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Introduction Text 11/1 - I will have to update this later. For now I think I will just post a blog that will at least explain somewhat, of just how far I have fallen.... Hi. It is hard not to feel like a sham when I read my bio after gaining 30 lbs in the last 4 months. I am ashamed of how far I have fallen. I am not trying to make excuses but in the last few months I have been dealing with moving 2 hours away from my family and friends, a heart break over my last relationship, an impending divorce, the loss of a loved pet, the loss of a best friend who I never met, but we were friends for 4 plus years and talked almost everyday and I really miss her. On top of all that I am drowning in first year teaching. Working 80 plus hours a week. Getting 2 to 3 hours of sleep most nights. Praying things get better. I feel like I am failing in every area of my life. Please say a prayer for me. My name is Shelby. I am 41 years old. I live in Georgia and I am proof that you can lose a ginormous amount of weight and it won't cost you a dime, okay, well it cost me $9. I have lost over 100 lbs and have gone down 8 sizes, from a 24 to a size 10, and I did it without the help of a chef, a personal trainer or a reality TV show like The Biggest Loser! I attribute the biggest piece of my success story to a $9 DVD that changed my whole life. It was Leslie Sansone's '5 mile fat burning DVD.' That lady is amazing. When I started my journey I was 267 lbs and too fat to do any other kind of exercise. I didn't want to walk outside because it was too embarrassing to wear workout clothes in public and I was afraid I would get stuck somewhere and not be able to walk back. Leslie's video allowed me to work out in the privacy of my own home with a DVD that had 5 different 1 mile workouts on it. When I started I could only do 1 mile. Before you know it I had worked my way up to 3 miles. Then I was able to do the whole 5 miles. I eventually worked my way up to 8 miles and after a year of this I was walking 10 consecutive miles. My walking record consists of 15 consecutive miles in 3 hours. I just did the 5 mile walk 3 times in a row. :0) It eventually got me into running, and on Thanksgiving day 2013 I ran my first half marathon. Never in a million years would I have thought that the girl who once got winded walking to the mailbox would end up running 13.1 miles. Getting that medal was one of the proudest moments of my life. I cried the whole way home, I was so proud. It can be overwhelming when you start your journey with more than 100 lbs to lose. But we didn't get fat overnight and we aren't going to get fit overnight either. But don't give up. It is so worth it. I have lost and gained the same 10 lbs more times than I care to admit. But I am still here. I will never throw in the towel. Instead of beating myself up for still not being at my goal weight after almost 4 years, I give myself props for repeatedly wiping the dirt off my butt after I have fallen on it and getting back to business. I also quit smoking during this weight loss journey on October 28, 2011 after having smoked for 23 years. It is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it. I have never felt so alive, in control of my life, and beautiful then I do right now. There is a pep in my step that was never there before at 267 lbs. I made a lot of positive changes towards the last half of the 2013 year. I left obesity for the first time in a year, I hit the 180's for the first time in 2 years, and then I got into the 170's for the first time in over a decade. I have run one official half marathon and 2 unofficial half marathons. I have worked every day substitute teaching, including 3 long term sub jobs, and start my 4th one in the 2nd week in April that will last until the end of the school year. I even got a brand new car for the first time in my entire life. :) I am in the best shape I have ever been in, and I have no doubts whatsoever that this will be the year that I reach my goal weight. Especially because I recently became a Team Beach Body coach and am doing the shakeology and P90X3, which is doing absolute miracles for my nutrition and exercise. I am in full force of my weight loss journey, reaching milestones that once upon a time I thought were too ambitious to even hope for. Like for example losing an astounding 100 lbs. That is the average weight of a child in middle school. I have learned that ANYTHING is possible. It doesn't matter what you are going through. You are in control of what you put in your body and you are in control of moving your body. Isn't that empowering? To know that you hold the secret to becoming the you that you always wanted to be? No one can take this away from you. No one can stop you from reaching your goals...but you. Don't let yourself get in your way. If I can lose weight under the stress of being a broke full time student while raising a child on my own; quitting smoking; and the devastation of a brand new failed marriage. I got married July of 2013 and was separated a month later, lost my house in the process, and am having to live in my parents basement right now, then I know you can lose weight too. Move, move, move your body, and track how many calories you eat in a day. If you are burning off more than you are eating you WILL lose weight. I swear. :) Always remember this.... Being fat is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard. ***Update - After finally hitting my 100 lbs weight loss goal, I took a long term sub job that had me working 75 hours a week. It took every ounce of energy I had and I went from working out every day to not working out at all. My body was so used to eating 2500 calories a day but I was losing weight because I was burning off 1,000 calories a day. When I stopped working out, I continued to eat the same. The result was a rapid 15 lb weight gain. It burns me with shame, but I am being accountable. I have fallen off the horse a bajillion times so this just makes it a bajillion and one. Tomorrow is a new day and I am ready to get back in control of my body. Thankfully, the job is over with. I have some other personal struggles that have really been eating at me but I am praying about it and hoping that it comes to pass.

My goal is to get to lose enough weight that I will be in the normal weight category according to my BMI. That would put me at 159 lbs so my goal weight is 149. That way my weight can fluctuate all it wants to without putting me back the overweight category. So that would be a total weight loss of 117.7 lbs. I really want to be the girl that lost 100 pounds without having to go on The Biggest Loser to do it. :0)

I workout 4 to 5 times a week and I workout HARD. I am addicted to cardio and my normal run is a 10K or more, and I never do less that a 10K on the elliptical. I need to try harder to incorporate ST into my workout which always gets the short end of the stick. I pretty much eat whatever I want to, I just don't go crazy. I admire all the healthy eaters out there, but at the end of the day, it really is about CICO. Calories In Calories Out. I prefer losing weight while eating chocolate to losing weight while eating freggies. :)



2013 5/18 - 214.2 5/11 - 210.4 6/01 - 208 - BLC 22 start 8/29 - 191.8 - BLC 22 end 9/20 - 194.2 - BLC 23 start 11/6 - 187 12/18 - 183.8 BLC 23 end 2014 1/1 - 182 1/15 - 179.8 BLC 24 start 4/9 - 170.2 BLC end

Add a Link Shelby - Loganville, GA Eastern Time Zone BLC 24 - Groovy Geckos 9.6 lbs lost & #53 overall biggest loser BLC 23 - Groovy Geckos 10.4 lbs lost & #67 overall biggest loser BLC 22 - Fabulous Feisty Foxes 16.2 lbs lost & #41 overall biggest loser 2015 weight loss goals 218 - 10 lbs. lost 208 - 20 lbs lost 199.9 - ONEderland 198 - 30 lbs lost 191 - BMI moves from OBESE to OVERWEIGHT 188 - 30 lbs lost 178 - 40 lbs lost 168 - 50 lbs lo
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