When I was 8  I played in slow pitch – I'd walk up to the plate “heavy-hitter'' I'd here and I was. I could smack that ball clear across the field but running Base to Base felt like cement blocks were tied to my legs and everything hurt. I couldn't breathe.

My mom told me that that was just the way I was built and that I was going to have to just learn to like it and love myself anyway. 

So that's what I did. I didn't worry about exercising, or eating right, I was happy just the way I was. Life was easy. and I was content to just stay the same forever.

Instead of playing sports I started smoking and hanging out in the smoke pit where everyone liked me.

I became a mom at 23 and I started caring more about my health but I really didn’t know how. I’d usually resort to starving, walking (which was good) and doing a day or two of “Sweating to the Oldies’ with Richard Simmons.

Nothing stuck.

At 26 I was diagnosed with IBS, Endometriosis, and massive gallstones which resulted in surgery.

When I was being wheeled into the operating room, a nurse commented “You are getting your gallbladder removed! Piece of cake, you will be better in no time. I had mine taken out a few years back.” _ I said, “Oh! How is life with no gallbladder? “

She said, “Get ready to be fat forever!. It’s impossible to lose weight” 

Oh Great , I thought.

After surgery, my doctor said, “Take it easy for a couple of weeks but now you can eat anything with no pain.

A couple weeks later while shopping for a dress to wear at a wedding, I slip on this emerald green floor length dress- and the saleslady goes “Oh it’s very slimming!”

That night I did my hair up in curls and I felt pretty and excited!

I ate dinner in that “slimming dress” Then I had Seconds. 

I ate wedding cake. Had Seconds. 

I danced. I drank wine. Lots of wine. 

The next day we went for breakfast 

I was so sick I thought I’d die. I could see the headline “Girl dies in bathroom stall, leaves behind 2 year old son” I can’t die on Jake

I had to learn how to eat 

So I told myself I could play this game, I could try, I mean I've been on so many diets before that didn't work. ( I didn't ever tell anybody when I was trying to diet when I was heavy. I had always told myself that it wouldn't work, so I didn't want anybody else to come up into my face and say I told you so. I did that to myself often enough).

The first 10 pounds came off  fairly quickly 

Then when 20 pounds was off, my mindset shifted..... Suddenly I was not the one destined to be the husky girl my entire life.

Suddenly I believed in myself..... And within a year I had shed 60 lbs 

Every new milestone was as much a surprise as it was a thrill.

I didn’t know I could until I did

When I did get to maintenance - I felt the desire to see success. 

The scale stopped moving- sometimes it would go up

I stopped dropping clothes sizes - I started dividing my clothes - skinny days- frumpy days- Oh Oh you are getting fat days 

It stopped being fun 

BUT I notice it’s easier to get promoted, easier to exceed my sales quotas, easier to get almost anything that I want. 

guys are asking me out. 

I’m living a dream and having nightmares that I’m gonna lose it all. 

If everyone only knew I’m counting individual blueberries to make sure I don’t exceed my calorie count. 

When the compliments stop I worry. Am I doing enough?

It took me a few years to figure out how to shift this yoyo of emotions and to know  what I want: I want to go back to the start. Where my only expectation was to feel better, not to look better. I have to get out of this place where enough is never going to be enough. 

Then I started running - and my life was filled with measures of fitness & strength instead of weight and size.

I was no longer victim of the monthly fluctuation in my new fit & healthy Abel frame

So How do You lose weight at any age and keep it off? 

It's different for everyone, but this is how I started, and the things I still try to live by today.

1. Choose an activity that fits in your current season that you can stick to WITHOUT Accountability of anyone else
2. Focus on smaller - Small changes amount to longer term success
3. Eat whole foods - Less processed -Period - If it grows in the ground, runs around, or comes from a tree then it can be in me 

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