Leslie lost 35 pounds

Leslie lost 35 pounds. When she was diagnosed with diabetes, but told her doctor to give a 6 months to change her life. She wanted to be happy with what she saw in mirror and have energy to be more active. Changing her eating habits made all the difference. Check out her story.

My name is Leslie and I wanted to share my success story.  I have always been a heavy person.  In high school, I weighed over 200 pounds. In college, I did the yo-yo dieting thing for a while. Then, I looked in the mirror one day and saw an ugly sight. I weighed myself and it the scale read 230 pounds. I cried. I didn’t know that I looked like that. That’s when I decided that it was time to take care of me.

The first thing that I had to do was examine myself.  Why am I eating? Am I eating to feed my hunger or feeding my appetite? Do I eat when stressed, bored, for random pleasure, etc.?  Food was something that I could control and once I discovered my triggers, it was time for a mindset change. I had to change my way of thinking. It wasn’t just about the food, it was about me. After my mind was on the right track, then my body started following suit.

The main thing that inspired me to change my life was the newest edition to our family. I have a 2 year old son and he is very active. He loves to run, play, jump and everything else. I found myself getting winded when we would play together. In the future, I want to be around to see him grow up.

Also, before I started this journey I went to the doctor and he told me that I was a diabetic. He wanted to put me on medication. I looked at that doctor and promised him that if he gave me 6 months to do things myself, I would make a change. The whole process of losing the weight took about a year because at the time I had a traveling job and I didn’t have a set time to eat. So, I made up in my mind that I was going to cut out the “extras.”

I cut out the cookies, potato chips (which are my weakness), Kool-aid, extra salt, ice cream, cakes, sodas, etc. I started drinking more water and 100% natural juices. I even watered down the juices to get more water. I also stopped eating after a certain time in the evening, which was usually 7 p.m. With those changes alone, I dropped 35 pounds. I went to the doctor the other day and the scale read 195 pounds. I can’t remember the last time I weighed under 200 pounds. My height is 5’5″.

Now I am a wellness coordinator and part of my job is to educate about health and nutrition. One of the objectives is to understand the Whys and the Hows. Why are you eating and how does eating effect your life?  Knowing and understanding is half the battle.