95 Pounds Lost and Counting...

My name is Jaime Williams I am 34 years old and married to a wonderful man who has encouraged me through my entire weight loss journey.

I was diagnosed when I was 10 years old as having an under active thyroid. My family and I were living in England at the time and I had not been feeling well. My parents had taken me to the naval hospital where I was stuck and tested with no luck of finding what was wrong with me. On one of my trips to the hospital there was a specialist from America that happened to be there who took one look at me and said he felt I had a thyroid problem. They immediately tested me for it and the results came back that I had hypothyroidism.

I was put on synthroid to try to regulate my condition. It took several dose changes and numerous blood tests for them to decide what strength I needed to be on.

You couldn't look at me and tell anything was wrong with me, but what you would notice was an overweight child and probably think I just ate poorly and was just "fat". That wasn't the case! While I did eat some sweets and drink sodas, I was never a real big “sweet” eater and loved vegetables, salads and fruit, so that is what I ate a good amount of.

We moved back to the states after my dad finished his tour in England and I had to go to new doctors who had to run new tests to see how it was going and my weight continued to increase. I was sent to a nutritionist who told me what I should and shouldn't eat and for me to keep track of what I ate. Most things I could eat I was already eating so not much had to change. I started keeping my journal yet no change in my weight.

I really had mostly good experiences in Junior High School with the exception of a few horrible people that would be nice to me when no one was around but, as soon as others were around, the insults came!

High school was amazing with me having the opportunity of going to the Christian school at our Church and having a small number in my classes. We were all the best of friends and did a lot together and my weight was not really an issue with anyone. I was a cheerleader, played volleyball and softball.

I graduated from high school and moved to North Carolina. I attended college and got a job and life was good. I was still keeping up with my doctor’s appointments and my thyroid was being maintained but no difference was being made with my weight, in fact I was gaining more. I continued to gain, but was blessed that God allowed me to meet the man of my dreams and we were married May 12, 2001. I was going along not really thinking much of my weight. I had the mindset that I had an amazing husband, so who cares how I looked and besides I felt fine and did pretty well with remembering to take my medicine on most days... Of course, my life was getting more hectic, so it would come and go if I remembered. As the years passed I quit going to the doctor for my thyroid and could care less about taking my medicine because nothing made a difference anyways so why bother. I decided in my head I didn't need the medicine anymore because it was doing NOTHING for me.

My weight continued to climb and on January 31, 2010 I decided enough was enough. I had walked over to my sister Shannon's house to play in the snow with my nieces. I was feeling good so I actually let Shannon take pictures of me with my niece Hannah so I could upload them to show what fun we had in the snow. I walked home after playing and pulled up the pictures that were taken and decided there was NO way I would upload any of the pictures because I was absolutely HUGE!!!! I could not believe I was that big but I was always behind the camera taking pictures rather than having pictures taken of me so there was none of me to really see what I looked like.

That was it! I was no longer going to be that big. I decided February 1, 2010 was going to be the day I was making a life change and would watch my calories and promised myself I would exercise every day.

I went into work on February 1st and told my sister and mom what I was planning on doing and they jumped on the weight loss decision with me. Thank goodness they did because they have been so much help to me and it has been amazing having them both to do this with. We talk over with each other what we are going to eat and then we exercise together too. Of course I would exercise more at home by myself (I found exercise TV) because I wanted to do everything I could do for myself to lose the weight.

Amazingly the weight started falling off 2 pounds here 3 pounds there, 10 pounds, 20 pounds.... WOW! No weight loss like this had ever happened for me before. I started taking progression pictures so I could compare my weight loss since a picture is worth a thousand words and, in my case, a thousand tears because I didn’t believe the difference that was being made in me by watching my calories and exercising EVERY single day no matter what. God was blessing me by helping me to stay focused and determined to do anything possible to lose weight.

I started finding weight loss tips – anything - that would encourage me to continue in case the weight coming of the scale wasn't enough. I was talking with my sister and mom and a dear friend of mine from church, and we decided how great it would be to start a dinner meeting where we could meet, along with others that were wanting to lose weight, and try new low calorie recipes, give each other tips but most importantly help encourage others in their weight loss journey because everyone needs encouragement as well as accountability partners. We would be able to give that extra push to each other and burn calories while laughing our heads off with each other.... All while eating low calorie and good for you food..... What could be better???

I am still in disbelief that I have lost 95 founds and I cannot wait to see how much more I can lose... I do not have a definite ending goal I will just continue until I feel I am finished.

Good luck with your weight loss journey and remember, all you need to succeed is dedication, motivation, the willingness to work hard and most of all God, who can help you with your weight loss needs.