Danielle lost 61 pounds

Today’s weight loss before and after story: Danielle lost 61 pounds by working out at a women only gym and changing her eating habits to avoid sickness.  Here is what she shared with us:

Weight and appearance have been a life long struggle for me.  In my young adult years, after getting married, I gradually put on weight every year.  I wasn’t really paying attention to what I ate, I was just loving life and happy.  That happiness kept turning into larger sizes and eventually I found myself at a size 20 and pushing a size 22.  At my highest weight I was 260lbs.  I struggled with fertility and also lost my first child.

I will never forget, a call I received from my doctor with some test results that were run as a result of me experiencing some symptoms that were abnormal.  She told me that I had cells that could turn into cancer if they were not treated.  I was in complete shock at the thought of having any type of cancer.  After we went over the treatment plan, she told me that I could greatly reduce my cancer risk if I got my weight down.  There it was again, my weight at the center of my life.

After going through treatment about 1 year ago, I remember sitting on my living room floor just disgusted with myself.  I hated looking in the mirror or having pictures taken of me.  I just felt fat and uncomfortable.  I could not walk up the stairs without being winded and my knees were cracking.  I had reached my breaking point.  I had to do something.  Some girlfriends had told me about this gym, for women only, called Strong Results.  They kept talking about how much fun the workouts were and all this weight woman were losing working with Strong Results Trainer, Kevin Strong.  While I sat on my living room floor, crying and feeling sorry for myself, I looked up Strong Results and decided it was time to make a change.  I prayed about it and talked to my husband.  I asked him to have my back and support me through making this change.  I asked him to not offer me foods that I didn’t want to eat and to be understanding if I needed him to watch the kids so that I could work out.  He was onboard and extremely supportive.  He told me to do what I needed to do.  My life changed that day.  I completely changed my eating by following the meal plan that Kevin Strong developed for me.  You see, I had tried every diet out there and while I would get some immediate results for a short amount of time, I would always put the weight back on and more!  I needed to stop dieting and develop a new life style.  That’s exactly what I did.  Strong Results provided me with a meal plan that was extremely achievable and provided guidance on how much I needed to work out.  I stuck with it and the results have been endless.  To date I have lost 61lbs!  I have also gone down 6 dress sizes.  I feel absolutely amazing and my life has been forever changed.

I have been so moved by my change and share my progress with all of my friends on Facebook.  I started a blog to help motivate me and others www.facebook.com/danielleestradaweightloss. Having a support system has been a huge help as I continue my journey.

Keeping the weight off and continuing to lose weight for me is determined by the decisions that I make.  I decided I wanted to make a change and I was doing this for me and no one else.  I make choices everyday and I choose to follow my meal plan and make exercising a priority to make sure that I continue to reach my goals. It’s not easy, but putting the weight on was very easy.  It’s all about choices.  Temptations are all around us and we have to decide what our priorities are and if it’s worth it for a few seconds of gratification.   I no longer feel the same reliance on food that I used to when I see the progress that I have made and the major transformation that I have been through.  I ask everyone on my blog to continue to encourage me and I will encourage you!