Top: Girl With Curves | Sweatshirt: Girl With Curves | Sports Bra: Victoria’s Secret, old (similar here) | Pants: Champion, Target | Shoes: Nike Free 5.0+ *outlet find (similar here) | Headband: Goody, Target | Sunglasses: Dior, old (similar here)

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to be more active.

The truth is, I used to be an excessive exerciser, running 4 miles a day, 7 days a week, followed by spinning or yoga, hundreds of crunches, squats and lunges. After almost achieving what I thought was my dream weight, I suffered major knee injuries due to cartilage breakdown. Not being able to walk for weeks, let alone run, completely devastated me- physically and emotionally, and when I was told I’d probably never run again, I gave up exercise altogether, out of frustration.

Almost seven years later, I’m finally ready to accept fault, work on strengthening my knees and get serious about repairing the damage my unhealthy mindset and actions caused my body so many years ago. Now that I’m proactively making a lifestyle change to be more active, I wanted to share what I’ve been doing lately to get motivated and prepare for success.

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you know that I firmly believe feeling good from the inside is heavily connected to looking good on the outside, so for me it’s ultra important to have active wear I feel confident in. 

The most important piece of active wear I own is my beloved sports bra. For any level of activity, a great sports bra will make or break you- literally, especially if you’re top heavy.  Not having the right support can lead to bad form when working out, cause bad posture or even back injury. My current sports bra is from Victoria’s Secret and unfortunately is currently unavailable. (For anyone needing larger than 38DDD/40DD, I recommend this one, which is my tried and true second fave).

When it comes to workout pants, I like being able to move around without any extra fabric in the way, so I prefer an ultra skinny fit, like these.

As for tops, I like graphic tee’s with a bit of sass. I have these tops and sweatshirts from my collection on heavy rotation.

When it comes to shoes, function and comfort is key, but I also love a shoe in a bold color, since I always keep the rest of my look neutral. (I’m also a member of #TeamTallGirl, so I wear a size 12 shoe, and it’s extremely hard to find my size in a decent workout shoe. The one’s I’m wearing are actually men’s, which I recommend for anyone with a narrow to medium width foot that requires larger than a women’s 11, since Nike’s run narrow [and small] so the men’s fit like a typical women’s medium width).

I can’t wait to share more on this topic in the coming weeks! In the meantime, please let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to cover, I’d love suggestions!