ALMOST BACK TO WHERE I WAS!

If you've been following my journey, you know that in 2014 I had reached a new low weight. Between December 2009 and June 2014 I had lost 205 pounds with the Weigh Station program in Christiansburg, Virginia. I was 210 pounds lower than my highest ever weight of 513 pounds!

Losing that much weight turned out to be a very scary and traumatic change in my life! There were many emotional, social and relationship changes that were taking place all at once, that frankly, I was not prepared to make. It would take a long time to describe all of that, and even then, not everyone would understand.  At some point, I stopped losing weight and began floundering around, trying to figure out how to live in my new, less obese body, and how to deal with all of the new issues that were presenting themselves in my heart, mind, and soul.  There was a lot of healing and adjusting that needed to take place before I could move forward on my journey.

Anyway, after 3 years, here I am again! Thankfully, a lot of learning, healing, and adjustments have taken place internally and on July 1st, 2017 (seven months ago) I began losing again!  Although I had never really quit the low-carb diet completely, I had started and stopped and yo-yo'd enough that I had gradually gained back 85 of those original 210 pounds lost!  The 400 lb mark on the scale was looming ahead, astonishingly too close for comfort!

Just as I didn't know exactly why I stopped losing weight in 2014, I cannot tell you what it was exactly that 'flipped the switch' in my brain to make me start taking my weight seriously again.  Like I said, I had never 'quit'...I was just slowly failing.  Thinking back, though, there were and are several factors that played a part in my restart and continue to affect my level of determination.

*The reality of quickly reaching 400 lbs again
*In July, there were 6 months left in the year for me to work on 2017's New Year's Resolutions
*My body had begun to show severe signs of wear and tear on my joints, the pain of arthritis, etc.
*An anonymous donor had taken care of a financial debt that was looming over me.
*Through Facebook, I reconnected with a friend from my youth that had never seen me "obese" and I determined that they would never see me the way I was now!

ALL of these played a part in what turned out to be a wonderfully successful Day #1 of my renewed efforts to lose weight and regain my life! 

Fast forward to February 2018! In these past 7 months, I have lost 70 pounds and am nearing that "lowest weight" from 2014. I will be able to reclaim my 210 lb weight-loss accomplishment!  I'm not there just yet....but SOON! 

Fifteen more pounds and then the fun part begins! Every pound will be in NEW TERRITORY.  God has brought me this far, through the forest of learning and adjusting and gaining the coping skills that were needed to continue to move forward. I have no doubt that I will continue learning, growing and adjusting, as I lose the rest of my weight but it will happen. It's just a matter of time!

Many thanks to my daily supporters, Prayer Warriors, and cheerleaders1 I couldn't do this without you!  I'm glad you are sharing my journey! Exciting days are ahead and I'm never going back!