Glenda lost 75 pounds

May 2016 – Glenda is still on a mission. “Still going strong! I’m down to 197 pounds from 323 pounds! I’m determined to make it to my goal! I am still meatless and I workout 5 days a week for one hour, rain or shine.”

Nov 2015 – Glenda wrote in to let us know that she’s lost 25 more pounds since April. – “Just checking in, lost my 100th pound this week! The journey continues. Thanks to the inspiration and support from you beautiful people. God bless you!”

April 2015 – Weight Loss Transformation of the Day: Glenda lost 75 pounds. She was skeptical about plant-based eating in the past, but has become a believer. She’s not only lost weight, but at 55 years old she’s also off blood pressure, cholesterol and anti-depression medication.  Here is what she shared with us about her transformation…

I am so excited about BWLW’s April Challenge! I was a skeptic of the plant-based lifestyle, but have become a believer. I started my weight loss, rather my “healthy life-long lifestyle” in July 2014 after a serious intervention from my daughter. I was in the poorest state of health I’ve ever been in life, both physically and mentally. I had no energy and my blood pressure, blood glucose, and cholesterol were all out of control. I was depressed and on medications to manage that as well, yet I was growing more depressed day by day.

I reached a point where I wanted to try weight loss surgery when I was watching a football game on TV and saw the stats on a lineman flash by. He was 25 years old, 6’5″ tall and weighed 295 pounds. I was 55 years old, 5’1″tall and weighed 320 pounds. Epiphany: there’s a reason for a 25 year old lineman to weigh 295, and since I’m not a player in the NFL why do I, a 55 year old grandma weigh more than a pro baller?

I was hesitant to try surgery because of so many past failed attempts to lose weight. Plus, if I couldn’t figure out what was eating me, I’d never get control over what I was eating. I went into serious prayer to seek the LORD with all of my heart. I wanted to know why this faith-thumpin’ sistah couldn’t trust Him enough to get the victory. So I asked Him, and His quiet response was, “You never gave it to me.” I went back into prayer to search my heart to see what I was holding onto that was preventing me from surrendering my will over food to Him. I found so much anger and unforgiveness buried in my heart. In spite of lip-serviced forgiveness, I still had a storehouse buried inside of my soul. I began to see what unforgiveness was doing to my life and made a choice to forgive all that I could, and asked the LORD to show me how to forgive the things I couldn’t.

My journey began July 2014, all 320 pounds of it. Yay, I said it, Glenda was 320 pounds! I began a “baby-step” approach of being realistic, I didn’t get to 320 overnight, so I wasn’t going to lose it overnight. I set a goal of 1 pound a week, to lose 150 over 3 years. I walk everyday and drink 8 glasses of water a day. I’ve removed refined and fake sugars out of my diet, and removed animal protein. I made up my mind not to get caught up in the “buddy” workouts, I had my “buddies” flake out at workout time in the past. I looked for people who were already doing it. I found a group at work to do step exercise with at our breaks and a 2-3 mile walk after work. I always try to do a 4-6 mile walk on the weekend. There was no magic, just simple, free exercise.

When I went in for my annual physical in December 2014, I’d lost 52 pounds, my cholesterol was normal, my blood pressure was normal, and my blood sugar was normal as well. As a result my doctor took me off of all of the medications I’d been taking since I was managing my weight with a plant-based diet and exercise. I am also off of antidepressants as well! It took this former carnivore a minute to get used to not eating animal protein. I remember watching a movie and saw a cow that was grazing in a field; epiphany… people stand in the butcher’s line to buy prime cuts of protein from an animal that doesn’t eat meat. Uh, hello, protein sources that can give a cow that much muscle mass must be OK.

I wanted to wait until I’d lost my 100th pound to share, but decided to share now. There is so much positive accountability in this group, and as Black Women we need to hold each other accountable to be healthy. We owe it to our families to be the best we can be in order to give them the best. I don’t want my grandchildren spending sunny afternoons pushing me around in a wheelchair because I lost my limbs to disease. They deserve to play in the sun with me on my own two healthy legs. Short story long, as of today I have lost 75 pounds, weighing in at 245 lbs, and can’t wait to get to my goal and spend the rest of my life enjoying the maintenance while encouraging others to take steps toward change. Be blessed!