What a Difference 10 Years Makes!

I’ve been waiting for the right time to tell my story…I guess it’s now!  I’m hoping it will touch at least one person out there who wants to make a change in their life.  It can happen.  It took me a while to figure out who I wanted to be and where I wanted to go.  Once I got to the bottom of the barrel, there was no place to go but up.  So, up I went…and I’m still rising!

My “Before” picture is about 10 years old.  I was retiring from my job as a preschool teacher assistant.  I weighed 250 pounds.  I had many physical aches & pains, but the most important reason for leaving was that I felt I could no longer do my job with confidence and competence.  I could no longer get down on the floor with the children; I had to sit in a chair.  Even bending over to help them with projects or playing with them on the playground was very difficult for me. The kids at the preschool were my primary concern, and I felt that I was letting them down, as well as the school, by not being 100% there for them.  Leaving the preschool was a tremendous tug at my heart.  I loved my job and I loved all of my co-workers. 

I took a secretarial job a few months later with a middle school close to home.  Being sedentary didn’t help me too much with my aches and pains, but I no longer was expected to be as physically involved as I was at the preschool.  I enjoyed my job, and most of the people with whom I worked, but there was still something missing.  I was miserable with my weight and the fact that I was unable to do anything about it. I had been on a plethora of diets throughout my life with either short-lived or no results.  I hated myself and felt like a failure!  I remembered a support group that that I belonged to years earlier that gave me results and hope for the future. I realized that hope was still deep inside of me.    

Two years ago I joined a similar group in my area and began a journey of healthy eating and self-discovery.  I gave up refined sugar and white flour; ate only three meals a day with nothing between the meals; increased fruits, vegetables and water consumption; and started reading…really reading…labels of everything that wasn’t a direct product of nature.   I already walked about a mile a day with my job, but I added extra walks with the dog.  Exercising at the gym wasn’t going to work for me, so I would put on exercise tapes that had been buried in dust in the basement.  Slowly, the pounds started to fall off.  

My support group has been instrumental in solidifying my self-esteem, my desire to become healthy, and teaching me very fundamental principles of life.  I’ve learned to NEVER give up hope, to have patience, and to give back at every possible opportunity.  I’ve lost 120 pounds (a little person) and have maintained this weight for eight months.  I have discontinued half of the medications I used to take.  My aches and pains have almost completely disappeared.  

I like myself…no, wait…I love myself! 

Thanks to Mama Kat's Pretty Much World Famous Writer's Workshop for today's prompt.  Please stop by and see some really, really talented writers who have joined in this week!  Just click on the logo below!





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