Miranda's Weight Loss Journey!

[eiugirlie]

I have been reading this bulletin board forever and finally today I was driving to the gym from work and knew I had to come home and finally post something on here! So here it goes....

Well, this is a long long time coming! I have been fighting fat since I can remember. I was just talking to my mother about how I seemed to go from "girls" sizes to a size 7....and honestly, I don't think I stayed at a 7 for long! I have never been comfortable with my body and my insecurity with myself just lead me to eat more. I know everyone says this, but food was honestly my best friend.

However bad I knew inside that I looked, I always was sure that I looked O.K....until about 2 years ago when I went to a suprise party for my aunt who had lost a 100lbs doing Atkins and someone took my picture sitting down in a booth at the resturaunt. I could not believe how bad I looked! This just made me feel worse about myself. I really started to gain more and was so unhappy with myself. I did try Atkins a few times but I never had it in me to stay on it. I had a very stressful job and I always blamed it for not being able to stick to anything.

At the end of 2005 I decided to change my life. I decided in December to move from Illinois to Bentonville, Arkansas and make my whole life change when I did. So, the second week of January I made plans for sure to move and started my first day really changing my life and doing low carb.

I did not move until March, but I stuck to my low carb diet the whole time before I moved. I absolutely love to cook and cooking low carb let me do a lot of cooking! I walked a couple times a week, but I decided just eating low carb would take the weight off. After I moved, I joined a gym. I really had no clue how out of shape I was until after I started working out. Just watching people run at an incline on the treadmill made me sweat!! I would not have ever thought about doing that! But I was good and started going for about 45 min a day 4 times a week. About 3 weeks into working out I started to enjoy it and have been going ever since for an hour a day, 6 times a week. My secret for working out.....I found the good mix of machines that I liked and actually enjoyed working out on. Plus, after going to the gym for a couple months...I feel good walking in and knowing that I look better today than I did the day before!

I knew I was losing weight, I have not cheated at all on low carb and I could tell noticible difference in my body and clothes. But for the past few months, I have really known how much I had lost because I have not been weighed for a year and a half. The last time I was at the doctor my weight was 225. I was so devestated about it that I had not had the courage to weigh myself....even when I started. So, last week I worked up the nerve to step on the scale. I knew I had gained at least 5 lbs from the last weight I knew when I started...probably more like 15-20, but I decided to go on the low end and say I started in January at 230. I got on the scale and weighed 206! I think there was never a a happier 206lb woman alive!

Anyways, I have not felt as good about myself as I do today. I know that I will never go back to eating the way I used to, and I am ok with that. I also have a new hobby that I never thought I would have enjoyed, working out! I am so happy with myself and plan on making my goal by the end of the year.