It Sux To Be Fat –

Tonight’s Success Story is a beautiful lady named Beth.  Just by sticking with the Weight Watchers program to a “T”, she managed to lose 110 pounds IN A YEAR!!!!

Check out this hottie!

She is now living the life her husband and children deserve.  She is a rockstar and you are going to love her story!

Tell us a little about yourself, your family, your job, etc…
Weight has not always been something that has been a struggle for me; in fact, when I was a kid, my cousins referred to me as Boney Beth. I could eat whatever I wanted and it had no effect on me. My sister warned me time and again that it would catch up to me eventually and she was certainly right. After I graduated high school and started college, I was an over achiever. While most people gain the freshman 15, I gained the freshman 50. I set a goal for myself and did the old Weight Watchers program on my own and was able to lose 60 pounds. Over the course of a couple years I found 20-30 of those pounds again (like a lot of us do). Then I met my husband; I got happy and I got hungry. I also was diagnosed with a medical condition that runs in my family called Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (obesity is one and unexplained weight gain is one of the symptoms). We had every intention of trying to start a family right away so after I sent off of my birth control I gained 60 pounds in less than a year. The extra weight (I was 240 pounds a this point) made it more difficult for us to get pregnant and because my husband was supposed to be deploying, my doctor offered some assistance in the form of clomid (a light fertility drug). We were able to conceive and 9 months later I was the mama of a beautiful baby boy. We knew we had struggled the first time around, so we started trying for baby number 2 when our first was 6 months old. After 10 months of trying, another positive test. We were so excited only to have our hearts shattered when we went to our first appointment only to find nothing there. After further testing, it was determined I had an ectopic pregnancy. Our baby was growing in my fallopian tube and there was no way to continue the pregnancy. I was devastated. I was convinced it was my fault that we lost our baby. Obesity causes infertility, infertility medications (which I was back on clomid) can cause tubal pregnancies; if I had taken care of my body, I would have been able to take care of my baby.
After a 3 month waiting period advised by my doctor, we were back to trying. After an entire year on clomid, we decided to give it to God and 16 months after my ectopic, we were pregnant again (after only one month of leaving it in the hands of the Lord), and in August of 2012, our 2nd son was born. After his birth, I found myself at my heaviest, tipping the scale at over 260 pounds.
When I walked into my first Weight Watchers meeting in October of 2012, I weighed in at 262 pounds.

How long did it take you to get to your ideal weight? Are you there now?
I started my weight loss journey in October of 2012, just a few months after our second child was born. I knew if I didn’t do it then, I never would. When I celebrated my 1 year Weight Watchers/weight loss anniversary, I was down 100 pounds. I got to my goal weight of 160 pounds in November and have lost 8 pounds since then. I’m still finding the place where I feel the most comfortable, but it is more about how I feel now than a number on the scale but I consider myself on maintenance. If you ask the BMI chart, I’m still “overweight” but I’m wearing a size 4 (from a 22!) and my waist-to-height ratio is within the healthy range at .42 (healthy considered to be between .4-.5).
It is crazy to me to think I made it to my goal in a little over a year but I stuck to the Weight Watchers plan like glue and managed only to have 2 gains the entire year, one was .2 pounds and the other was 1.5 pounds.

What was your motivation to lose weight?
My biggest motivation to lose weight all leads back to one emotion; shame. I was at a friends house about a month after my 2nd child was born. A guy I used to date stopped by and while I am more than happy where my life ended up and who I’ve chosen to spend it with, there’s always that one person that while you don’t wish you ended up with them, you want them to wish they ended up with you and he was that guy. I was so embarrassed. I stared at the floor the entire 10 minutes he was there and wished I could melt into the wall. I realized over the next couple of days it wasn’t just him I didn’t want to be seen by. I no longer held eye contact, even with my husband.
Another shameful moment for me was when I was laying on my then 3 year old son’s bed reading stories and he proudly poked me in the tummy and said, “Mama, you’re fat.” Where my 3 year old learned that word pains me, since it was probably from mama’s own lips. I had worked so hard for my babies and I was failing them. They knew mama was for snuggling, daddy was for playing. If I sat on the floor with them for more than 5 minutes, my feet feel asleep from all the weight.
I had worked so hard for my babies and I felt like I was failing them. I wasn’t the mother or the wife I wanted to be and I was so ashamed that I allowed myself to get to that point. I was defeated and I knew if I didn’t do something soon, I wouldn’t be there to raise the babies I so badly wanted.

What made you decide to start your weight loss journey?
I had worked so hard for my babies and I felt like I was failing them. I wasn’t the mother or the wife I wanted to be and I was so ashamed that I allowed myself to get to that point. I was defeated and I knew if I didn’t do something soon, I wouldn’t be there to raise the babies I so badly wanted.

