Each new year brings the promise and hope of better health, less debt, and a myriad of other, well intended, but sadly, rarely kept goals. We too have often found ourselves common violators of this 'frequently make, but frequently break' reality mentality.

But December 2017 was different for us.

Instead of waiting for January 1st to begin our resolutions, as we had in the past (or not made them at all) we chose December 17th as our new beginning. This "us now" reawakening was one of changing our health goals and dieting patterns and doing it now. But it also meant looking for ways to make this permanent, lasting, and relevant to us.

We found out quickly what many have discovered: there isn't one secret recipe that works for everyone. If there were, there wouldn't be the vast number of diets marketed as the diet to end all diets. A "one-size fits all" diet would be enough. Additionally there isn't magic pill that covers all the different reasons for dieting. Everyone is different and every body is different. This proved to be true for us as well. We tried different diets and different versions of the same diets. But the results were always the same. 

But eventually what began as a plan to diet in order to lose some excess weight quickly evolved into a desire for healthy living. At the time, living healthy for us meant eating good foods and taking time to exercise, i.e. buying whole wheat bread, fruits and vegetables, etc, and if we got a nightly walk in, we figured we were doing pretty well. And truth be told, we were doing well. But as we have found out, healthy living, the very life we didn't know we really wanted, encompassed so much more. 

As such we purposefully choose to use the term Healthy Living as opposed to dieting. To us there is a finality to dieting and a certain ugliness accompanying it. But we with healthy living, we don't see an end. Once we have reached our weight loss goals, the healthy living that accompanied it will continue. The healthy living will also keep the weight off.

As we began our journey, we discovered early on that to truly live healthy and then to be healthy, we needed to focus on the entire body and our entire being. Again, while the wheat bread and walks were a good start, to truly make this a complete and lasting lifestyle we love and one we could embrace, we needed to dig deeper and consider many different avenues. This entire being approach includes proper food choices, correct sleeping habits, stress reduction and controls, taking time to treat the spirit, and managing finances and other family pressures. 

In following entries, we plan to introduce the products we are using, the routines we are following, and the challenges we have encountered that have slowed us down, including any limitations we have found. We will incorporate what foods we are eating and we will provide some recipes as well. We also plan on being brutally honest. We will provide some simple insights into our lives. We will share, without sharing too much, our highs and lows, our triumphs and sorrows, and generally what makes us imperfect people, living in an imperfect world.

Now we don't pretend to be experts on dieting, healthy living or whatever you choose to call it. A common phrase we say to each other is, "We're figuring it out." We invite the reader to participate in our journey. We hope to educate from our successes and our "failures." We also hope to learn from our readers. Feel free to leave a comment and any suggestions. We have a passion for this new life and desperately wish to share it with our family, friends, and even strangers.

So who are we? We are simply just two people chronicling our progress in our quest for a healthy life. So please join us in living and being healthy. 

In our next entry we introduce you to who we are...