Throwback Thursday: Mandee Montana’s Weight-Loss Journey [PHOTOS]

In honor of Throwback Thursday, here I am at the early age of three reminding you of the importance of drinking plenty of water. Truly it is important, especially when you are attempting to live a healthier lifestyle and she a few pounds like I am. I just started a 90 Day weight-loss challenge on Monday...and will share my journey with you soon... but first I thought I would show you were I started. I've never been 'skinny.'

Even at three you can see that I was healthy and round. Throughout my childhood, I was always one of the smaller kids, but when I hit my pre-teen years that the 'baby fat' wasn't cute anymore.

In middle school, I became involved with athletics and began developing into a young woman with more curves than fat. When I dropped volleyball and track in favor of marching band and more academic electives I started putting the pounds back on.

With the best of intentions, my parents always encouraged me to clean my plate. When the servings are typically generous portions of meat and potatoes, a carb-loaded casserole or fast-food you can see how over time with little exercise the pounds piled on.

By the time I reached my junior year in high school, I was very over weight.

When I graduated high school I was about fifty pounds over weight and determined not to add on the 'freshman fifteen.' I worked out obsessively my freshman year in college, and dropped thirty pounds. I managed to keep most of it off in college, but when I moved away from home and began living on my own and working in radio my bad habits increased.

I let the pounds pack back on, and before I knew it I was ten pounds away from hitting my maximum weight from years before. I had to do something, so I followed a friend into a weight-loss program that taught me about nutrition.

For the first time, I began to understand how my metabolism interacted with the foods that I was eating. I began making better choices, and eating a lot less fast-food. Soon I reached my goal weight, and have managed to keep all of it off for five years.

A couple of years later, I took off even more and reached my ideal weight.

Though I have managed to stay beneath my goal weight in 2008, I haven't maintained the fitness level in the photo above. My goal is to get back there, and maintain it this time.

I started working out in September...  have had to re-start a couple of times... but this week I started focusing on nutrition as well. Now, I look forward to shedding the pounds and keeping them off.