Lose weight the fun way.

Posted on December 29, 2015

I realized I was fat in the 5th grade. It wasn't a big event or anything traumatic, it was simply me looking down at my lap and being horrified that I couldn't see the chair that I was sitting on. My thighs completely covered the chair. Up until that moment, I was blissfully unaware that I was a fat kid, even though my grandmother regularly called me her hungry hippo.

That one moment in time changed me and the way that I looked at myself forever. I spent a few years in high school and college at a healthy and slim weight, but I saw myself as overweight and fat. I didn't try to eat healthy because I believed people saw me as a fat girl so I needed to live up to the expectation. I ate whatever was offered to me and regularly ate huge meals. I was active enough to fend off some of the weight during my younger years, but I never developed a healthy relationship with food.

I'd like to say that being aware of my weight made me exercise and eat right, but it didn't. I wished and wished that I was skinny, but did nothing effective or healthy to make it happen. I bought random pills and books, but didn't do anything consistently other than binge eat fried foods with my friends and family. As I got older and less physically active, I could see the weight pile on and saw it mirrored in the weight my friends gained. At one point, I even wished that I was pregnant so that I would have an excuse to be so fat. Sadly, from there, I went on to gain another ten pounds.

There are many moments that should've been THE moment that kickstarted my journey to health, but really it was a small moment, like how I realized I was fat. I was playing in a coed softball game that I had never intended on participating in, but had to or our team would be disqualified for not having enough women on the field. I was nervous as I came up to bat, but when the ball came flying at me, my body remembered how to swing a bat from my blissfully ignorant childhood, back when I didn't know I was too fat to play baseball, and I actually hit the ball!! I hadn't played any kind of sport in years, but here I was making contact with the ball and playing the game! The thought popped into my head, I CAN STILL DO THINGS even though I'm fat.

That victory ended up being short lived as I couldn't run fast enough to make it onto first base. I hit the ball every time I came up to bat, and every time I would run as fast as I'd ever run in my entire life, but it was never enough to get on base. I felt like I was dying each time I sprinted, but I'd be no where close to the base by the time the ball got there. After the game and the next day,my entire body ached from the physical exertion. Still, that moment didn't leave me - I could do things, I was capable of more than I believed, and I was the only thing holding myself back.

I counted that softball game as my first workout of many. That moment and sense of victory was so brief, but it was like a switch in my head had turned on. I lost about five pounds before I found DietBet and the motivation that comes with it. Since then, I've won 4 kickstarters and I'm looking to start my next one. I'm down almost 25 pounds and I still can't believe it!

What was your moment? When did the switch flip for you?

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Jessi H.

12/30/2015 9:56AM

Although it was not diagnosed, thruout highschool i struggled with what i know now was a eating disorder. I would go multiple days without eating, and most days that I did eat only involved an order of fries and Dr. pepper. Because of sports, i had multiple workouts every day. I was just over 100 pounds and thought i was huge. Then I left for college and didnt have much money and working two jobs on top of full time class, so i felt I was justified in not eating. Then i met my now husband. He noticed quickly how little I ate, but never said anything. Just slowly got me to try new foods and made sure that I had something to eat all the time. I felt happy and healthy, someone actually wanted me and I didnt feel like this social outcast anymore. So i began to eat and enjoy going to lunch with new friends. Now ten years later, ive gained 100 pounds. Then something possessed me to sign up for my first 10k. Insanity considering i couldnt run a full mile anymore. But i finished. I walked almost all of the race but I didnt quit and i wasnt even last place. That was the moment i realized i had the ability to workout and be healthy, i just hadnt tried.

LilyN likes this comment.

LilyN

It's strange looking back and realizing how poorly we treated ourselves mentally and physically. Good job on the 10K and pulling yourself out of that unhealthy frame of mind!!

Ada G.

12/30/2015 7:32AM

I have never NOT known/been told I was fat. My skinny-minnie parents were parents to a solid baby girl and were horrified as to what it said about them. I was the child sent to birthday parties and told not to eat the cake and ice cream. Oh! But when I was given my meal, I was also told I couldn't leave the table until the plate was empty. It took seeing a childhood photo thru a boyfriend's eyes to see that yes, while I did weigh more than my classmates, I was also a good foot and a half taller and was actually trim for my build. My belly may have been soft but my arms and legs were very muscular. That was my first glimmer of reality. Didn't take hold at that time. I still believed my parents when they said I was going to be diabetic and HUGE just like my father's sisters. And so I became, because that is what I was destined to be, and there were no other options. My switch FINALLY flipped as a mother of 2 solid children (my son could shot put a 10 pound medicine ball across the room at 9 months!), I didn't want to pass on my insecurities, AND being an uncontrolled diabetic for the last 5 years and feeling like CRAP. Something HAD to change if I wanted to be alive and an active parent. I am 42 and I feel like I am starting a new life. By being more selfish about what I need to be healthy, I am being a better wife and mother. An extremely hard lesson to learn!

LilyN likes this comment.

LilyN

I guess I was lucky that my parents never said anything about my weight, though my mom always struggled (and still does) with hers. And, fortunately, I was a little slow catching on to the passive aggressive comments from others. While it may feel like being selfish, what you're really doing is making yourself a priority. You're important and worthy of the time/energy needed to make sure you're healthy and happy! I still struggle with this, but I try to say no to others so I can say yes to myself.