Opal lost 50 pounds

Transformation of the Day: Opal lost 50 pounds. This awesome mom and writer was inspired by the passing of her father due to cancer. She committed to being the best version of herself and loving the way she looks. Check out what she shared with us about how she took action to change her life.

Hi, I am Opal Stacie and I’m a writer and mother. I started my weight loss journey at 206 pounds in October 2014. I lost 50 lbs in one year. Today, I weigh 165 pounds. I hate talking numbers because that scale-slave mentality always got in the way of my progress.

In October of 2014, after my father passed away from cancer I got my inspiration. His death was so very difficult to digest that I promised myself that if I have to live the rest of my life without him that I would create the best version of myself possible. The worst part about being unhappy with yourself is finding a way to keep that discontent contained. You can’t secretly loathe yourself and be good to those around you, it is impossible. My fathers death inspired me to want to be good to myself and those around me. I hated the way I looked, and the way I looked kept me insecure.

Once I decided I wanted to change the way my body looked, becoming consistent with my weight loss goals made it easier for me to begin liking myself again, even when I hadn’t even lost a pound yet. I started with small diet changes like using portion control rather than complete abandonment when it came to meals. I allowed myself to keep coffee, but I replaced juice and sodas with water. Eventually, I switched to a clean diet. I ate baked chicken, brown rice instead of white and large quantities of veggies. I did do a lot of juicing and meal replacement drinks, which worked best for my body and taught me resistance. For exercise, I started with hour long, simple workouts, like walking in the park or circuit training. I tried to keep my workouts fear free by promising to be kind to myself if I needed to go light, modify the moves or cut a workout short.

My advice to anyone looking to lose weight is to find a goal outside of the scale. Trust in yourself and disregard “time.” If you’ve developed a habit of being the kind of person that will quit your efforts because you didn’t reach your goal of losing 3 pounds by the end of the month, you have to set different goals and believe in yourself.

You can’t wish it away. If you are not happy with what you look like you have 1 choice, make changes. If that tomorrow you keep promising yourself never comes, you then have 1 other choice: accept yourself as is because the gray area between the two is torture. It’s insanity, really. Hating yourself for the way you look but never really doing anything about it. I chose to do the opposite last year. I chose to love my body, with all its flaws, and make moves to change it. Make a choice.

Instagram: @thesnapbackmom
Twitter: @opalstacie