Everyone knows you need a health intervention when your pants don’t button or you find excess back fat under your cocktail dress. But a week of cabbage soup or skipping breakfast isn’t the answer. And what do you do when you want to take up a new type of exercise but don’t know how to start, or what to wear to a class?

About nine months ago, I got tired of eating the same thing for lunch and running my usual three-mile loop, but I didn’t know how to change it. I was so confused!

How lean should my turkey be and what does four ounces look like?

My yogurt is low in calories but also low in protein — how do I know which is most important?

Should I focus on increasing my miles or my speed?

I spent time trying to find the answers to proper fitness and nutrition and discovered so many new ideas that worked and made sense. For instance, did you know that a hard boiled egg white has 15 calories and 3.5 grams protein? And pairing two of those with a homemade muffin and berries makes a filling and guilt-free breakfast — all prepared the night before without dirtying a dish.

Around the same time that I was searching for nutrition information to get out of a boring food rut, the Houston marathoners ran by my street. I stood and watched the runners around Mile 20, and saw all shapes, sizes, and ages of people who had already run 20 miles! I don’t even drive 20 miles every two days. I knew I needed to pick up my distance, and the next day I signed up for Houston’s RodeoRun 10K.

I completed my first 10K race at the end of February, and I wanted to tell people about it. I tweeted that it was my longest distance to ever run, and I wore my shirt proudly. Shortly there after, I started reading “fit blogs” and discovered a niche blogging community of regular people with healthy habits who have goal-oriented fitness journeys, experiment with food choices, and blog about it.

I wrote down new foods to try, read about people’s injuries and how they overcame them, and found race recaps of people who shipped their road bikes across the country to ride 100 miles in one day through the California wine country. I wanted to share stories like that, too, so in April, I started my own blog.

I’m not a nutritionist, chef, or personal trainer — just a 20-something with an interest in food, fitness, and curiosity of how to gain overall health. My blog documents my personal odyssey on a daily basis. I write about what I eat and why I choose it. I try recipes that I read on other blogs, and I chronicle my training for races in the near future. Since starting, I completed a second 10K race faster than my first, signed up for an Aquathlon (swim + run), and am training for a half marathon in December. I have even discovered how to have chocolate for breakfast and not feel guilty. Oh yes, I’m serious, and I’ll tell you about it.

Overall, this journey into blogging has made me more aware of what I eat, and has broadened my horizons of food and fitness. People are so curious as to what others are eating and if there are secrets to success. On the fitness front, I found a group of people who journal their struggles and successes—some who run twice my speed, and some who are writing about walking their first 5K. The common denominator for my blog and others I follow is that we are all motivated to stay healthy. I plant to write about my triumphs and failures on the road to good health in a periodic CultureMap column, and I welcome your input and ideas.

For me, it’s not about weight loss or a dress size; It is about finding a happy, healthier me for the rest of my life.

Follow Marci Gilbert at www.marcigilbert.com.