Woke up in ONDERLAND this morning!!!

Well, I was debating whether or not to post this morning, but my excitement told me to. I reached ONEDERLAND this morning!!!! So I wanted to share the first half of my success story with you guys and maybe offer encouragement to anyone struggling.

Some back story (that’s how we start these things right?): I didn’t have weight problems in high school, but during my junior year (2000-01) I started feeling – off. I was very tired, run down, achey, acne exploding, migraines, puffy face, among other things. My Dr told my mom I was just a lazy teenager and Rx’d Coke and Hershey bars for my migraines. -_- So I went about the rest of high school the best I could, pushing myself through running track and being a Cheerleader despite being tired. After I graduated (2002), I started feeling a bit better for a few months, and then within a year I ballooned up to almost 200 lbs. Before that year was over, I dropped the weight back down to my almost normal size.

Fast forward to 2006, I got a hypothyroid Dx. Started taking Synthroid, brought my thyroid levels to normal but I continued to feel like crap. I couldn’t even run anymore I was so tired. Fast forward again to 2009 when I got fed up and all but demanded a referral to an endocrinologist and I found out I had Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. My meds were doubled and I felt better for a few months but then declined again. In 2010 I found out I had autoimmune intolerance to gluten and casein – which explained my severe bloating and discomfort I had been “dealing” with for years, but I didn’t do anything about it of course. I was too lazy and hard-headed to change.

My weight really began to get out of control after 2010 when I started to have more severe hypo/hyper swings. I mean, they literally left me dazed and confused. I felt like Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde with a weight problem. I could go back and forth in a single day. I was an emotional wreck. My highest weight was at 242 and I felt like I hit a wall – something HAD to change. I hated myself. I hated what I had become, what my body did to me. Yes, my own body was sabotaging me and I was allowing it to happen. How did I become this person? So I decided I needed to be a better advocate for my own health because clearly Dr’s weren’t gonna do it for me! I had to put on my big girl panties and crawl out of my hole and fix myself.

I got off of synthetic T4 meds last August since they didn’t do a dang thing for me. I got on Armour Thyroid (Natural Dessicated Thryoid hormone that contains all the thyroid hormones, not just T4) and after 8 months on that I started to feel human again. I lost a few lbs which brought me to about 236 and this March I REALLY got serious again about getting healthy and losing weight, so I got back on MFP and started to use it for real since I had joined a long time ago. I drastically changed how I eat – NO gluten at all…ever because when I do eat it, it feels like I ate a bucket of razor blades and chased it with a bag of salt. I avoid dairy, but I do eat cheese once in awhile, or froyo. I try to avoid processed foods and eat as much fruits and veggies I can. I am finishing up Insanity this weekend, I’m training for a Tough Mudder in October that I plan to demolish!! Who knew I could run 5 miles without dying? I sure didn’t!!!! I don’t even recognize myself. I found my zeal for life again, that fire I used to have has been re-lit. I’m on the verge of tears as I write this and pour my heart out to your guys because my life has truly been transformed and I know there are others out there who are in the exact same place I was up until 3 months ago. I’m now down 42 lbs, and have just under 60 lbs or so to go! I’m not dead set on my goal weight of 140 (I’m 5’6”), I’m more or less after getting my body fat down to about 18-20% and yes…I want to be muscular. Ewww ….girl muscles!

To all of those people looking for help, for encouragement I have this to say to you: DO NOT give up on yourself. You need to dig down and make the decision for yourself to get better, to get healthy, to love yourself. Nobody is going to do it for you. You were given this one life, be strong enough to own it and do the best you can with the time you have on this earth. You never know – you might be silently inspiring someone with your strength to overcome the difficulty you have been dealt. You CAN do it!!!!!

PS – no tricks up my sleeve. I am not doing any “diet” program such as Paleo/Atkins/Intermittent Fasting/Weight Watchers/Jenny Craig/etc, no magic diet pills, no starvation (I eat 1600-2300+ cals a day depending on what I do for exercise that day), no calorie cycling or avoiding carbs, no liquid diets or “juice fasting”. I’m simply watching calories and exercising. I still eat pizza, ice cream, cookies...just not the versions I used to eat because I’d get sick lol. I don’t do crazy binge days once a week, I do however have one day every few weeks where I don’t pay as much attention to how much I eat – but it’s not a license to binge. I rarely go over my calories even on those days I allow myself to. The name of the game is moderation and making sure you have the calories available to eat those things.

**I'll be adding pics after I get home from work since I can't access Flikr or Photobucket from here. But I wanted to share My photos are in my profile though so you can check em out there if you feel like clicking over.**