About Me

Hello everyone and welcome to One Step at a Time!

I'm Tracy, a 29 year old Jersey girl who has spent my entire life living in the Garden State! For the first 10 (actually, almost 11) years of my life, I grew up in urban Elizabeth. I lived in Middletown for about 17 years before recently moving to Atlantic Highlands.

I'm currently working as a Zone Leader at a Panera. In a nutshell, I help the managers ensure that an area is in control during peak hours, as well as assist with other tasks. I've been with the company for almost two years, and love working for a company that values its customers and associates. Yes, there are days where I can't stand my job, but that's like that anywhere you go, I guess.

Here, I write about my journey from 246 pounds to healthy, strong, and awesome!

I'm pretty sure I don't remember a point in my life where I wasn't overweight or obese. I was chubby as a kid, but I think when I moved was when it got worse. I just kept eating because I never felt full. Sure enough, I was over 200 pounds when I was 15 years old.

This pattern followed me through the rest of my teen years, college, and for a good part of my early 20's. It wasn't until I turned 24 that I realized I had to make some serious changes.

I started out small, just by watching what I ate, cut out soda, and bought a Wii Fit, and slowly, but surely, the weight came off. As I got smaller, I was looking for something new, so I joined a gym, started lifting, fell in love with blasting miles on the elliptical, and the weight came off.

Fast forward two years, and I wanted something new AGAIN, so I changed gyms, fell in love with spinning and cardio kickboxing, and now can't picture my life without being active!

Last year, I decided to challenge myself in a way I never did before, and signed up for a 5K. Well, one 5K became five. I may not have been the fastest, but I had a goal of "Finish what I start!" and did just that!

I suffered a sprained knee in a cardio dance class back in August 2012. It sidelined me from working out for three weeks, and it was about eight before I was doing most of what I was doing before. It taught me (the hard way) that while most of it is mind over matter, there are times when the body knows best.

On September 28, 2013, I went four pounds below my original goal, down to 142. I learned that my body wanted two or three pounds back, and have been hovering around 144 or 145 since. Still, I'm at a healthy weight and feel amazing!

When I'm not working or exercising, I do love watching sports and TV shows. Sure, I love carbs and sugar, and enjoy creamy soups (hey, I work for a bread company), but I have learned to enjoy everything in moderation. What's the point of healthy living if you can't have a treat once in a while, right? ;-)

Thanks for following me on my journey!