This blog post is the story of an amazing woman who struggled for many, many years with her weight. Struggling with poor eating habits, poor exercise habits and side effects of various medications.

We are extremely proud of her here at Journey to Greatness. She has made it through to the other side and in a way that works with her lifestyle. It’s not always about deprivation/endless exercise/restriction. Success happens when we find a healthy routine that works with out own lives. Not always perfect, but sustainable, repeatable and provides LONG-TERM success.

Enjoy..

 

My Personal Journey to Greatness Has Finally Begun!

It would take a novel to write everything that has happened in my life regarding food, health and the ways I went about it and how food mentally controlled my mind and life.

I never really ate a lot of food each day but it was what I ate that was harming me.

I was called a bird when I would slowly pick away at my plate and while others were up getting their desserts after they had 6 plates of food I would still be slowly eating my salad.

I was a very skinny child and teenager like a bone rack and I was always horrified at turning 130 pounds when i was in my 20’s , 150 pounds in my 30’s , 180 pounds in my 40’s and over 200 in my 50’s.

Im not sure when all of the weight crept up onto my body but I do believe it was when I would join a weight loss group and start and then starve myself and then go back to eating again and notice that another 10 pounds were added. I joined clinics, groups, various gyms and womens health clubs that I won’t name here but I would lose a few pounds and then get bored and stop going and the pounds would return with more again added extra.

I always felt deprived when I went to those places like you’re not allowed to eat anything except salad and lean meats. I would be sitting in the meeting thinking about what i was going to binge on after I left because I had another week before the next weigh in.

For some reason this would set my mind to thinking of foods I never even cared about before. It was like it would trigger something to crave just about everything except what I was suppose to be eating.

 

I have always focused on bad foods and salty crunchy snacks. When asked to go to a movie theater I would be thinking of the buttered popcorn and coke that I would be getting and it wouldn’t really matter what film I was seeing cause my mind would be focusing on the popcorn I would soon be eating. Even when the overload of salt and butter and coke and chocolate m&ms would make me so dizzy that I could hardly walk down the stairs after the film, I would still do it again if I went back to see another movie.

Being asked to go to a hotel I would focus on the food. Buffets, restaurants and all of the foods, the potato chips and tons of snack foods that would lay around my bed with a magazine, that I would call a holiday.

Only food would bring me happiness like this.

Waking up in the morning thinking about what take out food I could have for dinner excited me. For some people its alcohol but I don’t drink so for me it was food. I’m not talking about healthy food that I was eating. All I would eat was junk food and snacks and soda pops. If you showed me a plate of vegetables, chicken and rice I would walk by and go in the cupboard and find a big bag of chips and eat that instead and then be full.

Thinking of vacations away wouldn’t bring about thinking of swimming or sports. It was always the food. The trouble is my choice of food was my enemy and being diagnosed with diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease…food was definitely my ENEMY and I let my enemy win for many years

 

NOT ANYMORE !!!!

I decided to take total control over my own body and life

The turning point came when I tried and tried to lose weight. I knew that if i didn’t, then something really awful was going to happen to me and I was so afraid to die or end up in a hospital bed.

Over a period of a few years, I went from 248 pounds to 189 and for years after no matter what I did it wouldn’t budge. Years went by and still the same weight of 189-190. I could starve myself, or eat my junk food.. it didn’t matter I would never see it change which made me feel so frustrated and depressed.

My health was suffering because of the extra weight, salts and sugars.  All of my loved ones would say you need to lose some weight and were worried about me with all of my health issues.

 

JOINING JOURNEY TO GREATNESS !

Then I was educated on how my body works and given a plan to move forward. I went to a really informative meeting and after taking their recommendations I stepped on the scale and I saw it drop to 187 then 186 , 185 , 184 , now 183 after just two weeks. I was also now educated on sugar and how this affects my body as well as probiotics, my digestion and my liver.

Never in my life have I seen anything happen to me like this

Never in my life has anyone sat down with me and explained the effects of poor nutrition and overloads of sugar and how my body actually works.

Even when diagnosed with diabetes did anyone actually care to explain what I was suppose to eat. I was sent home with pills and said take these and buy a tester.

No nutrition advice at all.

I looked at the scale and couldnt believe it ! I actually weighed myself 2 times to make sure the scale wasn’t playing tricks on me. But nope it wasn’t.. I was dancing around my room thinking WOWWW THIS CAN BE DONE !!

I started crying and from that moment on I have been committed to turning this unhealthy, overweight body into a healthy one where I have mega energy and know that I will live a lot longer.

Now that I see for myself the effects it makes me want to just get better and better inside and out.

I used to take other gummy vitamins or women’s vitamins every now and then but didn’t really feel any effect and thought oh well the gummies taste good so I must be doing something right.

I didn’t know why I was taking all of those vitamins and that they were not the right ones for me. I was wasting my money with no helpful benefits to me.

Now, I am on my personal Journey to Greatness and I want to thank my family for loving me and sticking by me all these years when I was at my lowest point.

They will see a NEW ME !!

I also want to thank Amanda and Kevin for helping so many people who need them and for having the knowledge to bring a change in peoples lives.

I know for a fact I am changed..and the way I am feeling proves it

-Jeanette

 

I would just like to add that the reason that this person is so extremely special is that she is my mom and is the reason why I am so passionate about health and nutrition. It can often be the hardest to help those closest to us because we never want to listen to each other, we will gladly accept help from other ‘experts’, doctors, guru’s but find it so difficult to accept help from those closest to us. I watched this struggle closely over the years and tried to help at so many points. But, we can’t force others to do things that they aren’t ready to do. Finally with Journey to Greatness and my mom reaching a point where she was willing to accept help, we provided her with a program that provided the right nutrition to her body to break through her weight loss plateau and give her the energy she has been looking for, without having to feel overly deprived or disrupt her entire lifestyle. She is now continuing her weight loss in a sustainable way and is excited to go on many more family trips in the future.

-Kevin