Diana writes a novel :P

Support System

I'm going to go ahead and brag. Are you okay with that? I have to. I HAVE THE BEST HEALTHY LIVING SUPPORT SYSTEM there is going! Was it always this way? Heck no.

I was an overweight child. I ate crappy foods. I was an emotional eater. I became a young stay at home mom with a husband who worked away in the oilfield. I didn't get out much. There were a lot of lonely feelings. I ate them all away at night when the kids were tucked into bed.

To go along with that story I ever did well at gym class. I was made fun of. By the time I got to high school I would already have my lines made up for gym class before class began. "I must not forget my gym shorts"
No one ever cared. I remember watching the games and wishing I could be good like them but never really knowing the steps to get there. As a young adult I was on the go but not what you would call active.

Before I made the decision to get healthy every social event turned into an intervention. I know people cared but until someone is ready to change you are just creating more feelings to be eaten away later. I am serious. Fat people don't need to be told they are fat, NEWSFLASH- They already know!

-I did a soup diet one time, obviously lost 40lbs quickly stopped and gained the weight back.
-I took pills, failed.
-I signed up at a gym and got poor treatment and quit.
-I started walking and got heckled and quit walking.
-I started and quit MANY THINGS.

One night when I was out for a girls night I saw an obese woman in the corner of my eye on my way to a bathroom stall. OMGosh, she was HUGE! Know the wave of panic like you forgot something really important? That's the one that came over me as I realized that the obese woman I had seen was my OWN reflection in the mirror! I had known I was big and that I wasn't healthy- I never really had a healthy relationship with food or exercise but at that moment it sank in how far I had gone. I left without saying goodbye to my friends.

That was on the weekend. Monday morning I met with my Doctor and weighed in. Whoa. Surgery he said would be best. He was not positive about anything. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. How had I let myself go this far? I was not a lazy person. I did crafts, cleaned my home, my kids were my priority, I was the best mom I could be. On the ride home that day I had low moments where I thought hitting the ditch would be a simpler option. By the time I got home I felt like I could do this- but no to surgery!

I lost almost 40lbs on my own but needed help.

I signed up at LA weightloss shortly after that and lost 100lbs with them. It was just a simple food program and eventually I had learned how to be healthier then their program lol, that's not snotty its true :)

LA weightloss was my support system for food. I needed them at that time.

My support system for exercise was my friend Kathy. When I started joining Kathy and her mother in law for walks I could barely walk a few blocks. By the time we were done I would be in pain with a sore back and half sweating to death. After I finished my first race Kathy told me that they went for their 'real' walk after I went home. That is a friend! I never knew and at the time I would have been defeated by it but by the time she told me I cried because it was so sweet.

So after walking got easier I joined a gym, slowly made fitness friends and now many gyms later I have an amazing support network!

Not everyone along the way has supported me. I had a fitness trainer say that she just thought obese people were the worst. LOL. Really! At first I was so obese everyone wanted me to excel but once you start looking like your friends and still wanting to work on yourself you have to watch out for saboteurs. Here have a lil piece of this or that. I think you are overdoing it at the gym. I limit my time with those types.

Start your own walking club. Join fun classes like ahem- MINE :). Surround yourself with healthy minded peeps and don't be shy to reach out. I answer questions ALL THE TIME :)

I know you all have at least one healthy peep tho, ME!

XO,
Di