One of the first questions I am asked is, "What motivated you to lose weight?". I guess that is where my journey begins. Motivation. We are all motivated in different ways. For some it's money, for others it's recognition. Me? I was initially motivated by a TV show. Let me explain...
In January 2009, I was sitting on the couch (as usual) watching TV and, I'm pretty sure, eating something. Being that it was January, the TV schedule was bombarded with "weight related" shows. On this particular evening, TLC was doing a marathon of "I'm too big to leave my house, so they had to cut a hole in the wall" kind of shows. I was watching and thanking God that I wasn't that big....yet. One particular show caught my eye and I watched. "Half Ton Mom" was a show about Renee Williams. At 29 years old (I was 29, hmmmm), Renee was well over 800 pounds and underwent gastric bypass surgery, only to pass away 12 days later. She was the mom of two little girls (I have two little girls, hmmmm). I watched her daughters bury her, hearts broken, and I thought, "Dear God, that could be me." You can read Renee's story here Half Ton Mom.
I was gaining weight at an alarming rate, putting on 30 pounds in just 6 months. How much more would I put on before I found myself unable to move? Would I be one of the people using the motorized carts at Wal-mart because I was too fat to walk?(my biggest pet peeve by the way) It was already to the point that I wasn't sleeping the entire night. I couldn't roll over in bed and had an instance where I woke up, but couldn't breathe. My feet ached. I couldn't fit in booths at restaurants. I barely fit behind the wheel of my car! I couldn't play with my kids. My life was full of things I couldn't do! One thing that I COULD do was change that. I looked at my husband and said, "I think I'm going to go to Weight Watchers this week. I need to do something about this!" He looked at me and said in his deep voice, "Ok.". That was the start for me.
The following Thursday I attended my first Weight Watchers meeting. I walked down the stairs into a very full room (it is January and everyone else had the same idea I had!). Looking around I could see very few people as big as myself. In fact, there were more skinny people than fat people! Oh well, I went in, signed up and headed to the scale for my first "weigh-in". I got on the scale and looked at the number that the receptionist wrote down. 262. I took my little member book and went to find a seat. After looking at that number I thought, "well, at least it isn't 300". Seriously??? 262!!!! My BMI was 46.4. I was almost HALF fat!!!! Yikes. Anyway, I sat through the meeting only to find out that the skinny people were all "lifetime members" and had reached their goal. How many lost over 100 pounds??? None. Zilch. Zippo. Our leader informed us that though the room was full, there would be about half as many there in a few months, because they will have quit. I thought, "Not me. I'll show you. You can't tell me that I'll quit!". Guess what? I didn't. And you know how many lifetime members sit in my Weight Watchers meeting have lost over 100 pounds? One. Me. It is purely the result of stubbornness (don't tell me I won't be here in a few months, lol) and a drive to save my life. The thought of my children having to bury me because of obesity made my heart ache. How could I do that to my girls? What kind of example was I setting for those two beautiful gifts from God? Well, I can now say that I am an example of courage, strength, and health.
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