Guest Post: Jamie Who Lost Over 100 Pounds

I have a few more Hawaii posts coming (that still need to be written) so in the meantime I have a really great Guest Post for you today!

Jamie is a WW member whom I met when I started attending a new-to-me meeting when I first moved to Boise.  Jamie, along with her meeting members, welcomed me with open arms.  I was struggling to find a place to belonged after I had reached goal.  I quickly became friends with Jamie and while I don’t attend her meeting anymore we still connect on Facebook.

Jamie has lost over 100 pounds and continues to have a positive attitude about weight loss.  She has started a new blog to discuss more ofher journey and share her recipe tips.  Jamie is a rock star in the gym and has been working hard with her trainer to transform her body.

 

You can connect with Jamie through her blog and through her Facebook page.

http://ahealthyhotmama.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/healthyhotmama

Here is Jamie’s story:

I started gaining weight when I left home for college and was free to eat whatever and whenever I wanted. I married my high school sweetheart at the age of 20.

 

 

 

 

All that I wanted to do was be a wife and mother, so when we started trying to have a family, instead were faced with infertility issues.  I ate my way through the pain. After three and a half years of trying, we were finally blessed with a beautiful baby boy! His toddler years were when I noticed that something was different about him. He was busier than most, but I was told by doctors that he was fine.   After another three and a half years of trying to get pregnant, we were excited to learn that we were expecting again. It was when I was seven months pregnant with our second that we found out that our oldest had Aspergers Syndrome (a form of high functioning autism) and severe ADHD. Our lives changed at that point.

My dreams of the “perfect life” and the “perfect family” were gone. I grieved for a long time over the loss of those dreams. Some days I still grieve. My life is good, and I know that now, but at that point seven years ago, I felt like I was being swallowed up by a dark cloud and I didn’t know how to be happy. I was depressed and went on medication to help with it. I also ate to comfort myself. My life was out of my control and I self-medicated with food.

It made me feel momentarily gratified and comforted. With the diagnosis of Aspergers and ADHD when he was in kindergarten, I found myself becoming my son’s advocate. School was a nightmare and I had to educate his school and teachers on what Aspergers is and fight to get him the help and accommodations that he needed to succeed in school. We had about four school years that were absolutely brutal…for both of us. My parenting was called into question more than once. Little did they know that I was beating myself up inside enough for all of us!

I, as an individual, was so lost. When my second son was nine months old, I did something that I never thought I’d do. I went out and got a job. I only worked two nights a week, for four hours a night at a bookstore, but it was getting me out of the house and doing something I enjoyed. I was beginning to learn at that point that I needed to figure out who I was, and find my identity. This helped some as I dealt with all of the school and behavioral issues with my son. I was starting to find myself.

Fast forward to three and half years ago…I decided that I was sick of being fat, lost, and depressed. I had gained a whopping HUNDRED pounds since I got married 13 years before. A hundred…that is another small person! I decided that I was tired of being the fat one in every group, worrying that if I sat in a chair it might break, not knowing if the airplane or amusement park ride seat belt would go around me, and hating every photo I saw of myself.

 

On a whim, I decided to join Weight Watchers, which I had done a few times, years before. I found a meeting that very night and again, my life changed. I focused all of my attention on learning how to eat healthier and be more active. The weight started coming off and I saw myself succeeding at something that I thought I would never be capable of conquering…my weight. As I started losing weight, I started getting compliments from everyone on how great I looked and I was able to buy cute new clothes.

Soon, I didn’t have to worry about fitting into a seat belt or breaking chairs and I started liking what I saw in the mirror and in photos. To date I have lost over 100 pounds. The weight is coming off slower now, but I am determined to meet my goals! Probably the greatest part of this journey has been finding ME!! As I gained back my confidence, I found a new freedom. I have learned that I can do ANYTHING I set my mind out to do!

I started out a few years ago, not being able to walk down the block without my shins hurting or feeling out of breath. Now I work out at the gym at least 4-5 times a week. I have also re-discovered a love for volleyball. I am proud to say that I completed a half marathon last fall.

 

One of the most exciting things though, is that I recently went skydiving. I am terrified of heights and never in a million years thought that I would jump out of a plane voluntarily, but I did it and I am thrilled! I later went zip-lining in Alaska. I have learned to push past the fear and tackle it head on and that I will come out a stronger and more confident person in the end!

The best part is that, even though I am still not at my weight loss goal, I LOVE who I am now, and I see in myself what my Father in Heaven has seen all along.