The Journey Begins

The journey from Plus to Petite is a long and agonizing journey.  At one point or another, we've all fallen into the mindset that there HAS TO BE one magic pill, one shake, one wrap, SOMETHING that will take this weight off, because we DO NOT want to change how and what we eat.  I tried the gimmicks, I did ACE, Slim Quick, Alli, Body by Vi, Weight Watchers, My Fitness Pal, ItWorks Wraps, Green Coffee Bean, Raspberry Keytones and SO much more, just to find that ONE magic solution that would take my extra weight away and make me skinny and beautiful like everyone else.  I didn't care about health, I didn't care about what those pills, wraps, programs, and shakes DID to my body as long as they WORKED.  Then I went to have my blood work done. My anemia was getting worse, my cholesterol was MUCH too high for a 25 year old woman, my insulin levels far too high and my blood sugar just BARELY staying normal.  And it wasn't just the inside that was suffering, but my outward appearance was taking a hit. My eyes looked sunken and dark, my skin tone looked sickly, and my body constantly ached as if I were a 60 year old with terrible arthritis.  Psychologically, I was in bad shape as well.  I was depressed, tired, I hated myself, I started to feel like nothing would change. I felt like I would be stuck in this body FOREVER.  DOOMED to being a prisoner in a broken body, never bothering to take responsibility for how I treated my body. I was 330 pounds at my heaviest in 2012 before I even began to think that maybe, just MAYBE, all of this is my own fault.  Yeah, I have PCOS, but PCOS doesn’t make me eat Steak’n’Shake, McDonalds, Arby’s, Wendy’s and all the other fast food out there.  PCOS didn’t make me sit my big bum on the couch day after day, watching crappy reality television and eating chocolate and ice cream.  PCOS didn’t force those delicious Lindt Milk Chocolate Truffles down my throat.  I did that.  I sat there, day after day, eating crap and convincing myself that IF ONLY I didn’t have this terrible issue, I could be NORMAL.  It was ME who decided to blame EVERYTHING and EVERYONE else for MY issues, and for my sheer ignorance of the truth.  It's been a long road, and along that road, I’ve tried the gimmicks, and NONE of them helped me do more than shed weight. You’re probably thinking “THAT’S GREAT!”  No. That’s not great.  I DID lose weight on some of those gimmicks, but it took ALL of them, including starvation-driven diet programs and the most disgusting protein shakes I have EVER had the displeasure of tasting to lose any weight, and my health was still in decline.  My skin looked terrible, my eyes were still VERY dark, my skin tone looked like that of an ill person and I was still depressed.  I was still just as unhealthy, if not more so, than I was when I started all that nonsense.  Sure, I was down 24 pounds, but it took 2 years, and I didn’t feel good.  I didn’t feel good about myself, about my life, or about my health.  And then my life changed.  I took a step that I never thought was possible.  I met an amazing friend and coach who has helped me to face my addictions, and to confront the truth and to MOVE FORWARD.  The truth is that food should be FUEL for your body.  This addiction to food is just as difficult to break as the addiction to smoking cigarettes and can even be as difficult to kick as heroin.  Food=comfort, but she showed me that it doesn't have to be that way anymore.  After only 8 short weeks of clean eating and daily exercise, I dropped a jaw-dropping 39 pounds.  I feel GOOD, my skin looks healthy and vibrant, I no longer feel the aches and pains I once felt, I can stretch farther, and jump higher (jump at all, actually).  I have energy and passion again.  I am HAPPY.  These things are not attainable through crash diets, diet pills, special diet “vitamins”, wraps, crappy shakes, and “cleansers”.  So, if you’re ready, take this journey with me.  Let me teach you what I’ve been taught.  Let me let you in on the real secret to weight loss and healthy living.  Let me help you take that first step.  There are no shortcuts to any place worth going, so let me take you the long way around to the places that you’ve only been in your dreams.