Weight Loss Journey

I started my weight loss journey many years ago since I have been overweight since I was like 8 years old. I would try to lose weight and then gain it back or be pregnant with my babies and gain it through the pregnancy slowly adding more and more weight through the years. At age 18 I was proud of myself that I weighed 175 pounds and felt that I looked pretty good but still overweight.

Then I graduated high school and went into the world on my own.....the first year on my own I lost my best friend to a car accident and then got taken advantage of my a guy that took my virginity :( so within a couple of years I gained 55 pounds then for the next 10 years I continued to gain weight and got to my highest weight of 278. Then my mom died of cancer and I started really evaluating my life and what I wanted to do with it. I had 4 wonderful boys but was in a bad marriage and I hated how I felt so I decided to start some changes......I began to lose weight and over a period of 4 years I lost 70 pounds through my wonderful TOPS group that I had found.

I also decided to get out of the bad marriage and with that I ended up moving up to Bellingham, WA and lost my supportive TOPS group. Over the next couple of years through the divorce I gained back about 35 pounds. Then I met and married a wonderful man and we moved back to Oregon. I

As life was settling down we got asked to take care of my sisters 5 children for the 10 months that she was deployed in Afganistan. I tried to work on my weight but was super busy and tired trying to take care of 9 kids. As the time for them to leave was getting near, I decided it was time to start working on me again. So in December 2011 I weighed in at 255 pounds.

I was sad that I had reached over 250 again......so I decided to join weight watchers online. This seemed to work for me for the most part as I wasn't gaining anymore but I wasn't losing much either but I knew I was missing an element, a supportive group. I had tried the local TOPS groups but they weren't a good match for what I was looking for. So I kept looking and found a PRISM group in May 2012 weighing in at 243. I finally felt like I had found the support I was looking for. I have been a part of that group for almost 9 weeks now and have lost 18 pounds.

I still have some weight to lose but I feel like I have made great strides towards my goals. I am continually learning about myself and the best way to take care of myself. I am looking forward to the next steps in my journey. I have learned to accept that this is a lifelong journey, not just a "diet" and then I get to eat "normal". I am eating more organic and fresh foods. I have made the decision not to eat hardly any processed foods. I am feeling good about all the changes I am making and loving seeing my children follow my example.

This is where I am at now!

 

And the I have a goal of losing another 10 pounds from there by my 40th birthday in January!

I feel like because I have a wonderfully supportive husband, kids that are cheering me on and a supportive group of friends in my Prism group, friends I have made on Sparks and one friend that hasn't left my side...

 I am going to reach my goal and soar!!!!