Testimonial

Date: 05/14/2010
Starting Weight: 219.6
Current Weight: 153.5
Final Goal Weight: 145
Loss Since Last Weigh In: 2
Total Weight loss: 66.1
Pounds left to lose: 8.5

Well, hell yeah! I made it past my second goal weight! Now, for my third and final goal weight. Only 8.5 pounds to go and that feels amazing. When I started this journey I thought first, and foremost that the weight I am at now was an impossibility. I was going to save all the mushy blogs for when I actually had succeeded the final goal I had set for myself in the beginning. Lately I have been talking with my boyfriend about Medifast and answering questions about it because it is my lifestyle. Talking about lately has really opened my eyes to how thankful I am for this program and what it has done for me and my family. He asked me some pretty deep questions this weekend. I thought I would take this blog to reflect on my journey as a whole.

I was asked, well how did you end up gaining so much weight in the first place? I thought this would be a great place to answer considering I have never really shared my “testimonial” before. When I was in high school, I always felt out of place and overweight. Looking back now, I was a crazy girl! I wore a size 12 and was in decent shape. So many times I wish I could write a letter to myself and tell 17 year old me that I was beautiful and to cherish my body and keep it that way! Graduating high school and leaving for college was a really hard time for me. My long time boyfriend (who I was moving in with)ended up being un-faithful. That completely broke whatever self esteem that I had. I ended up staying with him and moving three hours away from my family to a town that I hated. We were struggling college students living on fast food, hot dogs, and baked potatoes. I was depressed and very un-happy. As I have stated in other blogs eating has always been such a huge outlet for emotion in my life and in my family. Slowly I started eating my way to obesity. I already felt ugly on the inside and out, I didn’t really notice the 80 pound weight gain. I know that sounds crazy, but when I looked at myself I didn’t see anyone different than I always had. Slowly over time, we moved and I started feeling happy again. Although, our poor eating habits stayed the same. My boyfriend at the time was VERY skinny and ate a lot of food. Whenever he ate, so did I. I seemed to put on the pounds for both of us.

It wasn’t until after we got married and he joined the Air Force that I started losing the weight. This was summer of 2007. He was away for about 7 months in training and I had that time to start finding myself. I cooked my own meals and ate when I felt hungry. Easily I dropped from 265 pounds to 220. Just by eating less and cooking my own meals. We were stationed in the UK for our first duty station and after moving there, three months later I was coming home heading towards a divorce and a very rough year.

At first I was trying to figure out how to put my life back together and I wasn’t really worried about my appearance. I felt so deeply sad and worthless, it wouldn’t have mattered at that point if I looked like a playmate, I felt like the ugliest person in the world. I put my life back together a lot quicker than I had expected. I found a great job, my own place, and car. Really, all the essentials of surviving. Lastly I needed to put myself back together. I went to counseling and support group every week and found out that building your self esteem back up is a very important step in moving on. I started going to the gym and got myself down to 200 pounds. After the routine set in and I started healing emotionally I moved away from that appearance step. I found myself slowly gaining back the weight and when I found myself back up to 219 pounds I made a decision that I wasn’t going to allow myself to be that way anymore. That’s when I decided to start Medifast. Nearly 2 years has gone by since my trek back home from the UK and 9 months of being on Medifast and I am literally a new woman. I love my body and I love the person I am. I am a woman I can be proud of. I have shed all the old baggage off, along with the pounds. I am so happy and have found someone who makes me feel even more beautiful than I already do.

The major point I want to make is there is never a right time for making life changing decisions. There is always going to be a reason to put it off. I hope that people will start making these healthy choices earlier on, rather than when you hit rock bottom and have nowhere else to go like I did. You can do it and you will thank yourself for it. Chances are, it will make you feel better than you have for a very long time.

Keep up the good work!

Too lazy to think of a title :)

Date: 05/06/2010

Starting Weight: 219.6

Current Weight: 155.5

Goal Weight2: 155

Final Goal Weight: 145-150

Loss Since Last Weigh In: 1.3

Total Weight loss: 64.1

Pounds left to lose: 0.5

I’m making steady progress still. Seeing 0.5 pounds left to lose, until I reach my second goal is a hard pill to swallow. I just want to be there! 10.5 pounds until I have made my final goal. I am so excited and pushing myself harder than ever. I have just started running on my own and cut out the walk with my parents. I do enjoy the time with them and encouraging them, but it just wasn’t enough of a challenge and I need to start pushing myself athletically. This is a whole new world and experience to me. I actually like running more and more every day. It’s a nice little time where I can push myself mentally and physically. I won’t claim to be an all star runner, but I am already a long way from where I started a week and a half ago. I can only imagine with the right training tools where I could be a few months from now. Let’s not forget the old school 80’s abs DVD after my run. It’s a nice little cool down for my heart rate and that extra something I need to really tone my body.

Now let’s touch on a little subject that sadly I am just experiencing! It’s one thing or another to have a roommate or family members in your life that aren’t doing the diet (Medifast) that you are. That is a hurdle that I had to overcome, just the added temptation of having food in the house you can’t have but are forced to look at. It takes a lot of constant mental reminders of why you are making the commitment in the first place.

I recently just started dating, now that’s a whole new world. How do you tell someone about this big thing in your life that is a sensitive subject? On your dates do you come off as high maintenance and be picky about sticking to the diet? In the end there are no right answers. What worked for me was on the first date to order the most “health conscious” thing I could without coming off as one of those women who will only order a salad. I am the type of person who likes to put all my cards on the table. I have already told him about Medifast, also the fact that I am a health coach makes it an even bigger part of my life. If you feel comfortable with your date, open up to them. Maybe don’t go into all the gory details of how overweight you used to, but if this man or woman is worth your time they will embrace your new lifestyle and try their hardest to accommodate it. Hopefully I will be a good few pounds below my second goal weight by next blog. Keep up the good work! Oh I also thought I would update with a couple pictures I took this morning.