New weight loss song inspired by MFP!

vscott913

Hi Everyone,

Before I tell you about my song, let me tell you a little about my journey on MFP. I have been here on MFP since June 15, 2011.
I kind of consider that date to be my 3rd birthday. Of course, like everyone else, I have my actual birth date, then there's my survivor date (I'm a 5-year breast cancer survivor), and then, there's the day I joined MFP. MFP not only changed my life, it SAVED my life.

In 2007, I topped out at my highest weight of 255. I noticed I was gaining weight, even though I felt I shouldn't be. My vision was blurred some nights after dinner. I was pretty tired, my joints hurt, I had developed heel spurs, and of course, I wasn't feeling good about myself. I went to a doctor who diagnosed me with metabolic syndrome, or pre-diabetes. He put me on a shake diet and I lost about 35 lbs, but started to stagnate at that point. It was then that I found out I had breast cancer.

It was a tough road to recovery. After my first round of chemo, I dropped down to 216. That was the lowest I had been in a very long time. I had, jokingly, said to my doctor, well, at least there will be 1 plus to having had cancer... I will lose weight! He said, not necessarily, in fact, many women who take Tamoxifen (the drug I was scheduled to take at a later point in my treatment) gain about 20 lbs. I wished my doc hadn't said that. It was like a license to gain! I had to stop the shake diet because my doctor didn't want me on a soy-based diet. After radiation, I was put on Tamoxifen for 5 years. I gained back all but 6 lbs of the weight I had lost. I am 5 foot, 2.5 inches tall, so you can imagine how heavy I was. Well, you don't really have to imagine. You can check out my profile and see pics of me when I started MFP at 249 lbs.

I had a few of those moments that I guess would be deemed as hitting rock bottom back in 2011. I caught some side profiles of myself in a few windows... I was absolutely sickened by the image I saw. Then there was the picture of me performing with my sons (we have a family band named Tarnished Halo) on stage on June 16, 2011....1 day after I started MFP, that you might say sealed the deal for me.

As a teen, the only thing that ever worked for me was diet and exercise. Only a few years ago, my doctor said to me, weight loss is all about calories in/calories out. It's not rocket science. Well.... yeah, but how to do deprive yourself of those foods you love so much??? (Yes, I actually asked him that!)

My journey on MFP has been nothing short of life-changing. I've learned so much about myself....why I gained the weight, why I couldn't keep it off all the times I would lose some.... what I was doing wrong...the fact that I am a food addict... a very hard realization, I might add) and ultimately what does work for me. In May of 2012, when I was down about 83 lbs, I wrote a song called "Younger Than I've Been in Years" ©2012 Tarnished Halos Publishing, ASCAP. It is based on my journey on MFP. I hope it brings some of you some inspiration and motivation. You can hear it free at www.ReverbNation.com/TarnishedHaloBand and you can download it there too, if you would like to have a copy. We also will have CDs available and it will be available on iTunes and other download sites, as well as our facebook page www.Facebook.com/TarnishedHaloFL and our website www.TarnishedHaloBand.com in a few short weeks. It is the 2nd track on our "Crossroads" album.

My life is forever changed thanks to MFP. I am hoping to put together a music video for this song in the near future using pictures of my actual journey. While it's not easy to look at those pictures, if it helps someone else to become inspired to reach their own weight loss goals, it's worth it. Best wishes to all of you here on MFP. Make it work for you. Never quit and if you do get stuck, push through. I had, what I consider to be, a serious slip in early 2013, as some of us do, and gained back 18 lbs of the 95 or so I had lost. In late July, 2013, got back on track and today, 1/13/14, I'm 140 lbs. My doc says I am at goal because my BMI is in the healthy range. I will lose another 5 lbs and reassess that because my goal is 135 (he's probably rounding up to 5'3" while I'm rounding down to 5'2" because I wanted to get a bit further into the healthy range. Being healthier makes it all worth it, but of course, the compliments I get on a regular basis are SO inspiring. Zumba has been a huge part of my work out regimen this past 1.5 years. While I really could use skin surgery, I don't know if that will become an option. Either way, I'd rather have excess skin, then excess fat. (Someone told me that early in my journey because I was afraid of that, and I feared it was holding me back from really committing to losing the weight. They were right and I'm glad I didn't let that stop me).

I plan to continue to use MFP indefinitely. As my mom always said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" and the few times I've stopped logging, I slipped.... with that time last year being the worst time. Diet and exercise, in my humble opinion, are the ONLY way to achieve a healthy body. Many people over the last 2 years have failed to recognize me if they haven't seen me in a few months, but every one of them has told me how much better I look.

Thank you MFP and my friends on here who have been so wonderfully supportive through it all. I'm still here.... (not just a cancer survivor, but on MFP, managing my eating addiction another day. I'm finally cutting down on my eating again, so I don't have to exercise quite as much as I was doing. I'll never NOT be a food addict, but I can make sure I do the right things to make sure my addiction doesn't run my life, especially since I think I'll be around a LOT longer now ;-)

Best wishes my fellow MFPers! You CAN do this!
Enjoy the song!
Veronica Scott
Lead singer/songwriter
Tarnished Halo