What kept you on track losing weight?
What kept me motivated was how I felt and the progress I was seeing, not only on the scale but in other aspects of my life. I tracked measurements along with the scale and seeing those numbers and the pants sizes go down was a huge motivator for me. Finding me again was also a big motivation. Before I gained the weight, I was confident and outgoing and the more I lost, the more I started to see that girl coming through again.
I found working out to be a great motivator. I could see how far I had come and how much my body was changing. It was also a great reminder that it’s ok to take “me time” every once in a while, in fact it can be a great stress reliever.
In the spring of 2013, a little over 6 months in, I took my oldest to the park. Words cannot describe the feeling I had when I was able to slide down the slide with him. He picks me to take him to the park now and it’s so amazing to be able to run and play with him.

Tell us about a typical day in terms of eating and exercise.
I spend about 4-5 hours a week working out. I do Zumba 2-3 times a week and TRX (suspension training) 2 days a week. I also try to run at least once a week (this has been lacking during the winter months but hoping to get back out there soon since I have a couple 5k’s I plan on doing this summer). I love Zumba. To me, it doesn’t feel like working out.
TRX pushes me more to my limits with lots of burpees, jumping jacks, squats, mountain climbers and of course the suspension training part of the workout. There are many mornings when I can see my breath in the 60 degree room and my breath fogs up my glasses because I’m working out so hard. I love it!
As far as food goes, I’m a portion control freak. Breakfast is usually oatmeal, cereal or light toast, snacks are generally fruit and veggies with lowfat dip or air popped popcorn. Lunch ranges from a turkey sandwich on light bread, to salad, to soup, to tuna, to left overs, to Smart Ones and Lean Cuisines. Dinner is anything from steak, to chicken, to stir fry, to pork, to pasta, to take out; anything really, as long as I pay attention to my portions.
I still struggle to drink enough water, but I try. If it’s not water, it’s fat free milk and the occasional diet soda.

What is the biggest difference you have noticed because of your weight loss?
Before I started losing weight, I felt like a failure. Like no matter what I did, I wouldn’t do it well, or right or in its entirety and I don’t feel that way at all now. I know if I set my mind to it, I can accomplish it and the only one that’s going to stop me is me. Failure is no longer an option for me. I have completed many a workout that I never thought I could, ran a 5k from start to finish without stopping to walk, I set goals for myself along the way and now I’ve lost 110 pounds. I barely recognize the person I used to be and I never want to see her starring back at me in the mirror again.

What advice can you give to others struggling to lose weight?
It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It may feel like it’s taking forever and it may seem like you’ll never get there, but you will. You just have to be patient with yourself and your body. Change happens differently for everyone, but you have to want it and you have to be ready for it. Anything worth having is worth fighting for, and you are always worth it.

How do you keep the weight off in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle?
I still track my points, go to Weight Watchers meetings and to the gym just like I did when I was losing. I get a few more points per day and I probably slip a bit more than I did before but I try to keep myself in check as much as possible. I have slid back in before and I don’t want that to happen this time. I keep healthy options in my home and allow myself the occasional splurge. I know everyone falls of the wagon every once in a while so if I control the fall, it doesn’t hurt nearly as bad.
I also trained to become a Weight Watchers leader this past December. To stay a leader, I have to stay within a certain range of my goal weight. Not only does the scale keep me motivated to stick it, but seeing and hearing the members, and knowing I can help someone else to feel as amazing as I do is such a great reason to stay on track.

Give us a quote or a motto that you have used to keep you focused.
I’m a very musical person and whenever I needed a motivator, I’d blast “Girls on Fire” by Alicia Keys and sing at the top of my lungs.

My husband has been so exceptionally supportive throughout this entire journey and continues to be. He never once looked at me the way I looked at myself. He always thought I was beautiful and treated me like I was the most amazing woman he’d ever known. He’s encouraged me with compliments, hugs and kisses along the way. He’s picked up the slack at home, getting our oldest ready for school on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I’m at the gym and he never complains about it. He was congratulated me with hugs at the finish line of more than one 5k and in fact had “Team Beth” shirts made for himself, my in laws and our sons for one of my races last year. He held me when I cried night after night because I was unhappy with myself and has waited patiently while I focused on myself for a change. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else by my side throughout this entire process.

WOW BETH!  What a story!  To think that you lost all of that weight within a year just by following the Weight Watchers plan to a “T.”  How awesome!  I know you are living the life you should be living for your husband and your children!  THANK YOU for sharing your story with us!  You did it!

If you want to follow Beth in her continuing journey, you can find her on her blog or on Facebook.

(c) It Sux To Be Fat – Read entire story here.