Millicent lost 74 pounds

Transformation of the Day: Millicent lost 74 pounds. She recently finished a PhD in Special Education and achieving that goal was the most stressful thing she’s ever done. The stress led to weight gain and she knew that change was neccessary to avoid a family history of diabetes. Check out how this AKA soror changed her life.

My name is Millicent. I am a single mother, a daughter and a sister. I recently finished a PhD in Special Education after an 11-year career as a Special Education teacher. Being a full time doctoral student is the most stressful thing I have ever done and I started the program after a stressful divorce. As you can imagine, the stress brought on weight. Before I knew it, I weighed 260 pounds.

I have a family history of diabetes. My mother, her mother, 2 uncles and a bunch of cousins are diabetic. I know that living with that extra weight was not healthy and if my family history dictates that I will have diabetes, so I made a decision to keep it at bay for as long as possible.

My biggest motivation was to stay healthy for my daughter. I also wanted to look good when I started my new career as a college professor. I weigh every day and the scale kept me motivated to keep going or ramp it up.

I started my weight loss journey by cutting out soda and walking daily, after I graduated with my PhD in December 2015, I joined Weight Watchers and I have not looked back. I have had tremendous success. I noticed from my daily weigh-ins that beef and pork took my body longer to process and get rid of, so I cut those out completely.

I cut out all drinks except water. I’ll have a glass of wine occasionally, much less than I used to.
I’ve cut back on white carbs, candy and fast food. When I do eat fast food, I try to make healthier choices. I have increased my fruit and vegetable intake by almost double the amount I was eating before my weight loss journey. Grapes and Watermelon have SAVED me from eating too much candy.

As I said I started slowly, I walked a short distance every day. I increased my distance and increased my walks to 2 times a day. Then, I added some running. I had an accident that hurt my ankle and have fallen off my routine some, but I am slowly but surely getting increasing my run/walk to past levels. Walking and running are the only forms of exercise I do, but I am about to add in some weight training. I walk/run 4-5 days a week 2 times a day averaging 4-5 miles a day.

I am 5’5” and my starting weight was 260 pounds. I now weigh 186 pounds. I started my journey in September 2015. I have not finished yet, but I am very proud of where I have come so far. I plan to take my time to lose these last pounds and not become to frustrated with my progress.

Advice: Set a goal, do not waiver! Our bodies are a temple and a gift from God, we honor Him as we honor our bodies. Keep PUSHING!