I believe each of us has our own unique story waiting to unfold, wouldn't you like to be the one to step up and create the next chapter in your life? I want you to stand in my shoes one day and know what it feels like to tell your own story. I want you to know how it feels to be someone you never thought you could be. I want you to have the passion and drive and the desire to create change and I want you to understand that once you've created that change it becomes a part of you.
Now my personal story is alot about weight loss as that was the largest most visible change. But let me tell you, that is simply where it started and from there everything else has fallen into place. It was like a chain reaction, one event led to another and so on. When you are stuck in a rut and needing to make a change, you first require the skills and knowledge to make those changes. From there you need the willingness, determination and commitment to embrace those changes that you wish to make.
One day I simply woke up, I can't even tell you what that defining moment was. I had been heavy, out of shape and a couch potato for years. And one day something happened and I wish I knew what that defining moment was but it just happened and I decided to do something about my life.
At the time I was 25 years old, I was in a failing relationship, I smoked, I ate, essentially I hid. I was an unhappy soul and food was comfort to me; it was like my drug of choice, my crutch. Call it what you want but it was what I used to hide behind. I loved to cook and I loved to eat. I didn't have any goals, I didn't have any hobbies, I didn't have a plan.
My highest weight was 278 pounds and this wasn't weight that I put on overnight. This weight was an accumulation of many years. From the age of 10 or thereabouts I started to gain weight and it continued through high school and into my mid 20's. Shortly after high school I suffered depression, which pretty much tipped me over the edge with the weight issue. The medication that I was prescribed added additional weight and being inactive as I was, once it came on it didn't go off.
Looking back, the depression wasn't from one particular event but rather from all of the events in my life. No one caused that depression, no one caused me to be overweight, no one forced me to eat and no one forced me to waste hours on end sitting on my ass wasting my life away. This was the life that I chose to live. Life is full of choices and I just seemed to keep choosing the ones that were detrimental to my health and my well being.
So, I woke up and I took action. It wasn't easy, but really what is? If you look at anything in your life that has true meaning to you, whether its your relationships, your career, you hobbies or interests, all of these things take work, they all take dedication, they all take time. You have to invest yourself in the things that have true meaning to you and your life. Aren't you worth it?
My journing started off with Weight Watchers. My sister joined with me for moral support. We quit smoking together, we started walking and we started to make some serious dietary changes. At one point I even took up lane swimming. Let me tell you, walking into the UxPool, having to change in the change room in front of fit people, into a bathing suit that was far from flattering, approaching the pool with swim goggles and nose plugs in hand, my knees were weak and I think I could have sat on the side of that pool and cried. But I didn't. I got into that water and I forced people to share their lanes. It was not friendly, nor do I ever wish to do it again but I stuck to it for many weeks throughout the winter to keep myself active.
Weight Watchers was a great foundation for me, but it wasn't enough. It took me nearly 2 years to shed 110 pounds. The last 6 months were the hardest. The last 10 pounds that I had to lose in order to be the size that WW deemed as my healthy range was the worst. I couldn't eat much by that point, I walked for hours a day and the results were just not happening. When I finally hit the 110 pound loss, I quit and gained the 10 pounds back, it just wasn't enough. I can't knock WW as I still maintained that 100 pound loss and WW did provide me with the foundation that I was so lacking.
This was simply the beginning, oh how one change can have a snowball effect into so many others. I had to start somewhere, and it all began with a choice, it was my choice to start living my life for me and it is my choice to not go back to being that unhappy soul. It"s easy to fall back into old habits, you simply keep choosing the path you wish to lead, one foot in front of the other, each day.
My next post will continue my story on, stay tuned!
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