I have always been heavy... I was a heavy kid, a heavy teenager, heavy in college, and a heavy adult. I never felt like my weight held me back too much... sure, I didn't date much and I had to shop in plus size stores, but I travelled and played sports and danced at weddings and did pretty much anything else I've ever wanted to do. I didn't let my weight define me.
But the first half of 2010 was tough. I had been laid off , I wasn't happy in my living situation, I was dieting with little success and I all around felt stuck in life. (Now I am starting to sound like an infomercial, but really, that's how I felt). I started to see that my weight was holding me back and I was not OK with that.
So on August 25, 2010 I decided enough was enough. I was making some serious changes. I had been watching videos on YouTube from people who had had the lap-band procedure done and I realized that they have a hard road. Just as hard, if not harder, as diet and excercise so I decided against lap-band and to fully commit to a diet (and eventually excercise).
There were two main ideas that stuck out to me through watching those videos, though. These have been my "secret" to losing all of that weight:
1. Follow the rules of whatever diet you choose
2. Don't give up
That's it. That's my big secret. Keep your head down, and stay the course. Don't let yourself get too wrapped up in different dieting theories, stop reading articles, stop trying new things, stop listening to advice from your skinny friends. Just pick a diet that you can commit to and do it.
Since I know people will ask I'll go ahead and tell you that I chose the Atkins diet, though I know it is not for everyone. I am not advertising one diet over another because I know everyone has different needs and preferences, and I believe that every diet works as long as you stick to it, but the Atkins diet has been perfect for me. It was an answer to my sugar addiction which is something I am truly grateful for.
As the weight started to come off I added excercise. Namely running, tennis, pilates and weight training. I don't do it all on the same day, but I pick one or two active things I like and do it everyday. I like to say that my goal is to sweat everyday, one way or another.
Also, I feel like it's important to mention that I am not a perfect dieter. I give myself cheat days now and then. There are some days when I don't excercise at all. There are days when I gain weight, or I stay the same for a few weeks even when I am following the rules. But I stick with it. I know that eventually the scale will creep down again. I have learned to define success as staying on my diet. So, if I do everything right and the scale shows a gain, I am still successful because I followed my diet.
I let myself enjoy life, but now I know that doing the right thing for my body and taking care of myself brings a certain mental and emotional freedom that can also be defined as "enjoying life." I don't feel controlled by food anymore. I can only attribute this change to God's healing in my life.
Although I still have more weight to lose I wanted to stop and celebrate what I have accomplished so far. I asked my friend and super talented photographer, Nicole Glenn, to take some photos of me to document where I am in my journey. She did such an amazing job and I can't wait for our photoshoot when I reach my goal weight!
First, some before pics...
And now here I am minus 100 pounds!
I have been going through my old photos and I found one of me when I was about 4 years old doing this same pose. My aunt took me to a photobooth and told me to do a pose and that was what I did, so I decided to re-create it during my shoot with Nicole :)
Check out Nicole Glenn's blog for more photos!
You are the bomb.com!
Nicole, I am so proud of you. You look amazing! Congrats on this milestone!!
Kim
I am ridiculously proud of you! Your are gorgeous. Inside and out! Rock that beautiful smile of yours. Keep doing your thing! xoxo
Nicole, I was inspired by your blog, it wasn't one word too long. Thank you for that and congratulations, you look wonderful and your weight loss is really helping me see your beautiful features (physical); the inner beauty was always visable.
Heidi
i love you sooo much! reading your post brought me to tears.... i am so, so, so happy for you. God is amazing and so are you. I am so thankful for what He is doing in your life and I am so thankful for you and what an amazing person you are. Thank you for always being genuine... even in your post, you don't sugar coat things, you are real which has encouraged me countless times. i love you so much! You are a shining star!
Inspirational blog. Loved 'eventually add exercise'--that's what I find the hardest to do. Photos are beautiful. Hmmm...who was the aunt that took you to your first photoshoot? I wonder... :D
wow ,you looks great !
congrats and good luck
well i have the same thing to too much over wight and you really inspired me in ur pic's after the wight lose u look happier , heather and i want that thank you so much <3
This is my first time I have visited here. I found a lot of interesting stuff in your blog. From the volume of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one! keep up the great work.
You look reallllllly amazing, keep up the good work girl, lovely to look at your pics!!
Carrie
Hello, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam remarks? If so how do you reduce it, any plugin or anything you can recommend? I get so much lately it’s driving me crazy so any assistance is very much appreciated.