After a lifetime of obesity, I finally made up my mind...I'd had ENOUGH! I had to make a change and THIS TIME was going to be different. I could feel it!

I've been dieting for 4 years. I've lost 175 pounds, around 80 inches and I'm down about 10 sizes from a 30/32 to a size 12/14 and a few 8/10's in my workout clothes. I have lost HALF my entire body weight!!! In one year, I lost 131 pounds and in the following year, I lost 44 more. Since then, I have been maintaining my weight ...

After a lifetime of obesity, I finally made up my mind...I'd had ENOUGH! I had to make a change and THIS TIME was going to be different. I could feel it!

I've been dieting for 4 years. I've lost 175 pounds, around 80 inches and I'm down about 10 sizes from a 30/32 to a size 12/14 and a few 8/10's in my workout clothes. I have lost HALF my entire body weight!!! In one year, I lost 131 pounds and in the following year, I lost 44 more. Since then, I have been maintaining my weight (within a 5 - 10 pound range) but I want to lose a little more. I'm still working EVERYDAY to reach my goal weight.

I've had great success on my journey using a couple of "tools". From the very beginning, I purchased a digital food scale. It wasn't very expensive, about $20 from WalMart. It can weigh up to 10 lbs. of food and can also measure in ounces, grams or kg. (There were cheaper ones too but I figured it was a good idea to spend a few dollars more on something that I would be using every day as such an important part of my diet plan.) I weigh everything! It's just too easy to miscalculate when you're guessing. AND MOST PEOPLE GUESS INCORRECTLY! Just be accurate by weighing then there's never any question to how much and how many calories you're eating. (FYI: I ate 1500 cals. a day when I first started at a weight of 351.5 lbs. and I eat 1300 - 1400 now.)
The second tool was a food journal. I still write EVERYTHING down that I eat, BEFORE I eat it. It's way too easy to forget to enter it later and then you've eaten more calories then you realized. I always write it down and there's no question to how I've spent my calories for the day and what I have left to eat! IT KEEPS ME HONEST!!!

In addition to those two things, I would have to say that making healthy food choices like chicken breast, fish, lean cuts of meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole wheat bread instead of white (but even that I've cut down to a minimal amount), drinking lots of water and eating low fat/ low sugar has helped me so much. You can find lots of creative recipes on SparkPeople to help you get through. One of my family's favorites is Taco Soup, yummy! I love to cook and finding ways to prepare foods that my kids like too has been lots of fun. I love seeing them eat healthily.

Exercise too is now a part of my life. I started with a BMI of 56 and now I'm at 27.3! That's still considered OVERWEIGHT but hey, I'm a work-in-progress! Oh well! I still don't enjoy exercising much but I love the results. I can't argue with all the positive things I have gotten from exercising. So just do something... get out there and MOVE. Even if you just start out walking like I did. When I began to walk for exercise at 351 pounds, it was painful. It was more like limping and hobbling around the track at the park. I had severe heel/foot pain and it hurt with each step I took. I couldn't even wear shoes with backs on them. But I am happy to report that as the weight came off, I have NO PAIN AT ALL. It is amazing! (Oh, by the way, now I can wear sexy heels, too!)

I have a little way to go on my journey still. I think I can possibly lose another 20 pounds or so, I'm 5'7 1/2" and want to end up around 155-160 to see how that looks on me. It's a wait and see kind of thing. Won't know til I get there!! Until then I'm going to keep working at it. I want to finish. I need to finish. Then I can work on maintaining and enjoying the healthier life I have created for myself and my family.

Thank you to all of you who share your stories! Your comments, motivation and inspiring stories and photos have given me courage and hope along my journey. You people are awesome! Keep posting those before and after pics. Those are the BEST!!!

A special shout out to my dear Sparkfriends Bill60, Toothful99 and of course my sis Classicalshelly. You guys help get me through each week and you motivate the heck out of me. Hugs!

Good luck to all of you. If I can answer any questions or share my experience further, just let me know. If I can help even one person, it's a blessing. I know what it is to battle with weight since I have fought it and been defeated by it my entire life...UNTIL NOW THAT IS!!!!!!

Read More About SMARTLADY66 (Updated March 23)

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