Friday, June 22, 2012

Fit Fridays- My Story

My weight loss journey has been a difficult one, but I wasn't always heavy.

In high school, I played softball in the summer, played soccer my sophomore year, ran cross-country for two years, and threw in track and field. I was very active. I even rode my bike a mile and a half to school my junior year.

Once I got out of high school, I worked a lot and late into the night. Oftentimes, I worked the closing shift at Disneyland and wouldn't get off work until 2 am. Taco Bell and McDonald's were my best friends when I was starving after a long shift.

In 2006 I was ready for a change. I went online to the Tyra Banks show and answered a casting call for weight loss. To say that I was shocked to receive a call back is an understatement. My sister and I went on the show and were one of three teams in the "Diet Wars." Each team got a diet/exercise guru and ours was Jillian Michaels. We trained with her once and kept in regular communication over the next three months until the "Results" show was scheduled.

Yes, this is me on the show when we met our trainer.

I ended up losing 12 pounds in the 3 month time frame and was berated on national television for it. Want to read about it? Check out this blog where someone saw the show and was appalled at the way we were treated. Yes, we were told that we "failed" and it was a horrible experience. I ended up not keeping up with it after that and gained even more weight.

It was a couple of years after that incident that I got back into exercising. I had just ended a three year relationship and felt fantastic! I started walking and was no longer eating to fill a void and I ended up losing some weight.
My Photos by
This is what I looked like when I started dating my husband in 2008.

I started dating my husband and started eating out a lot more. I gained more weight and reached the highest weight I had been at up to that point. In 2009 I started seeing a trainer at my local gym and started working out 4x/week! For the first time in my life, I loved exercising! It was such an awesome feeling and I looked forward to going to the gym.

In January 2010 things changed once again. I was in a car accident and the airbag deployed, hitting my right wrist in the process. Many doctors and physical therapy appointments later and I ended up getting a year and a half after the accident. During that time I tried to work out only to have my wrist hurt. It was terrible. After the surgery, it took a while to heal and didn't get better until my chiropractor started adjusting it. I went through a period of depression from the accident and my job so I ended up gaining even more weight.

I started weighing in at 224 pounds three weeks ago...Now, I am clocking in at 222.6 pounds...ouch! I have gained 50 pounds since I first met my husband.

I have a plan and so far I'm sticking with it. I am in my third week of working out! I go to the gym three days a week and do cardio and weights. I'm focusing on getting fit and not just pounds lost. The weight will come off in time if I'm making the right changes.

The first three weeks are the hardest for me and they're officially over!

I'm doing not doing this for anyone else, but for myself and for my future. I can't wait to be able to do more and I'm taking it all one workout at a time :)

*Due to many comments asking about my experience on the Tyra Banks show, I will be posting a more in-depth blog about it scheduled for Monday. If you have any specific questions, please leave me a comment and I will answer it in Monday's post!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I can't wait until Monday's post! And I totally have your back and will support you and keep you accountable through your blog. Keep up the good work!

Cheerful Homemaker said...

Way to go! Keep up the good work :)

Unknown said...

I can completely relate to gaining weight. I gained over 50 pounds after I met my husband. You can do it love!

Alyssa said...

Thank you for sharing your story! :) You know I appreciate it!

Anonymous said...

Good luck on your weight loss journey! Keep up the good work and never give up, I struggle with my weight too so I know where you're coming from. I had a similar starting weight six years ago.

Jeff and Cali said...

You go girl! Keep up the great work! I'm with you... the first three weeks are definitely the hardest. I'm at the end of week two and It's a hard week for me.