Even though I come from a family of morbid obesity, I was never overweight as a child. In college, instead of gaining the “freshman 15,” I gained 20 pounds. After that, my Grandma cut the tags out of my jeans so I wouldn’t be reminded of my weight gain. After college, I was on the road every day for my job. It was easier to go through the drive-thru instead of meal prepping and taking my lunch in a cooler. I now cringe thinking about those eating habits and wish I would have meal prepped. Being overweight made me tired and sluggish. I tried all the fad diets, but nothing worked.
A low time in my life was when I went wedding dress shopping. It was supposed to be fun, but it was awful. I couldn’t try on a lot of the dresses because they didn’t have them in the plus-size samples. On my honeymoon, I felt self-conscious and unattractive. I didn’t want to be in a bathing suit and didn’t feel sexy for my new husband.
Several of my relatives suffer from morbid obesity and I’ve seen the struggles they endured emotionally and physically. The stares and snarkiness from strangers in restaurants. I’ve seen how fat wrecked their bodies and contributed to serious health problems. Another low came after my morbidly obese Aunt passed away in her early 50s. Both should have been my rock bottoms, but they weren’t. I should have taken control of my body then, but I didn’t. I was a stress eater. I hated my job, didn’t have any friends, and was depressed.
During my first pregnancy, I lost weight because I was sick the entire time. I had some motivation after our daughter was born and lost some more weight. When I became pregnant with twins, the doctor told me to gain 50 pounds during the pregnancy. During their birth, I developed some life-threatening health conditions. I realized that I could die, and I didn’t want to leave my husband with 3 little kids. However, I continued to make excuses with 3 kids under the age of 2 and a job that I hated. Finally, my husband and I decided it was time to change together. I saw myself going in the same direction as my relatives and knew I didn’t want the fat to kill me as well. We started exercising, tracked our calories through MyFitnessPal, and began to meal prep. Nothing special and no secrets. We skipped the fad diets, pills, and wraps and made lifestyle changes. We didn’t set unrealistic goals. It’s been a long and slow journey for us. However, we have put in the hard work and consistency has been the key and I have kept the weight off for five years. I’ve lost 70 pounds and 8 dress sizes! I have energy and feel amazing. It has transformed my body, my mind set, and I am no longer self-conscious. We recently celebrated our 10-year anniversary and I felt I had a chance to have a redo of our wedding and honeymoon. I bought a new dress for our vow renewal and felt beautiful. We went to Mexico and I was able to live in a bikini all week and felt sexy for my husband!
I am now a Fitness Coach & Gym Owner which I would have never imagined! We are teaching our kids how to live healthy lifestyles too. Now my passion is to help women who have a lot of weight to lose, have never worked out a day in their life, or haven't worked out in years! I have been in your shoes and know exactly all of the emotions that accompany being overweight. I can empathize with you! I absolutely love my job because I get to help women transform their lives every single day!
