Mel lost 185 pounds

Success Story of the Day: Mel lost 185 pounds over the last few years.  This beautifully handsome sista got several wakeup calls that brought her to this place and wanted to avoid the illnesses that her loved ones were suffering from.  Slow and steady indeed wins the race!

I can’t really pinpoint one specific experience as the catalyst for my journey. It was more so a combination of several embarrassing moments. One was getting on a scale at a department store and it giving an error message because the capacity was 350 pounds. Another was a doctor’s encouragement that I look into weight loss surgeries. However, I think maybe ultimately what really inspired and motivated me to make the change was that I saw too many people around me dying from heart attacks or having to take so many different prescriptions for diseases that are almost completely or preventable by making lifestyle changes. I knew I could never be one of those people who had to take multiple pills a day just to survive. I can barely remember to take a multi vitamin daily.

The biggest change to my eating habits was removing a lot of the highly processed foods and fast foods.  I replaced them with fruits, vegetables, eggs, chicken, turkey and fish. In the beginning, I started out just walking every morning for an hour and a half and strength training three times a week in the evenings. A co-worker introduced me to Cross Fit and I did that for quite some time and then started going to spin classes. Now, I do a lot of walking in general and strength train several times a week.

Oh man…my starting weight was 372 lbs. My current weight is 187 lbs. I’m 6’3″ on my best days. My transformation is ongoing. I lost the first 100 lbs really quickly though, within the first 8 months. The rest has been trickling away for the past 5 years. My best advice for anyone who wants to lose weight is to find what works for them and their lifestyle. There’s no one approach that is effective for everyone…not with diet and not with exercise. Beyond that, always love and appreciate yourself and your body no matter how far along you are in your journey. I recently rejoined instagram @im.just.mel. and I have a blog is in the works so I’ll be sure to pass that along as soon as it’s available.