What It Is Like To Loose Over 130lbs!
Loosing weight isn't easy, Here is my experience of having lost a large amount over 3yrs.
Back in May 2012, This is what I looked like. I was 24 years old and I weighed over 20st (280lbs) and at barely 5ft that is a heck of a lot of weight to be carrying around!
My weight had peaked at 20st after the birth of my youngest daughter. Prior to me falling pregnant with her we found out I had a medical condition called PCOS (PolyCysitc Ovarian Syndrome) and a couple of side effects of that is easy weight gain and infertility. When we was trying for our second child the Doctors told us the likelihood of us having another child was very slim as my left tube was blocked with cysts and my right ovary was also covered. We was also told that because of the state of my ovaries and tubes we was very lucky to have fallen pregnant with our first child at all and don't expect lightening to strike twice.
During the time we was trying for our second child I lost a couple of stone and fell then fell pregnant with the help of fertility drugs, by the time she was born in Feb 2012 I was at my all time heaviest.
When that photo was taken I felt miserable. My weight was becoming an issue. Physically everything was a chore. I had found myself using the pram to support me and help me walk than I was for pushing my baby around. Getting down onto the floor to play with my eldest was difficult, changing nappies even left me breathless.
Fast forward a few months to the end of August 2012. We had just moved towns away from our families as the Husband had just got a new job. My eldest had just got a place at her first school and was about to start reception. That is when it hit me. Something in my head just snapped. I reached that point where I knew I needed to make a change. I had always said by the time Mia started school I wouldn't be the fat mum at the school gates. I wouldn't give anyone reason to bully her and here I was 20st, unable to walk to the end of the road without taking a break. On September 4th 2012 I dropped Mia off at school for her first day I came home and looked up my closest weight loss class. Turns out there was one the next day right near her school.
Wednesday 5th 2012 is the day I changed my life. I walked into that Weight Watchers class so nervous, I got myself weighed and on their scales I weighed 19st 9lbs. I remember feeling pleased that I had lost a few pounds before going to the meeting so I didn't have to see 20st on my card.
Nine months into my journey my world changed. My dad died from cancer. I was heartbroken and the month after his death I gained 11lbs. I snapped myself out of it and carried on with my journey. It was a few months after my dads death that I found out he was worried about my health. He was scared that if my weight kept creeping up I'd wind up dead. I wish that he'd have been here to see all my journey and not just half of it. I often say if I could see him one final time he'd ask me who I was as I look nothing like I did when he last saw me.
Loosing weight has been one of the hardest things I have ever done. Its been a whole world of changes for me mentally and psychically. I still sometimes see the old me when I look in the mirror but then other times I see how far I have come.
I am smaller now then I was when I left secondary school at 16. I am smaller now then I was when I met my husband when I was 18.
This is me now. Even I feel like these two picture are two different women even though I know they are both me.
Loosing weight has given me the confidence to be the real me. I can now wear clothes that I like and not wear and buy what fits. At my biggest I struggled to fasten a UK size 28, If I am being honest I was probably a size 30 but refused to buy bigger than a 28. I would go into a shop and go straight to the back of the rail and hope they did whatever I was looking for in that size. I now wear a UK 10 and a whole world of shops has opened up to me.
Now, I am not going to lie and say to you I now have rock hard abs and a banging body because unfortunately that isn't the case.
With the amount of weight I have lost I have been left with a lot of loose skin. At 28 I feel my body has been left looking like that of a 80yr old woman. I know it is entirely my fault and I would much rather look as I do now than be as unhealthy as I was. The cost of surgery has made it so that it isn't plausible for us to be able to afford it anytime soon, if ever so it is another obstacle I am going to over come.
I hope with the writing of this article I inspire someone to change their lives too. I now have a job I would have never have applied too before I had lost my weight, I have made some wonderful friends who, without my lifestyle change I would also never have met.
If your sat there wanting to change your lifestyle but are scared of those first steps... DO IT! Believe me, it will be the BEST thing you will do for yourself. Only you can do this for yourself when your ready. Trust me, you need to want to do this and only then will you.
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