The Journey to a smaller me

So, I did it.  In January, I followed millions of people by making the resolution that I was going to finally lose weight.  Okay, I actually did it at the end of January so that it wouldn't be a resolution and I would actually stick to it.  And actually, it didn't come about with the notion of losing a big amount of weight.  I'd tried that in the past and it never worked for long.  The following is my story of how my journey began and where I stand to date.

I've struggled with my weight since puberty.  It's just been something that's been a part of me.  I've always been taller and fatter than most of the people around me.  And then I went to college and put on more weight.  I got married and added a few more pounds; had 2 kids and added more weight.  I was so busy taking care of everyone else so that I couldn't take care of myself.  I see now that my weight has always served 2 purposes for me.  It's been a way for me to self-sabotage as well as serving as a way to keep people out. 

So, in October of 2011, I decided that I was tired of killing myself, so I quit smoking; cold turkey.  I have to say, that was by far one of the hardest things I've ever done!  I would rather put myself through college 5 times over than to quit smoking again.  But, I did it, and I'm here to say that almost a year later, I'm still a non-smoker!  But, I digress.  I quit smoking in October, my husband followed a week after, so we decided to do something healthy with the money we were spending on cigarettes.  We joined the local YMCA and started working out.  We would both go a few times a week and get our sweat on, but we never really monitored our eating.

Me in December at the start of my journey.
In January, I signed up for a fitness class at the Y and we did our body fat and weight in the first class.  This was my wake-up call.  I did the body fat reading first...45% bodyfat!  Holy Crap!!  And then, I stepped on the scale and my eyes about bugged out of my head.  305.  I was Three Hundred and Five pounds!  And, keep in mind that I had been working out several days a week for about 6 weeks before this.  Who knows how high that number had been!  I was over 300 pounds!  I knew I'd come close before, but something about being over snapped me to attention.  I had to do something about this.  I had to get myself under control.  I had to stop killing myself with food. 

It was that week that I joined My Fitness Pal, which is an online food tracking and fitness site.  I wasn't sure it was going to work as I'd been a member of Sparkpeople and that did very little for me.  But, there was just something about MFP, or about me, that made it easy to follow.  I lost about 35lbs in the first 4 months and was on cloud 9.  And then summer hit.  My oldest had baton competitions which sent us out of town several weekends.  My schedule was shot and I struggled with the weight loss.  Overall, I gained and lost the same 10 pounds over the summer.  But, something made me stick with the program.  It's like, this time, I had decided to not give up on myself.  For the first time, I was worth the fight. 
Me in August of 2012 minus 40lbs. 

I've thus far lost a total of 44lbs from the 305 that I started out.  Actually, I didn't lose the pounds.  I got rid of them.  They're never coming back and they have about 80 more friends who will be joining them.  It's a long journey, and it's a tough one, but I'm worth it! 



Comments

  1. KWednesday, September 19, 2012

    You look incredible, Brandy!! It's awesome that even though you had a rough summer, you are sticking to it and pushing through! You should be so proud of yourself!

    ReplyDelete

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