When I first started talking about my weight loss I had this sick feeling that everyone would judge me. Judge the way I looked in the past.  But I was overwhelmed with comments, and messages from everyone I knew and even people I had never met before. Over the last year and a half I lost over 80 pounds.

2011 – 2017 – 2021

A LITTLE  BACKGROUND ON ME:

I wasn’t always overweight. As a kid growing up I was a little on the chubby side until I turned 13 and in high school I developed an eating disorder that made me sick all the time. At 17 years old I was 5’3” (a little shorter than I am now) and 100 pounds. 

My hip bones would stick out of any prom dress that I’d wear and even teachers often made comments wondering if I was ok and asked if I was eating. They saw right through me but I was still in the denial phase because in my head I was too big. After I turned 21 I was working in retail full time and mall food was the most convenient thing to eat so I gained a lot of weight. At 26 I had reached my highest weight at 222 pounds. 

In July of 2019 I was having some issues with my heart. Coming from a family with a history of heart disease I decided to go get it checked out. It took one cardiologist appointment, EKG, and ultrasound later to tell me that I needed to wear a heart monitor for a full month 24/7 to see what is going on and help prevent something from happening. After all tests came back my doctor recommended I consider losing a few pounds to see how I feel.  It was terrifying thinking that something could happen to me at such a young age so I wanted to make a change.

September 2019 I started my weight loss journey. In the first month I had lost 15 pounds and started to feel different, but a good difference. I knew this was the right path for me and I wanted to further this diet and basically make a lifestyle change for myself. It wasn’t an easy journey. You quickly realize you could do just about everything one week and not lose a single pound or do nothing and lose 2. It wasn’t a constant loss and it wasn’t something that happened overnight it took time.

By January of 2020 I had already lost 30 pounds. I was determined to lose a certain amount of weight but by seeing how I felt or looked made me not care anymore about the number on the scale.

When the pandemic hit I was at a loss, I was stressed, nervous and having to take 3 months off of work and stuck at home. I decided to take that time to learn some new things, better myself and take the much needed break that I have always been putting off. I started working out a few days a week, walking 2 miles each day for more movement, swimming in my parents pool and enjoying home cooked meals.

It was the jump start I needed. By January 2021 I had lost 82 pounds. I was at my goal weight and was so excited to go see my cardiologist hoping it was good news. 

And it was! I was cleared to just about anything without the fear of something happening to me so young. The lifestyle change not only changed my physical appearance, but made me enjoy life more.  My stress and anxiety went down. I felt more confident in my own skin than I ever have in my life.

WHY I DECIDED TO SHARE MY JOURNEY:

1. Be patient it won’t change over night
2. Your journey won’t look like anyone else’s journey
3. Love what you see in the mirror
4. All clothes will fit differently don’t get discouraged when you don’t wear the same size in different brands
5. People will criticize you when starting your journey. Everyone will give you their two cents and their opinion on what they think is best. Ignore them.
6. Some of your relationships will change but you will quickly realize who you want in your life and who is good for you.
7. You can do everything right and still not see a change.
8. You’ll fall in love with helping others who are on the same journey as you.
9. People will notice your weight loss, and get used to talking about it even if it’s uncomfortable at first.
10. Take it easy, this will be hard and you are doing an amazing job!