Randa lost 88 pounds

Randa lost 88 pounds. This busy wife and mom of 4 is a full time medical assistant and student pursuing a Master’s degree. After being diagnosed with pre-diabetes and being advised by her doctor that she needed to lose weight to avoid medication, she started her weight release journey. Check out her story.

Hello my name is Randa. I’m 38 year old mother of 4 (1 son, who is 22 years old, and 3 girls, ages 13, 9 and 3) I’m a full time medical assistant and currently a student aspiring to get my masters as a RN. In October of 2012, I gave birth to my 4th child and assumed the weight would fall off like it has always done after having 3 other children. Well, it did not. I actually gained more weight after having my daughter.

My main motivation is my children. I just want to live longer for them. Everything I do is for them. In addition, I keep in mind that my family has a history of diabetes, cancer and being overweight.

In October of 2015, I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. My doctor suggested I lose weight but I had tried so many diets with no success in the past. I even joined the gym and actually gained more weight. That being said, my doctor advised me that if I didn’t lose weight I would be put on medication. Since I work in a hospital, I didn’t want to be the patient. I wanted to get the weight off and be healthy for my children.

I started my journey in November of 2015 by counting calories and going to the gym. Some days I went 2 times a day. In the beginning, I didn’t see the difference but I felt better. I felt alive. In the beginning, my weight was 225 pounds and I now weigh 137 pounds. I am 5’3″. My goal weight is to be 10 more pounds lighter. I can honestly say that my children and my other half have truly inspired me to keep going. On the days when I feel that I’m just too tired, my 13 year old daughter is my voice of reason. I workout 5 days a week, some times twice in one day. I incorporated running, weight lifting and going to training classes at my gym, such as the full body workout, once a week.

I used to be a stress eater. If I had an issue going on in my life, I use to resort to food. I would drink up to 4 cups of coffee a day, and those cups were more sugar than coffee. I would bake a cake and eat half of it. I now drink 1 cup of coffee with less sugar. Some days, I even skip coffee. I no longer eat sweets like I use to. I now indulge twice a month, if that.

I only eat whole wheat products and I cut out pork. I mainly eat fish and chicken for protein. Some days, I just eat veggies and incorporate 2 smoothies a day. I drink water all day and only drink juice on cheat days. I count my calories (1200 a day) because diets don’t work for me but knowing that I have a cut off point helps me ration out my food. I eat a ton of fruit as well.