MY STORY

I was never really “fat” although a few years ago I had a very distorted perception of myself, although I was a size 4 I thought I was morbidly obese and always felt bad about myself. 

Then I made some unhealthy decisions and my metabolism started to slow WAY down - I started eating a lot of unhealthy food (fried chicken nuggets and fries every single day sophmore year of highschool). I would wake up every morning feeling sick and finally decided to make a change, but the damage was done. 

Over the past 5 years I’ve gained about 40 lbs from this, along with an overall lack of portion control (I realllly enjoy food)

I thought becoming a vegetarian would help me lose weight- but it actually caused me to gain more weight because I started eating more bread and cheese because sometimes those were the only meat - free options at restaurants. I have since stopped being a vegetarian and at first I gained 10 lbs in about a month because my body wasn’t used to it, but a little exercise took that weight off fairly quickly (< 1 month).

I also didn’t realize how big I had gotten until a few important people in my life made comments about it and I saw pictures of myself of how I looked compared to how I looked 5 years ago. Those were my biggest motivations to start making a change in my life. 

Now I eat healthy, and I exercise daily which has caused me to drop about 17 pounds so far. It took me 5 years to put on the weight and I’m hoping it will take me a year or so to lose it.  I also try really hard not to have a negative self-image about myself and although it’s hard I try to think positive about how I look. 

How did I ever think this was fat?