Most of us have been there at one point in our lives or another .... the place of the unhealthy, unwanted overweight woman!!
The day my daughter, Emily, was born I was OVER 300lbs. and felt gross and ugly and disgusting. I vowed to get to a healthy weight! After my recovery from the c-section I hit it hard .... it was "Valerie's Low Carb Diet" and I did GREAT at it! I lost an amazing 145lbs in a matter of less than a yr and a half!!! I can't even really explain "how" I did it because there was virtually no exercise involved (not that I'm proud of that, but the weight melted off without exercise).
Then the unexpected happened ..... 25lbs from my goal I was diagnosed with MS and hospitalized for the 1st time because of it. Every hosptialization (7 in all over 2 1/2 yrs) led to steriod treatments which led to a million different side-effects, one of which being --- weight gain! I was SO ticked ... I was more ticked at the weight gain than the MS itself at times.
Over the course of the 2 1/2 yrs I put back on 80 of the 145lbs I had just rid my body of!
Well, I've been healed of MS now for 15 GLORIOUS months (see a different post on the amazing story behind that) and it's now time to do something about all this extra baggage FOR REAL!!
I actually first started this journey back in Jan 2011 and had lost 19lbs but then sickness, a mission trip and more sickness led me to gaining 10 of that back and before long I lost motivation and drive to lose the weight. So, after taking a 2 month "break" I am now remotivated and my drive to succeed with this adventure is back!!!
And I am not going to make any more excuses .... I don't want to be the fat wife/mother/friend ..... I'm sick of shopping in the plus-size section! I want to wear the cute stuff too dangit!!!
On June 8th, 2011 I started a 12 week challenge and 7 of my friends have joined me ... for 12 weeks we are committed to making healthy choices and losing weight. So far, so good .... we're all doing great and losing ..... of course, there's incentive ..... the person with the lowest % of weight lost each week has to put $5 in the "kitty" and the person with the highest % of weight lost at the end of the 12 weeks get the $60 that accumulted in the "kitty!" =) Enough $$ for at least 1 new outfit.
I lost 4.6lbs the first week, but after gaining 3.4lbs the 2nd week I knew I had to do something different. My body has IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and without getting into too much icky details, my body was literally filled with toxins because I wasn't "going" regularly. So, after researching it I started the IBS diet last Wednesday and this week's weigh-in showed an 8.4lb LOSS!!! WOOHOO!!!
My goal is to be at my ultimate goal by Jan. 1st, 2012 ..... I've lost 9.6lbs in 3 wks and I have 26 wks and 63.6lbs to go!!! But, right now I'm taking it day by day with my short term goals .... in 3 wks I leave for VA on vacation and I want to lose another 13.6lbs by then!
I plan to blog about this journey, its ups and downs from now till the end so follow me as we head to the land of healthy/happier people!!!
