My name is Melenie, and I am 100 pounds overweight. I don't remember the last time I looked in the mirror and liked the person looking back at me.
My family history includes high blood pressure, diabetes, strokes, COPD, lupus, irritable bowel syndrome, and other chronic, life-threatening conditions. Being overweight only increases my risk of being plagued with the same conditions.
For years, doctors have told me that my blood pressure is "just a little high." In 2004, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. Last November, my doctor told me that I have pre-diabetic blood glucose levels, and put me on medication to treat my blood pressure, which had risen to 190/110.
I am incredibly out of shape. I get winded climbing a flight of stairs or walking up a small hill. My joints ache all the time. I have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep without prescription sleeping pills. I am tired all the time.
Over the last few months, I've been telling myself, Okay, Melenie.....it's time to stop playing around and get serious. You feel like crap. You look like crap. You're tired. You're depressed. You are slowly killing yourself. And it is not okay.
But I kept making excuses....I work two jobs, and I tried to tell myself that I didn't have time to exercise. I live paycheck to paycheck, and I tried to tell myself that I can't afford to eat healthy. I am 100 pounds overweight, and I tried to tell myself that I was just too far gone to make any kind of significant change.
The first week of June, I went to visit my sister (who I affectionately refer to as my Seester) in Eastern Washington. She is my very best friend in the whole world, and I admire her for reasons too numerous to go into here. Every morning, she gets up and exercises. She walks (and occasionally runs) on her treadmill, she does strength training, and she strives every day to eat healthy and control her portion sizes. It had been about 6 months since I saw her, and she looked amazing. She was 25 pounds lighter. I was inspired by her determination.
My Seester told me about this book she's been reading on food addiction called Diet Rehab: 28 Days To Finally Stop Craving The Foods That Make You Fat. So, while she walked on her treadmill one morning, I sat on the couch next to her and read the introduction to the book, and had several AHA!! moments. It's all about self-medicating with food, and how food addicts eat to make themselves feel better, but what they're really doing is boosting the seratonin or dopamine levels in their brains (or both) without consciously realizing that they're doing it. All they know is that food makes them feel better. So they eat. (More on that later.)
We talked a lot that week about how I wanted to eat better and get in shape, and about all the reasons I hadn't done it. She told me that when I decide to do something, I am unstoppable, and that she has watched me accomplish amazing things when I set my mind to it. So, I came home from my week in Eastern Washington, determined to start make some serious changes in my life.
The night I got home from Spokane, I watched an episode of one of my favorite shows, Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. This particular episode was about a woman named Jacqui McCoy. Over the course of a year, Jacqui lost a record-breaking 207 pounds and changed her life. Her story has inspired thousands of people around the world. Her physical and mental transformation is unbelievable. (Check out Jacqui's Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/JacquiMcCoyEMWLE.)
Jacqui's story really resonated with me, and I found myself thinking, That's it!! No more excuses!! No more putting it off!! I can do this!! I WILL DO THIS!!
Over the last three weeks, I have been slowly making changes in what I eat, and more importantly, how much I eat. I also started exercising. When I started, I read online that it is important to have a good support system around you, so I told everybody what I was doing. I've been posting about it on Facebook every day....what I've been eating, and what I've been doing for exercise, how I've been feeling....and I have had an enormous amount of support and encouragement from my friends and family. People keep telling me how proud they are of me, and how inspiring it is to see me working so hard. It helps keep me accountable and motivates me to keep going.
I decided to start a blog to track my progress, and to share my successes, my failures, my struggles, and my triumphs. I'll post about what kinds of exercise I'm doing, what I'm eating, and how I'm feeling.
The name of my blog, www.findingmyfight.blogspot.com, is inspired by Jacqui McCoy. "Find Your Fight" has become her motto, and she encourages everyone to find the fight inside of them and use it to transform their lives.
I look forward to sharing my journey with friends, family, and anyone else who may stumble across my blog. Feel free to share your thoughts and your own experiences in the comments, and of course, words of support and encouragement are always welcome!! :)
