2.5 years, 173.4 pounds lost--goal reached! (with pics)

oolou wrote: »

You look amazing. Thank you for sharing your success story here as I find stories like yours very inspiring.

May I ask a couple of questions?

What did you find the hardest thing to overcome during your weight loss journey?

Did you ever feel it was too much of a struggle to carry on - and if so, how did you cope with that?

Of course! I would say that overall, the hardest thing to overcome was knowing what I was in for, how much weight I had to lose felt daunting and impossible and I truly didn't believe I could do it.
Once I started though, I decided I was going to follow through or die inevitably and I see people at the hospital I work at who are in agony and losing the battle with preventable disease and I didn't want to be on my death bed going 'well, you did this' I don't know what is going to take me out, but I want to do what I can to have many healthy and happy years, we all deserve that.
In terms of coping, I took it one day at a time (when goal is so many years and pounds away it can be overwhelming) I tried to make the best decisions every single day that would help me make progress toward my goal. Each good day builds confidence and helps your new change become routine and normal. I never looked at this as a diet, I wanted to find something sustainable that I could stay in control of and make it a permanent change.