It was a warm day in July, 2009 when I ran across my college parking lot to get my student ID. By the time I got to the library, I was out of breath and sweating. I gathered myself the best I could and decided I was ready for my picture. When they printed the picture, I looked at it and realised why I was STILL trying to catch my breath after 20 minutes. I WAS FAT!

Enough was enough

I decided that I was going to lose weight and get in shape. I was absolutely mortified that I had let myself get that out of control. I knew that if I really wanted to do this, I was going to have to do it my own way. If I wanted to change my weight, I had to change every aspect of my life; no fad diet or pill was going to give me the results that I wanted or needed.

The first thing I did was stop eating donuts. It might not sound like that big of a deal, but it was to me because that was my ‘go-to’ food. I ate a donut on the way to school at least twice a week. I cut out eating fast food and started walking. Then I started riding my bike. I replaced my diet cola with green tea. Before I knew it, I’d lost 30 pounds.

My body pain vanished

My foot, knee, hip, back and heart no longer hurt. Suddenly I thought, “Wow, I can do this! If I can lose 30, I can lose 50 because that’s only 20 more!” So I pushed myself a little bit harder, watched my diet a little closer. Fifty pounds was gone all too soon. At that point I was riding my bike 10 miles a day and I was walking five miles a day, everyday! Soon it was 60 pounds, then 70, finally 80! I had completely transformed my life! I weighed 268 lbs when I started this journey, I am down to 178. I used to squeeze into a 20W pants, if not a 22W.

I am HALF the woman I once was

I wear a pair of size 10 jeans now! I can wear a large shirt, something I haven’t done since I was in the 4th grade! I would ideally like to lose 20 more pounds, but I am perfectly happy with myself. I have come a long way and have completely changed everything about my life. I have relaxed on the exercise a little, but now I exercise to maintain a healthy weight rather than lose half of my butt!

I turn everything into something physical, my job requires a lot of physical activity, but I make myself do more. I do push-ups whenever I can. I will plop down and do sit-ups, do stretches while I wait for the mop bucket to fill, take the stairs every chance I get!

And jelly donuts? Here’s my trick with those… I will only allow myself to get red jelly donuts with pink frosting, and only from the gas station! Granted, I could drive to the bakery everyday and just get one, but that’s how I got fat! Now I work for it. It took me two weeks to satisfy my craving once, best donut I’ve ever tasted, but I didn’t feel guilty or fat after I was done!

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