that for my freshman year, but decided that I loved cheerleading too much to not do it every season after that.  I became a cheerleader.  So much so that I tried out for my college team and made it!

I cheered in college for 5 years (there are no red shirts in college cheer so I was eligible every year I took enough courses).  They were honestly some of the best years.  We went to Nationals down in Daytona, we cheered at Division II Football National Championship games (AMAZING!), we taught little girls to cheer ... it was just a fun time overall. 

Because of my gymnastics background I've always been a "tumbler"- someone who does all the flips.  My 5th year we were practicing for our Nationals routine when I did my tumbling pass and landed wrong.  In that moment I tore my ACL, meniscus, some cartilage and just messed my knee up pretty bad.  That was the end of it.

I went from working out everyday - 1 mile before practice, practice for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, 1 mile after practice or 45 minutes on the elliptical - to nothing.  Well ... I guess using crutches isn't 'nothing', but it's not enough to work off the calories I was used to eating with that exercise schedule. 

I had 3 knee surgeries in 2009, which resulted in me being on crutches most of the year, and gaining another 10 lbs after each surgery.  I've tried different things, but it's never been this hard to lose weight and I've been getting frustrated quicker with my lack of results.  Recently I decided to buckle down and do it.  Part of what I'm doing to lose weight and stay on track is run - which isn't easy with my knee - and take part in Weight Watchers.  I started running races this year and I'm super slow, but I'm gaining confidence and I'm proud of my accomplishments.  I ran a 5k in March, a 10k in April, another 10k in May, the color run (5k) in June, another color run scheduled for July, a 10 mile in August and ... wait for it ... a half marathon in October.  Eek! 

Anyway, with the support of my husband, family, and friends - and you! - I'm hoping to stay on track this time and get to my goal.  I think this may just be the beginning of my journey ...