From Overweight to Healthy: A Personal Story

It started with motivation and was propelled by confidence

I was overweight my entire life. We’re talking about a chubby baby, a big toddler, an XL 6th grader, and plus-sized prom dresses. When I was in high school plus-sized stores were barely starting to become a thing and while friends surrounded me, my confidence was always low. 

When I started college I had great friends and my confidence grew a bit but I found myself attempting to build my confidence in all the wrong ways, such as throwing myself at boys who let’s just say, weren’t into me for my kind-hearted nature. I spent a lot of time trying to impress the wrong people and worrying about all the wrong things. 

In 2011, my dad had to have gastric bypass surgery due to kidney failure that caused rapid weight gain. I also had a nephew on the way and didn’t want to be the ‘fat’ aunt. I went on a low-carb journey and became super dedicated to my weight loss goals. I became a bit addicted to the process and would spend hours on the elliptical in hopes of seeing the scale tick down. 

From Overweight to Not… Round One

This worked. After a year I had lost close to 100 lbs. I was pretty pleased with how I looked but honestly, while I told myself the reason behind the weight loss was for health I knew deep down that it was more for aesthetic reasons. I was in college and I wanted the boys to want me in a more long-term way.

Honestly, it worked, I had the attention of some potential boyfriends but it never felt quite right. Something was always missing. 

I maintained my weight loss pretty well for about 2 years. Then I graduated college and joined the ‘real world’ and the stress of that paired with a long distance (we’re talking across the world) situationship that resulted in me getting little sleep when trying to coordinate Skype calls, I slowly started to gain the weight back. 

By January of 2014, I had gained around 40 of the pounds I lost back. I was able to lose some of it within that year but then came heartbreak and life being busy and the pounds piled back on. I am not totally sure how or when it happened but I do know that by April of 2016, I gained all the weight I lost, and then some back. 

The Start of Round Two

So in April of 2016, I found myself at 265 lbs as a 5’8”, 26-year-old woman. I also found myself lacking motivation to do anything. I didn’t want to walk my dogs around the block and I believe I was starting to sink into a depression. I had worked so hard before to get to where I wanted and then I let it all slip away.

The thing is, I lost the weight for all the wrong reasons and used all the wrong approaches the first time around. I was ‘skinny’ but I wasn’t fit and I wasn’t healthy. I had little to no muscle mass, still had unhealthy eating habits, and suffered from exercise addiction for a bit. On top of that, any confidence I had found was surface level. I didn’t feel good or happy at my core. Something was still amiss. 

That month I decided it was time to do it again but to do it right. I started up a low-carb diet again and the pounds began to fall off. 

It wasn’t until May of 2016 that I made the first step in truly changing my life to the core. 

Check out my YouTube channel and other posts here in the health and fitness tab for more about my journey. I’d also love to hear about your journey! Please comment and share!