All my life I felt depressed and horrible that I experienced so much abuse at a young age. I started seeking refuge in food at the age of 9. My appetite became unstoppable. Eventually food was not enough and I looked for numbness at the bottom of a bottle and at the end of a needle. By the age of 26 I knew that drugs and alcohol had to go.
In 1990 I started working a 12 step program and got clean and sober, but I never addressed the food issues. So I ballooned to 310 by 2001, despite 7 years of sobriety. I knew something had to change. I ended up getting a lot of help to fix what was wrong on the inside. But didn't learn much about how to fix the outside.
But by 2006 I had lost 60 lbs and was down to 260 lbs. But I had no program to deal with the weight issues. I shopped around hit and miss with weight watchers, nutrisystem and a few others. My average weight stayed at 250 endlessly.
In 2008 I was diagnosed with Diabetes II. Something had to change. I tried a lot of different programs and just couldn't get with it. Couldn't stay motivated.
So on February 6, 2012, my Coach, Bobbie Jo Weber invited me to be part of a one month challenge for free and for fun.
I started out just having Shakeology every morning. I was too exhausted and malnourished to engage in too much exercise. I played a bit of Wii Just Dance or Dance Dance Revolution. But it wasn't until I had been on a Shake a Day program for about two weeks that I started getting some energy. i started wanting to work out because now I had energy.
Next I noticed that now that I started working out more, I started sleeping better. More sleep meant more energy. Despite only losing 4 lbs during that challenge I felt better than i have ever felt in a very very very long time.
I still have a long way to go to reach my goals. But I can see now how starting out with Shakeology i gained energy. Energy gave me ability to work out. Working out gave me the ability sleep better. more sleep meant better attitude and even more energy.
So now that I have even more energy I invested in Charlene Johnson's TurboFire at the recommendation of my coach. Now at 245 lbs, I can't do everything in the work out. My knees are achy so I have to take it a little easier. But the fact is I'm working at my top capacity without risk of injury. That is more movement than I have engaged in in the last eight years. What a difference six weeks has already made in my life.
Today I have a bunch of hope. I see the physiological and psychological changes that Shakeology and TurboFire has brought to my life.
So for now I still have more work to do but I will update this profile as things change.
Oh by the way, I won the first challenge with my Coach. I got Charlene's book! I'm working through that book. I'm very excited because I have a belief and a positive foundation for that belief that by the end of this year I WILL weigh less than 200 lbs. I also believe that by the end of 2013 if not sooner I will be at my goal weight.
So thank you Team BeachBody. Thank you Forum members who come into chat and encourage me everyday! Thank you Coach Bobbie Jo Weber. Thank you Shakeology and Thank you Charlene Johnson. But most importantly thank you God for bringing me here and giving me the tools I need to save my life.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Compelled to Share this Experience.
My top weight was 310 lbs. in 2002. I am survivor of childhood abuse, youthful drug and alcohol addiction, homelessness, mid-life PTSD & chronic major depression. After 10 years by God's grace, and my willingness to follow where I have been lead, and figuratively chopping wood and carrying water, Its taken me 10 years to weigh 251 lbs. be 17 years clean and sober, 3 years smoke free, off all psychiatric medicine, to have a successful career, and create a beautiful family and have enough self-esteem to find happiness but most importantly to be at peace and partnership with our Creator.
But there has become a point now, where I can't blame the 251 lbs on my pathology. Now I've been restored to face the same issue that we all face. Am I willing to do the work and have the discipline when it comes to diet & exercise to no longer weigh 251 lbs. On February 6, 2012. I joined TeamBeachBody.com and said "YES!"
By no coincidence I was invited here by my Coach Bobbie Jo Weber just out of the blue on February 5, 2012. SAME DATE as my anniversary of quitting smoking. I started simple. I wanted to win her Facebook Challenge. She gave five points for the following. 30 mins of exercise daily, replacing breakfast with Shakeology, drinking 64 oz of water a day minimum, staying in my calorie range, and not eating within 3 hours of dinner. For the first time my focus shifted from being goal oriented about losing weight and the numbers on the scale to process oriented. I wanted to win the challenge. And guess what? I DID!!!!
On or about March 6, 2012, I joined her 2nd challenge group. One of the other ladies in the group is my role model. She has lost a tremendous amount of weight AND is going to compete in a marathon. We are very close in age. I'm soooo proud of her for showing me what I can do. So I hope she wins the challenge. As for me, I so far have lost 7.5 inches all over my body and 6 lbs.
So today I felt inspired to start logging my food daily and start studying it. I am willing to share this experience so that people like me don't think that you need something as extreme as Biggest Loser, or eating only Subway Sandwiches like Jared did, or you need Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, Lap Band Surgery or your mouth wired shut in order to lose 100 lbs and save your own life. You don't need expensive coaches either. You are your greatest coach if you will just educate yourself.
So my hope and dream and where my inspiration comes is in the fact that I realize it doesn't take a preacher to know that it is much better to teach someone how to fish, rather than to give them fish. So with that maybe by my example I can show how I got from weighing 310lbs down to my right size, whatever that may be. As of today it is 249 lbs. So come along for the ride as this becomes my own documentary and testament to the resilience of the human spirit, and the ability that faith in action has to transform your life!
But there has become a point now, where I can't blame the 251 lbs on my pathology. Now I've been restored to face the same issue that we all face. Am I willing to do the work and have the discipline when it comes to diet & exercise to no longer weigh 251 lbs. On February 6, 2012. I joined TeamBeachBody.com and said "YES!"
By no coincidence I was invited here by my Coach Bobbie Jo Weber just out of the blue on February 5, 2012. SAME DATE as my anniversary of quitting smoking. I started simple. I wanted to win her Facebook Challenge. She gave five points for the following. 30 mins of exercise daily, replacing breakfast with Shakeology, drinking 64 oz of water a day minimum, staying in my calorie range, and not eating within 3 hours of dinner. For the first time my focus shifted from being goal oriented about losing weight and the numbers on the scale to process oriented. I wanted to win the challenge. And guess what? I DID!!!!
On or about March 6, 2012, I joined her 2nd challenge group. One of the other ladies in the group is my role model. She has lost a tremendous amount of weight AND is going to compete in a marathon. We are very close in age. I'm soooo proud of her for showing me what I can do. So I hope she wins the challenge. As for me, I so far have lost 7.5 inches all over my body and 6 lbs.
So today I felt inspired to start logging my food daily and start studying it. I am willing to share this experience so that people like me don't think that you need something as extreme as Biggest Loser, or eating only Subway Sandwiches like Jared did, or you need Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, Lap Band Surgery or your mouth wired shut in order to lose 100 lbs and save your own life. You don't need expensive coaches either. You are your greatest coach if you will just educate yourself.
So my hope and dream and where my inspiration comes is in the fact that I realize it doesn't take a preacher to know that it is much better to teach someone how to fish, rather than to give them fish. So with that maybe by my example I can show how I got from weighing 310lbs down to my right size, whatever that may be. As of today it is 249 lbs. So come along for the ride as this becomes my own documentary and testament to the resilience of the human spirit, and the ability that faith in action has to transform your life!
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