My name is Kelly and I am 23 years old. I started my weight loss journey when I was 19. I have been heavy all of my life and have tried many many ways to lose weight.
I got a gym membership in November of 2007 and was working out very slowly (as I couldn't move very much). I was trying to eat right but didn't understand why I wasn't loosing weight.
One night at the gym as I was about to leave I saw a weight watchers meeting and decided to get some more information. My aunt had great success on weight watchers so I wanted to find out what it was all about.
I ended up joining that night at a starting weight of 274.4 (the heaviest I had ever been - and ever will be). I went home that night and read through all of the material and got started right away. I decided that I was going to give this my best shot for a month and see where it got me (assuming I would fail). So I followed the plan, and low and behold my first week I lost 4.4 pounds! I was very pleased with this and kept working hard and the weight kept coming off. When you are larger the weight comes off easier at the beginning, but you don't really notice this.
When I got to about 40 pounds lost I was looking in the mirror and still did not see a difference, so I took a picture of myself and compared it to my starting picture and then I saw the difference.
Starting weight:
20 pounds gone:
40 pounds gone:
80 pounds gone:
115 pounds gone:
So many thoughts and memories are going through my head right now. It felt so great to hear from everyone how great I looked! The whole process took me just over two years from start to "finish". I say finish like that because it is never really over.
I do know that there are so many things that I enjoy doing now that I never could have dreamed of doing before - but I'll save that for another entry.
The whole time I was losing weight everyone asked me "what is your secret". My favourite thing to do was look around to make sure no one was listening, lean in towards them, and whisper "diet and exercise". Everyone thinks that there is some magic formula to losing weight and their kind of is, but it's not a secret. Calories in vs. calories out. However, that being said losing weight is NOT easy. If it was then no one would have a weight problem. It takes A LOT of hard work and dedication to get to your goal, but hey, nothing ever worth doing was easy right?
And as hard as losing the weight was it was the best possible thing I could do for myself. I know that I am not at my goal weight now but I am still far healthier than I was and can do far more things then I could ever dream of!
I am VERY open about my weight loss and have nothing to hide. The pictures of me before are reminders of what I was and what I will never be again. The pictures of me after are there for me to be proud and remind me of what I can accomplish if I put my mind to it (which, btw, is anything!)
Another thing that makes me proud is all of the people that I have inspired to lose weight. One of the greatest feelings is hearing how something I have said or done has helped someone else.
I will write a post sometime soon of what my "tips" are, so keep an eye out for it!
Until next time...
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