Diona lost 65 pounds

Today’s featured weight loss story: Delta Sigma Theta soror Diona lost 65 pounds and has gone from a size 24 to a 12.  She was motivated by her husband’s victory over diabetes and her family history of illness.  She shared her weight loss story with us:

Greetings BWLW!! My name is Diona and I have lost 65 pounds in the past 12 months. I have been battling this weight war for a very long time now with occasional 20-25 lb weight loss success. Two years ago, my husband was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes on top of his already diagnosed hypertension.  The minute he left the doctor’s office he began to change his mindset towards his health and exercising. My mother-in-law suffers from diabetes and is now on dialysis 3 times per week. My husband did not want to take multiple medications for the rest of his life and possibly end up like his mother so he and some others in our church formed a ministry called Faith Fitness. My husband lost 60 pounds in 6 months and was taken off all diabetic medications as well as blood pressure meds. While my husband was going through his transformation, I would walk with him and try to participate in his boot camp class that he teaches at our church.

One day, I just began thinking about how my mother, father, and youngest brother suffer from diabetes, how much medication they have to take and how my mom seems sicker with each new pill. I thought about how my husband took control of his health and how I want to live a long life with him and our kids. I began jogging with him even though I could only run about 10 feet before I had to stop and get my breath. I am 5’2 and at that time I weighed 243 pounds. My husband kept encouraging me and telling me that it would get easier to me and I would get better. I prayed to the Lord to please help me to stay focused and committed this time and allow me to be VICTORIOUS in this battle. I lost the weight by learning to eat healthier smaller portions and by making exercise part of my daily routine. I drink about 96 ounces of water per day. I also try to drink 1-2 cups of green or black tea per week. I begin my mornings with a protein shake for breakfast and I have either a protein bar or fruit as a snack between breakfast and lunch.   Then I have a salad or other healthy lunch and then I eat a snack between lunch and dinner. Once I pick up my children from school, I go home fix a healthy dinner or my husband may cook a dinner which may include jasmine or brown rice, baked or grilled chicken, and veggies. I then go to exercise boot camp for an hour and immediately following I go to Zumba for an hour. I do this 5-6 days per week. I’m a Special Education teacher so during the summer break, beginning this past Memorial Day, I began walk/jogging 7 miles every morning Mon-Fri (and some Saturdays) at 7am with some of my friends/sisters from church. I did this in addition to the daily boot camp and Zumba.

My Zumba instructor is AWESOME and she is currently challenging her members to try and complete 1000 crunches and 225 squats daily for the month of August. I’m happy to say that I have met the challenge every day so far except 3 days. I currently weigh 178 pounds and I’m striving to lose 18 more pounds to get to my target weight of 160 pounds. I never would have dreamed that I would get back down to this size. I have gone from a size 24 to a size 12! I’m blessed and amazed at how God has moved in my life! I appreciate groups such as this for providing women with a resource and support to help us live healthier and longer more productive lives. With my weight loss I have encouraged church members, family members, Sorors, and co-workers to join me and together we can do this! WE ROCK!!!!