In the beginning

Once a foodie, always a foodie?

Hello folks! My name is Heather Van and I am a foodie. I’ve been a foodie ever since I could remember. I love food! I’m also what medical professionals would call obese. And I want to change that! I also want to change my relationship with food through a clear psychological and scientific understanding of nutrition, health, fitness and weightloss!

Why am I doing this?

• According to the National Institute of Health 300,000 people die EACH YEAR in the United States from obesity related conditions.
  • That means roughly 25,000 people die each month, 6,250 die each week and approximately 893 people die each day.
• Obesity is has been linked to several serious medical conditions including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, just to name a few!

The sole purpose for this blog is to understand the science and research behind health and diet culture, nutrition, physical fitness and inevitably weight loss and the lifelong benefits that come with it. I encourage anyone who is reading this, whether you’re already well experienced and versed in the lifestyle or are a beginner just like me to encourage, educate, involve yourself in this journey. Come together and we can change our lives, we can change the lives of others.

To begin this venture, everything in this blog will be heavily researched and practiced through my own personal experience that you are more than welcome to follow along with:

• Science backed research of obesity related diseases
• The art of the smart scale, BMI, body fat and muscle mass
• Healthy recipe challenges and the nutrition behind the scenes of what you eat
• Testing limits, testing strength with body weight fitness and exercise.

This site has more ulterior motives for myself than anything. I have a daughter. While she’s little now, she won’t always be. I don’t want her to follow the same bad habits that I’ve picked up through the years and I want to lead by example. I want her to enjoy her childhood unlike me. I want to challenge myself, but I also want to challenge others to see what we as humans are capable of. We all deserve to feel good in our own skin and take care of the only bodies we have.

There will certainly be much more to come. Each week I will start off with a weigh in. Every month I will publish my measurements. There will be a recipe or new food challenge that I will update on and also encourage anyone to recommend to me! This is just the beginning, and while there will probably be a lot of blood, sweat and tears, it will be a most marvelous journey.

You didn’t gain weight overnight. Don’t expect to lose it overnight.