B.Leah lost 70 pounds

Weight Loss Story of the Day: B. Leah lost 70 pounds.  This author and poet gives all honor to God for showing her “what to eat and how to experience the beauty of my body as-is”.  After years of trying to release the weight, this inspirational lady is seeing results and is committed to her new lifestyle. Here is what she shared with us about her weight loss journey…

May 1st was my weightless journey anniversary! 70lbs down and I’m not done yet! I started this journey with a bucket of tears, shame, and a pocketful of mustard seeds! I had tried before but this time was different. I vowed to God and myself that i could not even think about weightless surgery or other extreme measures to get the weight off unless I earnestly tried to lose the weight for 365 days out of a year and yielded no results! If I tried daily and didn’t see the scale move at all then I would talk to my doc about surgery.

I began somewhere between 297 lbs and 294 lbs. I decided to start by increasing my water intake to 1/2 my body weight in ounces and abstaining from meat and dairy! It was difficult but I saw results. In the first 7 months, I came down about 20-30 pounds. It felt so slow. Each year, I desired to lose big quickly. All I wanted was to see 100 pounds lost! However, I was spending too much time comparing my losses to other black women on social media! When I had lost 50 lbs, I couldn’t figure out why my body didn’t look like “hers”. The comparing did nothing for my esteem and it didn’t help me conquer my fears connected to the journey.

I was afraid of thriving and was afraid of failure. Then God said sweet things to me. Told me to disrobe (no jewelry, make up, accessories, nail polish for an entire year)! He literally said to me ” Let me make you pretty!” It was in that year (2014) that I set my eyes on one of the most prettiest jewels! The knowledge that God made me in His image too and that I am extremely valuable to Him, my family, and myself! I am so not where I desire to be but one thing I  am sure of I AM HEALED, I AM DELIVERED, I AM SET FREE FROM THE TRAPS OF OBESITY AND MY INAPPROPRIATE RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD! My current weight is 228 pounds (height: 5’4″). I still struggle from time to time. Fries vs. A salad. Cookies vs. An apple…but at the end of the day I am a THRIVER! I am more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus!

How did you change your eating habits? 
I upped my water intake to drinking 1/2 my body weight in ounces daily or as often as possible. It has been fun to see the number of ounces decrease as I get smaller! I stopped eating meat, dairy and for several months my doctor challenged me to abstain from potatoes, rice, bread, pasta. The first 40 lbs or so was done solely via food and water changes. I ate a mainly plant based meal plan daily! Then I started to add walking (love Leslie Sansone’s Walk Away the Pounds) approximately 2-3days a week.

What did your workout routines look like?
Mostly walking. I have not been great at consistency which causes ups in weight gain and then dropping weight. That has happened several times in the journey which reminds me that I am truly on a journey! I have walked it off, ran it off and road my bike with my family. I love using my tabata timer app to push myself to limits that I would not have without the timer. I want to get into weight training. As soon as I can we’ll have a gym membership and hopefully a trainer to push us (my husband and I) to places we never thought we would go.

How long did your transformation take?
I have been working at this transformation since May 2012.

What advice do you have for others who want to lose weight?
Dig deep. Seek God 1st and all these things will be added to you (paraphrase from Matthew 6:33). Out of all the other times I tried losing weight it was this leg of the journey that worked! It was surrendering my issues connected to obesity to God. I am confident that God then showed me what to eat and how to experience the beauty of my body as-is so that when my body fully transforms I can appreciate and love my body then. If we can’t love us now at 345, 297, 292, 425, 389 or 228 lbs we will not magically love our bodies at our goal weight! We (big, fat, curvy, or thick) black women/girls were made in God’s image too! We deserve to experience a thriving and healthy life! #blacklivesmatter

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I (B.Leah) am a poet and would like to also share that my first book of poems was released on Juneteenth – 6/19/15. It’s called #TakesCourage and will be available on Amazon.com.